USA > Vermont > Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, to which are prefixed the records of the General Conventions from July 1775 to December 1777, Vol. I > Part 30
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The first and last histories of Washington (Thompson's Gazetteer of 1824 and the Vt. Hist. Mag, vol. II,) ignore the fact that Kingsland was a New York grant. This fact is correctly stated in Thompson's Vermont, with the additional item that a town plot was laid out in village lots. The township was in fact granted to King's college of New York city, and it covered quite a magnificent scheme for a location so high up amid the Green Mountains-a good one, however, for show. From this digres- sion the reader may turn to the following, from Lorenzo Sabine's Bio- graphical Sketches of Loyalists :
PETERS, JOHN, of Hebron, Connecticut. Born in 1740. A most devoted Loyalist. IIe went to Canada finally, and raised a corps called the Queens Loyal Rangers, of which Lord Dorchester gave him command with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. At the peace he retired to Eng- land, and died at Paddington of gout in the head and stomach, in 1788. His property was confiscated. He left a wife and eight children, who, at the time of his decease, were at the island of Cape Breton. A notice of him concludes thus : "Rebellion and Loyalty are alike fatal to some families, and alike prosperous to others."
269
Governor and Council-June, 1778.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, Bennington 16 June 1778. To Mr. Samuel Tubbs :
Sir,-Pursuant to an order of the General Assembly of this State bearing date the 15 of this Instant, you are hereby required to diliver unto Doct". Jacob Roback the Cow that you have in your possession which belongs to this State, and you are to come and settle your accts. relative to sd Cow with this Council, & sd Doctr. Ruback is to have the use of said Cow during the pleasure of said Council.
By order of Govr. & Council,
THOS. CHANDLER, Jur., Sec'y.
STATE OF VERMONT. Bennington 17 June 1778. 2 IN COUNCIL, date above.
To the Commissary of Issues in this town :
Sir,-Please to Deliver to the bearer Capt. Robinson Twenty-seven pounds of Powder, & one hundred & eight pounds of Lead, it being to Supply 54 of the Militia (now under Marching orders) with Each } 1b. Powder & Two of Lead. Your Compliance will Oblidge Sir yours.
THOMAS CHITTENDEN, Capt. Gent.
An order given To Timothy Moss in favour of the Town of Wells for 12 1h. Powder, 24 1b. Lead and 24 flints, on the above Commissary.
The above order returned not complied with.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL Bennington 17 June 1778.
Sir,-You are hereby ordered & directed to Draw out of the ammuni- tion that is sent to the Northward 173 1b. powder & 30 lbs. Bullets it be- ing for 15 Soldiers that [are] under your Command to Guard sd. Stores to Rutland. THOMAS CHITTENDEN, Capt. Gen !.
To Capt. Sam'. Robinson.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL Bennington June 1778.
Upon the petition of Lurania McClane Praying to be discharged from her Late Husband John McLane for certain reasons Mentioned in her said petition, as by sd. Petition on file may appear, he the sd. John Mc- Clane being notified did not appear before this Council-This Council having considered the petition, & the Matter contained therein with the Evidences & their circumstances, do adjudge that the sd. Lurania of Right ought to be discharged from the sd. John McClane & he is hereby Divorced, and therefore Resolve and declare that the sd. Lurania be dis- charged from him the sd. John McClane, & that she has a Good & Law- ful Right to Marry to another man.1
By order of the Govr. & Council, THOS. CHANDLER, Jur., Sec'y. STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL 17 June 1778. To the Honble General Assembly of the Representatives of the freemen of said State: 2
We the subscribers by your honors appointed a Committee to exam- ine into the Justice of the Petition of William Haviland bearing date
1 The first Vermont statute on divorce of which there is any record is the act of February 1779. That gave jurisdiction to the superior court.
2 Section eight of the Frame of Government declared that the House of Representatives " shall be stiled the General Assembly of the Repre- sentatives of the Freemen of Vermont." The committee therefore
270
Governor and Council-June, 1778.
