USA > Vermont > Encyclopedia, Vermont biography; a series of authentic biographical sketches of the representative men of Vermont and sons of Vermont in other states. 1912 > Part 5
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30
ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[SMITH
as governor, being reelected every year until 1809. except in 1807, when he was defeated by the Democrats under the leadership of Israel Smith; so strong had he become that he was reelected several times after his party had become a minor- ity. He was in 1814 again elected senator to Congress, serving six years, until . March 3. 1821. when with the complete obliteration of his party from American polities he retired to private life. after a public service filling 38 out of the 44 years between 1777 and 1821. He died at the age of 84. leaving no descendants.
SMITH. ISRAEL. Governor 1807-8. Born Sheffield, Conn., April 4, 1759; died Rutland. Dee. 2. 1810. Graduated from Yale College 1781; two years later set- tled at Rupert. where he was admitted to the Bar; represented that town in the General Assembly in 1785, and 1788-90, and became prominent in the affairs of the state during the latter part of the period of its independent existence; was one of the commission in 1789 to close the con- troversy with New York; a member of the convention in 1791 that ratified the federal constitution preparatory to the ad- mission of the state into the Union; in this year moved to Rutland; was elected one of the first representatives in Con- gress from the western district of the state; twice reelected, until in 1797 he was at last defeated by Matthew Lyon, who had twice before contested the elee- tion with him. though he and Lyon were both identified with the Jeffersonian party; was that fall elected to the Legis- lature from Rutland, and, the Jeffersonian Republicans being in a majority, was elected chief justice of the supreme court ; held the position only one term; for the next year came a return of Federalist control; in 1801, was again elected to the chief justiceship, but declined; was that fall the Republican candidate for gov- ernor against Tichenor, but was defeated ; was, however, again elected representa- tive to Congress, and at the end of the term elected U. S. senator over Chipman. In 1807 the Republicans were finally able to overcome for a short time the great popularity of Governor Tichenor in the state and elected Smith governor; he resigned his seat in the senate to accept the place. In his inaugural he advocated several new ideas, among which were the
state supervision of schools and of high- ways, the substitution of imprisonment at hard labor for corporal punishment, and the construction of a state prison; but the farmers of the state were too accustomed to government of the utmost frugality to welcome such plans, and, though the Republicans had now secured an easy as- eendeney in the state, which cast its elee- toral vote for Madison that fall, Smith was defeated for reelection 1808 by Tichenor, after a hard fought campaign, by a plu- rality of 859 and majority of 432.
GALUSHA, JONAS. Governor 1809-13, 1815-20. Born Norwich, Conn., Feb. 11, 1753; died Shaftsbury, Sept. 24, 1834. Married for his first wife Mary, daugh- ter of Governor Thomas Chittenden, and thus was brother-in-law of his life-long politieal opponent, Governor Martin Chit- tenden. Came to Vermont 1775, and set- tled at Shaftsbury; was captain of one of the town's two militia companies; com- manded them both in the battle of Ben- nington, and saw much active service from 1777 to 1780; was, by occupation a farmer and inn-keeper. His first political office was that of sheriff of Bennington County 1781-7, and as such he did prompt and efficient work in preventing Shay's men during their rebellion in Massachusetts from making Vermont soil a base of oper- ations; was state councilor 1793-8, and again 1801-5; judge of the county court 1795-7, and again 1800-6; had, as soon as well-defined political parties had devel- oped, become an ardent Jeffersonian Re- publiean, and the recognized leader of the party in state polities; after the de- feat of Governor Smith, by Tichenor in 1808, was made the next Republican can- didate and elected, by a vote of 14,583 to 13,467 for Tichenor, and reelected 1810- 12, and again 1815-19, a service of nine years ; was presidential elector 1808, 1820, and 1821; member of the constitutional conventions of 1814 and 1822. His party . was rapidly becoming the dominant party in the state, when the New England feel- ing against the war of 1812 caused a tem- porary reaction. At the election of 1813 the two leading candidates, Galusha and Martin Chittenden, received nearly an equal share of the votes; but, neither hav- ing a majority, the election was sent, as was often the case in those days, to the General Assembly, where, the council be-
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THE GOVERNORS
CHITTENDEN]
ing Republican and the House Federalist, a long and acrimonious discussion ensued, the vote being a tie between the two can- didates. The result turned on the vote of Colchester, where, it was claimed, cer- tain U. S. soldiers not entitled to par- ticipate in the election had cast their bal- lots; if Colchester's vote were rejected, three Federalist councilors would be re- turned in place of three Republican conn- cilors. The council having no authority to decide its own membership, the House assumed the responsibility, seated the three Federalists, and Chittenden was de- clared elected by a vote of 112 to 111, against the violent protest of the Repub- licans. In 1814 the choice, between the same two candidates, was again thrown into the Assembly, and Chittenden again elected. But 1815 witnessed a revolu- tion on both state and national lines. Galusha defeated Chittenden handsomely at the polls, 18,055 to 16,632. The next year the Federalists made Samuel Strong their candidate, and were more badly de- feated, 17,262 to 13,888. In 1817 the Federalists tried Tichenor again for a candidate, and were beaten almost two to one, 13,756 to 7,430. By 1819 there was no organized opposition to Galusha left, less than 3,000 votes being cast for vari- ons candidates against him, and the bulk of these for other Republicans, W. C. Bradley and Dudley Chase. Among his recommendations to the Legislature, it is interesting to note, as a sign of the times, that he urged, in 1819, legislation to free the bodies of debtors from arrest and imprisonment on debts of small amount, being "of opinion that more money is spent in the collection of such debts than is saved by the collection," and arguing that it would be a benefit to "discourage credit."
