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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00055 6404
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THE GREEN MOUNTAIN SERIES
Vermonters 1
A Book of Biographies
EDITED BY WALTER H. CROCKETT
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Stephen Daye Press 840
BRATTLEBORO
VERMONTERS · A BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
THE GREEN MOUNTAIN SERIES
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THE GREEN MOUNTAIN SERIES
ARTHUR WALLACE PEACH General Editor
Vermont Verse o An Anthology
Vermonters . A Book of Biographies
Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads
Vermont Prose o A Miscellany
COPYRIGHT BY ARTHUR WALLACE PEACH AS AGENT FOR COMMITTEE ON VERMONT TRADITIONS AND IDEALS MCMXXXI
DESIGNED BY VREST ORTON : PRINTED BY THE VERMONT PRINTING COMPANY, BRATTLEBORO, VT., U. S. A.
FOREWORD
HE greater part of life for both man and beast is rigidly confined in the round of things that happen from hour to hour," writes Gilbert Murray in RELIGIO GRAMMATICI, but he goes on to suggest that we may escape this imprisoning present by "treasuring up the best out of the past." This principle, however imperfectly applied, is the basis of the sincere labor and willing sacrifice that have created the four books comprising the GREEN MOUNTAIN SERIES. In such a record of Vermont life and character and feeling not all moments are those to which the poet could have said : "Stay longer, thou art so beau- tiful"; "the little things, the beloved and tender and funny and familiar things" that "beckon across gulfs of death and change with magic poignancy, the old things that our dead leaders and forefathers loved"-these have their valuable if humble place in such a record if it is to keep faith with the past.
It is the hope of the editors that the four books in the Series may serve as interesting byways from Vermont's past into Ver- mont's present and also may tend to throw some definite light, as reflected from verse, prose, and the lives of notable Vermont men and women, on the attitudes of mind and heart, faiths, be- liefs, and loyalties that woven together through the years have formed those traditional characteristics so generally associated with the state and its people.
The preparation of the volumes was undertaken as the first major project of the Committee on Traditions and Ideals, or- ganized in 1929, under the Vermont Commission on Country Life, of which Dr. H. C. Taylor was director and Governor John E. Weeks was chairman. In addition to the editors of the Series,
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the membership of the committee included Dorothy Canfield Fisher of Arlington, Zephine Humphrey of Dorset, Sarah N. Cleghorn of Manchester, Bertha Oppenheim of Ferrisburg, Mary Spargo of Bennington, the Rev. J. D. Shannon of Bennington, with two associated members serving on special sub-committees- George Brown of Melrose Highlands, Mass., and Vrest Orton of Brattleboro; and it is to these members that the editors gladly give credit for vital aid in solving many perplexing problems arising in the uncharted areas of the special studies made.
In spite, however, of the whole-hearted co-operation given the editorial staff by their associates, the entire project would have failed if a group of loyal Vermonters, who must remain unnamed at their request, had not generously subscribed the funds required for the printing of the books. To them and the printers, who made it possible for the books to be printed at cost, the GREEN MOUNTAIN SERIES owes its final realization.
Norwich University Northfield, Vermont
A. W. P.
INTRODUCTION
A VOLUME containing in compact form sixty-four biographical sketches of the sons and daughters of Vermont who have achieved eminence in many and varied fields of human endeavor, is one of the needs of this state. In meeting this need, clearly indicated by the ab- sence of any similar work, the Committee on Traditions and Ideals has been actuated by the belief that such a compilation will be of interest and value to students in our schools and colleges, to various organizations in the preparation of his- torical and literary programs, and to Vermonters everywhere.
In the preparation of these sketches, writers were invited to contribute the results of their special knowledge and research. Hence, the volume represents, in some cases, the results of original research; in other instances, while no new material is offered, the sketches present a concise survey of their sub- jects based upon accepted sources. In general, the book has been designed to meet the particular requirements of the stu- dent and general reader. The response to the invitation to contribute to the volume has been gratifying, and the book be- comes another evidence of the willingness of Vermonters and their friends to co-operate in an undertaking that may be of service to the state.
Vermont has produced so many famous men and women that the task of choosing subjects for this volume has been extremely difficult. The editorial policy, in general, has been to select Vermonters who have won distinction in varied fields of activity. It is inevitable that many persons will hold the opinion that other names should be included and that some of those selected should be excluded. The committee submits the list agreed upon as the result of its best judgment,
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regretting that space does not permit the inclusion of many other worthy Vermonters.
