Who Were the Four Connecticut Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence?

It's the best known line of the Declaration of Independence that was adopted on this day 237 years ago: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Among the 56 signatories to the document were four Connecticut men: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott. 

Sherman, one of the five drafters of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Massachusetts but walked to New Milford, Connecticut, with his mother when he was 23. He became the surveyor for New Haven county, New Haven's first mayor, and a member of U.S. Congress. His remains are buried in New Haven's Grove Street Cemetary.

Huntington was born in a section of Windham, Connecticut, that is now the town of Scotland, and later moved to Norwich where he was a lawyer and selectman. He became the 7th President of the Continental Congress and then the 18th Governor of Connecticut. The Huntington Green in Shelton, part of which was once called Huntington, is named for him.

Williams was born in Lebanon, studied theology at Harvard, and returned to Lebanon to be pastor at the First Congregational Church there. He also served in the Continental Congress, as a selectman, a town clerk, and a county judge. His Lebanon home is an historic landmark.

Wolcott, a native of Windsor and a graduate of Yale, was a brigadier general in the Revolutionary War. Because he was ill at the time the Declaration was signed when he was 49 years old, he signed later. Wolcott went on to be elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, and assumed Governorship after Samuel Huntington's death. His home in Litchfield is an historic landmark.

Thanks to them for our reason today for fireworks, family picinics, and blueberry pies. Happy Independence Day! 

This story was originally published July 4, 2012.