Jonas Galusha - Career

Career

A farmer and an inn-keeper, Galusha was elected to Sheriff of Bennington, and served in that capacity through annual elections from 1781 to 1787. In 1892 he was a member of the first Council of Censors after admission to the Union. From 1793 to 1798 through successive elections, he was a member of the Governors 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.

Galusha was assistant justice of Bennington County from 1795 to 1798, and Judge from 1800 to 1806. He was Judge of the state 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 England 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.