June 8th 1778 beg Leave to Report to your honors that it be our opin- ion according to the Evidence proved both for & against the said William Haviland that the said William have one half of the Grist Mill & one half the Mill Stones that are near sd. Mills, & one third of the Saw mill, half of the Land he purchased of Sergt. Henry Walbridge Exclu- sive of What Mr. Sage Bought of Joseph & William Haviland, & this State clear John Philips from the premises, & pay the said William forty pounds Lawful Money, & that William Haviland & Moses Sage pay the Workman, Mr. Rogers, their proper Share of the note given to said Rogers for the money due to him for building sd Mill.
SIMEON HATHAWAY, SAMUEL ROBINSON, Committee.
JONATHAN WALDO,
Cost of Committee Setting £4 10 0.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, Bennington June 17 1778. To [Lieut. ] Colo. Ebenezer Walbridge, Commissioner of Sequestration :
Sir,-You are hereby directed to give up the Deed you now have signed by William Haviland, unto the said William Haviland, on consideration of the said William Haviland giving a Deed to Moses Sage, of what part he has Granted him, by the Report of the Committee chosen for to settle that affair, & Also to make a deed to this State, ofone half of the remain- ing part of the Land improvements & Lands. You are also impowered and directed on your Tendering the money according to a former Judg- ment of the Grand Committee so called ' to Dispossess John Philips that is now on the premises on the first day of November next.
By order of Council, THOMAS CHITTENDEN, Gour.
complied literally with this provision of the Constitution. The words "General Assembly" have ever stood in Vermont as the title of the body having the legislative power of the State, and hence in the early history meant the House of Representatives alone. and in the later embraced the co-ordinate branches, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the Governor also, as his concurrence is asked in every act of leg- islation.
1 The Governor and Council and House of Representatives were ac- customed to meet together and consider some public matters, and such a meeting was called "the Grand Committee." in distinction from " the Joint Assembly " of the same bodies by which elections were made at a later date. The first constitution provided for neither the Grand Com- mittee nor the Joint Assembly, and they must have been resorted to originally for convenience in the dispatch of business. At the October session, 1778, the custom was adopted, by resolution of the House, " to join the Governor and Council in Committee of the Whole." June 9, 1778, the Assembly took into consideration Wm. Haviland's petition, and it is probable the decision was made in "Grand Committee." Possibly the name was originally given to the Council of Safety and the Governor and Council, when trying cases appealed from other Committees of Safety or Commissioners of Sequestration.
271
Governor and Council-June, 1778.
IN COUNCIL, Bennington June 17, 1778. To Nathaniel Robinson, Esqr .:
You are hereby Authorized & Impowered to settle with the Commit- tee appointed by a former County Committee in the County of Cumber- land to Lease the estate of Crean Brush (who is deserted over to the Enemy) and after allowing them a reasonable Reward for their Services, to receive the money arising from said Leasings, and pay the Same into the Treasury of this State.
By order of the Govr. & Council, THOMAS CIIANDLER, Jur., Sec'y.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, Bennington 18 June 1778. Whereas it has been represented to this Council that divers Books & other effects (formerly the property of Crean Brush 1 & others now with
1 CREAN BRUSHI was another of the notorious "Yorkers " and Tories who resided for some time in eastern Vermont. He was born in Dub- lin, Ireland, about 1725, was educated for the bar, but held a military office previous to his coming to America, (New York city,) about 1762. He there married his second wite, Margaret Montuzan, who was widow of a colonel in the British army, and mother of the second wife of Ethan Allen. Brush was first employed by the deputy secretary of the prov- ince of New York, Goldsbrow Banyar, and in 1764 was licensed as an attorney in all the king's courts in the province. It is supposed he be- came associated in this profession with John Kelly, who also figured in the Vermont records. In 1771 Brush removed to Westminster, and in Feb. 1772 he was appointed clerk of Cumberland County vice John Chandler removed, and surrogate in April. His main purpose in com- ing to Vermont was to sell his lands there, many thousand acres having been acquired by him through New York grants. He was a member of the N. Y. colonial (royal) assembly from Jan. 5, 1773, to its dissolution, April 3, 1775. In this body he proved himself to be an able, eloquent, and influential member, but excessively loyal and violent in his meas- ures against the Vermont whigs and adherents to the N. II. Grants. He wrote much for Rivington's Gazette, the tory organ in New York city, and his notoriety as a partisan scribbler was recognized in Trum- bull's McFingal:
Had I the Poet's brazen lungs, As sound-board to his hundred tongues, I could not half the scribblers muster That swarm round Rivington in cluster; Assemblies, councilmen, forsooth; Brush, Cooper, Wilkins, Chandler, Booth; Yet all their arguments and sap'ence You did not value at three half-pence.
