Thomas Scott Williams

Thomas Scott Williams was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on 26 June 1777. He was the son of Prudence Stoddard Williams and Ezekiel Williams. He graduated from Yale College in 1794; he was admitted to the Bar in 1799, and opened a law practice in Mansfield, Connecticut. Williams moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1803. He married Delia Ellsworth (d. 1840) on 7 January 1812. His second wife was Martha Manwaring Coit (d. 1867); they married 1 November 1842. Thomas S. Williams had no children with either of his wives.

Thomas S. Williams served as Representative to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1813, 1815, 1816, 1819, 1825, and 1827-1829; during the last two years, he served as Clerk of the House. He was a member of Congress from 1817-1819. Williams served as Mayor of Hartford from 1831-1835. In 1829, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Errors of the State; in 1834, he was appointed Chief Justice, and he retained that office until 1847. Williams was also the President of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, and for a few years, he was Vice President of the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane. He was Vice President of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and from 1848 until his death, he was President of the American Tract Society. Thomas S. Williams died 15 December 1861.