William Ellery
Born: December 22, 1727
Died: February 15, 1820
Colony/State: Rhode Island
Occupation / Public Role: Lawyer, merchant, legislator, judge, customs collector
Contribution to the Founding Era: Delegate to the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and longtime Rhode Island public servant.
William Ellery was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and graduated from Harvard College in 1747. Before entering the Continental Congress, he held several public and professional roles in Rhode Island, including service as a naval officer, clerk of the court of common pleas for Newport County, and later as a practicing lawyer.
Ellery entered the Second Continental Congress in 1776 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Samuel Ward. He signed the Declaration of Independence as one of Rhode Island’s two signers. The National Archives lists him as 48 years old in 1776 and identifies his occupation as lawyer and merchant.
He remained active in national service after 1776. The U.S. House history office notes that Ellery served in the Continental Congress until 1781, then in the Confederation Congress from 1781 to 1785. He was also chosen to the newly constituted Board of Admiralty in 1779.
After the Revolution, Ellery continued in public office. He was appointed chief justice of Rhode Island in 1785 and later became commissioner of the Continental Loan Office. In 1790, he was appointed collector of the port of Newport, a position he held until his death in 1820.
William Ellery lived a long public life that stretched from the colonial period well into the early republic. He is not one of the most famous names among the signers, but he was one of those steady institutional men who kept showing up, taking office, and helping hold the machinery together while louder names got the fireworks. He died in Newport in 1820 at the age of ninety-two.
Related Links
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence
- Declaration of Independence
- Stephen Hopkins
- Samuel Huntington
- Roger Sherman