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ceeding the third Commencement he himself said that it was
" '
remarkable
only on account of hard services, which made him more and more weary
of his station.'"" He, however, continued faithful and earnest in the
discharge of his duties as President, while, at the same time, pursuing the
religious objects still dearer to him, and especially that great aim of his
whole life, to secure the institution of the order of Bishops in America.
Rev. Dr. Samuel and Charity (Floyd-Nicoll) Johnson had two children :
59 I. William Samuel,^ born October 7, 1727; graduated at Yale
College in 1 744 ; made
Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1 766 ; made
LL.D. at Yale in 1788. He represented Stratford in the General
Assembly in 1761, and again in 1765, and was a Member of the Governor's
Council in 1 766 ;
was appointed, in the latter year a special agent, on busi-
ness of the colony, at the British Court, where he spent four years ; was
elected to the American Congress of 1774, but declined to serve; "and
not being able conscientiously to join in a war against England he lived in
retirement in Stratford until the conclusion of peace ;" from 1784 to 1787
an important
was served as a Member of the Continental Congress ;
Member of the Convention for the formation of the Federal Constitution ;
first Senator from Connecticut to the United States Congress, in 1789-91 ;
was chosen President of Columbia College in 1787, and continued in that
office till 1800; and died Nov. 14, 18 19.
In Rev. Dr. Johnson's letter of January 6, 1757, written soon after
the lamented death of his second son, he expressed his hopes with respect
to the elder brother in these words :
" And indeed, my dear son, as I had set my heart on this, both with regard to
you and him, that you might be as extensive Blessings to mankind as possible, you in
Temporals and he in Spirituals—since he is gone, now both are devolved on you.
I therefore desire you will laye out your views to do all the public Good you possibly
can, for promoting the Interest of Religion and Learning, as well as Justice and the
affairs of the State."
" Beardsley's Samuel Johnson, ut supra, p. 250.
303