Shortly after the commencement of the revolutionary war, Brush joined Gen. Gage at Boston, who employed him to remove and take charge of the property in the buildings which had been seized as winter quarters for the British officers and troops. Jan. 10, 1776, he wrote a
272
Governor and Council-June, 1778.
the Enemys of the United States of America) are now in the possession of John Church Esqr. of Charleston [Charlestown, N. H., ] & the Widow Mary Bellows of Walpole, [N. HI .. ] and Whereas we have understood that they are Willing to deliver said effects to any person properly au- thorized to receive the same, We do therefore constitute and appoint Paul Spooner Esgr. Commissioner to receive the same in behalf of this & the United States of America, & give his Rect. and to allow a reason- able compensation to said persons for their Trouble in storing & secur- ing the same, & make due returns of his doings hereon at the next ses- sions of Assembly to be holden at Windsor on the second thursday of October next. By order of the Governor & Council.
THOMAS CHANDLER, Jur., Sec'y.
BENNINGTON 18 June 1778.
To Lt. Colo. Walbridge:
Sir,-You are hereby ordered & directed to Take the Command of the men Draughted from Colo. Herricks Regiment consisting of one hundred and one men officers included and March them without delay to Rutland, within this State, & in conjunction with the Troops now at that place under the command of Capt. Brownson to guard the Frontiers in that quarter according to the best of your skill in war for & during the Term of Twenty days from your arrival at that place unless sooner discharged. Wishing you a good March am yours,
THOS. CHITTENDEN, Capt. Gl.
Colo. Ebenezer Walbridge.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, Bennington 18 June 1778.
Voted that Doctr Jonas Fay, Colo. Moses Robinson & Captain Ira Allen Esquires, be & they are hereby appointed a Committee to Inspect into the votes or doings of the several Conventions from- Together with the doings of the Council of Safety. (the present Council & house of Representatives.) and put them in Regular order, and Record them in Books for that purpose. 24 Voted that they be empowered to settle with the several Commissrs of Sequestration in the County of Bennington (& vendue Masters) and Reappoint them or others in their Room, and to copy necessary acts to be dilivered to the Committees.
June 24.
Sir,-Please to diliver to Sergeant Griswold as much Provisions as Two Tory Prisoners may want during their confinement under Guard. THOMAS CHITTENDEN, Gou'r.
To the Commissary of Issues, Bennington.
memorial asking the command of troops, and, specially to be noted, a body of three hundred men to be posted on Connecticut river and open a line of communication from thence westward towards lake Champlain. Nothing came of this, because Brush became entangled in the business of the goods taken by him, many of his seizures being simply robbery, under the color only of authority. He attempted to escape in a vessel, but was captured by the British, taken to Boston for trial on charges against him, and confined in jail from April 12 1776 until Nov. 15 1777, when he escaped, (by his wife personating him as prisoner.) and went to New York. He gained no favor there, not even from the British commander, and in May 1778 he " with a pistol, besmeared the Room with his Brains."-Eastern Vermont, pp. 603-633.
273
Governor and Council-July, August, 1778.
RECORD OF THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL
AT A
SPECIAL SESSIONS AT ARLINGTON, JULY 17 TO SEPT. 30, 1778.
