Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/40

The Supreme Court of Vermont. of age, the last twenty of which he had passed in active, unintermittent toil to es tablish the infant commonwealth, which he served so faithfully and so well. His official life, in its usefulness, its char acter and in its varied forms, was not ex celled, if indeed it was equalled, by that of any of his co-patriots. The latter part of his life he lived quietly in Cambridge, and

died in 1803. One of his sons, Elias, was at the Bar, but entered the regular army. His son, Dr. John Fasset, was surgeon of the Ver mont regiment which marched to Pitts burgh in 18 14, in spite of the procla mation of Governor Chittenden. Jonas Fay.— One of the early settlers at Bennington was Stephen Fay, who came with his family from H a r d w i c k, Mass., and kept the Catamount Tavern, the early council chamber of Vermont. LUKE p His eldest son, Jonas, was a physician and occupied a prominent position among the settlers on the New Hampshire grants, and in the organization of the State government. At the age of nine teen he served in the French war at Fort Ed ward and Lake George as clerk of a company of Massachusetts troops. In 1772, he and his father were appointed agents to inform Tryon, Governor of New York, of the grounds of the complaints of the settlers against the govern ment of that province, and was clerk of the convention of settlers in March, 1774, that resolved to defend by force Allen, Warner,

21

and others who were threatened with out lawry and death by the provincial Assembly, and as clerk certified its proceedings for publication. He was surgeon in the expedition under Allcn, at the capture of Ticonderoga, and held the like position in Col. Warner's regi ment of that year; was clerk of the Dorset convention in 1776, and member of the con vention which de clared Vermont in dependent, and chair man of the committee to draw up the decla ration and petition to Congress, of which he was author. He was a member of the Governor's Council from its organization until 1785, judge of the Superior Court the last year of its ex istence, and of the Supreme Court dur ing its first year. He served as Judge of Probate for five years. He attended the Con tinental Congress at Philadelphia, under appointment by Ver TOLAND mont from 1777 until 1782. He was a man of extensive and general information, bold and stubborn in his opinions, which he maintained with vigor and ability. He was an experienced drafts man of public papers, and one of the best writers of the day. Conjointly with Ethan Allen, he published a pamphlet at Hartford, Conn., upon the New Hampshire and NewYork controversy, as to their respective claims to the Vermont territory. He was on terms of intimacy with, and enjoyed the confidence of, Governor Chittenden and the other founders of the State.