The following is excerpted from Abby Maria Hemenway, ed., _Vermont Historical Gazetteer, Volume V, The Towns of Windham County_, pt. 3 (Brandon, Vt., 1891), 3-80, at 8, online at _http://www.rootsweb.com/~vtwindha/vt_gazetteer-guilford.htm_ (http://www.rootsweb.com/~vtwindha/vt_gazetteer-guilford.htm) . The Hon. Benjamin CARPENTER, was a member of the first convention in Vermont, held at Dorset in 1770. In those trying times with the brave sons of the Green Mountains, when they had not only to oppose the powerful state of New York, the claims of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the tories and Yorkers at home, and the menacing threats of Congress abroad: but the power of his Majesty's legions in war, that brave patriot with an allowance of three days' provisions upon his back, would cross the Green Mountains on foot by marked trees, to attend the legislature at Bennington, for the purpose of devising ways and means of defense against all the enemies of the state. As delegate to the Assembly, as a member of the Council of Safety, as Lieut. Governor of the State, he deservedly holds a conspicuous place in the early history of the state. Upon a large white marble tombstone in the west part of Guilford, is the following inscription: ... [Three others listed first.] Sacred to the memory of the Hon. Benjamine CARPENTER, Esq. Born in Rehoboth, Mass. A.D. 1726 A magistrate in Rhode Island in 1764. A public teacher of righteousness An able--eble advocate to his last for Democracy And the equal rights of a man. Removed to this town A.D. 1770, Was a field officer in the Revolutionary War. A founder of the first constitution and government of Vermont. A councilor of censors in A.D. 1794. A member of the council, and Lieut. Governor of the state in A.D. 1779. A firm professor of Christianity in the Baptist church 50 years. Left this world and 146 persons of lineal posterity. March 29, 1804 Aged 78 years, 10 months and 12 days with a strong Mind and a full faith of a more Glorious state hereafter. Stature about six feet--weight 200 Death had no terror. While Rehoboth vital records fail to list a Benjamin Carpenter born in the mid 1820s, someone of that name was born at adjacent Swansea on 17 May 1725, which fits perfectly with the Guilford man's age at death. The son of Edward5 (Benjamin4, Joseph3, William2-1) and Elizabeth (Wilson) Carpenter, he married at Providence, R.I., 13 October 1745, Amey/Anne Carpenter (both of Rehoboth); the births of their first four children are recorded at Warren, R.I. Gene Z. In a message dated 11/18/2004 9:17:58 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I came across a Benjamin CARPENTER who was the Representative from Guilford (along with John Barney) at the 4 Jun 1777 Convention at Windsor, VT created to a form a state government. Who is this Benjamin CARPENTER? Parents? Siblings? My source is page 273 of the following: Peter Blood Main Author: Vermont. Office of Secretary of State. Title: A list of the principal civil officers of Vermont from 1777 to 1918 : being a revision and enlargement of "Deming's Vermont officers." / edited by John Comstock under the direction of the secretary of state. Published: St. Albans, Vt., St. Albans messenger co., publishers, 1918. Description: 411 p. 23 cm.