Paul Spooner

Signature of Paul Spooner

Paul Spooner (March 20, 1746—September 4, 1789) was a Vermont political figure who served as Lieutenant Governor.

Biography

Paul Spooner was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts on March 20, 1746. He was the youngest of the 10 children of Elizabeth (Ruggles) and Daniel

Spooner. He was raised in Petersham, Massachusetts, studied medicine, and moved to Hartland, Vermont to begin a medical practice in 1768.[1][2]

Dr. Spooner married Asenath Wright on April 15, 1770. They produced three children; Betsy, Paul and Amasa Spooner, before her death in March of 1777. He married a cousin, Anna Cogswell in 1779.

In 1775, Spooner was a delegate to the New York Provincial Congress. (At the time jurisdiction over Vermont was the subject of a dispute between New Hampshire and New York.[3][4]

Spooner served as a member of Vermont's Revolutionary War Council of Safety from 1778 to 1782. In 1779 he was elected Hartland's Town Clerk, and he also served as Hartland's Town Meeting Moderator.[5][6]

From 1779 to 1789 Spooner served as a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.[7][8]

In 1780 and 1781 Spooner was Windsor County's Probate Judge, and from 1780 to 1782 he was one of Vermont's agents who negotiated with the Continental Congress.[9]

In 1782 he became Lieutenant Governor of the territory, serving until 1787. The Republic of Vermont was not created until 2 years after his death. He was Assistant Judge of the Windsor County Superior Court from 1779 to 1782, Chief Judge from 1784 to 1785, and Assistant Judge again from 1785 until his death.[10][11]

Grave of Leut. Governor Paul Spooner located in Cutts cemetery, North Hartland Vermont

Spooner died at the age of 44 in North Hartland on September 4, 1789.[12] His home can still be found in North Hartland, very close to Cutts Cemetery where he is buried.

References

  1. ↑ Records of William Spooner, of Plymouth, Mass., and His Descendants, by William Spooner, Volume 1, 1883, pages 103 to 105
  2. ↑ John Gibson of Cambridge, Massachusetts: and His Descendants, 1634-1899, by Mehitable Calef Coppenhagen Wilson, 1900, page 16
  3. ↑ Vermont: The Green Mountain State, by Walter Hill Crockett, page 482
  4. ↑ Independent Vermont, by Charles Miner Thompson, 1942, page 177
  5. ↑ History of Windsor County, Vermont, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich and Frank R. Holmes, 1891, pages 365 to 366
  6. ↑ Encyclopedia, Vermont Biography, edited by Prentiss Cutler Dodge, 1912, page 80
  7. ↑ A Gazetteer of the State of Vermont, by Zadock Thompson, 1824, page 312
  8. ↑ The Historical Magazine and Notes and Queries Concerning the Histories, Antiquities and Biography of America, published by Charles B. Richardson & Co., New York, Volume 6, 1862, pages 282 to 283
  9. ↑ Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont, compiled by Jacob G. Ullery, 1894, pages 172 to 173
  10. ↑ History of Eastern Vermont, page 698
  11. ↑ Magazine article, History and Anniversary of Hartland, by Nancy Darling, The Vermonter magazine, November, 1913, page 228
  12. ↑ The Bibliography of Vermont, by Marcus Davis Gilman, page 260
Preceded by
Elisha Payne		 Lieutenant Governor of Vermont (Independent Republic)
1782–1787		 Succeeded by
Joseph Marsh
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.