He was one of the friends of Hamilton, and one of the group of Federal statesmen of whom Hamilton was the leader.

He was United States Senator for Connecticut from 1796 to 1810.
After she became a young lady, my mother, with Fanny Ellsworth, afterward Mrs.Wood, and Mary Hillhouse, daughter of the Senator, established a school to teach young colored children to read and sew.

The colored people in New Haven were in a sad condition in those days.

The law of the State made it a penal offence to teach a colored child to read.

These girls violated the law.