Paul Brigham

---

title: "Paul Brigham" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1746-births", "1824-deaths", "people-from-coventry,-connecticut", "vermont-democratic-republicans", "governors-of-vermont", "lieutenant-governors-of-vermont", "people-from-norwich,-vermont", "politicians-from-windsor-county,-vermont", "vermont-militiamen-in-the-american-revolution", "vermont-state-court-judges", "people-from-pre-statehood-vermont", "vermont-sheriffs", "democratic-republican-party-state-governors-of-the-united-states", "people-from-colonial-connecticut", "people-of-vermont-in-the-american-revolution", "candidates-in-the-1793-united-states-elections", "candidates-in-the-1794-united-states-elections"] description: "American politician and soldier (1746–1824)" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brigham" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician and soldier (1746–1824) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Paul Brigham
image	Paul Brigham Vermont Governor.jpg
order	2nd
office	Governor of Vermont
term_start	August 25, 1797
term_end	October 16, 1797
lieutenant	Himself
predecessor	Thomas Chittenden
successor	Isaac Tichenor
order1	3rd and 5th
office1	Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
governor1	Jonas Galusha
term_start1	October 14, 1815
term_end1	October 23, 1820
predecessor1	William Chamberlain
successor1	William Cahoon
governor2	Thomas Chittenden (1796–1797)
Himself (1797)
Isaac Tichenor (1797–1807)
Israel Smith (1807–1808)
Isaac Tichenor (1808–1809)
Jonas Galusha (1809–1813)
term_start2	October 13, 1796
term_end2	October 23, 1813
predecessor2	Jonathan Hunt
successor2	William Chamberlain
birth_date
birth_place	Coventry, Colony of Connecticut, British America
death_date
death_place	Norwich, Vermont, U.S.
spouse	Lydia Sawyer
profession	Soldier / Judge / Politician
party	Democratic-Republican
::

|name = Paul Brigham |image = Paul Brigham Vermont Governor.jpg |caption = |order = 2nd |office = Governor of Vermont |term_start = August 25, 1797 |term_end = October 16, 1797 |lieutenant =Himself |predecessor = Thomas Chittenden |successor = Isaac Tichenor |order1 = 3rd and 5th |office1 = Lieutenant Governor of Vermont |governor1 = Jonas Galusha |term_start1 = October 14, 1815 |term_end1 = October 23, 1820 |predecessor1 = William Chamberlain |successor1 = William Cahoon |governor2 = Thomas Chittenden (1796–1797) Himself (1797) Isaac Tichenor (1797–1807) Israel Smith (1807–1808) Isaac Tichenor (1808–1809) Jonas Galusha (1809–1813) |term_start2 = October 13, 1796 |term_end2 = October 23, 1813 |predecessor2 = Jonathan Hunt |successor2 = William Chamberlain |birth_date = |birth_place = Coventry, Colony of Connecticut, British America |death_date = |death_place = Norwich, Vermont, U.S. |spouse = Lydia Sawyer |profession = Soldier / Judge / Politician |party = Democratic-Republican |footnotes= Paul Brigham (January 1746June 15, 1824) was an American Revolutionary soldier and Democratic-Republican politician. He was the second lieutenant governor of Vermont after that state was admitted to the Union in 1791, and upon the death of Vermont's first governor Thomas Chittenden, served as governor for the last seven weeks of Chittenden's term. (During the 14 years before admission to the Union, when Vermont was a largely unrecognized state, several others served as lieutenant governor and two persons served as governor.)

Biography

Brigham, son of Paul and Catherine (Turner) Brigham, was born in January 1746, in Coventry in the Colony of Connecticut. The exact date of his birth varies from source to source. Some give his birthday as January 6; others give it as January 17. He married Lydia Sawyer (of Hebron, Connecticut) on October 3, 1767, and the couple had five children.

Career

Brigham served from January 1, 1777, to April 22, 1781, as a captain in the Connecticut Militia during the American Revolutionary War. He was a company commander of Continental troops under the command of General George Washington and wintered in Valley Forge during the winter of 1777.

In the spring of 1782 Brigham and his family moved to Norwich, Vermont, where he was a farmer and a land speculator. He served as high sheriff of Windsor County, Vermont, for five years and as major general of the Vermont Militia. He was chief judge of the county court for five years, and was a presidential elector for Vermont in 1792. In 1793 and 1794, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, receiving less than 5% of the vote both times. He was on the Governor's Council from 1793 to 1796.

Brigham was annually elected lieutenant governor of Vermont for 16 consecutive years, from 1796 to 1813; only the brief Federalist resurgence removed Brigham and other Republicans from office. After conclusion to the War of 1812, which gave life to the moribund Federalist Party all across New England for their opposition, Brigham was again lieutenant governor, this time from 1815 until 1820. Upon the death of Governor Thomas Chittenden, he served for a short time as the second Governor of Vermont from August 25 to October 16, 1797, when the new governor, Isaac Tichenor was sworn in. Brigham then resumed his duties as lieutenant governor. He retired and returned to his home in Norwich in 1820.

Death and legacy

Brigham died in Norwich on June 16, 1824. He was interred at Fairview Cemetery in his hometown of Norwich. The journal of his army experiences was published as A Revolutionary Diary of Captain Paul Brigham, November 19, 1777 – September 4, 1778.

The obituary from the New-Hampshire Patriot (NH), July 12, 1824, p. 3, reads:

References

References

1. "Paul Brigham". The Political Graveyard.
2. Capace, Nancy. (January 1, 2000). "Encyclopedia of Vermont". Somerset Publishers, Inc..
3. Walton, Eliakim Persons. (March 27, 1876). "Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont: Record of the Governor and Council ... 1791–1804". J. & J. M. Poland.
4. "Paul Brigham". National Governors Association.
5. "Paul Brigham Papers". The University of Vermont Libraries.
6. "VT Elections Database » 1793 U.S. House General Election Eastern District".
7. "VT Elections Database » 1794 U.S. House General Election Eastern District".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::