CHAPTER XIII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS

AND VERMONT.-CONTINUED.

was

Col. TIMOTHY CHURCH of Brattleboro quite a prominent adherent to New York in Cumberland County. He was among the 44 arrested by Ethan Allen and his posse in 1779, and was then tried, convicted and fined in the sum of twenty-five pounds. He was commissioned Lieut. Colonel by Gov. Clinton, for his service and resistance to Vermont authority; he was arrested, indicted, tried and convicted of treason against the State, banished and his property confiscated. On petition, he was pardoned by an Act of the General Assembly in Feb. 1783, the preamble of which Act, set "forth his sincere and hearty penitence and determination to behave orderly and submissive in case of pardon.

MAJ. JONATHAN HUNT in Nov. 1775, was recommended to New York as second Colonel of the lower regiment in Cumberland County, but he declined it. In 1777, he was Town Clerk of Hinsdale (now Vernon) and was a New York sympathizer. In 1780, he was one of the leading Yorkers who instituted measures for forming a new State comprising territory lying between the Mason line in

New Hampshire and the ridge of Green Mountains, and seemed to favor the interest of Vermont, for he accepted the office of sheriff of Windham County June 15, 1781, and represented Vernon in the General Assembly in 1783, and was elected Councillor from 1786 to 1794 inclusive; he was elected Lieut. Gov. October 10, 1794, in joint Assembly, and reelected by the people in 1795; he was a member of the Vermont Convention of 1791, which adopted the United States Constitution, and died June 1, 1823, at the age of 85 years. Hon. Jonathan Hunt, M. C., from Vermont in 1827, was his son.

EBENEZER WALBRIDGE was born in Norwich, Conn., Jan. 1, 1738, and came to Bennington about 1765. Previous to 1780, he had served in Canada as Lieut. in Warner's Green Mountain regiment, and Adjutant in the Battle of Bennington and in 1778, was made Lieut. Colonel of Vermont militia in 1780. He was one of those who was intrusted with the secret of Haldimand negotiations. In Dec. 1781, he commanded the forces of Vermont before whom the New York militia retreated, and later was elected Brigadier General; he represented Bennington in 1778 and 1780, and Councillor ten years from October 1786, to October 1796. He died October 3, 1819. His genealogy has been traced back to the Walbridges of Suffolk County, England. He was an enterprising business man and one of those who erected the first paper mill in Vermont in 1784.

SAMUEL MATTOCKS came from Hartford, Conn., to Tinmouth, Vt., in 1778, and represented that town from 1781 to 1785. In 1785, he was a mem

ber of the Council, and in 1783 to 1788, and again in 1794, he was Assistant Judge of Rutland County Court, and elected Chief Judge in 1788; he was State Treasurer from 1786, until 1800, and a member of the Council of Censors in 1792. He was constantly in public office for twenty years.

NATHANIEL NILES was a clergyman of considerable note. He was born in South Kingston, R. I., April 3, 17+1, and was a collegiate. He studied law, medicine, and theology, and settled in Fairlee (now West Fairlee) in 1779; he was also an inventor and succeeded in discovering a process of making wire from bar-iron by water power; he also invented and manufactured wool-cards. He was a poet and published the Ode entitled the American Hero, which was regarded as "one of the finest and most popular productions of the war" of the Revolution. It was set to music and sung in the churches and religious assemblies of New England and became the war song of the soldiers. From 1784, until 1815, he was constantly in the service of the public as Town Representative, State Councillor, member of the Council of Censors, delegate in Constitutional Conventions, member of Congress, and Judge of the Supreme Court.

THOMAS PORTER came to Tinmouth from Connecticut in 1779, and held several important offices; Representative of Tinmouth in the General Assembly, a member of the Council, Speaker of the House, Judge of Rutland County Court. His public service in Vermont embraced 17 years; he was a man of estimable character and good talents,

and died at Granville, N.Y., August 1833, at the age of 99 years.

SAMUEL SAFFORD was born at Norwich Conn. April 14, 1737, and was one of the early settlers of Bennington, and actively engaged in the defence of the State through the long and bitter contest with New York. From 1775, to 1807, he was constantly employed in public service both civil and military. He held at different times the position of Major and Lieut. Colonel in Warner's regiment, and was in the battle of Hubbardton and Bennington; he was a delegate in most of the Conventions, and represented Bennington in General Assembly in 1781 and 1782; he was Councillor from 1782, to 1805, and 26 years Chief Judge of Bennington County Court. He was one of those who was cognizant of the Haldimand negotiation, but his patriotism was never questioned. He was a member of the Congregational church after 1804, till his death March 3, 1813.

EBENEZER ALLEN was born at Northampton, Mass., October 17, 1743, and was a descendant of Matthew Allen who came to New England in 1632, with Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford. He was appointed Lieutenant in Warner's regiment 1775, and Captain, Aug. 25, 1777. He was a member of the Board of War in 1779; and Maj. of Rangers and Colonel of Militia in 1780. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Bennington, and particularly so by a night attack with a party of men on Mount Defiance, and in its capture in September 1777, and in the capture of fifty of the rear guard of the enemy on their retreat from Ticonderoga at

that time. He was a brave and successful partisan leader. He settled in Poultney in 1777, and removed to Tinmouth and represented that town in the several Conventions in 1776 and 1777. He removed to South Hero in 1783, which town he represented four years in the General Assembly, and moved to Burlington in 1800, where he died March 26, 1806.

ASA BALDWIN was the first Town Clerk of Dorset. He came from New York and was a strict Churchman and a Royalist. He with his brother Thomas and others were under arrest and dealt with by the Council of Safety, for their disloyal conduct but on the application of Captain Abraham Underhill, on their taking the oath of Fidelity to the United States of America and dispensing with the loss they had sustained to atone for their past folly, were accepted as friends and citi

zens.

COL. TIMOTHY BEDEL was Colonel of New Hampshire Rangers in the Canada Campaign of 1775, and had seen considerable military service. When the first union of New Hampshire towns with Vermont had been effected Bedel's regiment fell within the jurisdiction of Vermont, and a part of his regiment by vote of the General Assembly and the advice of the Council, were ordered sent to . guard the frontiers on the West side of the mountain. He was one of the persons with whom Gen. Haldimand attempted to communicate in the spring 1782. The interview failed because Bedel said "he was watched." He was one of the Vermont Board of War in 1781.