He had great admiration for the Allen brothers, and named his twin sons Ethan Allen and Heman Allen. The latter gradu ated at West Point, and entered the regular army. Judge Fay resided for a few years in Charlotte, afterwards in Pawlet, but returned to Bennington and remained there until his death. Peter Olcott came from Bolton, Conn., in 1773 and became active in both civil and military life. He was a member of the Vermont Court of Confiscation, for eastern Vermont, and of the court for the banish ment of Tories; was a delegate from Nor wich in the convention of 1777. He com manded a regiment of militia summoned for the relief of Bennington, and was employed in other military services in that region; was a member of the Governor's Council many years, and Lieutenant Governor from 1790 to 1793. He was elected judge of the Supreme Court upon its organization and served until 1785. His descendants became prominent and influential citizens of New Hampshire, and some of them emigrated to Louisiana. Helen, daughter of his son, Mills Olcott, was the wife of Rufus Choatc. At the end of the first year Judge Fay retired; location undoubtedly had its effect in causing this change; as the court was then constituted, two of the judges, Robin son and Fay, lived in Bennington, Fasset in the near town of Arlington, and the other two judges were near neighbors in Hartland and Norwich, on the east side of the State. Rutland County was becoming populous and an important part of the new common wealth, and a successor to Judge Fay was taken from that county, in the person of Thomas Porter of Tinmouth. His first ancestor in this country was of the same name, Thomas Porter, who emigrated from England in 1640 and was an original pro
prietor of Farmington, Conn. The stability of the family is shown by the fact that a lineal de scendant, Thomas L., is now clerk of the same town. Judge Porter was born in that town, but removed to Cornwall, Conn.; in both of these towns he held many local offices, civil and military. He served in the British army at Lake George as early as 1755. He came to Vermont in his 45 th year and settled in Tinmouth; was a farmer and soon be came influential in public affairs, and was in the Revolutionary army for three years after his settlement in Tinmouth. He represented the town in the General Assembly, was elected Speaker of the House in his first term, and re-elected in 1781 and 1782; in the latter year he was elected member of the Council and served until 1795. His legislative career in his native and adopted States covered a period of thirty-five years. He died at Granville, New York, in May, 1833, and had he lived until the following February, would have been a centenarian. His son Ebenezcr was highly distinguished as a professor and president of Andover Theological Seminary. When Chief Judge Robinson retired in October, 1784, there was selected in his place Nathaniel Niles, of Rhode Island birth. He began a collegiate course at Harvard, but completed it at Princeton, then New Jersey College; he taught in New York City, was a student in law, medicine, and theology, but followed the latter profession. He preached for a time at Norwich and Torrington, Conn., and in 1779 settled in West Fairlee, Vt. He invented the process of making bar iron by water power, and for a time manufactured wool cards, such as our grandmothers used in making rolls for the old-fashioned wool spinning-wheels. He was a poet, writing pieces set to music and sung in New England churches, one of which became noted as a war song of the soldiers. Many of his religious discourses
