USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. By Hiland Hall > Part 48
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tion of the province, where he had a very narrow escape from arrest and execution as a spy. Mr. Lossing gives the following account of the ad- venture. "His. errand being suspected, a large bounty was offered for his head. He was obliged to conceal himself, and while doing so at one time in a bush heap, he was taken dangerously ill. Hunger and disease made him venture to a log cabin in sight. As he approached he heard three men and a woman conversing on the subject of the reward for his head, and discovered that they were actually forming plans for his capture. The men soon left the cabin in pursuit of him, and he immediately crept into the presence of the woman, who was the wife of one of the men, frankly told her his name and asked her protection. That she kindly promised, and gave him some nourishing food and a bed to rest upon. The men returned in the course of a few hours, and she concealed Cochran in a cupboard, where he overheard expressions of their confident anticipations that before another sun they would have the rebel spy, and claim the re- ward. They refreshed themselves and set off again in quest of him. The kind woman directed liim to a place of concealment some distance from her cabin, where she fed and nourished him until he was able to travel, and then he escaped beyond the British lines. Several years afterwards, when the war had closed, the colonel lived at Ticonderoga, and there he acci- dentally met his deliverer, and rewarded her handsomely for her generous fidelity in the cause of suffering humanity." In September, 1778, Maj. Cochran was in command of Fort Schuyler, and he was in active and reputable service on the Mohawk frontier during the remainder of the war, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1780. Like most of the pat- riotic officers of the revolution, he came out of the contest in poverty. On the occasion of the separation of the officers of the army at Newburgh, in 1783, the following anecdote of Baron Steuben and Maj. Cochran is related in the life of the former, found in Sparks's American Biography. " On the day that the officers separated, the Baron's attention was directed to Col. Cochran, whose countenance showed marks of deep distress. Steuben said what he could to comfort him, but with little effect. 'For myself,' said Cochran, ' I care not ; I can stand it. But my wife and daugh- ters are in the garret of that wretched tavern. I know not where to carry them, nor have I the means for their removal.' 'Come,' was the answer, ' I will pay my respects to Mrs. Cochran and your daughters, if you please.' Maj. North says he followed the party to the loft, and that when the Baron left the unhappy family, he left hope with them, and all that he had to give."
After the war Col. Cochran resided at Ticonderoga, and lastly at Sandy Hill. He died at the latter place, and was buried at Fort Edward. His remains are near the grave of the lamented Jane McCrea, who was so inhumanly murdered by Burgoyne's Indians in 1777. In Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, at page 102 of volume 1, is a representation of his tomb stone, with the following inscription : "In Memory of Col. Robert Cochran who died July 3, 1812, in the 74th year of his age; a Revolu- tionary officer."
My authorities for this sketch, besides those mentioned in the body of the work in connection with the name of Cochran, are Hall's Eastern Vt., 225, 226, 236. Petitions of Cochran to Gov. Clinton for land in 1797, in
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Assembly Papers at Albany, vol. 14, p. 513. American Archives, vol. 6, p. 941; vol. 1, p. 712, and vol. 3, p. 202, 577, 614, 314, 814. Lossing's Pic- torial Field Book of the Revolution, vol. 1, p. 102. Stevens's Papers, vol. 3, p. 715, 721, 870. Slade, 213. Stone's Life of Brant, vol. 1, p. 357, note on 404; vol. 2, p. 148, 149. Annals of Tryon County, p. 122, 160. Sparks's American Biography, vol. 9, p. 76.
Cadwallader Colden, so often mentioned in this work, was of Scotch parentage and born in Ireland in February, 1688. He came first to Phila- delphia and afterwards in 1718, to New York, became a member of the provincial council in 1722, and soon afterwards surveyor general of the province. From the year 1761, he acted as chief magistrate of the colony at different periods, by virtue of his office of lieutenant governor, for a large portion of the tinie until the beginning of the revolution, during which time he amassed a large fortune in the business of issuing land patents. To his exertions more than those of any other individual, was owing the transfer of the jurisdiction of the present territory of Vermont from New Hampshire to New York ; and he was the first to inaugurate the unjust and oppressive policy of regranting the lands which had been included in the previous charters of New Hampshire. Lieut. Gov. Colden was a man of considerable learning and talent, and doubtless rendered many valuable services to the colony. He was a tory of the deepest dye, but his fortune was saved to his descendants by his decease prior to the passage of the New York attainder acts. His death took place at his residence on Long Island, September 21, 1776. He was the author of several valuable works, the most noted of which is the History of the Fire Nations of Indians, first published in 1727.
