Aaron Leland
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Aaron Leland
|image = File:Aaron Leland.jpg
|order1 = 7th
|office1 = Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
|term_start1 = 1822
|term_end1 = 1827
|governor1 = Richard Skinner
Cornelius P. Van Ness
Ezra Butler
|predecessor1 = William Cahoon
|successor1 = Henry Olin
|order2 = 19th
|office2 = Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
|term_start2= 1804
|term_end2 = 1808
|predecessor2 = Theophilus Harrington
|successor2 = Dudley Chase
|office3 = Member of the Vermont House of Representatives from Chester
|term_start3 = 1813
|term_end3 = 1815
|predecessor3 = William Hosmer
|successor3 = Joshua Leland
|term_start4 = 1809
|term_end4 = 1811
|predecessor4 = Thomas S. Fullerton
|successor4 = William Hosmer
|term_start5 = 1801
|term_end5 = 1808
|predecessor5 = Jabez Sargeant
|successor5 = Thomas S. Fullerton
|birth_date = May 28, 1761
|birth_place = Holliston, Massachusetts, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1832|8|25|1761|5|28}}
|death_place = Chester, Vermont, U.S.
|resting_place = Brookside Cemetery, Chester, Vermont
|party = Democratic-Republican
|profession = Clergyman
}}
Aaron Leland (May 28, 1761 – August 25, 1832) was a minister and politician who served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Vermont.
Biography
Aaron Leland was born in Holliston, Massachusetts, on May 28, 1761.[https://books.google.com/books?id=0h47AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+holliston+massachusetts&pg=PA240 Annals of the American Pulpit], by William Buell Sprague, 1860, page 240 to 243 He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1785 and settled in Chester, Vermont, in 1786. Leland was a successful pastor and preacher, building up a church which gave rise to congregations in Andover and Grafton, Massachusetts, and Weathersfield and Jamaica, Vermont.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5O3OAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA99 Magazine article, Vermont Baptists], The Baptist Home Mission Monthly, April, 1885, page 99[https://books.google.com/books?id=v60LAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22leland+aaron%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA683 Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography], Volume 3, 1887, page 683[https://books.google.com/books?id=ApJPAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22leland+aaron%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA341 Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature], by John McClintock, James Strong, Volume 5, 1873, page 341
Active in politics as a Democratic-Republican, Leland served in local offices including Town Clerk and Selectman, and was Windsor County Assistant Judge for eighteen years. He also served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1801 to 1808 and 1809 to 1811, and was Speaker from 1804 to 1808. He was also a member of the Governor's Council and served as one of Vermont's presidential electors in 1820.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ULmlDG8KLjYC&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA157 History of the Town of Rockingham, Vermont], by Lyman Simpson Hayes, 1907, page 157[https://books.google.com/books?id=dGiZUCjvYkIC&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+chester+vermont&pg=RA2-PA53 History of Vermont], by Zadock Thompson, 1842, page 53
Leland served as Lieutenant Governor from 1822 to 1827. He declined to be nominated for Governor in 1828, preferring instead to continue serving as Pastor of his church.[https://books.google.com/books?id=NccgAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA211 Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont], published by E. P. Walton, Montpelier, Volume 6, 1878, page 211 Though he had been a Mason, in the late 1820s Leland became active in Vermont's Antimasonic movement.[https://books.google.com/books?id=eFIZAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+anti+mason&pg=PA263 Opinions on Speculative Masonry], by James Creighton Odiorne, 1830, page 263 He died in Chester, Vermont, on August 25, 1832, and was buried in Chester's Brookside Cemetery.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2JtQAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22aaron+leland%22+died+1832&pg=PA678 History of Windsor County, Vermont], edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich and Frank R. Holmes, 1891, page 678[https://books.google.com/books?id=gRQ9AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22leland+aaron%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA514 Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography], edited by Thomas William Herringshaw, Volume 3, 1914, page 514
Leland was the recipient of honorary degrees from Middlebury College and Brown University.[https://books.google.com/books?id=mDEbAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22leland+aaron%22+chester+vermont&pg=PA543 Historical Catalogue of Brown University], published by the university, 1905, page 543
Sources
{{Reflist|2}}
{{s-start}}
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{{s-bef|before=William Cahoon}}
{{s-ttl|title=Democratic-Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Vermont|years=1822, 1823, 1824, 1825, 1826}}
{{s-aft|after=Henry Olin}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before=William Cahoon | title=Lieutenant Governor of Vermont | years=1822–1827 | after=Henry Olin}}
{{succession box | before=Theophilus Harrington |title=Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives | years=1804–1804 | after=Dudley Chase}}
{{s-end}}
{{Lieutenant Governors of Vermont}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leland, Aaron}}
Category:Lieutenant governors of Vermont
Category:People from Chester, Vermont
Category:Politicians from Windsor County, Vermont
Category:Members of the Vermont House of Representatives
Category:Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives
Category:Vermont Democratic-Republicans
Category:Vermont state court judges
Category:19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
Category:18th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
Category:19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly