Burlington; 10 December, 1878.

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Hon. George P. Marsh, US. Minister, Rome, Italy,

My dear Sir, The enclosed letter, or address, to the Governor of Vermont contains a proposition to dispose of the balance of the Ethan Allen statue fund left in the hands of the Committee of Construction at the Inaugeration of said Statue. As a matter of business, it should have been attended to before, but nothing has been lost by the delay, as the money has lain in the Burlington Savings Bank from the time of the Inaugeration to this day on interest at 5 per cent. I have no pecuniary interest in the transaction, never having or expecting to have, my compensation for a committeeship with you for over twenty years. I hope you will approve of what has been done, or what is proposed to be done, consistant with the original design, and that this attempt shall finish the business. I did not intend to set my name to the letter to the Governor so awkwardly, or indeed, at all, until you had signed it.

You have no idea how much I have missed your advice and consultation in our long committeship, during your absence. My health has failed me, and in the loss of my dear wife I have suffered an affliction which this world cannot repay. She died of pneumonia on the 29 December, 18[7]8.

With very kind regards to M Marsh, I remain Very truly Yours.

John N. Pomeroy

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[Enclosure]

To his Excellency Redfield Proctor, Governor

of Vermont.
Dear sir, At the inaugeration of the Marble Statue of Ethan Allen, in the City of Burlington, on the 4th day of July 1873, the Committee, the Honorable George P. Marsh, and John N. Pomeroy, having in charge the erection of the said Statue, in an address by the latter, presented the sid Statue to the State, and stated to the people that beyond the expense of the Same, there would be a small balance left in the hands of the Committee, which, if not otherwise ordered, wuld be permenently funded to defray the expense of keeping in good order the statue, mounument and grounds. That balance, now amounting to the sume of tour hundred seventy three dollars and twenty seven cents ($473.27). No other disposition thereof having been ordered, the Committee hereby tender to the State of Vermont, in the form of a deposit in the Burlington Savings Band, the consideration and Action of Your Excellency, by the Committee

John N. Pomeroy, Burlington, 11 Dec 1878

G P. Marsh, Rome, Italy, 30 Dec 1878.

References in this letter:

Redfield Proctor (1831-1908) of Rutland was governor of Vermont from 1878 to 1880.

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.

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.