Litchfield, Connecticut,June 19, 1858.

Hon. Geo. P. Marsh:

Page 1

My Dear Sir Your letter to our worthy Town Clerk, making enquiries as to the date of the birth of Ethan Allen, has been handed to me for reply. The of his nativity having long been a matter of dispute among Biographers and Historians, the undersigned was, a few months since, appointed on a Committee of "The Litchfield Co. Hist. & Antiquarian Society," to investigate the subject & make report. The Report, as presented to the Society, was copied into the Burlington Free Press of Jan. 1, 1858, to which I refer you. The of his birth, not being then under consideration, was only referred to incidentally, but the record therein given is conclusive, viz.:

"On the 1 page of the 1 Book of Births, Marriages & Deaths, among the Litchfield Town Record, occurs the following entry --

"'Joseph Allen and Mary Baker were joyned together in marriage by ye Rev. Mr. Anthony Stoddard of Woodbury, March 11, 1736-'7."

"A subsequent entry on the same page is as follows:

""Ethan Allen ye son of Joseph Allen and Mary his wife was born .""

Page 2

Our Land Records and the records of our Town Meetings conclusively show that Joseph Allen (father of Ethan) was a resident of Litchfield from 1728 to 1740, & that during the year last named he removed to Cornwall in this county.

Sincerely & Truly Yours,P. K. Kilbourn

Secretary Litch Co. H. & Ant. Society.

References in this letter:

Ethan Allen, (1737/38-1789), is considered, with Ira Allen and Thomas Chittenden, one of the founding fathers of the state of Vermont. As a commander of the Green Mountain Boys, a local militia, outlawed in New York, Allen was a considerable force in the defense of the newly formed state against the British.