John Wentworth (Lieutenant-Governor)

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John Wentworth
Lieut Governor John Wentworth Province of New Hampshire.jpeg
Lieutenant Governor of New Hampshire
In office
1717–1730
Preceded by George Vaughan
Succeeded by David Dunbar
Personal details
Born(1671-01-16)January 16, 1671
Portsmouth, Province of New Hampshire
Died December 12, 1730(1730-12-12) (aged 59)
Spouse(s) Sarah Hunking
Children Benning, Hunking, Hannah, Sarah, John, William, Mary, Samuel, Mark Hunking, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Ebenezer, Daniel, George
Parents Samuel Wentworth and Mary Benning
Occupation Lt Governor of the Province of New Hampshire, seacaptain, merchant, counsellor, Justice of the Common Pleas
Signature Lt. Col. John Wentworth's signature.png

John Wentworth (January 16, 1671 – December 12, 1730) [1] served as Lieutenant Governor for the Province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1730. [2]

Province of New Hampshire English, from 1707, British, possession in North America between 1680 and 1776

The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was named after the county of Hampshire in southern England by Captain John Mason, its first named proprietor. In 1776 the province established an independent state and government, the State of New Hampshire, and joined with twelve other colonies to form the United States.

Contents

Biography

He was a grandson of "Elder" William Wentworth (born at Alford, Lincolnshire, England, in 1615; died in Dover, New Hampshire, March 16, 1697), [2] an early settler in New England. William was a follower of the Rev. John Wheelwright. With him and 33 others, William signed, August 4, 1639, “A Combination for a Government at Exeter, N. H.” William moved to Wells, Maine, with Wheelwright; and when the latter went to England on the accession of Oliver Cromwell to power, William moved to Dover, where he was a ruling elder and often preached. On his death, he left a widow, nine sons, and one daughter. [3]

William Wentworth (1616–1697) was a follower of John Wheelwright, and an early settler of New Hampshire. Coming from Alford in Lincolnshire, he likely came to New England with Wheelwright in 1636, but no records are found of him in Boston. When Wheelwright was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his role in the Antinomian Controversy, he established the settlement of Exeter, New Hampshire, and Wentworth followed him there and then to Wells, Maine. After Wheelwright left Wells for Hampton, New Hampshire, Wentworth went to Dover, New Hampshire, and this is where he lived the remainder of his life. He was the proprietor of a sawmill, and held several town offices, but is most noted for being an elder in his Dover church for nearly 40 years. He had 11 children with two wives, and has numerous descendants, including many of great prominence.

Dover, New Hampshire City in New Hampshire, United States

Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 29,987 at the 2010 census, the largest in the New Hampshire Seacoast region. The population was estimated at 31,398 in 2017. It is the county seat of Strafford County, and home to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, the Woodman Institute Museum, and the Children's Museum of New Hampshire.

New England Region of the United States

New England is a region composed of six states of the northeastern United States: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north, respectively. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the south. Boston is New England's largest city as well as the capital of Massachusetts. The largest metropolitan area is Greater Boston with nearly a third of the entire region's population, which also includes Worcester, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Providence, Rhode Island.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased the Wentworth house in 1926, and moved portions of the interior to the museum. The house was unusually grand in scale, and the spiral-turned balusters are the earliest known in New England. Wentworth House MET DP219653.jpg
The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased the Wentworth house in 1926, and moved portions of the interior to the museum. The house was unusually grand in scale, and the spiral-turned balusters are the earliest known in New England.

John Wentworth was raised to be a sea captain. In 1712 he was appointed by Queen Anne a councillor for New Hampshire; in 1713 he became a justice of the common pleas, and late in 1717 lieutenant governor. [3] Before New Hampshire received its own Royal Governor in 1741, its governors were also commissioned to govern the neighboring Province of Massachusetts Bay, where they spent most of their time. Consequently the lieutenant governors exercised significant power. As lieutenant governor, John Wentworth had little function in the government for several years. Then in January 1723, Governor Samuel Shute abruptly returned to England, so Wentworth took over in New Hampshire, governing until the arrival of Shute's replacement, William Burnet, in 1728. He continued as Lt. Governor until his death in 1730, [4] again governing between Burnet's death in 1729 and the arrival of Jonathan Belcher in 1730. During his administration he brought focus on the border dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, cultivating power centers in London that eventually led to resolution of that dispute (albeit in 1740, long after his death), and establishing the dynasty that would dominate New Hampshire until independence.

Province of Massachusetts Bay English/British possession in America (1691–1776)

The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in British America and one of the thirteen original states of the United States from 1776 onward. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The charter took effect on May 14, 1692 and included the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, the Province of Maine, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the direct successor. Maine has been a separate state since 1820, and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are now Canadian provinces, having been part of the colony only until 1697.

Samuel Shute was an English military officer and royal governor of the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. After serving in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was appointed by King George I as governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1716. His tenure was marked by virulent disagreements with the Massachusetts assembly on a variety of issues, and by poorly conducted diplomacy with respect to the Native American Wabanaki Confederacy of northern New England that led to Dummer's War (1722–1725).

Jonathan Belcher Colonial governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey

Jonathan Belcher was a merchant, businessman, and politician from the Province of Massachusetts Bay during the American colonial period. Belcher served simultaneously for over a decade as colonial governor of the British colonies of New Hampshire (1729–41) and Massachusetts (1730–41) and later for ten years as governor of New Jersey (1747–57).

