Publication InformationBrattleboro 15 April 1859

Hon Geo P. Marsh, Hon John N Pomeroy

Page 1

Gentlemen. --

I wish to say a few words concerning the Ethan Allen Statue. I wrote to Mr Baxter two months ago telling him if he felt disposed to get out a piece of marble of the necessary dimensions for the Statue. I have not heard from him but think very likely he intends to get it out. --

I should like to go to Rutland and find out how the matter stands. I should also like to take the model to Montpelier at the time of next Legislature, for I think it would help very decidedly in getting an appropriation. --

Would it be just that such expenses should be paid from the funds in your hands. I have been at considerable expense and do not feel able to expend much more, my pocket being quite small. --

I have a paper with a

subscription of 100 dollars by W. S. Witmore which I will send to you whenever you wish to collect it. I think I hall set the model out of doors sometime this summer to see its effect. I believe all the Judges of the Supreme Court in Vermont have seen the model this winter and were all much pleased with it. --

I am anxious to commence upon the marble whenever there are funds to defray the necessary expenses

Hoping I may hear from you when convenient I remain

Very respectfully YoursLarkin G. Mead Jr

Hon Geo P. Marsh

Hon John N. Pomeroy com

References in this letter:

The lawyer, John Norton Pomeroy, (1792-1881) was a lawyer and prominent resident of Burlington, Vermont. He held several position in Vermont state government and was named chairman of the Statuary Committee to oversee the construction of the monument placed over the grave of Ethan Allen in Green Mount Cemetery in Burlington.

In 1855 the Vermont legislature appointed a committee to be in charge of a monument over the grave of Ethan Allen in the Green Mount Cemetery in Burlington. John Norton Pomeroy was appointed chair and Marsh served with him. Larkin Goldsmith Mead was chosen to create a figure of Allen for the monument. Unable to raise the necessary funds, the project was not completed until 1873. Mead's statue was instead placed on the portico of the State House and another figure, by Boston sculptor Peter Stephenson, surmounted the granite base erected in Burlington.

John N. Baxter was superintendent of the Rutland Marble quarry in Rutland, Vermont.

Larkin Goldsmith Mead Jr.(1835-1910) was a sculptor from Brattleboro, Vermont. although he spent most of his life in Florence. He created the statue of Agriculture that crowns the Vermont State House in 1857, and the statue of Ethan Allen in the same building in 1861. He was also responsible for the statue of Allen in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and for an elaborate memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.