Ezekiel Williams Family Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection contains a range of materials from correspondence and business papers to scrapbooks and legal documents. The first set of materials deals with papers specific to Ezekiel Williams Jr. such as letters from Corenelius Vanderbilt and Noah Webster Jr., as well as business papers, both related and unrelated, to his work as a nautical insurance representative. The second set deals with papers from other family memebers, such as his wife, Mrs. Ezekiel Williams Jr. and their son, Oliver Ellsworth Williams. These papers include more correspondence from notables such as Lydia Huntley Sigourney, American poet, Daniel Webster, and Corenelius Vanderbilt, legal papers, and scapbooks from the mid 1800s. The last set of materials are papers that were created outside of the Williams family including correspondence, a manuscript poem from Lydia Huntley Sigourney and other miscellaneous prose, as well as the diaries of Dr. Samuel Norwood of Norwich, CT,.
Dates
- Creation: 1721 - 1908
Creator
- Williams family, 1721-1908 (Family)
- Williams, Ezekiel , Jr., 1765-1843 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to the public and must be used in the John M.K. Davis Reading Room of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws when using this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
Digital surrogates may be provided to researchers, in accordance with the duplication policy of the Watkinson Library.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information (e.g. social security numbers) in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.
Biographical / Historical
Ezekiel Williams Jr. (1765-1843) was a postmaster and insurance underwiter from Hartford, CT. He is the second son of Ezekiel Williams and Prudence Stoddard. He graduated from Yale University in 1785 and married Abigail Ellsworth Williams (1774-1860), oldest daughter of politician Oliver Ellsworth, in 1794. They had one son, Oliver Ellsworth Williams (1796-1870), a lawyer and resident of Hartford, who graduated from Yale in 1816 and married Elizabeth Baker Croade of Rhode Island (1800-1875) in 1819. They had four daughters: Ellen Williams Vanderbilt (1820-1872), Elizabeth Channing Williams (1821-1865), Mary Howard Williams (1830-1890), and Augusta Hart Williams (1841-1913).
Extent
11 Cubic Feet (11 flat archival boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains the papers of Ezekiel Williams Jr. and his family from 1721 to 1908. The contents include correspondence from Williams and other family members, as well as business papers and legal documents. Other materials include scrapbooks and religious writings. The collection also holds papers not of the Williams family, including two manuscript poems by Lydia H. Sigourney and the diary of Dr. Samuel Wood.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged by the source of the material. There are three series: Series 1: Papers of Ezekiel Williams Jr. Series 2: Papers of other family members Series 3: Papers not of the Williams family
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source unknown
Bibliography
Trinity College, "Williams Family Collection" (1999). Watkinson Manuscripts Finding Aids. 44.
- Title
- Guide to the Ezekiel Williams family papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jessica Sullivan, using a Microsoft Word document prepared by David Taylor and Susan Spitler in January 1992. Originally prepared for electronic publication by Michael J. Breen in July 1999.
- Date
- 2020-11-13
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Watkinson Library - Archival Collections Repository
Trinity College Library
300 Summit St.
Hartford Connecticut 06106