John Williams Jr.

Biography

John Williams, born in 1692, was a child when his father died in November 1702. The son of John Williams and Martha Wheeler, he later became one of the public men of Stonington, on Connecticut’s southeastern coast: county history identifies him as a colonel and a representative of the town in the legislature. His recorded career thus extended from an early bereavement into military and civic responsibility.

He married Desire Denison on February 19, 1711. Their nine recorded children were Desire, John, William, Thankful, Mercy, Thomas, Robert, Prudence and George. The family suffered an early loss when Prudence died in January 1725, only days after her birth. Desire herself died in August 1737, after more than twenty-six years of marriage.

John subsequently married Mary Helms of Kingston, Rhode Island. Their children included Edward and Mary. His second wife died in December 1740; their daughter’s baptism followed in January 1741. These dates place another infant in a household that had just lost its mother.

A final marriage, to Prudence Potter of Portsmouth, is recorded in November 1761. The outline of John’s life is unusually varied: public office, a large first family, two periods of widowhood and a late remarriage.