Lieutenant Paul Brigham Preceded by None Lieutenant Peter Olcott Name Thomas Chittenden | Preceded by Moses Robinson Succeeded by Paul Brigham Lieutenant Joseph Marsh Children Martin Chittenden | |
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Preceded by Himself as Governor of the Vermont Republic Role Former Governor of Vermont Died August 25, 1797, Williston, Vermont, United States Previous office Governor of Vermont (1791–1797) Similar People Jim Douglas, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin | ||
Thomas Chittenden (January 6, 1730 – August 25, 1797) was the first governor of the state of Vermont, serving from 1778 to 1789, when Vermont was a largely unrecognized independent state, called the Vermont Republic, and again after a year out of office, from 1790 until his death. During his first term after his return to office, Vermont was admitted to the Union as the 14th state.
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Early life
Chittenden was born in East Guilford in the Colony of Connecticut on January 6, 1730. He married Elizabeth Meigs on October 4, 1749, in Salisbury, Connecticut. The couple had four sons and six daughters while they were living in Connecticut. All the children survived to adulthood. He was justice of the peace in Salisbury and a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1765 to 1769. He served in Connecticut's 14th Regiment from 1767 to 1773, rising to the rank of Colonel.
Career
Chittenden moved to the New Hampshire Grants, now Vermont, in 1774, where he was the first settler in the town of Williston. In 1777, a convention was held in Windsor, which drafted Vermont's first constitution, establishing Vermont as an independent republic. During the American Revolution, Chittenden was a member of a committee empowered to negotiate with the Continental Congress to allow Vermont to join the Union. The Congress deferred the matter in order to not antagonize the states of New York and New Hampshire, which had competing claims against Vermont. During the period of the Vermont Republic, Chittenden served as governor from 1778 to 1789 and 1790 to 1791, and was one of the participants in a series of delicate negotiations with British authorities in Quebec over the possibility of establishing Vermont as a British province.
After Vermont entered the federal Union in 1791 as the fourteenth state, Chittenden continued to serve as governor until 1797. He died in office.
Death and legacy
Chittenden died in Williston on August 25, 1797 and is interred at Thomas Chittenden Cemetery, Williston, Chittenden County, Vermont. Citing Vermont's tumultuous founding, his epitaph reads "Out of storm and manifold perils rose an enduring state, the home of freedom and unity."
An engraved portrait of Chittenden can be found just outside the entrance to the Executive Chamber, the ceremonial office of the governor, at the Vermont State House at Montpelier. A bronze sculpture of Chittenden can also be found on the grounds of the Vermont State House near the building's west entrance. In the 1990s a statue of him was erected in front of the Williston Central School. The town of Chittenden in Rutland County is named for him.