The Rev. Jedediah Dewey, was the first minister of Bennington and was settled there in the fall of 1763. He had the honor of being in- dicted as a rioter by the court at Albany, though he was never engaged in any riotous proceeding. He is said in the New York Narrative of 1773, to have advocated in town meeting forcible resistance to the execution of the judgments of the New York courts in the ejectment suits, which was probably the case. In 1772 he held a correspondence in behalf of the settlers with Gov. Tryon, with a view to an adjustment of the land controversy, but without any favorable result. He died much regretted, December 24, 1778, after a prosperous pastorate of fifteen years.
Lord Dunmore, administered the government of New York under the crown, from the 19th of October, 1770, till the 9th of July, 1771, during which time he was able to amass a handsome fortune in money from the fees of office, and to acquire a claim to a large quantity of lands granted by himself, fifty-one thousand acres of which, were on the New Hamp- shire Grants. He was a greedy, unprincipled Scotch tory, and died in England in 1809. See more about him, ante pages 100-103.
John Fassett, was one of the nine or ten persons who were first concerned in the Canada negotiation of 1781. His name is attached to he two certificates given to Ira Allen, approving of the part he had tak en
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in endeavoring to prevent Gen. Haldimand from invading the state. He was born in Hardwick, Mass., June 3, 1743, and came to Bennington with his father, John Fassett senior, in 1761, and removed to Cambridge, Vt., in 1784, where he died. He was a member of the state council from 1779 until 1796, with the exception of the years 1785 and 1786, and a judge of the supreme court for eight years from 1778. He had numerous influen- tial family connections, who with himself were well known for their attachment to the cause of their country, and it would have been extremely difficult to make any person who knew him believe that he could ever have been influenced by any other than patriotic motives. This may also be said of the other persons who were associated with him in approv- ing the Haldimand negotiation.
Dr. Jonas Fay, was born at Hardwick, Mass., January 17th, 1737, and removed to Bennington, in 1766. He occupied from an early day a prominent position among the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, as well in the contest with New York as in that with the mother country, and also in the organization of the state government. In 1772, when Gov. Tryon invited the people of Bennington and its vicinity to send agents to New York to inform him the grounds of their complaint, he with his father Stephen Fay, was appointed for that purpose. He was clerk to the convention of settlers that met in March, 1774, and resolved to defend by force Allen, Warner and the others who were threatened with outlawry and death by the New York assembly, and as such clerk, certified their proceedings for publication. At the age of nineteen he had served in the French war during the campaign of 1756 at Fort Edward and Lake George, as clerk of Capt. Samuel Robinson's company of Massachusetts troops, and he served as surgeon in the expedition under Allen at the capture of Ticonderoga. He was continued in that position after the Green Mount- ain Boys were relieved by the arrival of Col. Elmore's Connecticut regi- ment, and he was appointed by the Massachusetts committee who were sent to the lake in July, 1775, to muster the troops as they arrived for the defence of that post. He was also surgeon for a time in Col. Warner's regiment.
In January, 1776, lie was clerk to the convention at Dorset that peti- tioned congress to be allowed to serve in the common cause of the coun- try as inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants and not under New York, and also of the convention which was held at the same place in July following. He with Thomas Chittenden, Reuben Jones, Jacob Bay- ley and Heman Allen were appointed by the convention which declared the state independent in January, 1777, delegates to prepare and present to congress a declaration and petition announcing the fact and the reasons for it, of which declaration Dr. Fay was the author and draughtsman. He was secretary to the convention that formed the constitution of the state in July, 1777, and was one of the council of safety then appointed to ad- minister the affairs of the state until the assembly provided for by the constitution should meet ; was a member of the state council for seven years from 1778, a judge of the supreme court in 1782, judge of probate for five years from 1782, and he attended the continental congress as agent of the state on not less than four different occasions, from 1777 to 1782.
