the portico on the left of the front entrance to the State House, by LARKIN G. MEAD, JR., was erected in 1861, at an expense of $3,000.

"THE FIELD PIECES, standing in the portico on the right of the front entrance to the State House, were captured from the Hessians at the Battle of Bennington, Aug. 16, 1777."

By an act of the legislature, approved November 22, 1892, it was provided that three general terms of the Supreme Court for all counties should be held on the second Tuesday of January, May and October of each year, at Montpelier, and that special terms might be there held at such other times as the Judges of the Supreme Court may appoint; and the act provided that all causes on the docket of the court in the several counties shall be heard at said terms. And ever since the passage of said act all cases tried in the Supreme Court have been heard in said Supreme Court room in said library building.

GHAPTER XII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS AND VERMONT.

BENJAMIN HOUGH resided in the western part of the New Hampshire Grants, had previous to 1774 accepted, and officiated in the office of justice under the authority of New York, to the disgust and annoyance of the Green Mountain Boys. He was arrested by them and brought before the Committee of Safety at Sunderland; he plead he was under jurisdiction of New York and was not guilty; his pleas were answered by the decree, of the convention that was held by the Green Mountain Boys, which forbid all persons holding any office, civil or military, under the colony of New York. The judgment of the Committee was, that he "be taken from the bar of Committee of Safety and tied to a tree, and there on his naked back, to receive two hundred stripes; his back being dressed, he should depart out of the district, and on return, to suffer death, unless by special leave of convention." He petitioned the New York Assembly for protection which resulted in that body asking their Governor to issue a proclamation offering a reward of fifty pounds for the apprehension and securing eight of the principal Green Mountain Boys that they called the "Bennington Mob," and to the action

of the New York authorities a defiant reply was made.

DEACON AZARIAH ROOD came from Lanesboro, Mass., and was one of the three first settlers of Jericho in 1774. He was the first Selectman chosen in that town and chairman of the committee to hire the first candidate as clergyman. His loyalty to the Grants was doubted and charges were brought against him. His accusers were zealous Whigs who would naturally judge him harshly. The record shows that the judgment that was pronounced against him was rejected and he took the oath of fidelity and kept it faithfully. He died in 1795, leaving a son, Thomas Darkely Rood, who also was a deacon.

LIEUT. MARTIN POWELL of Manchester was one of the committee of seven who issued the warrant for the convention of January, 1776, and delegate in that convention and the one held in 1777; Member of the first General Assembly of March, 1778, and for eight years following; Judge of Probate twelve years; member of the convention of 1791, which adopted the Constitution of the United States.

JOHN TAPLIN was one of the first settlers of Newbury. He was appointed Commissioner to administer oaths of office and Judge of Inferior Court of common pleas, March 17, 1770; and Judge again April 10, 1772. His son, John Taplin, Jr., was Sheriff of Gloucester county from March, 1770, until May, 1777.

COL. SAMUEL WELLS, of Brattleboro, was an

avowed Royalist and a member of the Colonial Assembly of New York from January, 1773, to the end of that body April 3, 1775. His family was rewarded by the British government for his services. It was stated in the New York Gazette of June 23, 1777, that "Wells of Brattleboro had been lately confined to his farm and otherwise illtreated, and it is known that, for a long time, permission was granted to anyone to shoot him should he be found beyond the bounds of his acres."

Ebenezer WooD was among the first settlers of Bennington, and third Sergeant in the first military company there in 1764. In February, 1778, he was appointed one of the captains in the intended secret expeditions under Stark. To him, as Colonel, and his associates, the township of Woodbury was granted, and it was named for him.

CAPT. PARMALEE ALLEN was connected by blood with Ethan and Ira Allen and their relatives. Timothy Allen, of Woodbury, Conn., was his father and cousin of Gen. Ethan Allen. Parmalee Allen came to Pawlet with his father in 1768, and was Town Clerk in 1770, and served with credit in Herrick's regiment of Rangers, and was afterwards, about the year 1780, appointed Captain of one of the companies of Rangers.

SAMUEL BENTON was among the first settlers of Cornwall, and represented that town in 1787 to 1790 and in 1791.

JOHN CHANDLER was the oldest son of Thomas Chandler, senior, of Chester, and came to Vermont with his father in 1763, and held several offices

under New York until February, 1772, when he was removed from the office of Clerk of Cumberland county for misconduct. His bad habits in

business were strongly fixed.

MAJOR HELKIAH GROUT, of Wethersfield, was born in Lunenburgh, Mass., July 23, 1728, and came to Vermont previous to June 27, 1755; on that date, he, with several others, was captured by the Indians at Bridgman's Fort in Vernon. In 1758 or in 1759, on being released, returned to Cumberland county. He adhered to New York, and was employed in various offices under the authorities of that State, and was appointed Captain of the Weathersfield company in 1775 and was the first Major of the regiment in 1776; he was a delegate for Weathersfield in the Committee of Safety, in 1777; assistant Judge in inferior court of common pleas, in 1778; a Justice of the Peace, Commissioner to administer oaths of office, and Justice of the court of oyer and terminer, in 1782. On the 17th of February, 1779, he went to Shrewsbury as a New York magistrate, and took sundry affidavits, for which he was seized and tried by a court-martial consisting of several officers of Warner's regiment on the 18th of February. The charge made against him was not sustained, but he was afterwards tried by jury, convicted, and fined by a Vermout civil court. The charge was for acting as a magistrate in taking the affidavits referred to under New York. In 1785 he represented Weathersfield in the Vermont Legislature.

COL. UDNEY HAY was a descendant from an