Stephen Williams was a minister and correspondent of Eleazar Wheelock
Stephen Williams was born on May 14, 1694, in Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony. At the age of 9, he was abducted from his home in Deerfield by French soldiers and Abenaki, Huron, and Mohawk Indians; two of his siblings and his mother were killed. In 1705, Governor Joseph Dudley arranged a prisoner exchange for Williams and a few others. Williams then earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard, and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Yale College in 1741, and from Dartmouth College in 1773. In 1718, Williams married Abigail Davenport of Stamford, Colony of Connecticut; they had six sons and two daughters. Abigail was the sister of Eleazar Wheelock’s first wife, Sarah Davenport Wheelock. As a minister, Stephen was known for advocating for the singing of psalms, and preaching publicly from the scripture. Throughout his lifetime, WIlliams owned at least 12 enslaved persons. The earliest record of Wheelock and enslaved people is in his 1735 letter to Williams. Williams died on June 10, 1782, in Massachusetts.