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Dr. Fay was a man of extensive general information, decided in his opinions and bold and determined in maintaining them. His education was such as to enable him to draw with skill and ability, the public papers of the period in which he was in active life, of many of which besides the declaration of independence before mentioned, he was the reputed author. He was on terms of friendship and intimacy with Gov. Thomas Chitten- den, the Allens, Warner and the other founders of the state. Dr. Fay resided in Bennington, in the practice of his profession, when not in the public service, from 1766 until after the year 1800, when he removed to Charlotte for a few years, and afterwards to Pawlet, but returned again to Bennington, where he died March 6, 1818. He was twice married and has left numerous descendants.
Joseph Fay, son of Stephen and brother of Jonas Fay, was born in Hardwick, about 1752, and came to Bennington a member of his father's family in 1766. He was secretary of the council of safety and perhaps also a member of that body in 1777, and secretary of the state council from 1778 till 1784. He was the associate of Ira Allen in conducting the fa- mous negotiation with Gen. Haldimand, by which the operations of the enemy were paralyzed and the northern frontier protected from invasion during the last three years of the revolutionary struggle. His talents and acquirements were very respectable, and possessing a fine personal ap- pearance and agreeable manners and address, he was well calculated to manage such a diplomatic adventure with adroitness and ability. He removed from Bennington to New York city, where he died of the yellow fever in 1803. He married in early life a daughter of the Rev. Jedediah Dewey, the first minister of Bennington, of whom Theodore S. Fay of literary distinction, and late minister of the United States to Switzerland, is a grandson.
General Samuel Fletcher was born at Grafton, Mass., in 1745, settled in Townshend prior to 1775, was in the battle of Bunker hill, was a captain in the militia in 1776, was at Ticonderoga with his company when it was abandoned by St. Clair in 1777, became a major and con- tinued in the service until after the capture of Burgoyne. In 1781, he was chosen by the assembly of the state a brigadier general, and he afterwards became major general. He took an active part in the formation of the new state of Vermont, was a member from Townshend of the conventions of October 30th, 1776, and January 15, 1777, and was a member of the assembly 1778 and 1776; and in 1780 he became one of the council, which office he held for nine years. In 1788 he was chosen sheriff of the county of Windham, and continued in that office for eighteen years in succession. He was also judge of the county court for four years. He was much respected for liis courage, integrity and business capacity; and liis man- ners were peculiarly pleasant and agreeable. He died at Townshend September 15, 1814. One of his daughters was the mother of Epaphiro- ditus Ransom, who became governor of Michigan. For further in regard to Gen. Fletcher, see Hull's Eastern Vermont, p. 640, and Thompson's Gazetteer, Townshend.
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Col. Samuel Herrick was an active and prominent man in the early military affairs of the state. He came to Bennington about the year 1768, but left the town and state soon after the close of the revolutionary war, removing to Springfield, Montgomery county, New York, and notli- ing is known of his previous or subsequent life. He served as captain at the taking of Ticonderoga in 1775, and on the evacuation of that post by St. Clair in 1777, he was appointed colonel of a regiment of rangers raised by the Vermont council of safety. In the battle of Bennington at the head of the few rangers then enlisted and a body of local militia as a separate detachment, he led the attack on the rear of Baum's right, and was distinguished for his bravery and skill in both engagements of that day. Gordon, in his history, in giving an account of the battle, speaks of " the superior military skill" of Colonels Warner and Herrick, as being of great service to Gen. Stark. Col. Herrick was subsequently in command of the south-western regiment of militia of the state, and in that capacity as well as in command of his corps of rangers was in active service in several occasions during the war.
