Reverend Colonel Elisha Williams

Reverend Colonel Elisha Williams was a Congregational clergyman and a rector of Yale College, and he was active in the political and military affairsof Connecticut. Williams' mother, Elizabeth Cotton Williams, was a granddaughter of John Cotton and also Governor Simon Bradstreet of Massachusetts. Reverend Williams accompanied the Connecticut troops to Louisbourg and was present at the capture of the fortress in June 1745. When the expedition for the conquest of Canada was organized, he was made a colonel of the Connecticut forces, though the enterprise was ultimately abandoned.

Reverend Williams graduated from Harvard College in 1711. He became the fourth President of Yale College. After he resigned as President in 1739 and returned from New Haven, he built his home in Wethersfield, Connecticut.