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An archive of mostly Revolutionary War pay orders related to patriot members of the Bissell family of Connecticut, including 2 signatures of founding father Col. William Williams and 1 signature of Oliver Wolcott Junior. William Williams was a CT delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Wolcott Jr. was the second U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and 24th governor of CT. 1st and 2nd items: Two pay authorizations for Captain Hezekiah Bissell (1737-1831), both dated May 5, 1783, signed by William Williams and three other notable Connecticut patriots: John Lawrence, Nathan Wales Jr., and Shuball Abbe. All were active in the Windham County area; Lawrence was the CT treasurer and Bissell, Williams, and Wales were members of the CT Council of Safety, the central authority for directing the state’s defense. (While Williams was the architect of the war effort in CT from the legislative side, Bissell and Wales were his engineers on the ground, transporting money and arms). Shuball Abbe was the Sheriff of Windham County. One of the 2 pay orders is countersigned by Hezekiah Bissell but his signature is obscured by dampstaining. 3rd item: Partially printed pay or reimbursement authorization dated April 2, 1782 for Capt. Ozias Bissell, hand signed by Oliver Wolcott Jr. and Eleazer Wales (younger brother of Nathaniel Wales, Jr.). Wales and Wolcott were members of the Council of Safety’s Committee of the Pay Table. 4th item: “True Copy” of “a resolution of the General Assembly of the governor and company of the Colony of Connecticut at Hartford, on the second Thursday of May, 1774,” directing reimbursement to Josiah Bissell Esq. and several others for “expenses in repairing Newgate Prison and supporting the Prisoners there as the accounts are liquidated and Adjusted by the auditors…” Signed by Josiah Bissell (1714-1776) on reverse. 5th item: Pay authorization for Capt. Ozias Bissell (1731-1822, cousin to Hezekiah Bissell), signed by John Lawrence and Eleazer Wales. 6th item: Partially printed pay or reimbursement authorization dated April 17, 1782, for Capt. Benjamin Bissell (1743-1821), hand signed by pay table members William Moseley and Fenn Wadsworth. Signed on reverse by clerk Elisha Hutchinson. 7th item: Letter signed by Josiah Bissell III (1757-1839), dated July 6, 1795, to Capt. Samuel Whitman regarding the potential sale of a horse.
PROVENANCE: The Collection of Deborah and Kent Vauclain Bissell, Sr., by descent in his family.
CONDITION: Most signatures are countersigned across the face by illegible period script notations (including the signatures of Sam Wyllys, normal for pay orders of this period). Paper with light toning and occasional foxing. Dampstaining across Hezekiah Bissell’s signature on 2nd item. 5th item and 6th items: Separations at fold lines.