The attitude of Vermonters who have won renown through distinguished service to state and country has been felicitously expressed by Justice Wendell Phillips Stafford in his beautiful Vermont ode, read on the occasion of the one hundred and tenth commencement of Middlebury College, in which he said :
Swarm after swarm thy children have gone forth, But still the old hive keeps its golden store, Filled by the same bright service as before With frugal bounty and unwasted worth; And still they fly, far west and south and north; Their murmur fills the land from shore to shore; And if but few return, what myriads more Dream of thy face and bless thee for their birth: And they are still thy children though their feet Follow hard trials in the tumultuous town, Or to the mighty waters have gone down. And though they long have heard the surges beat On alien shores where alien tongues repeat Their names, and if new men have earned renown, They are thy children still, and every crown They win is thine and makes the dream more sweet.
If this volume shall serve the purpose of arousing an in- creased interest in the stirring and picturesque incidents of Vermont history and greater appreciation of the services which Vermont men and women have rendered in the worth- while work of life; if in its record of the achievements of sons and daughters of the Green Mountain State in the broad . fields of human activity, inspiration may be kindled to emulate their services in the hearts of those who read the text, the compilers of this book will feel that their labor has not been in vain.
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In the hope that the noblest traditions of Vermont life may be conserved more carefully, and the high ideals that animated the fathers and founders of the Green Mountain common- wealth may be cherished more zealously, as a result of greater familiarity with the deeds herein set forth, this volume is offered by the committee which sponsors its publication.
To all who have aided, directly, or indirectly, in this patri- otic duty, grateful acknowledgment is made.
University of Vermont WALTER H. CROCKETT Burlington, Vermont
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CONTENTS
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Foreword. By Arthur Wallace Peach
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Introduction. By Walter H. Crockett Authors Index. 251
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Allen, Ethan. By Walter H. Crockett
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Allen, Ira. By Walter H. Crockett
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Arthur, Chester Alan. By Lillian M. Ainsworth
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Bayley, Jacob. By Frederic P. Wells
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Bradley, Stephen R. By Walter H. Crockett
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Cady, Daniel Leavens. By Arthur Wallace Peach 33
Chipman, Nathaniel. By John Spargo 36
Clark, Charles Edgar. By John Phelps 40
Chittenden, Thomas. By Walter H. Crockett 44
Collamer, Jacob. By Edmund C. Mower 48
Coolidge, Calvin. By Darwin P. Kingsley
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Dana, John Cotton. By Harrison J. Conant 55
Davenport, Thomas. By Walter Rice Davenport 58
De Boer, Joseph A. By Dorman B. E. Kent 62
Dewey, John. By A. R. Gifford 64
Dewey, George. By Vrest Teachout Orton 68
Dodge, Grenville Mellen. By K. R. B. Flint
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Dorr, Julia Caroline Ripley. By Beth Bradford Gilchrist 77
Dutton, B. Ira. (Brother Joseph). By Mary Barrett 81
. Douglas, Stephen A. By Edward S. Marsh 84
Eaton, Dorman Bridgman. By Dorman B. E. Kent Edmunds, George F. By Walter H. Crockett 91
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Fairbanks, Thaddeus. By Arthur F. Stone 95 Fisher, Dorothy Canfield. By Zephine Humphrey Fahnestock 99 Frost, Robert. By Dorothy Canfield Fisher 102
Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. By Vrest Teachout Orton 105
Hall, Hiland. By Charles E. Crane 109
Hartness, James. By Ralph E. Flanders 113
Harvey, George B. M. By Harry C. Shaw 117
Hemenway, Abby Maria. By Mary Spargo 122
Houghton, Henry Oscar. By Charles Miner Thompson 125
Hudson, Henry Norman. By Charles B. Wright 130
Hunt, William Morris. By Charles E. Crane 133
Jones, George. By Edward F. Crane 136
Kingsley, Darwin P. By Lawrence F. Abbott 140
Lillie, John. By Zephine Humphrey Fahnestock 145
Lyon, Matthew. By Vrest Teachout Orton 147
Marsh, George Perkins. By Frederick Tupper 151
Marsh, James. By Evan Thomas 154
Mead, Larkin G. By Charles E. Crane 159
Morrill, Justin Smith. By Joseph L. Hills 162
Partridge, Alden. By K. R. B. Flint 165
Phelps, Edward John. By Daniel L. Cady 169
Powers, Hiram. By Samuel E. Bassett 173
Proctor, Redfield. By Frank C. Partridge 176
Robinson, Rowland Evans. By Genevra. Cook 180
Rowley, Thomas. By Walter John Coates 183
Saxe, John Godfrey. By Arthur Wallace Peach 188
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Sherman, Stuart P. By Arthur Wallace Peach
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Smith, John Gregory. By John T. Cushing 195
