Gideon Olin (November 2, 1743January 21, 1823) was an American politician. He served as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

Biography

Olin was born in

East Greenwich East Greenwich is a town and the county seat of Kent County, Rhode Island. The population was 14,312 at the 2020 census. East Greenwich is the wealthiest municipality within the state of Rhode Island. It is part of the Providence metropolitan st ...

in the

Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...

to John and Susannah Pierce Olin. He received limited schooling and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He moved to Vermont and settled in Shaftsbury in 1776, becoming one of the founders of

. Olin was a delegate to the Windsor Convention in 1777, which enacted the constitution that formed the

Vermont Republic The Vermont Republic ( French: ''République du Vermont''), officially known at the time as the State of Vermont ( French: ''État du Vermont''), was an independent state in New England that existed from January 15, 1777, to March 4, 1791. The ...

. He was a member of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...

in 1778, 1780 to 1793, and in 1799, serving as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

from 1788 to 1793. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Olin was appointed Major in the Second Regiment under Colonels Samuel Herrick and Ebenezer Walbridge, and served on the frontier. After the war, he served as an assistant judge of the Bennington County Court from 1781 to 1798. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1791 and 1793, and a member of the Governor’s council from 1793 to 1798. Olin was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the Eighth and Ninth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1803 to March 3, 1807. He served as chief justice of the Bennington county court from 1807 to 1811, and was a founder of the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

. After leaving office, he resumed agricultural pursuits.

Family life

Olin married Patience Dwinnell on December 13, 1768. He later married Lydia Myers Pope and they had five children, Benjamin Olin, Esther Olin, Nathaniel Green Olin, Abram Baldwin Olin and Job S. Olin. Olin was the uncle of

Henry Olin Henry Olin (May 7, 1768August 18, 1837) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as a United States representative from Vermont and eighth lieutenant governor of Vermont. Biography Olin was born in Shaftsbury in the New Hampshire Gran ...

. Both Abram Baldwin Olin and Henry Olin served as United States Representatives in the 19th century.

Death

Olin died in Shaftsbury, Vermont on January 21, 1823, and is interred at Center Shaftsbury Cemetery in Shaftsbury, Vermont.

References

External links

Ancestry.com
*
govtrack.us

Vermont Historical Magazine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olin, Gideon 1743 births 1823 deaths People of colonial Rhode Island Members of the Vermont House of Representatives Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives People of Vermont in the American Revolution People from Shaftsbury, Vermont People from East Greenwich, Rhode Island People of pre-statehood Vermont Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont Vermont state court judges Burials in Vermont