The son of Titus and Mary (Lewis) Doolittle, Joel Doolittle (1774-1841) born in Russell, Mass., in April 1774. He attended Williams College from 1795-1797, and completed his undergraduate studies at Yale, 1798-1799. Doolittle relocated to Vermont in 1799, served as the first tutor at Middlebury College, 1800-1801, and received an A.M degree from the College in 1802. He was admitted to the bar in 1801 and the same year opened a successful law practice in Middlebury. In 1817, he was elected a Judge of the Vermont Supreme Court, serving four successive terms until 1822, and again in 1824. That same year he was elected Representative to the VT State Legislature. He was elected a Trustee of Middlebury College in 1819, and served in that capacity until his death in 1841. Around 1810, Doolittle married Sarah Porter Fitch, with whom he had seven children including John T. and Mark R. Along with several other town leaders, Doolittle was a founding member of the First Episcopal Society of Addison County (1810) and served on the committee to finance the building of St. Stephen’s Church in Middlebury (1827). In 1834 Judge Doolittle was elected to the Vermont Council of Censors, serving as President of the body when it first proposed a bicameral legislature for the State. He died in Middlebury, Vt. on March 9, 1841.