Samuel Huntington (1731-1796) and his wife Martha (1738-1794) are buried here. Born in Scotland, Connecticut, Samuel Huntington received a common school education and taught himself law. Admitted to the bar in 1754, he moved his practice from Windham to Norwich in 1760 and married Martha in 1761. He was elected to the Connecticut colonial assembly in 1764 and served until 1774, was appointed king's attorney in 1768, became a superior court judge in 1773, and was the court's chief justice in 1784. Elected to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, he was one of 56 delegates to sign the 1776 Declaration of Independence and one of 48 signers of the Articles of Confederation in 1778. On September 29, 1779, he was elected president of the Continental Congress and, during a losing war effort, steadied the patriot cause while presiding over crucial legislation and the unanimous adoption of the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781. On March 2, 1781, the new unicameral constitutional government, the United States in Congress Assembled, convened with Huntington presiding until July 9, 1781, as the Articles of Confederation's first U.S. President. He returned as a delegate in 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was finalized and the Revolutionary War ended. Huntington was elected Connecticut lieutenant governor in 1785 and governor in 1786, serving until his death on January 5, 1796. In 1788 he presided over the Connecticut convention that ratified the present United States Constitution.

Photo: Conrad Ward

Photo: Conrad Ward

Photo: Conrad Ward

Norwich, Connecticut · USA