The others from Massachusetts

There were two other signers from Massachusetts.

First:
Robert Treat Paine
Robert Treat Paine attended the Boston Latin School and then Harvard. He initially set out to be a minister but he favored the law. In his early years to build physical strength he was a sailor, sailing to England, Spain, the Azores and other colonies. When he returned, this was when he studied the law. He was the opposing lawyer to John Adams in the case of the "Boston Massacre" in which British officers had been involved in shootings. He was a great orator. He was elected to the first Continental Congress in 1774. Another member of the Continental Congress referred to him as the objection maker. He made objections to almost every motion, but never had anything of substance to his objections. He was the author of the final appeal to the king, called the "Olive Branch" in 1775. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

He then served as the Massachusetts Attorney General, helping them create their own state constitution. In 1780, upon his return to Boston he co-founded the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. in 1796 he was appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court and served there for 14 years. He died in 1814 at the age of 83.


Second:

Elbridge Gerry

He looks like he's the Mona Lisa's cousin - with some sort of superior knowledge or secret.

Elbridge is a name I am going to petition for when we have a boy. wwwahhahaha. Just kidding.

Anyway - I found his bio so succinctly put that I have just copied it:

Elbridge Gerry was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 17, 1744. He studied at Harvard to be a merchant, graduating in 1762. He was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1773 and was selected to attend the Provincial Congress in 1774. He was then appointed to the Continental Congress, where he was engaged in committee work on commercial and naval concerns. He attended the Constitutional Convention in 1798 but was opposed to the new Federal Constitution, refusing to sign it. He was elected to the first two Congresses from Massachusetts and, in 1797, was one of several envoys sent to France. He was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1810 and 1811. He was much criticized for redistricting the state to the advantage of his own party (Democratic-Republican). That incident was the source of the term gerrymandering. In 1812 he was elected Vice President of the United States. He died in office, on November 23, 1814, at the age of 70.

Did you know about gerrymandering? I didn't. Nor did I know that he also served as Vice-President of the United States. He served under James Madison. I will do a post on James Madison sometime, although he wasn't a signer.

There is a website that has all the signers, with a picture and a small bio.
You can also find them all on Wikipedia. The signers are listed and linked about halfway down.

I am still enjoying learning about these men. Tomorrow I will do the two men from Rhode Island.