CHITTENDEN, MARTIN. Governor 1813-15. Born Salisbury, Conn., March 12. 1769; died Williston, Sept. 5, 1840; second son of Gov. Thomas and Elizabeth (Meigs) Chittenden. Graduated from Dartmouth College 1789. In 1796 mar- ried Anna Bentley. Came to Vermont with his father 1774, at the age of five; after his graduation, lived for a few years in Jericho, afterwards in Williston. Rep- resentative in the General Assembly from Jericho eight years, and from Williston two years; clerk of Chittenden county
court 1789-93; judge of county court ten years, and judge of probate two years; representative in Congress 1803-13, until his election as governor in the latter year ; for the circumstances attending that clec- tion, see preceding sketeh of Governor Galusha. Was the last Federalist gov- ernor of Vermont; joined with his party and with New England generally in con- demning the war of 1812 as "unnecessary, unwise, and hopeless in its offensive oper- ations." In November, 1813, issued a proclamation recalling a brigade of Ver- mont militia then stationed at Plattsburgh, on the grounds that the brigade was need- ed for the defense of the Vermont fron- tier, and that it was unconstitutional for Vermont troops to leave the state except with the governor's consent; for this act, was bitterly assailed by the Republicans ; and the officers of the brigade insolently refused to obey the governor's orders, al- though the men, tired of inaction at Platts- burgh, soon after returned of their own accord. In the spring of 1814, during Chittenden's first term, a flotilla of small war vessels was constructed at Vergennes, under Lieutenant, afterward Commodore, Macdonongh; earthworks, since known as Fort Cassin, after Lieutenant Cassin of the U. S. navy, were thrown up at the mouth of Otter Creek; and May 14 the earthworks and the completed vessels re- pelled an attack by a British fleet which was attempting to enter the creek in order to destroy the latter. On the approach of the invasion from Canada in 1814 under Gen. Sir George Provost, the governor, still maintaining that the militia, as such, should not be allowed to serve outside the borders of the state, yet issued a call for volunteers, and Vermont troops to the number of 2,500 took part in the land engagements at Plattsburgh Sept. 11, while Macdonough on the lake achieved a complete victory over the British fleet and thus brought the invasion to a close, the cannonading being distinctly heard at Bur- lington and many other Vermont towns. In the fall eleetion of 1814, Chittenden. while slightly leading his opponent and brother-in-law, Galusha, still failed of hav- ing a popular majority of the votes, but was elected by a safe majority in the General Assembly ; but its attitude toward the war completed the downfall of the Federalist party in the state and the rest of New England, where it had made its
32
ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[SKINNER
last stand; and he retired from public life at the close of his second term.
