Collection Overview

Related Material

Scope and Content

Collection consists predominantly of correspondence to and from Oliver Wolcott, legal and legislative papers, printed material, and the Oliver Wolcott, Jr. Papers.

Organization

1. Correspondence Oliver Wolcott CorrespondenceFamily Correspondence
   • Oliver Wolcott Correspondence
   • Family Correspondence
2. Legal Papers Oliver Wolcott CorrespondenceFamily Correspondence
3. Legislative Papers Oliver Wolcott CorrespondenceFamily Correspondence
4. Printed Material Oliver Wolcott CorrespondenceFamily Correspondence
5. Oliver Wolcott, Jr. Papers Oliver Wolcott CorrespondenceFamily Correspondence

Arrangement

Materials in the Correspondence series follow the 1848 physical binding into four volumes. Other series are arranged chronologically to compliment access points from the card catalog.

Biographical Sketch

Returning home in 1748, he studied medicine with his brother, Dr. Alexander Wolcott. Before he was established in practice, however, he moved to Litchfield, where his father owned property, and became Litchfield's first sheriff (1751-1771). Wolcott was a representative of the town in the General Assembly, and in 1774 he was chosen an Assistant or Councillor, a position to which he was annually elected until 1786. While a member of the Council, he was also Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the County, and for many years he was Judge of the Court of Probate for the district of Litchfield. He served in the militia in every grade of office from Captain to Major-General.

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the Assembly appointed Wolcott as commissary to supply stores and provisions for the troops. In July, 1775, he was named one of the commissioners of Indian affairs for the northern department. He met representatives of the Six Nations at Albany and helped settle the Wyoming Valley and the New York-Vermont boundary questions.

Wolcott was first elected a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1775, and except in 1779 when he was not chosen, he attended from three to six months every winter or spring until 1783. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In July, 1776 he brought to Litchfield from New York the lead statue of King George the III which was melted into bullets for the war effort.

As Brigadier-General in August, 1776, Wolcott commanded the fourteen militia regiments sent to New York to reenforce General Putnam on the Hudson River. In December he was put in charge of the 6th Militia Brigade in northwestern Connecticut, and in September, 1777, he led a force of volunteers from his brigade to join Horatio Gates' army against Burgoyne. As a Major-General in 1779, he was responsible for the defense of the Connecticut seacoast, and in May, 1780, he was added to the Council of Safety, the state executive committee for the prosecution of the war.

At the end of the war Wolcott resigned from the Congress and returned home to Litchfield. He served as commissioner at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 to make peace with the Six Nations, but he resigned from that post in the following year. In 1787, he was chosen Lt. Governor of Connecticut and was a member of the state convention which accepted the Constitution. In 1789, Wolcott helped conclude a treaty with the Wyandottes which extinguished their title to the Western Reserve.

On the death of Governor Samuel Huntington in January, 1796, Wolcott succeeded to the governorship, and he held that office until his death the following year. He was president of the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of an honorary degree from Yale.

Oliver and Laura Wolcott had five children, four who survived infancy. Oliver Wolcott died December 1, 1797, and is buried in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Note: There is a discrepancy in a number of accounts of Oliver Wolcott's life as to his date of birth. Some sources list his birthdate as November 20, and others as December 1, 1726. This discrepancy is caused by the change from the Julian to Gregorian calendar, the latter which was adopted in the American colonies in 1752. Oliver Wolcott, Jr., in the Biographical Sketch of his father, lists his father's birthdate at November 26, 1726.