Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/574

 554 WENTWORTH in 1713 he became a justice of the common pleas, and in 1717 lieutenant governor of the province, which was then dependent on Massa- chusetts. He left a widow and 14 children. IIL Benning, governor of New Hampshire, eld- est child of the preceding, born in Portsmouth, July 24, 1696, died there, Oct. 14, 1770. He graduated at Harvard college in 1715, became a merchant at Portsmouth, which town he fre- quently represented in the provincial assem- bly, was appointed a king's councillor, Oct. 12, 1734, and when in 1741 New Hampshire was made a distinct province he became its gov- ernor (Dec. 13), and so continued until 1767. He was authorized by the crown to grant pat- ents of unoccupied land, and in 1749 began ma- king grants in what is now southern Vermont. These grants were considered by the colonial government of New York as within its do- main, and the collision so famous in the his- tory of Vermont respecting the " New Hamp- shire grants " ensued. (See VERMONT.) Gov. Wentworth exacted heavy fees for his grants of land, and thus accumulated a large property. In each of them he stipulated for the reserva- tion of a lot for an Episcopal church. After his resignation aa governor ho gave to Dart- mouth college 500 acres of land, on which the college buildings were erected. He had by his first wife three children who lived to maturity, but died before him unmarried. He married, first, Abigail, daughter of John Ruck, of Bos- ton, who died Nov. 8, 1755 ; and second, March 15, 1760, Martha Hilton, who had been brought up in his family, and was his housekeeper after his wife's death, upon which event Long- fellow based his poem " Lady Wontworth." He made her sole heir of his largo property. She afterward married Col. Michael Wentworth of the British army, and her only child, Mar- tha, became the wife of Gov. John Went- worth's nephew, John Wentworth, author of " System of Pleading." IV. Sir John, governor of New Hampshire and afterward of Nova Scotia, nephew of the preceding, born in Portsmouth in 1736, died in Halifax, April 8, 1820. He graduated at Harvard college in 1755, was associated with his father Mark Hunking Wentworth as a merchant, and in 1765 was the agent of New Hampshire to pre- sent petitions in England. While there he gained the friendship of the marquis of Rock- ingham, through whose influence he was ap- pointed to succeed Benning Wentworth as governor of New Hampshire, Aug. 11, 1766, and was at the same time appointed surveyor general of the king's woods in North America, with a salary of 700 and perquisites. He landed at Charleston, S. C., in March, 1768, and travelling northward by land registered his commission as surveyor in each of the colonies through which he passed. Ho entered on his duties as governor in June, 1768, and on Nov. 11, 1769, married his cousin, Frances Went- worth, widow of his and her cousin, the Hon. Theodore Atkinson, jr., and daughter of Sam- uel Wentworth of Boston. He had a house in Portsmouth, and a country seat at Wolfebor- ough. He gave Dartmouth college its charter, and endowed it with 44,000 acres of land, and also gave a piece of land to each member of the first graduating class. When in 1774 Gen. Gage found it impossible to procure carpenters to construct barracks for the royal troops in Boston, and Wentworth endeavored to procure them for him privately from Wolfeborough, the indignation of the people compelled him to take refuge first in Fort William and Mary, and then on board a British ship. After some vain efforts to stay the storm, he went to England, where he remained until peace was declared. He then removed to Nova Scotia and resumed his functions as surveyor of the king's woods, and on May 14, 1792, was ap- pointed lieutenant governor of that province, which office he resigned in 1808. He was created a baronet in 1795, and was a doctor of laws of Oxford and Dartmouth. The baronet- cy became extinct, April 10, 1844, on the death of his only child, Charles May, a graduate of Oxford, long private secretary to the earl of Fitzwilliam, who died unmarried at Kingsand, Devon, leaving the bulk of his property to his maternal cousin, Mrs. Catharine Frances Gore, the novelist. V. John, an American pa- triot, great-grandson of Elder William Went- worth, born in Dover, N. H., March 30, 1719, died in Somersworth, May 17, 1781. He was usually called "Col. John" or "Judge John," to distinguish him from others of the name. He was for many years a member of the pro- vincial assemblies, was elected speaker in 1771, in 1773 became chief justice of the court of common pleas, and on Jan. 17, 1776, was chosen one of the superior judges, though he had never studied nor practised law. He was president of the first revolutionary convention held at Exeter, N. H., July 21, 1774. He survived his third wife, and left nine out of fourteen children. VI. John, jr., an American patriot, son of the preceding, born in Somerswortli, N. H., July 17, 1745, died in Dover, Jan. 10, 1787. He graduated at Harvard college in 1768, studied law, served for many years in the state legislature, and was a member of the continental congress in 1778-'81. He was also a member of the New Hampshire commit- tee of safety, which administered the govern- ment during the recess of the legislature. He left a wife and seven children. VII. John, an English lawyer, nephew of Gov. John Went- worth, born in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1768, died in Paris in 1816. He was taken to Eng- land about 1775, and educated as a lawyer. He wrote "System of Pleading" (10 vols., Lon- don, 1797), was appointed attorney general of Prince Edward's Island, removed to Ports- mouth, N. H., where he married Martha, daugh- ter of Gov. Benning Wentworth's widow by her second husband, Col. Michael Wentworth, and remained till 1816, when he returned to London and soon after died. VIII. John, an