Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/31

 IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS.

��19

��■his wife Frances. He was among the list of proscribed sympathizers with the royal cause, and left the country about the time that political affairs were assuming a revolutionary aspect.

He afterward was appointed to office in Nova Scotia, while his cousin •and brother-in-law. Sir John, was gov- ernor of that province, and at his death, in 1808, was secretary there by royal favor. He was born in Boston in 1757.

The portion of the town of White- field drawn to this title was number eleven, being the present numbers six- teen and seventeen in the twenty-fifth range, containing one hundred and fifty- two acres, located in the extreme north easterly part of the town next the line of ancient Dartmouth, now Jefferson. An additional forty-eight acres was added to it in a subsequent division of lands in 1809, from lot numbersix in the fifth range, near the old town-farm, that being then undivided territory, to make «p the two hundred acres to which the name was entitled in the original grant of 1774.

Divi;-ion number eighty-seven in Whitefield's first allotment, was drawn to the title of Paul Wentworth, a name best remembered in New Hampshire, per- haps, in connection with the produc- tion of Holland's map, under whose direction, and at whose expense it was engraved and published, in London, in 1784, in accordance with surveys by ■Capt. Samuel Holland, who was the surveyor-general of the northern colo- nies previous to the revolution. The survey was made at the expense of the province of New Hampshire in the years 1773 and 1774.

This Paul Wentworth at that time was engaged in the formation of com- panies for the "purchase, improvement and sale of lands in New Hampshire." Hence his interest in the publication of the map, a copy of which may now be seen at the Atheneum in Portsmouth, and the writer has been informed there is also one in possession of P. C. Wilkins, of " Mann's hill," in Little- ton. Holland fled to Canada at the •outbreak of the revolution, where he

��died in 1801, a member of the execu- tive council of that province. He was one of the proscribed ones of New Hampshire, by the act of 1788, but held no property to be confiscated.

L^pon the death of Theodore Atkin- son, Jr., in I 769, a vacancy existed in the board of council, and the governor urged upon the secretary of the state the name of Paul Wentworth to fill the vacancy. He called him " of Ports- mouth in this province, nov/ in London, a gentleman of large property, ability, influence and loyalty." He received the appointment, as afterward appears, for in a list made by Gov. John Went- worth, in 1775, this Paul was reckoned as one of the councillors, but append- ed to his name was " resident in Lon- don, — not sworn in." Belknap gives the name of Paul Wentworth, Esq., of London, as one of the benefactors to Dartmouth College.

He was an intimate and trusted friend of the governor, and doubtless shared his political fortunes when he fled the country. The name of Paul Wentworth not appearing in the list of proscribed persons, he may ha\^e still been in London at the date of the record.

The Hon. John Wentworth, of Chi- cago, author of the Wentworth Gene- alogy, tells us that " there are preserved familiar letters written by the governor immediately after entering upon his official duties, signifying his desire to have Paul with him in New Hamp- shire, and at the time of the breaking up of the provincial government he was trying to bring about his appoint- ment as lieutenant-governor of the province."

The strong ties of friendship and interest existing between those two worthies, grew from no natural bond, for they were unrelated, imless, as the above authority adds, '• Paul was a natural son of some near relation of Gov. John's, of which there is not the least tradition." He died at Surinam, where he owned large estates, in December, 1793.

At a public land sale held at old

�� �