Micah Townshend

Micah Townshend , actually Micajah Townsend (* ^July 13th / May 24th  1749 ^greg. In Oyster Bay , New York ; † April 23, 1832 in Clarenceville , Québec ) was an American politician , leader of the militia and lawyer , who was Secretary of State of Vermont from 1781 to 1788 .

Life

Micah Townshend was born in Oyster Bay, Long Island , to Micajah Townsend and Elizabeth Platt. After attending elementary school and taking private lessons with a clergyman, he attended the College of Nassau Hall in Princeton , New Jersey , at the age of 14 . He completed this after four years with a bachelor's degree . Immediately after completing his studies, he worked in the law firm of judge Thomas Jones, where he received a legal education. Four years later he was admitted to the bar.

He went into business for himself as a lawyer in White Plains , New York. There he was active until the beginning of the American Revolutionary War . He was clerk of the Westchester County committee of safety and after 1776 commanded a unit of the county's militia against the Tories . There he took part in the Battle of White Plains . He was a delegate in the New York Assembly . In the dispute over Vermont's independence, Townshend first represented the interests of the province of New York . However, he later changed his mind and represented Vermont's interests.

After White Plains was destroyed in a fire in 1778, he settled in Brattleboro . From 1781 to 1787 he was a judge in Windham County Court and a judge and probate court. He was also Secretary of the council of censors . Eventually he sold his property and his legal practice after more than 25 years and in 1802 moved to Farnham , Québec, on a property which every child of his father-in-law, the loyalist Colonel Samuel Wells, received from the British Crown as compensation for the losses suffered in the war had been awarded. In 1816 he moved to Clarenceville to live with his son Reverend Micajah Townshend.

There he worked as a justice of the peace . The Earl of Dalhousie , Governor General of British North America , appointed him Justice Commissioner and appointed him as judge on minor cases. Townshend was a Freemason .

He was married to Maria Wells for more than 50 years. Maria Townshend died in 1831, Micah Townshend survived her by 10 months and died on April 23, 1832 in Clarenceville, his grave is in the Cemetery of the parish of St. George in Clarenceville.

Web links

• Micah Townshend in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Secretaries of State, located on the Vermont Government home page , accessed February 12, 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Micah Townshend on Rootsweb , accessed February 11, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Vermont Encyclopedia edited by John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth.Retrieved February 12, 2015