Stafford, Wendell Phillips. By Arthur F. Stone
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Stannard, George Jerrison. By Sherman R. Moulton
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Stevens, Henry. By Leon W. Dean 205
Stevens, Thaddeus. By Walter H. Crockett
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Thompson, Daniel Pierce. By Charles Miner Thompson 214
Thompson, Zadock. By Evan Thomas 217
Tichenor, Isaac. By Walter H. Crockett
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Tyler, Royall. By Frederick Tupper
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Vail, Theodore Newton. By O. D. Mathewson 227
Warner, Seth. By Walter S. Fenton
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Wheelock, Lucy. By Bertha M. Terrill 235
Willard, Daniel. By Walter H. Crockett
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Willard, Emma. By Beth Bradford Gilchrist 242
Williams, Samuel. By Walter H. Crockett
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DEDICATION
Let us Praise Famous Men
Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding and declaring prophecies :
Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the
people, wise and eloquent in their instructions : Such as found out musical tunes and recited verses in writing : Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations : All these were honored in their generations, and were the glory of their times. There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. .
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.
ECCLESIASTICUS, Chapter XLIV, verses. 1-8, 14.
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Vermonters
ETHAN ALLEN
By Walter H. Crockett
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E THAN ALLEN was the outstanding leader and the best known figure of that remarkable group of pioneers who defied the authority of the powerful colony of New York and established an independent state among the Green Mountains in spite of the hostility of the New Yorkers and the disap- proval of the Continental Congress. He had a natural capac- ity for command. Where he led, men followed. Like Theo- dore Roosevelt, in a later period, whatever he did constituted news. His methods were bold and picturesque. Some men hated him, many admired him, but none ignored him.
Ethan, eldest child of Samuel and Mary Baker Allen, was born in Litchfield, in the hill country of western Connecticut, January 10, 1738. Strong and active physically, the lad was also endowed with unusual mental vigor. He read much and wrote much, in order that he might gain proficiency in expres- sion. His brother Ira was responsible for the statement that Ethan had planned to enter college, but the death of his father ended all thought of higher education. Farm work, inter- spersed with a brief enlistment during the French and Indian War, was followed by the management of an iron furnace. At the age of twenty-four he married Mary Brownson at Wood- bury, Connecticut.
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The people of northwestern Connecticut took an active interest in the settlement of the region known as the New Hampshire Grants, between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain; and when the Peace of Paris, in 1763, removed the danger of French and Indian invasion from Canada, set- tlers poured into the new country. Ethan Allen was attracted by the opportunities which the new land afforded and became interested in the controversy with the colonial government of New York over land titles. Apparently, his first visit to the Grants was in 1766. In 1770 he was chosen by a group of Connecticut holders of New Hampshire land titles as their agent in an ejectment suit. Securing Jared Ingersoll, the lead- ing lawyer in Connecticut, the two went to Albany for the trial. The court ruled that the New Hampshire titles were invalid, and this meant the loss of all the money and labor invested by scores of pioneers. When influential New Yorkers sought to tempt Allen by the offer of a large tract of land if he would seek to establish peace on the Grants, he indignantly rejected the bribe, saying, "The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." Asked for an explanation, he promised to make it clear if the Yorkers would accompany him to Bennington. A military company known as the Green Mountain Boys was organized with Ethan Allen as colonel commandant. These frontier soldiers, skilled in wood- craft, familiar with Indian tactics, became a terror to New York officials and settlers. They chastised their enemies on their naked backs with wiry beech rods, which were known as "twigs of the wilderness," and constituted a punishment called application of the "beech seal." So alert and vigorous was this band that New York officials were intimidated, and the holders of New Hampshire titles held their lands. This was revolution, but courts and governments later recognized the validity of the cause which Ethan Allen and his band de- fended militantly and successfully until the quarrel was over- shadowed by the larger conflict of the American Revolution.
