Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/29

 IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS.

��IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS.

��BY LEVI W. DODGE.

��It is a fact noticeable by those inter- ested in the local histories of the state, that many of the grantees of town- ships conveyed during the last years of the administration of New Hamp- shire's last royal governor, John Went- worth, F^sq., were of those holding commissions, civil or military, under the royal seal. There were many, also, connected with the governor's family, either by marriage or the strong ties of friendship.

During the early years of his appointment he was a favorite of the I)eople, and had he adhered to their cause instead of that of the home government, it is not assuming too much to suppose he might have con- tinued a popular leader.

Stri\ing to uphold the cause of the king, it was but natural lie should wish for the influence of his principal friends, and to retain the support of the leaders or more active minds in the different parts of the province. Nor is it to be wondered at that he should use all legitimate means, if sometimes (questionable, to retain those influences. It was reported by the " Sons flj Liberiy,'' that " we can not de- pend on the countenance of many per- sons of the first rank here, for royal commissions and famly connections in- fluence the principal gentlemen among us at least to keep silence in these evil times."

It was in reward for this keejiing silence or for ojjen support of the governor in those trying days, that we find many of their names among the grantees of new townships chartered at that time. It is thought, too, that Oov. Wentworth, not foreseeing the downfall of British authority in New England, and looking perhaps to family aggrandizement and the building up of a provincial aristocracy, sought to ha\e VII— 2

��created here an order of baronets, to be conferred upon the purchasers of large tracts, who would build up fhcir liaronial estates, governed by the laws, of English rank and honor, with heredi- tary titles, similar to those instituted by James I in P>ngland, and by Charles I in Nova Scotia, for the benefit of the first F^arl of Stirling.

What other idea could have infi'j- enced the petitioning for and the granting of the territory embraced \\\ the ]jresent" town of Carroll to Sir Thomas Wentworth, Bart., except the transfer of his F^nglish title, or the building up of our American barony ! Sir Thomas's English estates, said to have been worth an income of $200,000 per year, were at Bretton, in the County of "^'ork, and the ancient <:onn- trv seat was known as "Bretton Hall," and this wild Coos acquisition, in memory of this British title, was grant- ed as "Bretton Woods." This was the fifth Ijaronet of that name and line, and with the death of Sir Thomas, in 1 792, the title liecamc extinct, as he died unmarried. His vast estate he left by will to his natural daughter, who became the wife of Thomas Richard Beaumont, F^sq. The ancient scat of the family is still known a " Bretton Hall," and is still occupied by the descendants of the grantee of " Bretton Woods" in New Flamj^shire.

Perhaps the above grant to the title of Thomas Wentworth was one of that class of cases which in 1772 called forth the fierce opposition of Peter Fivius to tlie governor and his council, and sent him to F^ngland with a lengthy protest to be laid before the Lords of Trade. One of his alleged causes for complaint was " that the Ciovernor had moved in council that the lands reserved to the late govern- or (Benning Wentworth), in the char- ter of townships, should be re-granlcd

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