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David Allen Smalley (April 6, 1809 - March 10, 1877) Born in Middlebury, Vermont, Smalley read law and practiced in Jericho, Vermont where he was postmaster from 1831 to 1836. Moving first to Lowell, Vermont he settled in Burlington, Vermont in 1836. He served in the State Senate in 1843-44. At the 1852 Democratic National Convention he was Vermont's Vice President of the Convention as well as member of the platform committee and choice to serve on the Democratic National Committee. President Franklin Pierce appointed him Collector of Customs for the District of Vermont in April 1853. Again a delegate at the Democratic Convention held at Cincinnati in 1856, he was reappointed to the National Committee where he served as Chairman (1856-1860). On the death of Samuel Prentiss in January of 1857, President Franklin Pierce appointed Smalley as a Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and he was confirmed February 3, 1857. As Chair of the Democratic National Committee it was Smalley's task to open the ill-fated Charleston Convention on April 23, 1860. He continued to serve as District Judge until his death in Burlington, Vt. on March 10, 1877.
