USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 5
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The province treated him with a generosity suited to their revenues. He was voted a salary of seven hundred pounds, an advance of two hundred pounds beyond what the previous governor had received, and sixty-seven pounds, later increased to one hundred pounds, were allowed him for house rent. More- over, three hundred pounds were voted him for traveling expenses, and in 1772 a gratuity of five hundred pounds was voted by the House for eminent services rendered to the province; yet he asked for an increase of salary after all this, and for "a Province House in which the Governor can reside with comfort to himself and respect to the Government." This was in 1773, and he thought "the perfectly inconsiderable taxes"
1 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII., 163.
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of the people warranted the expenditure.2 In this connection may be mentioned a reception given in 1772, when the House and Council chose a joint committee, "to prepare some refresh- ments for his Excellency & such of his Majesty's Council and House of Representatives as shall be willing & can attend on his Excellency at his Majesty's Fort Wm & Mary, on the King's birth day & drink his Majesty's health there at the expense of the Province." Captain John Cochran's bill for entertainment on this occasion was twenty-four pounds, nineteen shillings and eight pence, and Samuel Gerrish was allowed two pounds and two shillings for boat hire, to carry legislators to the fort. This is the first junket on record in New Hampshire.3
Soon after his inauguration Governor Wentworth bought land in Wolfeborough for a country seat, to which he added, in 1770, two thousand seven hundred and seventy acres, bought of John Parker, the rights of seven original grantees. His estate was on the east shore of Smith Pond, now known as Lake Wentworth, tributary to Lake Winnepiseogee. The baronial estates of England had charmed him, and his desire was to found a similar one for himself and to encourage others to do likewise, rather than to aid agriculture among the small farmers. He sought to make Wolfeborough a half shire town with Dover, and from it he planned roads to Dartmouth College, to Montreal and Quebec. He shared with others the plan of connecting Lake Winnipiseogee with the Pascataqua river by means of canals. Fields were cleared and orchards planted. A park was made, and stocked with deer and moose. A mansion was built, one hundred feet long and forty feet wide. There were numerous barns and cottages for workmen. One end of the house was never finished but seems to have been designed for the holding of courts. "The principal room in the upper story was the East India chamber, the walls of which were covered with finely painted paper, representing life scenes in the East. Here was a white marble fireplace; on each side were niches in which to places statues. On the same floor were the Green Room and the Blue Room, thus named from the color of their finish- ings. Here also was the King and Queen's Chamber, which had
2 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 130, 146, 294.
3 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 303.
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a fireplace of gray marble and niches where stood the statues of the king and queen of England. In the lower story were the store-room, kitchen, dining-room, drawing-room and library. In the last named room was a black marble fireplace with a tile hearth."4 It may be interesting to note that these many acres were bought for sixty-four pounds and fifteen shillings, or about twelve cents per acre. Here the governor spent his summers in baronial style, superintending the clearing of land, planting of crops, making of roads, and producing of fine breeds of horses and cattle. With another costly residence to maintain in Ports- mouth for winters, it is not surprising that the governor informed the House that his salary was insufficient to meet his annual expenses. He thought it incumbent upon the farmers of New Hampshire to enable him to entertain his many friends and visitors with almost regal magnificence. This was the cur- rent idea of an honorable support of governors.
During this period was established in New Hampshire an institution of learning destined to exert a wide beneficent influ- ence over the future nation. It had its origin in a school for the education of Indians, to be missionaries among various tribes. This was first established, by Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, in Lebanon, Connecticut, who took up the work begun by Mr. John Sergeant at Stockbridge. It was thought that by separating Indian youths from their uncivilized surroundings and educat- ing them in the English language, they would be introduced into a new world of thought and activity, elevating their standard of religion and morality. Many benevolent persons were im- pressed by this idea and contributed funds for the maintenance of the school, both in this country and in England and Scotland. The money collected in England was put into the hands of trustees, of whom William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, was the leading spirit, from whom the institution, after its removal to Hanover, took its name, Dartmouth College.
As early as 1762 Mr. Wheelock came to Portsmouth, at the invitation of Henry Sherburne, who was interested in the work. Then talk began about the removal to New Hampshire, and grants of land and other assistance were sought. The Council and House voted aid to the extent of fifty pounds annually for