SKINNER, RICHARD. Governor 1820- 3. Born Litchfield, Conn., May 30, 1778; died May 23, 1853, from injuries received by being thrown from his carriage while crossing the Green Mountains; son of Gen. Timothy Skinner. Studied law in Con- necticut ; came to Vermont in September, 1799. settling at Manchester; was states attorney for Bennington County 1800-12, serving also as judge of probate during the last six years of that period; repre- sentative in Congress 1813-5; represented Manchester in the General Assembly two years. being speaker of the House in 1817; judge of the state supreme court 1815-7; in 1817 was elected chief justice, but de- clined to accept ; was again states attorney for his county in 1819; in 1820 in the era of "good feeling" was elected governor by nearly a unanimous vote, 13,152 to 934 scattering; was re-elected in 1821 with still greater unanimity, 12,434 to 163; and again in 1822, though the record of the vote cannot be found; declined further re- election, but was the next fall chosen chief justice of the supreme court, and served until 1829. when he retired from public life.
VAN NESS, CORNELIUS P. Governor 1823-6. Born Kinderhook, N. Y., Jan. 26, 1782; dicd Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 15, 1852; son of Peter Van Ness, and de- scended from a wealthy and prominent Dutch family. Studied law at Kinder- hook in the office of his brother, where Martin Van Buren was a fellow-student. In 1801 married Rhoda Savage of Chat- ham, N. Y., who died at Madrid, Spain, July 18, 1834; afterward married a Span- ish woman for his second wife. Practiced law at Kinderhook two years; came to Vermont 1806. settling at St. Albans; re- moved to Burlington 1809; appointed U. S. district attorney for Vermont 1810; still holding that position, was also ap- pointed 1818 U. S. collector of customs at Burlington, serving until the close of the war; then named as one of the com- missioners under the treaty of Ghent to settle the boundary line between the Uni- ted States and the British possessions, to which task he devoted several years, al- though no agreement was reached with the British commissioners; represented Bur-
lington in the General Assembly 1818-20; chief justice of the Vermont supreme court 1821-3; governor for three terms 1823-6; declined further re-election; did the hon- ors for the state during Lafayette's visit in 1825. During his service as governor a political change began to manifest itself in the state. At first strongly Federalist, Vermont had cast her electoral vote for Jefferson in 1804, and since that time had been republican at every presidential elec- tion, though occasionally electing Feder- alist governors such as Tichenor and Mar- tin Chittenden. With the collapse of the Federalist party, the Republicans had been for some years practically unopposed ; but with the Missouri compromise a line of cleavage began to show itself in the Re- publican party, and the party began to split in two in the presidential campaign of 1824, when there were four candidates for president in the field. One faction, under the leadership of John Quincy Ad- ams and Henry Clay, both of whom were candidates, began to call themselves Na- tional Republicans, and, combining with the small remnants of the Federalists, be- came the Whigs of a few years later. The other, represented by Andrew Jackson, was known first as the Jackson party, but soon began to style themselves Democrat- ic-Republicans, a name still in use by Tammany Hall in New York City, and later simply Democrats. Vermont cast her vote for Adams in 1824, and has ever. since, for nearly ninety years, voted for the presidential candidate opposed to the Democratic party. Van Ness, even before retiring from the governorship, began an active canvass for election to the U. S. Senate, as successor to Senator Horatio Seymour, who also announced himself a candidate for re-election. The ensuing struggle between the two was the bitterest personal contest the state has ever wit- nessed, and aroused animosities that se- vercly injured the popularity Van Ness had enjoyed. When the legislature finally met. Seymour was elected senator by a small majority. Van Ness attributed his defeat to the influence of the Adams ad- ministration. He issned a manifesto to the people declaring hostility to Adams, and went to work actively to organize Jackson support in the state. He was in- volved, as a consequence of the manifesto, in a number of controversies with men who had long been in his confidence and friend-
33
THE GOVERNORS
CRAFTS]
ship. Before the election of 1828 his old power had been pretty generally broken, and the state east its vote for Adams by a strong majority. Shortly after Jack- son's inauguration, however, he was ap- pointed minister to Spain, and continued to occupy this position for about ten years. He returned to the country and state in 1840, and made a determined effort to carry Vermont for his old friend Van Bu- ren, but with even less success than in the campaign of 1828, and the next spring he left Vermont and took up his home in New York City. He was for a year and a half, in 1844-45, collector of the port of New York by appointment of President Tyler. This was his last political position. The death of his brother, General Van Ness, at Washington, in 1846, devolved the care of the latter's estate on him, and he spent much of his time in Washington until his death. By his first marriage he had three sons and two daughters. The second son, Cornelius, was secretary of the Texan republic at his death in 1842; the third son, George, died in Texas in 1855 while a collector of customs. The elder daughter married Lord Onseley of the British legation at Washington ; the young- er, Cornelia, a famous beauty of her time, married Judge J. J. Roosevelt of the New York supreme court.