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Ethan Allen's chief title to fame rests upon his capture, May 10, 1775, of the historic fortress of Ticonderoga, com- manding navigation on Lake Champlain, the first aggressive act of the American Revolution and the first occasion in that conflict for hauling down the British colors. The fort was weak, the garrison was small, but the band of Green Moun- tain Boys led by Allen, risked their lives in the attack. In the public mind Ticonderoga stood for the might and power of Britain, and its capture served notice alike upon the colonists of America and the capitals of Europe that the conflict was more than a sporadic uprising.
The episode in which Allen was taken prisoner before Montreal in the autumn of 1775, in an attempt to capture the city, has been described in official reports and in historical narratives as a foolhardy attempt of an ambitious man, thirst- ing for additional military glory. The real cause for failure, apparently, was the neglect of an American officer who had agreed to co-operate in the proposed attack on the Canadian city, to join in the assault or to notify Allen of a change of plans. From the autumn of 1775, to the summer of 1778, Ethan Allen was a British prisoner, in an English castle, on prison ships or in New York jails, and during that period Vermont declared its independence, adopted a constitution, and set up a state government.
After his return to Vermont, Allen took an active part in public affairs. He wrote an elaborate defence of Vermont's position in the controversy with New York, vigorous in its tone and strong in its logic. He put down with a heavy hand an uprising of New York sympathizers. He participated in the negotiations with the British authorities in Canada de- signed to deceive the enemy and prevent an armed invasion, which negotiations operated to Vermont's advantage.
Ethan Allen's wife having died in 1783, during the follow- ing year he married Mrs. Fanny Buchanan, a young widow, daughter of Captain Montresor of the British army and
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stepdaughter of Crean Brush, a prominent loyalist. Allen bought a farm and built a house in Burlington, where he spent his last years.
Allen's interest in philosophical studies, his fondness for writing and his long cherished antagonism to Calvinistic theology led him to write a book, THE ORACLES OF REASON, in which he set forth his religious beliefs that do not seem very revolutionary in the twentieth century, but they aroused a storm of criticism and abuse in the later years of the eight- eenth century. He was called an infidel, and his heterodoxy for a considerable period seems to have obscured his services to Vermont in the minds of many persons affiliated with the orthodox churches of the period.
Death came suddenly to Ethan Allen, February 12, 1789. He was stricken while returning from a visit to a relative and never regained consciousness. He was buried with military honors in what is now known as Green Mount Cemetery in Burlington. Over his grave the state of Vermont has erected an imposing granite monument surmounted by a marble statue. His statue adorns Statuary Hall in Washington and the portico of the State House in Montpelier. An army post near Burlington also perpetuates the name of the Hero of Ticonderoga.
Ethan Allen was something more than a noisy and boastful frontier partisan. He was a natural leader of men, resolute and masterful. But he was more than that. He was a man of strong mental powers, able to use the pen as well as the sword to advantage, one who read widely and thought deeply. He was a lover of liberty and a defender of popular rights. Cul- ture and refinement did not flourish in frontier communities in Ethan Allen's day, but the qualities which he possessed made him well nigh indispensible to the people of Vermont in their long contest for territorial integrity and statehood.
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IRA ALLEN
By Walter H. Crockett
F IVE of the sons of Joseph and Mary Allen, residents of the colony of Connecticut, became prominent in the early history of Vermont; and Ira, the youngest of these stalwart sons, exerted a powerful influence in the establishment of the commonwealth. He is an outstanding example of a young man prominent in public affairs. Before he reached the age of thirty years he had been the principal founder of the state and its chief defender against the intrigues of enemies at home and abroad.
Ira Allen was born May 1, 1751, at Roxbury, Connecticut, a small township in the hill country of northeastern Connecti- cut. His educational opportunities were few, but he had a keen and alert mind and evidently was brought into contact in his youth with able and energetic men.
When Ira was a lad in his teens, a cousin, Remember Baker, migrated northward to the New Hampshire Grants, and presently Ira's older brother, Ethan, became actively identified with the pioneer settlers in the new region.