Stephen Jacob, who was one of the commissioners named in the act of the Vermont legislature of 1789, for adjusting thie controversy with New York, was a native of Connecticut, and graduated at Yale College in 1778. On the 16th of August, 1778, the first anniversary of the battle of Bennington, he attended a celebration of the victory in that town, and read a patriotic poem, in honor of the event. It is still extant and has consid- erable merit. He afterwards settled in Windsor in the practice of law, represented the town in the assembly for several years and was a judge of the Supreme Court, for four years from 1803. He died at Windsor in February, 1817, at the age of 61. Noah Smith, a classmate of Mr. Jacob, and who afterwards also became a judge of the Supreme Court, delivered an address at the above named celebration of the battle of Bennington in 1778, which it still preserved.
Dr. Reuben Jones was an active and prominent whig in the carly period of the revolution, and was also earnestly engaged in tlie organiza- tion of the state, and in maintaining its independence. That he was a man of intelligence, is proved by his Relation of the Proceedings of the People of the County of Cumberland and Province of New York, connected with the Westminster Massacre. At the meeting of the committees of Cumber- land and Gloucester counties held at Westminster, the 11tli of April, 1775, for the purpose of devising means to resist the progress of oppression, Dr. Jones served as clerk, and he was often chosen to similar positions on other important occasions. He was a delegate from Rockingham to the conven- tions held at Dorset, on the 25th of September, and the 30th of October, 1776, and also in that at Westminster, the 15th of January, 1777, which declared the state independent. At this convention lie was chosen one of the agents to present the declaration and petition for a new state to the Continental congress, and his name is appended to such declaration, with those of Jonas Fay, Thomas Chittenden, and Heman Allen. He represented the town of Rockingham in the general assembly in 1778, 1779 and 1780, and was a representative from Chester in 1781. Neither the time or place
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of his birth or death has been ascertained. Slade, p. 55, 60, 66, 68, 70. Hall's Eastern Vt., 753, 754.
John Taber Kempe, one of the leading antagonists of the carly settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, was attorney general of the pro- vince of New York from 1758 to the revolutionary period, when he ad- hered to the crown, and was attainted and his property confiscated. He was proprietor under the New York title of one-third of the grant of Princetown, covering lands in Arlington, Sunderland and Manchester, and also of other lands on the New Hampshire Grants, to a large, but an un- known extent. He was associated with Duane in the prosecution of the ejectment suits against the settlers, of which an account has already been given. He went to England after the close of the war.
Sir Henry Moore was governor of New York from November 12th, 1765, to the time of his death, which occurred September 11, 1769. He made few grants of land that were troublesome to the New Hampshire settlers, and so far as is known neglected to make large grants for his own personal benefit, which can scarcely be said of any other New York governor. For further in regard to him see ante page 83-97, also Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. 3, p. 584-608, and Col. Ilist. N. Y., vol. 8, p. 197, note.
John Munro, who for several years was very troublesome to the New Hampshire settlers, was a Scotchman, an agent of Duane and Kempe, a New York justice of the peace, and resided in Shaftsbury within a few rods of the New York line. After the year 1772, the threats of the Green Mountain Boys appear to have kept him quiet. But on the approach of Burgoyne in 1777 he joined the enemy, and his personal property in Vermont was confiscated. It appears from a long and very melancholy letter, which he wrote to his friend Duane, dated at Springfield in Decem- ber, 1786, that he was then on his return to Canada from England where he had been prosecuting his claims on the British government for his ser- vices and losses as a loyalist ; but that the greater part of his claim had been rejected, because of " the New Hampshire claims covering the most part of his property." It would seem from this letter that the English commissioners did not consider the New York grants as constituting a valid title against those of New Hampshire. The letter further stated that in consequence of such rejection of his claim he was returning to his family "penniless, without money, friends or interest," and he appealed strongly to his old friend and employer for sympathy and aid, with what success is unknown. Munro's letter to Mr. Duane, Dec. 24, 1786.
Elijah Paine, was one of the commissioners named in the act of the Ver- mont legislature in October, 1789, for adjusting the controversy with New York. He was a graduate of Harvard College in 1781, and was a senator in congress for six years from 1795. In 1801, he was appointed by Presi- dent Adams, judge of the district court of Vermont, which office he held until his death, which occured at Williamstown, Vt., April 21, 1842. As a judge and citizen he was much respected. He was father of Charles Paine, who was governor of Vermont in 1841 and 1842.