Interior of the John Wentworth house, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Wentworth House MET ADA3721.jpg
Interior of the John Wentworth house, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Family

On October 12, 1693 Wentworth married Sara Hunking. The couple had thirteen children, three of whom (Samuel, Benning, and Mark Hunking Wentworth) would become prominent themselves. Benning Wentworth was later the first directly appointed royal governor of New Hampshire. Mark's son in his turn would also become the last royal governor, John Wentworth.

Benning Wentworth Colonial governor of New Hampshire

Benning Wentworth was the colonial governor of New Hampshire from 1741 to 1766.

Related Research Articles

John Wentworth may refer to:

Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet Colonial governor of New Hampshire and Nova Scotia

Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet was the British colonial governor of New Hampshire at the time of the American Revolution. He was later also Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. He is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church (Halifax).

John Wentworth Jr. was a lawyer who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire and a signer of the Articles of Confederation.

Dummers War war

The Dummer's War, was a series of battles between New England and the Wabanaki Confederacy who were allied with New France. The eastern theater of the war was fought primarily along the border between New England and Acadia in Maine, as well as in Nova Scotia; the western theater was fought in northern Massachusetts and Vermont at the border between Canada and New England.

William Dummer Lieutenant Governor of colonial Massachusetts, acting governor during Dummers War, benefactor of The Governors Academy

William Dummer was a politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He served as its lieutenant governor for fourteen years (1716–1730), including an extended period from 1723 to 1728 when he acted as governor. He is remembered for his role in leading the colony during what is sometimes called Dummer's War, which was fought between the British colonies of northeastern North America and a loose coalition of native tribes in what is now New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

New Hampshire is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. New Hampshire was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.

William Burnet (colonial administrator) British governor of New York and New Jersey

William Burnet was a British civil servant and colonial administrator who served as governor of New York and New Jersey (1720–1728) and Massachusetts and New Hampshire (1728–1729). Born into a position of privilege, Burnet was well educated, tutored among others by Isaac Newton.

William Tailer Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay

William Tailer was a military officer and politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born into the wealthy and influential Stoughton family, he twice married into other politically powerful families. He served as lieutenant governor of the province from 1711 until 1716, and again in the early 1730s. During each of these times he was briefly acting governor. He was a political opponent of Governor Joseph Dudley, and was a supporter of a land bank proposal intended to address the province's currency problems. During his first tenure as acting governor he authorized the erection of Boston Light, the earliest lighthouse in what is now the United States.

Captain Thomas Wiggin (1601-1666)), often known as Governor Thomas Wiggin, was the first governor of the Upper Plantation of New Hampshire, a settlement that later became part of the Province of New Hampshire in 1679. He was the founder of Stratham, Rockingham, New Hampshire, which celebrated its 300th anniversary of incorporation in 2016. The son of a vicar in the Church of England with family ties to important and influential families of the era. A highly respected man in his own right who would leave his stamp on what would become American values.

John Hoadly Irish bishop

John Hoadly (1678–1746) was an Anglican divine in the Church of Ireland. He served as Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, as Archbishop of Dublin, and as Archbishop of Armagh from 1742 until his death.

George Vaughan (New Hampshire) Colonial governor of New Hampshire

George Vaughan may be best known for being Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New Hampshire for only one year. A graduate of Harvard College in 1696, he was also at various times a merchant, colonel of militia, agent for the province to England, and counsellor.

Richard Waldron (Secretary) Colonial New Hampshire businessman and politician

Richard Waldron (1694-1753) was a major opponent of the Wentworth oligarchy in colonial New Hampshire. He supported a continued political subordination of New Hampshire to Massachusetts and opposed moves to separation from this traditional senior partner. Through his friendship with Massachusetts governor and kinsman Jonathan Belcher and his positions of Secretary, Councillor, and New Hampshire assembly speaker, for a time he was "the central authority" in colonial New Hampshire politics.

David Dunbar was a British military officer, a surveyor of the King's woods in North America, and lieutenant governor of the Province of New Hampshire. Of Scotch-Irish origin, Dunbar married into a wealthy and politically influential family, and received his first North American appointment, that of Surveyor of the King's Woods, in 1728, through the influence of his family connections and that of Martin Bladen, a member of the Board of Trade. In this position he made numerous local enemies in his enforcement of regulations governing the cutting of trees that could be used as ship masts. He was the leader of an attempt to establish a colony named "Georgia" in what is now the central coast of Maine, and was in 1730 commissioned as lieutenant governor of the Province of New Hampshire in an attempt to strengthen his authority. He engaged in frequent disputes with New Hampshire's Governor Jonathan Belcher. He established Fort Frederick in Maine.

Wentworth is a surname which may refer to:

References

  1. "Publications - A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998" http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/wentjohn.html accessed June 25, 2010.
  2. 1 2 John Norris McClintock, Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: History of New Hampshire, (1889), p. 174 at: Google Books accessed August 27, 2010
  3. 1 2 Wikisource-logo.svg Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Wentworth, William". The American Cyclopædia .
  4. John Wentworth, Wentworth Genealogy: English and American, 1878, vol. 1, pp.178-183 as found at Google books.