William Baxter (August 3, 1778 â October 1, 1827) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the state's attorney for Orleans County, Vermont, from 1802 to 1815, and in the Vermont House of Representatives on several non-consecutive occasions between 1802 and 1827.
Born in Norwich, Vermont, Baxter was the second person admitted to the bar in Orleans County. He held multiple elected offices and paid for the construction of a school in Orleans County. He fathered Portus Baxter and Carlos Baxter before dying with an estate worth $100,000.
The Baxter family came from Norwich, England, to Norwich, Connecticut, in 1632. Members of the family moved to Norwich, Vermont, in 1777, including Elihu Baxter and his wife Triphena Taylor. William Baxter, the oldest of the couple's 15 children, was born in Norwich, on August 3, 1778. On April 17, 1799, he married Lydia Ashley. They were the parents of eight children, including Portus Baxter and Carlos Baxter.
Baxter studied law under Daniel Buck. On November 23, 1801, he was the second person admitted to the bar of Orleans County, Vermont. Moving to Brownington, Vermont, in 1801, he earned around $4,000 per year. In 1814, he was among a group asking the state legislature for a turnpike between Sutton and Brownington. In 1822, he formed a legal partnership with George Carlton West.
Active in politics as a Federalist, Baxter was the state's attorney of Orleans County from 1802 to 1815, one of the county's assistant judges from 1825 to 1827, and a justice of the peace. He represented Brownington in the Vermont House of Representatives in 1802 to 1803, 1806 to 1818, 1819 to 1822, 1824 to 1825, and 1826 to 1827, and as a delegate to the 1822 constitutional convention.
In 1812, Baxter was a member of a four-person committee to determine if Montpelier, Vermont, should remain the capital, but the committee made no decision and referred the issue to be discussed again during the next legislative session. He proposed legislation to create a new school in Orleans County in 1820 and personally paid for its construction under the condition that the second floor be used for religious worship until the space was needed for use by the grammar school. The second floor was used for religious worship until the construction of a church in 1841.
Titus Hutchinson, Calvin Yale, William Nutting, and Baxter were elected to the board of trustees of the University of Vermont in 1819. Ira H. Allen was appointed to replace Baxter on the board of trustees after his death.
Baxter died in Brownington on October 1, 1827, and was buried at Brownington Village Cemetery. At the time of Baxter's death he had an estate worth $100,000 (), and West was left to administer it.