BUTLER, EZRA. Governor 1826-8. Born Lancaster, Mass., Sept. 24, 1763; son of Asaph and Jane (MeAllister) But- ler ; died Waterbury, July 12, 1838. Mar- ried Tryphena Diggins. Came to Ver- mont with his father in early youth, set- tling at West Windsor; but the death of his mother necessitated the boy's spending most of his time in the family of an older brother, and his taking care of himself after he was fourteen, so that he had only six months of sehooling. He went to work on the farm of Dr. Stearns at Claremont, N. H., soon having the entire management of it. At the age of seventeen he was a soldier in the Revolutionary army; and early in 1785, when twenty years old, hav- ing spent a few months in Weathersfield, he and his brother eame to Waterbury, where they built a log house, to which Mr. Butler, in June of that year, brought his bride, making the journey into the wilder- ness on horseback by way of a bridle path. They were the second family to settle in Waterbury and suffered all the privations
and hardships of pioneer life. Elected first town clerk of Waterbury 1790; rep- resented Waterbury in the General Assem- bly 1794-7 and 1799-1805; in 1807 was eleeted both representative and member of the executive couneil, serving a part of the time in one body, and a part in the other ; presidential eleetor 1804, 1820, and 1832; member of the council of censors 1806; member of the executive couneil 1807-12; a trustee of the University of Vermont 1810-16; was a supporter of Jonas Galu- sha in state polities, and rose steadily to a position of recognized leadership; rep- resentative in Congress 1813-15, during the war with England, and was an ardent supporter of the Madison administration ; was defeated for re-election by a Federal- ist in 1814, owing to the New England feeling against the war; again member of the exeentive eouneil 1815-26; in 1812 and again in 1815 was chief justice of Jef- ferson (now Washington) county court, serving from the latter year until 1825, when the present judiciary system was es- tablished; was then elected first assistant judge; was a member of the constitutional convention of 1822; in 1826 and again in 1827 was elected governor, no opposing candidate being named, although at each election Joel Doolittle received about 2,000 votes. His most notable work as governor was his strenuous opposition to lotteries and his efforts for the abolishment of im- prisonment for debt. Declining a third term as governor, he retired to private life, but took part in the anti-Masonie move- ment in polities which made its appearance at this time. In addition to his other ac- tivities, he was an elder in the Baptist Church for forty years. and was pastor of the church at Waterbury from its or- ganization until within a few years of his death, serving it without salary or other remuneration.
CRAFTS, SAMUEL C. Governor 1828- 31. Born Woodstock. Conn .. Oet. 6. 1768 ; son of Col. Ebenezer Crafts. one of the first settlers of Craftsbury. and after whom the town was named; died Nov. 19. 1853. In 1798 married Euniee Todd of Hart- ford, Conn .; graduated from Harvard Col- lege in 1790; then accompanied his father into the wilderness; two years later, on the organization of the town of Crafts- bury, was elected its first town elerk, and held the position for 37 consecutive years,
34
ENCYCLOPEDIA ,VERMONT} [BIOGRAPHY
[PALMER
even while his public duties called him away from home a large part of the time; was in the convention to revise the state constitution in 1793, being its youngest member, and even then showed marked aptitude for public affairs; in 1796 was Craftsbury's representative in the Gen- eral Assembly; in 1798 and 1799 was clerk of the House; the next year was again on the floor, being re-elected in 1801, 1803. and 1805; was register of probate for the Orleans district from 1796 to 1815; judge of the Orleans county court from 1800 to 1810; chief judge for the next six years; twenty years later, from 1836 to 1838, after he had filled the highest positions in the state, he was clerk of the court; in 1809 he was elected a member of the executive council, serving for three years, and again from 1825 to 1827; at this time also. from 1825 to 1828, he was again chief judge of county court; in 1816 was elected representative in Congress and served eight years, usefully and industri- ously. but without any great distinction or prominence in the national battles of those times; afterward was U. S. senator for a few months, from December, 1842, to March. 1843, being appointed by Gov- ernor Paine, and also chosen by the legis- lature to fill out the unexpired term of Samuel Prentiss, who had resigned to be- come U. S. district judge; elected gover- nor 1828, and re-elected 1829 and 1830. His first election was practically unop- posed. The next year, however, the anti- Masonic movement made its first appear- ance in Vermont politics. The movement had begun in 1826 in western New York, where it was alleged that one William Morgan had been abducted and killed by Masons in revenge for having revealed the secrets of the order. An intense feeling against the order spread rapidly over the country, and resulted in the existence for half a dozen years of the so-called Anti- Masonic party, the chief article of whose faith was opposition to the supposed in- fluence of Masonry in public affairs. At the state election of 1829 the anti-Masons polled 7,347 votes. against less than twice that mimber for Governor Crafts, with nearly 1.000 cast for Joel Doolittle, who about this time was the chronic candidate of the new Jackson Democracy. In 1830 William A. Palmer, the Anti-Masonic can- didate. received nearly 11,000 votes, and, there being no election by the people, it
required 32 ballots in the Legislature to re-elect Governor Crafts. The following year he retired from politics, although he was an unsuccessful candidate for gover- nor in 1832, and was presidential elector on the Harrison and Tyler ticket in 1840.
