From the Charter Oak to the Atheneum: Middletown's Wadsworth Heritage

William Wadsworth born around 1600 was the first Wadsworth to come to Connecticut. His son, Joseph, was the person who put the charter of England in the oak tree at Wyllys Estate. He did this in 1687 when King James II sent Sir Edmund Andros to the Hartford State House to take the charter back so Connecticut would no longer be a colony. He is the reason that Charter Oak tree is our state symbol. Joseph is the great uncle of Jeremiah Wadsworth.

Jeremiah was born in Hartford in 1743 to a minister who died when he was 4, was raised by his uncle, Matthew Talcott, a ship owner from Middletown. They lived on the northeast corner of Court and Main streets. At the age of 18, Wadsworth embarked on a 10-year career as a sailor aboard one of his uncle's ships, he rose to the rank of captain. In 1767, he married a minister's daughter, Mehitable Russel, also of Middletown, they had three children.
 
An early and vocal patriot, Wadsworth began the next step of his career in April 1775, when he was appointed to work in a supply commissary for Connecticut troops. Wadsworth's experience as a sailor and merchant aboard his uncle's ships helped him understand the supply commissary, and he quickly rose in rank. The Continental Congress elected Wadsworth as deputy commissary-general of purchases on June 18, 1777. Upon the retirement of Joseph Trumbull, Wadsworth was appointed commissary general in April 1778, a post he held until December 1779, when he resigned.
 
Wadsworth earned Washington's favor as a provider of good and ample supplies and went on to work as the commissary for the French troops in America. After submitting his accounting records in Paris at the end of the war, Wadsworth made purchases in England and Ireland, which he resold on the commercial market for profit upon his return to America. The transactions helped to make Wadsworth the wealthiest man in Connecticut. He moved back to Hartford and lived in his home that is now the Wadsworth Atheneum.
 
Wadsworth later served as a member of the Continental Congress and Connecticut ratification convention in 1788, the U.S. Congress from 1789 to 1795, the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1795 and, finally, on Connecticut's executive council from 1795 to 1801.

Wadsworth was involved in a wide variety of business interests, many of which were based in Hartford. He was one of the founders of the Bank of North America and the Hartford Bank, and was an executive with the Bank of New York and United States Bank. He was involved with some of the earliest manufacturing and insurance partnerships in Hartford.

Wadsworth also did business as a merchant, was active in the shipping industry, and acquired a great deal of land in the eastern part of the United States. He died in Hartford on April 30, 1804. He was laid to rest at The Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford.

Jeremiah’s son Daniel was the great uncle of Julius Wadsworth, who married Cornelia DeKoven. Their son, Clarence Wadsworth, built the in Middletown. Clarence and his wife Katharine (Hubbard) Wadsworth of Middletown had two sons, Clarence Seymour, (known as Seymour)  and Julius named after his grandfather. Both Seymour and Julius served in the Military during World War I.

Information from The History Channel, J. H. Beers & Co, and the Dictionary of American Biography.