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 Oliver Wolcott Jr. was a Revolutionary War hero, banker, and farmer and like his father, Governor of Connecticut. He was born in Litchfield, CT on 11 January 1760, the second child of Governor Oliver Wolcott and Laura Collins Wolcott. At the age of 11 he entered Litchfield Grammar School and Yale University 2 years later. As a Yale student he participated as a militiaman during the American Revolution in skirmishes with the British who attempted to capture the Continental stores at Danbury.
After graduating from Yale in 1778 he returned to Litchfield to study law under Judge Tapping Reeve. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1781.
On 1 June 1785 Oliver Wolcott married Elizabeth Stoddard. They had five sons and two daughters.
Appointed first Auditor of the U.S. Treasury for the period 1789 -1791 and promoted to Comptroller of the Treasury in the spring of 1791, he succeeded Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury on 3 February 1795, an office he held until 31 December 1800. Upon his resignation he was appointed by President Adams as a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court, Second District, which included Vermont, New York and Connecticut.
After his service on the U.S. Circuit Court, Wolcott moved to New York City in 1802 and established himself in the mercantile business. He became President of the Merchants Bank in 1803 and later founded and acted as President of the Bank of North America from 1812 to 1814.
In 1814 he returned to Litchfield and purchased the house on South Street. In partnership with his brother, Frederick, he began the manufacture of textiles in 1815 in Wolcottville, now Torrington. He subsequently ran for governor in 1816, but was defeated. He ran again the following year and was elected on the Democratic ticket. He held office until 1827, the son and grandson of previous Governors of Connecticut. Upon his retirement he returned to New York City where he died 1 June 1833. He is buried in East Burying Ground, Litchfield, CT. His monument bears the family crest.
Sources:
Payne, Charles Thomas Litchfield and
Morris Inscriptions, Litchfield: Dwight C. Kilbourn, 1905
Rudd, A. Böemer Family of Henry Wolcott, Washington, D.C. 1950
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_single.jhtml?nn=7
East Cemetery, East St., Litchfield, CT 06759 [860] 8708
Illustration:
Wolcott Memorial - from a crayon sketch by Rembrandt Peale |