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Moses Robinson, son of Samuel, senior, was born March 26, 1741, married Mary daughter of Stephen Fay, and after her death Susannah Howe, and died at Bennington, May 26, 1813. He was the first town clerk of Bennington, chosen in March, 1762, and held the office nineteen years. Hc became colonel of the militia, and was with his regiment at Mount Independence on its evacuation by St. Clair, in 1777; and was a member of tlic famous council of safety that carried the new state successfully through the bloody campaign of that year. On the first organization of the supreme court in 1778, he was appointed chief justice, which office he held until 1789, when he became governor of the state for one year. He was also a member of the state council for seven years. He was one of the first senators elected to congress from this state in 1791, which office at the expiration of about five years, he resigned in 1795. He was one of the tried friends of the state and country, who in 1781, with Thomas Chitten- den, Samuel Safford, Jonas Fay, Joseph Fay, Samuel Robinson, Timothy Brownson, and Jolin Fassett, certified their approval of the conduct of Ira Allen, in preventing the invasion of the state from Canada, by making the commanding general believe that the people were about to return to their allegiance to the king. No person who was acquainted with this band of patriots, would think of accusing them of motives unfriendly to the cause of the country.
Samuel Robinson, Senior, was the pioneer settler of the town- ship of Bennington in 1761, and agent of the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants in 1766, to present their petition to the king for relief against the government of New York. So much has been said of him in the body of this work that.little remains to be added. (See chapter IX.) He was born at Cambridge, Mass., in 1705, removed to Hardwick in 1735, from which place lic emigrated to Bennington. He had served with reputation for not less than three campaigns in the French war, as captain, and was at the head of his company in the battle of Lake George in September 1755, when the French were defeated. He was commissioned a justice of the peace by Gov. Wentworth, February 8, 1762, being the first person appointed to a judicial office within the limits of the state. He left for England late in the year 1766, and died in London of the small-pox, in October 27, 1767. Of his high character and commendable and partially successful efforts in England, a full account has been given in the text. He left six sons and three daughters, all born at Hardwick, all of whom became heads of families and all of them have numerous descendants. The names of the children were Leonard, Samuel, Moses, Silas, Marcy, Sarah, David, Jonathan and Anne. Marcy, the eldest daughter, married Joseph Safford, brother of Gen. Samuel Safford; Sarah married Benjamin Fay, son of Stephen, and Anne married Isaac Webster. Of the sons, Leonard and Silas, after the war removed from Bennington to Franklin county, where they died. David became United States marshal of the district of Vermont, and Jonathan, chief judge of the supreme court and senator in congress, and both died in Bennington. The other two sons were active public men during the period of which this work treats, and of them separate notices are given.
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Col. Samuel Robinson, son of Samuel senior, was born August 15, 1738, and died at Bennington, May 3, 1813. He was active in the early New York controversy, and he commanded a company of militia in the battle of Bennington, was " overseer of tories," a member of the board of war and held various other honorable and responsible offices both civil and military, during the revolutionary period. Col. Robinson possessed good natural abilities, was enterprising, upright and honorable, was noted for his unflinching courage, and beloved for the kindness, generosity and nobleness of his nature and conduct. He was one of the eight per- sons, who in 1781, certified in writing their approval of the efforts of Ira Allen, to prevent the invasion of the state by finesseing with Gen. Haldi- mand. His patriotism was never doubted.
Samuel Safford, was born at Norwich, Conn., April 14, 1737; was one of the early settlers in Bennington, and died there March 13, 1813. When the committees of the several towns met at Dorset in 1775, to nomi- nate officers for the battalion of Green Mountain Boys, recommended by congress, he was named as major under Warner, and he served in the corps with him in Canada. When Warner's continental regiment was raised in 1776, he was commissioned by congress its lieutenant colonel and served as such, in the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington and through- out the war. In June, 1781, he was chosen a brigadier general of the militia; he represented Bennington several years in the general assembly, was one of the state council, and for twenty-six successive years, ending in 1807, he was chief judge of the county court for Bennington county. He was upright and intelligent, of sound judgment and universally re- spected. He was concerned with Chittenden and others in the Canada negotiations, and his patriotism was never questioned.
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