ARLINGTON, 17 July 1778. STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, date above.
This Council having Taken into their Consideration the Petition of the Inhabitants of Shaftsbury Prefered by Bliss Willoughby, as also the petition of the Inhabitants of Bennington Prefered by Capt. John Fassett, setting forth the disetfection of the minds of the Petitioners oc- casioned by the appointment of a certain number of Commissioners by the General Assembly of this State, at the last Session in June last, & vesting such Commissioners with Power to Banish within the Enemies Lines such persons as discribed in the Instructions to such Commission- ers, refering to the above petitions & Instructions or act.1
And do thereupon Resolve. that it be & is hereby Recommended to the said Commissioners for the County of Bennington to dissist from any further Prosecutions by virtue of such appointment until the Rising of the Sessions of Assembly in October next, unless necessity in some par- ticular Instance or Instances should urge this Council (before that time) to recommend the Setting of said Commissioners to prosecute the busi- ness of their appointment, in which case it is hereby Recommended that any future Tryal be by Jury if Required.
M. LYON, D. Sec'y.
By order of Council, THIOS. CHITTENDEN.
ARLINGTON, July 18 1778. STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, date above.
Resolved that James Breakenidge, Ebenezer Cole & John McNeil, on Petition be & are hereby Required [reprieved] from their several senten- ces of Banishment passed on them by the Honble Court of Commission- ers appointed for that purpose by the General Assembly of this State, un- til the first day of September next.
By advice of Council,
M. LYON, D. Sec'y. THOS. CHITTENDEN.
IN COUNCIL, Arlington 22 Aug :. 1778.
Resolved that Jonas Fay, Benjamin Carpenter & Ira Allen Esgrs be appointed a Committee, & they or any two of them are hereby appointed & fully authorized to Aljust and Settle all the pay Rolls in Colo. Wil- liam Williams Regt of Militia for all past Services, when this State have
1 No record of any act authorizing "Commissioners" for such purpose is found in the Assembly journal for the June session ; but "Colo. Peter Olcott, Bezaleel Woodward Esqr., Majr Griswold, Patterson Piermont Esqr. and Majr Tyler" were appointed " Judges of the Superior Court for the banishment of tories" June 18 1778. Perhaps this court was authorized to appoint " Commissioners" in every section of the State.
274
Governor and Council-Aug. 29 to Sept. 30, 1778.
Resolved to give some pay, in addition to their Continental pay. They are also authorized to adjust & settle Capt. Levi Goodenoughs Pay Rolls for his services in Lt. Col. Samuel Herricks Regt of Rangers in the year 1777, & the Treasurer is hereby directed to pay the several Ballances that may be due on the same.
By order of Council, TIIOS. CHITTENDEN, Gov'r.
ARLINGTON, 29 August 1778. STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, date above.
Whereas James Breakenridge, Ebenezer Cole, & John McNiel all of this State have been Sentenced to Banishment within the Enemies Lines by the Court of Commissioners for that purpose : & for certain reasons have been reprieved until the It dav of September next, & they are here- by further reprieved until the Rising of the General Assembly at their Sessions in October next.
By order of Council, THOS. CHITTENDEN, GOU'T.
STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, Arlington 30 September 1778.
Major General Marsh is directed to order a muster of the Militia of the County of Cumberland Immediately, & return a State of the men, Armes, Ammunition, accoutrements &c .. to the Governor of this State.
Resolved that one hundred men be forthwith raised out of the Militia of the County of Bennington to reinforce the posts on the Northern Frontiers & that they continue in service until the first day of Decem- ber next unless sooner discharged.
ARLINGTON, 30 September 1778. STATE OF VERMONT. IN COUNCIL, date above.
Sir,-You are hereby Commanded to raise Seventy Able bodied effec- tive men of your Regiment (including officers) and to see that they be well Armed, & every way equiped, properly officered and to March to head Quarters in Rutland without the least delay where they will receive further orders. They will continue in Service until the It day of Decem- ber next (inclusive) unless sooner discharged.
