The Reverend Elisha Williams (26 August 1694-22 October 1755) was a Congregational minister, legislator, jurist, and rector of Yale College from 1726 to 1739. August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... Events February 6 - The colony Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed. ... October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 70 days remaining. ... Events January 25 - Moscow University established. ... Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation indepedently and autonomously runs its own affairs. ... This article is about the institution of higher learning in the United States. ... Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. ... Events March 20 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, including the Kohinoor September 9 - Stono Rebellion erupts near Charleston September 18 - Treaty of Belgrade signed October 3 - Treaty of Nissa signed October 23 - Great Britain declares war on Spain. ...

The son of Rev. William Williams and his wife Elizabeth, née Cotton (daughter of Seaborn Cotton), he was educated at Harvard, graduating, at the age of seventeen, in 1711. William Williams has been the name of several notable individuals: Sir William Williams (1634-1700) was a lawyer, MP for Chester and later for Beaumaris, and the first Welshman to become Speaker of the House of Commons, a post which he held from 1680 to 1685. ... Harvard, see Harvard (disambiguation) Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... Events 24 February -- The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Friderich Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage. ...

His first wife, and mother of his seven children (only two of whom survived him), was Eunice Chester, They were married in 1714; she died in 1750. Events August 1 - George, elector of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain. ... Events March 2 - Small earthquake in London April 4 - Small earthquake in Warrington, England August 23 - Small earthquake in Spalding, England September 30 - Small earthquake in Northampton, England November 16 – Westminster Bridge officially opened Jonas Hanway is the first Englishman to use an umbrella James Gray reveals her sex to...

After his marriage he studied law, and was a member of the Connecticut legislature from Wethersfield for five sessions, the first in 1717; he studied divinity with his father and was ordained a clergyman in 1722, and served the church at Wethersfield until 1726, when he became fourth Rector of Yale College, serving in that capacity for thirteen years. He entered the position during a troubled period of Yale's history; by the time of his resignation, for reasons of health in 1739, he left the college firmly established. State nickname: The Constitution State Other U.S. States Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Governor M. Jodi Rell Official languages English Area 14,371 km² (48th)  - Land 12,559 km²  - Water 1,809 km² (12. ... Events January 4 — The Britain & France sign Triple Alliance March 2 — Dancer John Weaver performs in the first ballet in Britain shown in Drury Lane The Loves of Mars and Venus March 31 - Bishop Benjamin Hoadly, acting on the advice of King George begins the Bangorian Controversy by saying that... Events Abraham De Moivre states De Moivres theorem connecting trigonometric functions and complex numbers Publication of the first book of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier Fall of Persias Safavid dynasty during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people. ... Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. ...

He was again a member of the Connecticut legislature from 1740 to 1749, and was appointed Judge of the Superior Court. He was a Colonel of Militia, and served as Chaplain in the expedition sent against Cape Breton in 1745. He was appointed to the command of a regiment of one thousand men raised for the reduction of Canada; when they were not paid, he was sent to go to England to entreat for their pay. While he was there, his wife died, and he married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Thomas Scott, of Norwich, England. Returning home, he narrowly escaped shipwreck, and spent some months in Antigua before reaching Connecticut. Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... This article needs cleanup. ...

He was a delegate to the Albany Congress in 1754. The Albany Congress was a meeting of representatives of seven of the British North American Colonies in 1754. ... Events June 19 - The Albany Convention of New England Colonies proposes an American Union Duke of Saxony takes the Colditz Castle to his own use Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Mahmud I (1730-1754) to Osman III (1754-1757) Beginning of the French and Indian War in...

He died at Wethersfield, Connecticut and is buried there. Wethersfield is a census-designated place located in Hartford County, Connecticut. ...

Works

• Divine grace illustrious, in the salvation of sinner - 1727
• Death the advantage of the godly. – 1728
• "A Seasonable Plea for the Liberty of Conscience and the Right of Private Judgment in Matters of Religion Without any Controul from Human Authority" (also known as Essential rights and liberties of Protestants) - 1744

"As reason tells us, all are born thus naturally equal, with an equal right to their persons, so also with an equal right to their preservation . . . and every man having a property in his own person, the labour of his body and the work of his hands are properly his own, to which no one has right but himself; it will therefore follow that when he removes anything out of the state that nature has provided and left it in, he has mixed his labour with it, and joined something to it that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. . . . Thus every man having a natural right to (or being proprietor of) his own person and his own actions and labour, which we call property, it certainly follows, that no man can have a right to the person or property of another: And if every man has a right to his person and property; he has also a right to defend them . . . and so has a right of punishing all insults upon his person and property."

References

• Roberts, Gary Boyd & William Addams Reitwiesner, American Ancestors and Cousins of The Princess of Wales, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1984, p. 59; #242.
• “New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR).” v. 8; p. 323.