Jonas Galusha

Jonas Galusha (February 11, 1753 – September 24, 1834) was the sixth and eighth governor of Vermont for two terms in the early 19th century.

Galusha, born in Norwich in the Colony of Connecticut, moved with his siblings and his parents, Jacob and Lydia Huntington Galusha, to Salisbury in 1769. In 1775, his family then moved to Shaftsbury.

Galusha's father, Jacob, was a farmer and a blacksmith. Though their educations were limited and from the common schools, he and his brothers were leading men in the town and to some extent in the state.

During the American Revolution his brother David was a colonel in the Green Mountain Boys, and Galusha was a captain, fighting in the Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777.

In 1778, Galusha married Mary Chittenden, daughter of Thomas Chittenden, Governor of the independent Republic of Vermont. The couple had nine children. Their son, Truman Galusha (The Truman Galusha House), also married into the Chittenden family, and moved his family to Jericho, near Burlington. His home there is also listed on the National Register. Another son, Elon Galusha was a well-known Baptist clergyman, and famous abolitionist.

A farmer and an innkeeper, Galusha was elected Sheriff of Bennington County, and served in that capacity through annual elections from 1781 to 1787. In 1792 he was a member of the first Council of Censors after admission to the Union. (The Council of Censors met every seven years to review statutes passed by the Vermont General Assembly and ensure their constitutionality.) From 1793 to 1798 through successive elections, he was a member of the Governor's Council (a group of 12 men with powers which made it nearly equivalent to a co-ordinate branch of the legislature. During that time, his wife, Mary, died in 1794; and he subsequently married Martha "Patty" Sammons, who died in 1797. His third wife was Abigail Ward, who died in 1809. He was a 6-time candidate for Vermont's 1st congressional district: in 1796, 1802, 1804, 1806, and the regular and special elections in 1808. He ran as a Federalist in 1806, but otherwise was a Democratic-Republican.

Galusha was a county assistant judge from 1795 to 1798 and 1800 to 1806. He was a Judge of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1807 and in 1808. He married Abigail Ward in June 1808 and she died the following year. In 1808, he served as a presidential elector for the Democratic-Republican candidacy of James Madison.

The following year, Galusha was elected Governor of Vermont, serving until 1813. He was both the predecessor and the successor of the Federalist Martin Chittenden, brother of Galusha's first wife, Mary Chittenden. During his governorship, he encouraged war with the United Kingdom in 1812. In 1814 he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Galusha served another term as Governor of Vermont, elected year by year from 1815 to 1820. He was a presidential elector in the 1820 and 1824 elections.