- Ira Allen
Ira Allen (
April 21 ,1751 -January 7 ,1814 ) was one of the founders ofVermont and leaders of theGreen Mountain Boys ; he was born inCornwall, Connecticut and was the brother ofEthan Allen . He was a member of the Vermont Legislature in 1776-1777. Allen designed the Great Seal of Vermont and the seal of the University of Vermont.In 1780 he presented to the Legislature a memorial for the establishment of the
University of Vermont . He contributed money and a fifty-acre (20 ha) site at Burlington. He was called the "Metternich of Vermont" and the "Father of the University of Vermont."He served as Surveyor General of Vermont from 1779 to 1787. [William W. Stickney. (1901). [http://www.vermont-archives.org/govhistory/gov/govinaug/farewells/pdf/Stickney1902.pdf "Farewell address of William W. Stickney"] . Vermont Journal of the Joint Assembly. Montpelier, VT: Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. 14]
He went to
France in 1795 and bought 20,000 muskets and 24 cannon for Irish rebels and sought French army intervention for seizingCanada to create an independent republic called United Columbia. [Robert E. May. (2002). "Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America". U. of North Carolina Press. [http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/chapters/may_manifest.html Online excerpt] accessed 23 July 2008. ch. 1.] He was captured at sea, taken toEngland , and placed on trial but was acquitted after a lawsuit which lasted eight years.He owned undeveloped land including a stake in
Barton, Vermont and was a major stakeholder inIrasburg, Vermont which was named after him.He published books:
* "The Natural and Political History of Vermont", (London, 1798)
* "Statements Appended to the Olive Branch", (1807)References
*"Vermont Historical Society Collections", (Montpelier, 1870) contains information about him.
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