In the fall of 1770, at the age of twenty years, he made his first visit to Vermont, and with forty-eight pounds re- ceived from his father's estate, he purchased several rights of land in Poultney. He learned land surveying and practiced the profession in the New Hampshire Grants, where he pur- chased additional tracts of land from time to time, until in later years he became one of the great land owners of New England. In the spring of 1772, he came to the Grants and entered actively into the pioneer life of the region, taking part in the defense of the homes of the settlers against the at- tempts by the colonial authorities of New York to dispossess holders of New Hampshire titles. With the outbreak of war,
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in 1775, he began his career as a soldier. He was with his brother Ethan as a member of the Ticonderoga expedition. He was elected a lieutenant in the regiment of Green Moun- tain Boys organized in July, 1775. Ira Allen accompanied the American army in the invasion of Canada in the autumn of 1775. He was the messenger chosen to carry to General Carle- ton a demand to surrender Montreal. In the attack upon Quebec General Montgomery selected Ira Allen as one of two officers ordered to direct an attack on Cape Diamond. Returning home early in 1776, he began in a quiet way to prepare the minds of the people of the New Hampshire Grants for an independent government, participating in a series of conventions and travelling throughout the Grants in the interest of a separate commonwealth. In the formation of the state of Vermont and the adoption of its constitution he took a prominent part.
As secretary of the Council of Safety he sent an appeal to New Hampshire for aid, which brought General Stark and his troops to Bennington in time to win the battle which was instrumental in the final defeat of Burgoyne. He sent spies into the British camp who brought information of great value to General Stark.
Advocating before the Council of Safety the raising of a full regiment instead of two companies, he was opposed by the elder statesmen of the group, who assigned to him the apparently impossible task of reporting a plan "at sunrising on the morrow." He was ready at the hour named with an original plan for the sequestration of the estates of Tories and the sale of their property. The plan was adopted, the regi- ment was raised, and the new state found the method of se- curing revenue very useful.
Ira Allen was the treasurer of Vermont and its first sur- veyor general, offices of great responsibility and importance in the early period of Vermont's history. He was, perhaps, the most active figure in the so-called Haldimand Negotiations.
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At a period when Vermont was surrounded by unfriendly neighbors, when Congress refused aid, when a British army, large for that period, threatened the northern border, Allen and a few associates deceived His Majesty's officers, making them believe that Vermont might be made a British prov- ince. These negotiations were carried on until the British arms were defeated. Notwithstanding charges made from time to time against the integrity of the Vermont leaders, there are in existence statements that set forth the desperate situa- tion, which left no other alternative than deceiving the enemy if Vermont were to be saved from subjugation. In the long period of negotiations with other states for recognition, Ira Allen, the diplomat, travelled thousands of miles on horse- back on errands for Vermont, and he was one of the negotia- tors who arranged the treaty with New York which made possible the long-deferred admission of Vermont to the Fed- eral Union.
It is supposed that Ira Allen was responsible for including in Vermont's first constitution a complete system of education from the common schools, through county grammar schools to a state university. He was the active force which secured the chartering of the University of Vermont in 1791 and its location at Burlington. He was one of the earliest advocates of higher education for women. Allen established mills and forges, engaged in the lumber trade with Canada, and in a letter to the Duke of Portland set forth Vermont's agricultural and industrial opportunities. At this time he was the owner of 200,000 acres of land.
In 1795, Ira Allen went to Europe as senior major general of the Vermont militia, ostensibly to purchase arms for the state. Probably a more urgent reason was the hope that he might interest the British government and English capital in the construction of a ship canal connecting the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain. The British and French nations were engaged in war, and the time was not opportune for the
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promotion of the canal project. Crossing to France, he pur- chased a cargo of arms, but the ship carrying the guns was seized by British craft, and there followed a long and vexa- tious period of litigation in English courts. Allen returned to France to secure additional evidence and was thrown into a French prison. He was finally released and returned after an absence of several years to find much of his large estate sold for taxes, and himself financially ruined. He fled to Philadelphia to avoid a debtor's prison, and in exile, at the last, was buried in a nameless grave. If these years in exile could have been devoted to the upbuilding of Vermont, the indus- trial and commercial history of the state might have differed materially from the record that has been written. It was one of the tragedies of history that he who more than any other had made possible for formation of the state of Vermont, should be driven from its borders. More than a century later an adopted son of Vermont, James B. Wilbur of Manchester, erected on the campus of the University of Vermont a statue of Ira Allen, a beautiful chapel named in his honor, and gave to the institution a valuable collection of Vermont books and historical documents. After many years of obscurity, Ira Allen had come into his own again.
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