THE SUPREME COURT OF VERMONT.
III.
By Russell S. Taft.
Jonathan Robinson, a younger brother of Moses, the first Chief Judge, was admitted to the Bar in June, 1793, was early in public life, was clerk of Bennington, and represented the town for thirteen years prior to 1802 and again in 1818.
He was chosen Chief Judge of the Supreme Court in 1801, in place of Israel Smith declined, and served six years, when he was elected United States senator in the place of Israel Smith, resigned. In 1809 he was elected senator for a full term, and served till its expiration in 1815. He then became judge of probate, and held the office for four years.
He was a man of pleasing and insinuating address, of great talents and political shrewdness, and occupied a leading position in the State. Like his brother Moses, he was an ardent Republican, and when in the Senate, had the ear and confidence of President Madison, and a controlling influence in the distribution of the Federal patronage in the State, which, in consequence of the war with England, was very great.
The birthplace of Royall Tyler was near the site of Fanueil Hall market, Boston. His father, Royall, was a man of ability, a graduate of Harvard, and held several important positions under the Colonial government; he was a member of the King's Council from 1765 till his death in 1771. The subject of this sketch was his second son, first named William Clarke Tyler, but on the death of his father, at the request of his mother, the General Court changed it to Royall Tyler.
He entered college at the age of fourteen, was fond of study, quick of apprehension, and held a high position in his class; he received the appointment of valedictorian. Among his classmates were Christopher Gore, Governor and United States senator, and Sewall and Thacher, Chief Justices. He took his degree in 1776, and at the same time Yale College paid him the unusual compliment of bestowing upon him a like degree in honorarium. He began at once the study of law with Francis Dana of Cambridge, which was interrupted by a campaign of active service in the war. He acted as aide to Gen. Sullivan in his Rhode Island campaign; in 1779 he was admitted to the Bar, and as the business of Boston had been nearly ruined by British occupation, he opened an office in Falmouth, now Portland, Maine. In a history of the law, etc., of that State, it is said of him, " He was a fine scholar and an accomplished man."
He returned to Boston in 1781, and for two years resided in Braintree, now Quincy, and then removed his office to the city. He practiced there for several years.
During Shay's rebellion, he acted as aidede-camp, with the rank of major, to Gen. Lincoln, who commanded the military forces. He was sent by Gov. Bowdoin to Vermont to make arrangements for the arrest of any fugitive rebels who might escape to that State. He addressed the Legislature, then in session at Bennington, and made the acquaintance of many of the public men of the State. While the results of his negotiations with Vermont were meagre, the administration of Massachusetts were so well satisfied with his conduct that they sent him to New York upon a like mission. In the summer of 1790, he again visited Vermont, and in the following winter established him self in Guilford, then the most populous town in the State.