THOMAS CHITTENDEN, Capt. Gen2. To Colo. Saml. Herrick.
Orders of the same Tenor & date Sent to Colonel Warren to raise thirty men in the Towns of Sandgate, Manchester, Dorset, Reupert, and Danbee.
Granted a Warrent to Arthur Elsworth as Q. Master, dated May 1t 1778.
At some meeting of the Governor and Council early in September 1778, in consequence of a letter from President Weare of New Hamp- shire to Governor Chittenden, dated Aug. 22, 1778, protesting against the union of New Hampshire towns with Vermont, ETHAN ALLEN Was requested to repair to Philadelphia and ascertain in what light these proceedings of Vermont were viewed by Congress. - See Slade's State Papers, p. 92.
THE SECOND COUNCIL,
OCTOBER 1778 TO OCTOBER 1779.
THOMAS CHITTENDEN, Williston. Governor. JOSEPH MARSH, Hartford, Lieutenant-Governor.
COUNCILLORS:
JOSEPH BOWKER. Rutland.
JACOB BAILEY, Newbury,
PETER OLCOTT, Norwich.
PAUL SPOONER, Hartland.
TIMOTHY BROWNSON, Sunderland, JONAS FAY, Bennington.
ELISHA PAYNE, Cardigan, [N.H.]1 BENJAMIN EMMONS, Woodstock.1
JOSEPH FAY, Bennington. Secretary .?
MATTHEW LYON, Arlington, Deputy-Secretary.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.8
On the 12th of March 1778. a committee, representing a Convention previously held at Hanover N. H., appeared before the General Assem- bly at Windsor, and asked for the admission to Vermont of the following New Hampshire towns, to wit : Cornish. Lebanon, Dresden,+ Lime, Or-
1 Col. PAYNE declined the office, and the Council appointed Mr. Ex- MOxs to fill the vacancy.
2 Mr. FAY did not qualify until Nov. 24.
3 For notices of all the members of the body, except Mr. PAYNE, see ante. pp. 115-129. 190. 235-241.
+ That part of Hanover owned by Dartmouth College. The above list is from Belknap's History of New Hampshire, and it seems to count Dres- den in the place of Hanover. The fact is, however, that Dresden and Hanover were both represented in the Vermont Assembly of October 1778, and instead of " sixteen" New Hampshire towns annexed to Ver- mont then, there were seventeen, if Dresden is counted as a town.
THOMAS MURDOCK, Norwich.
BENJAMIN CARPENTER, Guilford,
MOSES ROBINSON, Bennington.
JEREMIAH CLARK. Shaftsbury,
IRA ALLEN, Colchester,
- 276
The Second Council-Oct. 1778 to Oct. 1779.
ford, Piermont, Haverhill, Bath, Lyman, Apthorp. Enfield, Canaan, Cardi- gan, Landaff, Gunthwaite, and Morristown. At the October session of the General Assembly, 1778, Col. ELISHA PAYNE appeared as representa- tive from the town of Cardigan, and he was appointed chairman of the committee raised to canvass the votes for state officers and councillors. The report of that committee showed that Col. PAYNE had been elected councillor by the people. He continued to act as a member of the House, however, having declined to accept the office of councillor. The reason undoubtedly was that he would be much more useful in the Gen- eral Assembly in opposing the dissolution of the union with the six- teen New Hampshire towns, which be knew would be pressed. So par- ticular a notice of Col. PAYNE would not be given here, were it not for the facts that he was afterward a member of the body as lieutenant-gov- ernor in 1781, and a prominent figure in an exceedingly critical period of the history of the state. The estimate put upon his character and abilities was indicated by a vote of the Governor and Council. March 26, 1778. when JONAS FAY and JOSEPH MARSH were appointed " Delegates to Wait on the Honble Continental Congress." The record adds: " Like- wise voted to invite Col. ELISHA PAYNE to accompany the above per- sons for the purposes Above Written."
