1. William Floyd

William Floyd was born in 1734 in Brookhaven, Long Island, into a wealthy farming family. William was 21 when his father died, and, as the oldest of seven children, he was left the family farm. William had only a modest education, but proved to be an excellent farmer, with a variety of crops sowed at the farm. His livestock included sheep, cattle, and pigs. His land fronted on the Atlantic Ocean which allowed him to ship what he produced directly from his own dock.

The prosperity of his farm provided Floyd with an entry into local politics, as it did for many of the wealthy colonists. He served three terms as a trustee of Brookhaven and was an officer in the local militia. By 1774, he was firmly convinced that Britain’s policies posed a threat to the liberties of the colonists. He was elected to serve in both the First and Second Continental Congresses. While the New York Provincial Assembly was slow to approve the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as soon as he was given the necessary approval, Floyd was the first of the New York delegation to sign it. He was one of many signees who lived the paradox of declaring all men equal – while owning multiple slaves to work his farm.

A few weeks later, the American army was defeated in the battle of Long Island, and Floyd’s house and farm were confiscated by the British. Local fishermen took his wife and his five children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where the family resettled. It would remain the family’s home until the British evacuated New York City and Long Island, some seven years later. Meanwhile, the Floyd estate was used by British cavalry units as stables and a base of operations during the occupation. The farm remained in British hands for seven years.

Floyd continued to serve in Congress until the end of 1776, and then became a member of the New York State Senate from 1777 until 1788. He took a seat in the first Congress under the new U.S. Constitution in 1789. He was a presidential elector for New York in 1792, voting for George Washington for a second term in office.

In 1794, Floyd conveyed his Long Island property to his son and moved to a large tract of land in the frontier area of Oneida County, in upstate New York. There, in the town of Westernville, he built a home that was a close copy of his confiscated estate. He, along with his slaves, indentured servants, and Black freemen, spent summers converting this tract of land into a well cultivated farm. The nearby town of Floyd, New York, was established in his honor.

Floyd ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1795 as a Democratic-Republican. As a state elector in 1800, he cast his vote for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr and in 1804, for Jefferson and George Clinton. He died at the age of 86 on August 4, 1821, leaving behind an estate that included six slaves and two free Black servants in residence. Floyd’s will did not set them free, similar to George Washington, who, upon his death, placed his slaves under his wife’s ownership. 

Floyd is mainly forgotten to history. But in 1931, almost 110 years after his death, County Route 46 on Long Island became the William Floyd Parkway; created and named after him. The William Floyd School District in the Town of Brookhaven bears his name as do the district’s William Floyd Elementary School, William Floyd Middle School, and William Floyd High School.

2. Francis Lewis

Francis Lewis was born in Wales in 1713. He was orphaned when he was five years old and was raised by his aunt. He was educated in London and as a young man worked in a mercantile house, ultimately deciding to make a life as a merchant. At 21, he inherited land from his father. He sold this property to finance the purchase of goods to sell in the colonies. He arrived in New York in 1734 or 1735, sold some of his goods there, and headed to Philadelphia to sell the rest. He travelled the world to sell or acquire inventory, but New York became his home.

During the French and Indian War, Lewis sold uniforms to the British. He was completing a sale in August 1756 when French forces attacked. Lewis was captured by France’s indigenous American allies. But rather than kill him, they planned to reunite him with his family. The French, however, saw it differently. They took him to France, where he remained a prisoner until Britain’s victory in 1763. The British government granted him 5,000 acres of land in New York as compensation for the loss of seven years of his life.

Once back home, Lewis earned a reputation as one of the most committed political agitators in New York City, attending the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, and helping to organize the city’s protest organization, the Sons of Liberty. When the Continental Congress was formed in the Fall of 1774, Lewis was one of New York’s delegates.

In 1775, when the Second Continental Congress met, Lewis was present representing New York. Despite the delay in the New York delegates receiving authorization to vote on the Declaration of Independence, that authorization finally arrived and Lewis was able to join his fellow delegates in Congress as a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In the summer of 1776, the British retaliated against him. The Lewis home in Queens was ransacked, with books and personal papers destroyed and furniture broken. Lewis’s wife Elizabeth was arrested and imprisoned. Although she was eventually part of a prisoner exchange, the experience ruined her health, and she died in 1779.

Francis Lewis continued to serve in Congress until 1779, the year of his wife’s death. As a delegate in 1778, he signed the Articles of Confederation, one of only 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence to also sign that document. Lewis retired from public service in 1781. His old age is reported to have been a happy one – surrounded by his books, his children, and his grandchildren. Twenty-one years after his retirement, Lewis died on December 31, 1802, at the age of 89. 

