Martin Chittenden

Chittenden was born in Salisbury in the Colony of Connecticut to Thomas Chittenden and Elizabeth Meigs Chittenden. He moved to Vermont in 1776 in the wake of the founding of the town of Williston by his father Thomas Chittenden.{{cite web|url= http://www.whsvt.org/|title= Our Town History|publisher= Williston Historical Society|accessdate= November 15, 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130118040927/http://www.whsvt.org/|archive-date= January 18, 2013|url-status= dead}} Martin Chittenden attended Mares School and, in 1789, graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

After graduating from Dartmouth College, Chittenden moved to Jericho, Vermont, and was involved in agricultural and mercantile pursuits. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in October 1789, and in 1791 he served as a delegate to the state convention that ratified the United States Constitution.{{cite book|title=The Political Register and Congressional Directory: A Statistical Record of the Federal Officials, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, of the United States of America, 1776–1878|year=1878|publisher=Houghton, Osgood|pages=329|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nn0FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA329}} He served as aide-de-camp to Lieutenant Governor Peter Olcott in 1790,Payne Kenyon Kilbourne, [https://archive.org/stream/biographicalhist00kilb#page/90/mode/2up/search/martin+chittenden Biographical History of the County of Litchfield, Connecticut], 1851, page 90 and from 1790 until 1793 he served as clerk of the county court of Chittenden County, Vermont.

Chittenden served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1790 until 1796.{{cite web|url= http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000372|title=Chittenden, Martin, (1763–1840)|publisher= Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate= November 15, 2012}} He was judge of the Chittenden County Court from 1793 until 1795,{{cite book|title=Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chittenden County, Vermont, for 1882–83|year=1882|publisher=Journal Office|pages=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLqgF7SxTh8C&pg=PA53}} and served as chief justice of the Chittenden County Court from 1796 until 1813. He was the first census collector for Chittenden County.

He was appointed a captain in the Vermont Militia's 1st Regiment, 7th Division in 1793, and promoted to lieutenant colonel and regimental commander in 1794. In 1799 he was promoted to brigadier general (later major general) and commander of the 3rd Division, a post he held until 1803.

Chittenden was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Eighth Congress and was reelected to the Ninth Congress, Tenth Congress, Eleventh Congress and Twelfth Congress, serving from March 4, 1803, until March 3, 1813.{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/martin_chittenden/402511|title=Rep. Martin Chittenden |publisher= Govtrack.us |accessdate= November 15, 2012}}

He was elected Governor of Vermont in 1813, replacing his brother-in-law, Jonas Galusha,{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10705.html|title=Martin Chittenden (1763–1840) |publisher= The Political Graveyard |accessdate= November 15, 2012}} who was also his successor in the post. Chittenden served as governor from October 23, 1813, until October 14, 1815.{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_vermont/col2-content/main-content-list/title_chittenden_martin.html| title= Vermont Governor Martin Chittenden|publisher= National Governors Association |accessdate= November 15, 2012}} He was the last Federalist governor of Vermont.{{cite book|last=Duffy|first=John J. an Samuel B. Hand|title=The Vermont Encyclopedia|year=2003|publisher=UPNE|pages=85|isbn=9781584650867 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTBCXqOou0YC&pg=PA85}} During his term as governor, fighting between American and British forces was fierce on the current United States–Canada border. In November 1813, conscious of the British encroachment on Plattsburgh, New York, members of the Vermont militia asked Chittenden to let them intervene. Chittenden declined, though the militia leaders claimed that this was the result of pressure from his advisers.

After his retirement from elected office, Chittenden served as town representative of Williston and as a probate judge from 1821 until 1823.

Chittenden's father, Thomas Chittenden, was the first governor of Vermont.

He was the brother in law of Matthew Lyon and Jonas Galusha. Lyon married Martin Chittenden's sister Beulah (1764–1824),James Fairfax McLaughlin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8K1YAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA89 Matthew Lyon, the Hampden of Congress], 1900, page 89 and Jonas Galusha's four wives (all of whom predeceased him) included Chittenden's sister Mary (1758–1794).Pliny H. White, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dN9srfG4f9UC&pg=PA32 Jonas Galusha: The Fifth Governor of Vermont], Addresses Delivered Before the Vermont Historical Society, 1866, page 32

Martin Chittenden was the uncle of Matthew Lyons' son Chittenden Lyon, a United States Representative from Kentucky.{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000541|title= Lyon, Chittenden, (1787–1842) |publisher= Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |accessdate= November 15, 2012}}

Chittenden died on September 5, 1840, in Williston, Vermont, in 1840. He is interred at the Thomas Chittenden Cemetery in Williston.

{{reflist|30em}}

• "The Vermont Encyclopedia" by John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth; published by UPNE, August 2003.

==External links==

• [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000372 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]
• {{Find a Grave|13032655}}
• [http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_vermont/col2-content/main-content-list/title_chittenden_martin.html National Governors Association: Vermont Governor Martin Chittenden]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170712193142/http://www.vermont.gov/portal/ Vermont.gov]
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10705.html The Political Graveyard: Thomas Chittenden (1730–1797)]
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10705.html The Political Graveyard: Chittenden family of Vermont and Connecticut]
• [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/martin_chittenden/402511 Govtrack.us: Rep. Martin Chittenden]
• [http://mlloyd.org/gen/macomb/text/chittenden.htm Correspondence of Martin Chittenden]

{{S-start}}

{{s-ppo}}

{{s-bef|before=Isaac Tichenor}}

{{s-ttl|title=Federalist nominee for Governor of Vermont|years=1811, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815}}

{{s-aft|after=Samuel Strong}}

{{S-par|us-hs}}

{{Succession box |title=U.S. Representative from Vermont's 4th district | before=none (first) | after=Charles Rich | years=1803–1813}}

{{S-off}}

{{S-bef|before=Jonas Galusha}}

{{S-ttl|title=Governor of Vermont|years=October 23, 1813 – October 14, 1815}}

{{S-aft|after=Jonas Galusha}}

{{S-end}}

{{Governors of Vermont}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chittenden, Martin}}

Category:1763 births

Category:1840 deaths

Category:People from Salisbury, Connecticut

Category:People from colonial Connecticut

Category:Chittenden family

Category:Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont

Category:Federalist Party state governors of the United States

Category:Governors of Vermont

Category:Members of the Vermont House of Representatives

Category:Vermont state court judges

Category:People from Williston, Vermont

Category:Dartmouth College alumni

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives