Samuel Huntington, a descendant of Norwich's founding fathers, was born in Scotland, Connecticut, in 1731 and rose from a cooper's apprentice who taught himself Latin to become a lawyer, judge, diplomat, and president of the Continental Congress. Encouraged by Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, who gave him access to his library and introduced him to Eliphalet Dyer and Jedediah Elderkin, Huntington studied law, passed the bar exam in 1758, married Martha Devotion, and moved to Norwich in 1760. He was elected as Norwich's representative to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1764 and the next year urged his constituents to stand firm against the Stamp Act. Over the following twenty years, his reputation for fairness and integrity led to his appointment as a superior court judge and justice of the peace, and in 1775 he became a delegate to the Continental Congress. He also adopted three of a relative's children and raised them as his own. From 1779 to 1781, he served as president of the second Continental Congress, and though poor health led him to try to retire in 1781, he continued in public life, becoming Connecticut's chief justice in 1784 and governor in 1786, a position he held for ten years. In his final election for governor, he received all 900 votes from Norwich's eligible voters. Huntington died on January 5, 1796, at age 64, and his home on East Town Street, built in 1783, reflected the modest character of a man whose service helped shape both Norwich and the United States.