Smith. The successful candidate was of the same political faith as Lyon, and the entire Congressional delegation was anti-Federalist. Israel Smith was born in Sheffield, Conn., in 1759. He was graduated from Yale College in 1781 and in 1783 came to Rupert, where he was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the Legislature in 1785 and in 1788-90, and soon became prominent in State affairs. He was a member of the commission that settled the controversy with New York and a delegate to the convention that ratified the United States Constitution. He had removed to Rutland the same year in which he was elected to Congress. Later he served the State as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, United States Senator and Governor. An act was passed by the Legislature in 1791, levying a tax of a half-penny per acre on all lands in the State in order to raise the sum of $30,000 to be paid to New York by Vermont, in accordance with the agreement relative to the relinquishment of New York's claims to lands in this State. This sum was not easily raised. The people were poor and there was a scarcity of money in circulation. Vermont being unable to pay the whole amount at the time agreed upon, the New York Legislature extended the time of payment. When the greater part of the $30,000 had been paid, Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and Abraham Van Vechten were appointed commissioners to decide all claims made by citizens of New York to a share of this fund. Many claims were filed, the aggregate amount far exceeding the amount stipulated in the agreement. It was not until April 23, 1799, that the commissioners made their report, which allowed seventy-six claims. The largest amounts were paid as follows: Goldsbrow Banyar, $7,218.94; Samuel Avery, $2,655.03; the heirs of James Duane, $2,621.29; William Cockburne, $1,495.95; Simon Metcalf's estate, $1,417.47; Brooke Watson, $1,197.76; William Smith, $1,181.69; John Plenderleaf, $1,096.68. The first census report, as subsequently corrected, gave Vermont a population of 85,425. Rhode Island, Delaware, Kentucky and Georgia ranked below Vermont in total number of inhabitants at this time. The population by counties was as follows: Addison, 6,420; Bennington, 12,206; Chittenden, 7,287; Orange, 10,526; Rutland, 15,590; Windham, 17,572; Windsor, 15,740. More than one-third of the population of the State was in the counties of Windham and Windsor, and together with Bennington and Rutland counties, comprising the southern portion of the State, they contained more than three-fourths of the population of Vermont. The most populous town was Guilford, with a population of 2,422. Other towns containing a population of more than 1,000 as shown by the first census, were as follows: Bennington, 2,350; Shaftsbury, 1,990; Putney, 1,848; Pownal, 1,732; Hartland, 1,652; Westminster, 1,599; Woodstock, 1,597; Brattleboro, 1,589; Windsor, 1,542; Dummerston, 1,490; Clarendon, 1,480; Rutland, 1,417; Manchester, 1,278; Halifax, 1,209; Danby, 1,206; Norwich, 1,158; Weathersfield, 1,146; Poultney, 1,120; Springfield, 1,097; Rupert, 1,034. The character of the population is shown by the fact that approximately 81,200 persons were of English origin and 2,600 were of Scotch extraction, these two racial elements comprising more than 98 per cent of the total population of the State at the time of its admission to the Union. Soon after Vermont became a State, Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, and James Madison, then a member of Congress from Virginia, visited Bennington. They had travelled about four hundred miles and expected to travel four hundred and fifty miles further before the end of their journey. They had visited the scene of General Burgoyne's surrender, the sites of the well known forts, William Henry, George, Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the battlefield of Bennington. Jefferson's keenness of observation is shown in a letter written to Thomas Mann Randolph, in which he describes the trees, shrubs and flowers in the vicinity of Bennington. Among the trees, either rare or unknown in Virginia, he mentions the sugar maple "in vast abundance." The letter says: "From the highlands to the lakes it is a limestone country. It is in vast quantities on the eastern side of the lakes, but none on the western sides." This "limestone country" is now the most famous marble region in the world. Jefferson also referred to a small red squirrel, generally about six inches in length, with a black stripe on each side, "in such abundance on Lake Champlain, particularly, as that twenty odd were killed at the house we lodged in opposite Crown Point the morning we arrived there without going ten yards from the door." Several were killed while the party was crossing the lake. It is evident that the distinguished visitors lodged at Chimney Point, opposite Crown Point, and presumably at the old inn, still used (1921) for the entertainment of summer visitors, a part of which was built some time before the American Revolution. Jefferson and Madison arrived at Bennington on Saturday evening, June 4, on their way to Connecticut, remaining over Sunday. That they made a good impression is evident from the comment of the Vermont Gazette, which says, in describing the visit: "They expressed great satisfaction with the country through which they had passed on their tour, and, from the affability and polite attention they paid the citizens of Bennington, and doubtless those of the different places they visited, on their route, it is reasonably to be presumed they not only ingratiated themselves deeply with the discerning, but obtained unreservedly the sentiments of the people, and secured to themselves a fund of political knowledge which cannot fail to render them more essentially serviceable to their country. "They attended public worship on the Sabbath and left town before sunrise the next morning. Examples like these bespeak the gentlemen of good breeding, and the man of business, and are worthy of imitation by all ranks and descriptions of men in our republic." Jefferson, himself, states, however, in his letter to Thomas Mann Randolph, that their stay in Bennington was prolonged because the laws of the State did not permit the tourists to travel on Sunday. Vermont had now complied with all the formalities. required by the laws and the Constitution and had be come a State of the American Union with all the privi |