To this day, a park in Whitestone, Queens, as well as a high school in Queens is named after him. He received an honor on the roads as well: Francis Lewis Boulevard stretches almost the entire north/south length of the borough. 

3. Philip Livingston

Philip Livingston was born in Albany, New York, in 1716 to a large and politically-influential family. Livingston’s father owned a sprawling estate in the Catskill Mountains and was known as the Lord of Livingston Manor. Philip Livingston was given a good education, graduating from Yale College in 1737. After graduation, he began an apprenticeship with his father, who was both a farmer and a merchant. Livingston’s business acumen eventually brought him to New York City, where he began a career in the import business. Among his ventures was the shipping of slaves from Africa to New York. 

Livingston was an active philanthropist. He played a critical role in the founding of King’s College, now Columbia University. He also helped organize the New York City Public Library. At the same time, he entered politics. Beginning in 1759 he served in the colony’s provincial assembly and by 1768 he had become its speaker.

Throughout the 1760s, as conflicts between Britain and the colonies escalated, Livingston hoped that a peaceful compromise could be worked out. But by 1774, he had given up hope for reconciliation, and he agreed to represent New York at the Continental Congress. When approval was given by the authorities in New York, Philip was honored to be one of the New York delegation to sign it. Later, in June 1776, Livingston was one of the Committee of Five appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence and which delegated the job to Thomas Jefferson.

By the summer of 1776, the war came to New York City. General Washington’s army was no match for the British military, and by the end of August the British occupied New York City. Britain held the city until the end of the Revolution in 1783. During the occupation, Livingston’s Manhattan residence was used as a soldiers’ barracks and his Brooklyn estate was turned into a Royal Navy hospital. Livingston and his family fled to their home in Kingston, New York, but the war was not far behind. In October 1777 the British burned this upstate city to the ground as punishment for allowing the constitution of the state of New York to be written and adopted there.

By then Livingston was in very poor health. Despite that, he continued to serve in the Continental Congress. He died in June 1778 at age 62, a victim of the retention of fluid caused by heart failure or lung problems that in the 18th century was called “dropsy.”

Livingston’s grave in Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pennsylvania, is marked by an obelisk erected by his grandson. Part of the engraving states, “Eminently distinguished for his talents and rectitude, he deservedly enjoyed the confidence of his country and the love and veneration of his friends and children.” In 2005, the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence attached a plaque to the obelisk identifying him as a Signer of the Declaration. 

4. Lewis Morris

Lewis Morris was born in 1726 in an elegant manor house known as Morrisania in Westchester County, New York (in a place that is now a part of the Bronx). He was tutored at home until he attended Yale at age 16. After graduating, he returned to Morrisania to help his father with the family’s agricultural enterprise. His father died in 1762, leaving the 36-year-old Lewis the Lord of the Manor. There, he and his wife raised ten children.

Like many of the wealthy colonists, he entered public service. First, he was appointed as a judge of the Court of Admiralty, and in 1769 he joined New York’s Colonial Assembly. Over the course of the 1760s, Morris became increasingly critical of Britain’s policies towards the colonies. By the 1770s, Morris chose to support resistance to British policies. And by May 1775, he was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, which sent him west, in an effort to persuade indigenous Americans to support the colonists’ cause, or at least to remain neutral. By the time he returned to the Congress in March 1776, the debate over independence was raging. 

The New York Provincial Assembly was slow to support the cause of independence, because loyalty to the King was still strong among many influential New Yorkers. It was not until July 9, 1776, that New York agreed to support the proposed Declaration of Independence. This authorized Morris and his fellow three New York delegates to approve Jefferson’s document on July 11. Morris continued to serve in Congress until 1777.

The Revolutionary War proved very costly to Morris. The British invasion of New York left the Morrisania Manor House in ruins. The fields were destroyed, the house looted, and livestock slaughtered. When peace finally came, Morris set out to restore the estate, focusing on advances made in agricultural and livestock practices. He also became a judge in Westchester County. When the New York convention met in 1788 to ratify the Constitution, Morris was able to be one of the delegates casting a vote in its favor. 

Morris died on January 22, 1798, at the age of 71.

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Editor’s note: The author is a member of the Board of Editors of the Federal Bar Council Quarterly. 

Author’s note: I grew up in Queens, just off Francis Lewis Boulevard and around the corner from Francis Lewis High School. At the time, I had no clue who Francis Lewis was, let alone why he had this street and school named after him. But now I have a new appreciation for him!