Col. PAYNE next appeared in a Convention of forty-three towns, which met at Charlestown, N. H., on the 16th of Jan. 1781, by which he was appointed one of a committee of twelve to prepare business. Jan. 18, this committee made an elaborate report for an union in one state of all the New Hampshire Grants west of " the Mason patent :"1 which was ac- companied by a resolution to appoint a committee of twelve to wait on the General Assembly of Vermont. Col. PAYNE was designated as one of that committee. The Convention then adjourned to meet at Cornish, N. H., on the first Wednesday of February succeeding. so as to have
Dresden is, of course, now included in Hanover. and seems never to have been recognized as a separate town by New Hampshire. As that state numbered the towns, there were sixteen in the union, and the Ver- mont records correspond to that enumeration.
1 This patent, granted March 9, 1621, and NEW HAMPSHIRE, granted Nov. 1 [or 7], 1629, extended to the head only of Merrimac river, or to the present town of Franklin. In 1653, a committee appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts fixed the most northerly part of the Merrimac at the outlet of lake Winnepiseogee .- See Belknap's New Hampshire, vol. I. p. 87. This fixed the western boundary of the Mason patent on the river at the present town of Franklin at the confluence of the Winnepiseogee and Pemigewasset rivers. This Convention claimed, for all the grantees west of that limit, the right to form a state indepen- dent both of New York and New Hampshire .- See Vt. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. II, p. xxvii, and proceedings of the Charlestown Convention of Jan. 16, 1781.
277
The Second Council-Oct. 1778 to Oct. 1779.
convenient access to the Vermont Assembly, which was to be in session at that time in Windsor. IRA ALLEN stated that this committee first agreed to report in favor of annexing all the New Hampshire Grants (the territory lying between Connecticut river and Lake Champlain.) to New Hampshire; but that, on assurances made by him on the authority of the Governor and Council, the report was changed, and made to con- form to the foregoing statement, and as it is printed in the record of the Charlestown Convention.1
Feb. 10, 1781, Col. PAYNE addressed the General Assembly, as the organ of the before-named committee, asking for union with Vermont; and he continued so to act until the union was consummated, April 5, 1781. The representatives of thirty-five New Hampshire towns took their seats in the General Assembly of Vermont on the next day. Col. PAYNE then took his seat for Lebanon, in which town he resided until his death. His house still stands, near the outlet of Mascomy pond.
At the September election, 1781. there was no election of lieutenant- governor by the people, and Col. PAYNE was elected, on the 12th of Oc- tober, by the Governor and Council " in conjunction with the Assem- bly;" and on the 26th he attended and was duly qualified. At the same session he was elected chief judge of the supreme court; and on the 10th of January 1782 he was appointed a delegate to Congress. One of the last recorded acts of the Council at that session was the appointment of " his honor Elisha Payne, Esquire, Lt. Governor, Bezaleel Woodward, Esqr .. General Ethan Allen, John Fassett, [jr.,] Esq., and Matthew Lyon, a committee to make a draught of the Political affairs of this State to be published." Dec. 14th, 1781, Gov. Chittenden as Captain-General ordered Lieut. Gov. PAYNE as Major-General to call out all the militia in eastern Vermont, if need be, to resist any forcible attempt of New Hampshire to regain jurisdiction over the annexed towns. He was " ordered to repel force by force." In consequence of this, Lieut. Gov. PAYNE addressed the President of New Hampshire, Dec. 21, in the spirit of Gov. Chittenden's order, and of course in terms so firm and yet so con- ciliatory that peace was preserved. A copy of the governor's order had been, by Ira Allen's ingenuity, sent quickly and surely to President Weare, and it delayed an intended military movement. Lt. Gov. P.'s assur- ance, that he would execute that order if necessary, undoubtedly con- firmed the decision of the New Hampshire Council against civil war .- See I. Allen's History, in Vt. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. I, pp. 443-448.
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