Jonathan Trumbull

Born October 12, 1710, the son of a prosperous farmer and merchant, Jonathan Trumbull graduated from Harvard College in 1727.

• He was elected to the 1773 colonial assembly, later serving as governor's assistant.
• Believing the Stamp Act unconstitutional, Trumbull refused to take the oath to enforce it.
• He became chief justice and, in 1769, governor of the colony.
• Jonathan Trumbull was the only colonial governor to support the Revolution. A friend of Washington, he lent his support to the recruitment of soldiers and the acquisition of supplies.
• Trumbull resigned his office in 1784 after 50 years of public service. His patriotic farewell address to the legislature pled for a strong financial and political union.
• Honorary degrees were conferred upon Trumbull by Yale University and the University of Edinburgh.
• His eldest son, Joseph, was commissary general of the Continental Army and died during the war; his son Jonathan was confidential secretary to General Washington, second Speaker of the House of Representatives, and governor of Connecticut; his son John was the artist whose four paintings depicting scenes from the Revolution hang in the Capitol Rotunda; and his daughter Mary married William Williams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
• Trumbull died on August 17, 1785, and is buried in Lebanon, Connecticut.