Stephen Jacob

(1755-1816)
Vermont

"Stephen Jacob, son of Richard, born at Sheffield, Mass., Dec. 7, 1755, was a graduate of Yale, 1778. He began practice at Windsor, Vt. 1779; represented Windsor in the State Legislature, 1781, 1788, 1789, 1794, and was a member of the Council of Censors, 1785. He also served as State Attorney for Windsor County, in 1786; commissioner in the boundary dispute with New York, 1790; U.S. District Attorney, 1791; member of the Constitutional Convention, 1793; State Councillor, 1796-1801; Judge of the Vt. Supreme Court, 1801-3; trustee of Dartmouth College, 1802-17; of Middlebury College, 1800-10 (M.A.). Hemenway's Gazetteer says (vol 1, p. 158): "The 16th of August has ever since the battle been a holiday in Bennington and its vicinity. The first Anniversary day in 1778 was celebrated with appropriate patriotic demonstrations, an oration being delivered on this occasion by Noah Smith and a poem by Stephen Jacob. Both were recent graduates of Yale College; both lawyers by profession; both became prominent men in the "new state" to which they had emigrated." p. 226-227 (entire entry) p. 226-227 (bio entry) Hopkins, John Henry, (Rt. Rev., Bishop) He was born in Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 30, 1792, and came to America in 1800, with his mother. Originally he was a worker in iron; but he read law, and began practice; then later turned to the study of theology, was ordained, and was elected rector of Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, Pa. (May, 1824). In 1831 he was elected Bishop of Vermont and Rector of St. Paul's Church, Burlington. He resigned the rectorship, 1856, that he might devote his time entirely to his Diocese and the building up of the Vermont Episcopal Institute. In 1863 he became Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. He published many articles in newspapers and magazines and left a mass of unpublished material at his death. He died in Burlington Jan. 9, 1868."

[Walter John Coates (ed.), A Bibliography of Vermont Poetry and Gazetteer of Vermont Poets 226-227 (Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1942)] [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2, apparently, was never published] [Used with permission of the Vermont Historical Society]