Thomas Chittenden

Thomas Chittenden
Official state portrait of Governor Thomas Chittenden
1st Governor of Vermont
In office October 1790 – August 25, 1797
Lieutenant	Paul Brigham
Preceded by	Himself as Governor of the Vermont Republic
Succeeded by	Paul Brigham
1st & 3rd Governor of the Vermont Republic
In office 1790 – March 4, 1791
Lieutenant	Peter Olcott
Preceded by	Moses Robinson
Succeeded by	Himself as Governor of the State of Vermont
In office 1778–1789
Lieutenant	Joseph Marsh
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Moses Robinson
Personal details
Born	(1730-01-06)January 6, 1730 East Guilford, Colony of Connecticut, British America
Died	August 25, 1797(1797-08-25) (aged 67) Williston, Vermont, U.S.
Political party	None
Children	Martin Chittenden
Profession	polictian
Signature

Thomas Chittenden (January 6, 1730 – August 25, 1797) was the first governor of the state of Vermont, serving from 1778 to 1789, when Vermont was a largely unrecognized independent state, called the Vermont Republic, and again after a year out of office, from 1790 until his death. During his first term after his return to office, Vermont was admitted to the Union as the 14th state.

Chittenden was born in East Guilford in the Colony of Connecticut on January 6, 1730. He married Elizabeth Meigs on October 4, 1749, in Salisbury, Connecticut. The couple had four sons and six daughters while they were living in Connecticut. All the children survived to adulthood. He was justice of the peace in Salisbury and a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1765 to 1769. He served in Connecticut's 14th Regiment from 1767 to 1773, rising to the rank of Colonel. He was descended from Thomas Chittenden (1635–1683), who was born in Cranbrook, Kent, England and settled in the Connecticut Colony.

Chittenden moved to the New Hampshire Grants, now Vermont, in 1774, where he was the first settler in the town of Williston. In 1777, a convention was held in Windsor, which drafted Vermont's first constitution, establishing Vermont as an independent republic. During the American Revolution, Chittenden was a member of a committee empowered to negotiate with the Continental Congress to allow Vermont to join the Union. The Congress deferred the matter in order to not antagonize the states of New York and New Hampshire, which had competing claims against Vermont. During the period of the Vermont Republic, Chittenden served as governor from 1778 to 1789 and 1790 to 1791, and was one of the participants in a series of delicate negotiations with British authorities in Quebec over the possibility of establishing Vermont as a British province.