PALMER, WILLIAM A. Governor 1831- 5. Born Hebron, Conn., Sept. 12, 1781; son of Joshua and Susanna Palmer; died Danville, Dec. 3, 1860. In 1813 married Sarah Blanchard of Danville. Had only a common school education, but studied law in Connecticut and, after coming to Vermont, with Daniel Buck at Chelsea; practiced law at St. Johnsbury for a few years; then removed to Danville, where he engaged in farming for the rest of his life when not employed in public offiee; was eight years county clerk and judge of probate for Caledonia County; in 1816 was for one year a judge of the supreme court, declining another election; was six times representative from Danville in the General Assembly; became one of the Re- publican leaders in the state; in 1817 was elected to the U. S. Senate to fill out the unexpired term of James Fisk, resigned, and then for a full term of six years, end- ing in 1825. While in the Senate, he in- curred much unpopularity in his home state by voting in 1819 for the admission of Missouri into the Union with her pro- slavery constitution, and by voting in the following year for the Missouri compro- mise bill, being probably the only Ver- mont senator who ever voted for a slavery bill; but he always maintained that he was right in so voting, not because he believed in slavery, but because he believed in state sovereignty and the right of a state to settle its internal affairs in its own way. He again represented Danville in the Gen- eral Assembly in 1826 and 1827. Having a profound belief in the evil of all secret societies, he championed the anti-Masonic movement when it appeared in Vermont, and in 1830 was the unsuccessful anti- Masonic candidate for governor against Governor Crafts, as related in the preced- ing sketch. In 1831 he was again a can- didate, and obtained a plurality, though not a majority of the popular vote, but was elected governor by the Legislature, after ninc ballots, by a majority of one. In 1832 he also failed of an election by the people, but was again elected gov- ernor by the Legislature, after 43 ballots,
35
THE GOVERNORS
SLADE]
by a majority of two. In 1833 he re- ceived a popular majority. In 1834, how- ever, he was once more elected by the Leg- islature, this time on the first ballot; but in 1835, though he had a large plurality both of the popular vote and of the votes in the Legislature the latter, after taking 63 indecisive ballots, adjourned without making any election, and Silas H. Jenni- son, who had been elected lieutenant-gov- ernor, became the acting governor. In 1837 Governor Palmer was a state senator from Caledonia County, and this service closed his public career.
JENNISON, SILAS H. Acting gover- nor 1835-6, and governor 1836-41. The first Vermont-born governor of the state; born Shoreham, May 17, 1791; son of Levi and Ruth Hemenway Jennison; died September, 1849. Lost his father when a year old; had only a few weeks' school- ing each year, being obliged to work most of the time when a mere boy, but edu- cated himself through reading and private study. Represented Shoreham in the Gen- eral Assembly 1826-31; associate justice Addison county court 1829-35; member of the executive council; elected lieutenant- governor 1835, but became acting governor by the failure to elect a governor, as re- lated in the preceding sketch; elected gov- ernor as a Whig 1836 and the four fol- lowing years. In 1836, while he was gov- ernor, occurred the first session of the Vermont state senate, which took the place of the former executive council. In 1837, at the breaking out of the Papineau re- bellion in Canada, he issued a proclama- tion, warning against any violation of the neutrality laws, as there was much sym- - pathy among our people with the rebels. This affected his popularity for the time being, but later his firmness and good judgment came to be appreciated. At the close of his governorship he declined a renomination, but served as judge of pro- bate 1841-7, and was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1843.
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