4 Parker's Hist. of Wolfeborough, p. 83.
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five years, but the measure was vetoed by Governor Benning Wentworth, through denominational prejudice. A year later the governor assented to an appropriation of fifty pounds for one year and gave his reservation of five hundred acres in Hanover, on which the buildings of the college were erected. Several towns made efforts to draw the college to themselves, among them Orford, Haverhill, Plymouth, Rumney and Campton. Some of these towns offered five thousand acres of land. Several other towns on the Connecticut bid for the college, such as Piermont, Lebanon, Plainfield, Claremont, Charlestown and Walpole, besides some towns on the opposite side of the river, in Vermont. All felt that the college would help the growth of the town in which it was located. Governor John Wentworth favored the college throughout his administration and attended its first commencement. He also wanted the Bishop of London to be one of the Trustees, but there were serious objections to this. After long search and correspondence the college was chartered December 13, 1769, with twelve trustees, five of whom were of New Hampshire, viz., Governor John Wentworth, Theodore Atkinson, who was secretary of state, George Jaffrey and Daniel Pierce, who were members of the governor's Council, and Peter Gilman, who was speaker of the House. The other trustees, besides Dr. Wheelock, were from Connecticut. The infant college had an endowment of a tract six miles square, now the town of Landaff. Other lands were given through private beneficence, and money and material were contributed for the erection of buildings. The college began its career with twenty-four students, eighteen being whites and the rest Indians. A class of four graduated in 1771, viz., Levi Frisbie, minister at Ipswich later, Samuel Gray, native and resident of Windham, Connecticut, Sylvanus Ripley, afterward professor of divinity at the college, and John Wheelock, who succeeded his father in the presidency of the college and filled that office from 1779 to 1815. A district three miles square was put under the jurisdic- tion of the college, and the president was made a magistrate. The province granted him a salary of sixty pounds and in 1773 five hundred pounds for a new building.5
5 See the full and excellent Hist. of Dartmouth College, by Frederick Chase, edited and continued by John K. Lord; also N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. passim.
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A census taken in 1767 showed the population of the province to be fifty-two thousand seven hundred. The most populous towns, in order, were Portsmouth, Londonderry, Exeter, Dover, Epping, Hampton Falls, Durham and Chester. A more complete census was made in 1775, when the total popu- lation was 72,092, and the most populous towns, in order, were Portsmouth, Londonderry, Exeter, Dover, Barrington, Chester, Epping, Rochester, Amherst, Newmarket, Hollis and Durham. In 1767 six hundred and thirty-three slaves were reported, and in 1775 there were six hundred and thirty-two, of whom one hundred and forty were in Portsmouth.
The growing population of the province and the great distance of many towns from the seat of government, occasion- ing inconvenience and expense of travel, created a wide spread demand for a division of the province into counties. Unsuccess- ful efforts to obtain such division were made during the administration of Governor Benning Wentworth. The efforts were at once renewed by the people and the House on the arrival of the new governor. The Council always had objections to the proposals of the House. When the House sought three counties, the Council said two; when the demand rose to five counties, the Council replied, three. When all were agreed as to number, then there was difference of opinion as to dividing lines. After all had been settled by both House and Council, several towns asked to be transferred to an adjoining county. The governor and Council wanted the House to fix a salary for the judges; this the House refused to do till the division into counties was made. At length, in 1771, the province was divided into five counties, which the governor is said to have named from English noblemen, with whom he had become acquainted. The governor was in doubt whether the counties should be created by an act of the General Assembly or by the governor and Council. The House expressed themselves on this point with no uncertain sound: "We have always understood the sentiments of former Assemblys on this point to have been, that this measure could not be effected but by an act of the three branches of the Legislature of the Province. But whatever hath been the sentiments of former Assemblys on this point, the present House, after mature deliberation on the subject, are of
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opinion that an act of the General Assembly is necessary to effect any alteration in the present jurisdiction of the several Courts of Justice in the Province, as the said Courts & their Juris- diction now & for many years have been settled by Acts of the General Assembly of the Province confirmed by the Royal assent, which Acts can in no wise consistent with the Constitu- tion of his Majesty's Government here be repealed, annulled or altered by the Governor & Council, which is the necessary Result & Consequence of any Division of the Province, or any new Countys, new Courts, or new Jurisdiction, being erected therein, without an Act of the General Assembly."6 The gov- ernor obtained express permission from his Majesty in Council before announcing the division of the Province into counties. Because of the sparse population of Strafford and Grafton counties it was decided to let them remain attached to Rocking- ham county, till the governor and Council should declare them independent, which decision was reached in 1773. The House voted a salary of sixty pounds to the Justices, with an additional five pounds to the Chief Justice.
At this time the governor's councilors, appointed by the king, but doubtless at the governor's suggestion, were Theodore Atkinson, Daniel Warner, Mark H. Wentworth, Peter Livius, Jonathan Warner, Daniel Rindge, George Jaffrey, Daniel Rogers, Peter Gilman, Thomas W. Waldron and Paul Wentworth, eight of them being residents of Portsmouth and as many being related by family ties to the governor.
Rockingham county was named for Charles Watson Went- worth, Marquis of Rockingham. The shire towns were and still are Portsmouth and Exeter. The records were removed to Exeter for safety in 1775, and the Province records, by vote of the state, were removed thence to Concord, in 1897, where they have been finely indexed. They are a mine of information to seekers of genealogical and historical data. Rockingham county contained in 1773 forty-five towns. There were seven thousand one hundred and seventy polls and rateable estates to the value of £10,528. The Justices of the Superior Court were Theodore Atkinson, Meshech Weare, Leverett Hubbard and William Parker, and George King was the clerk. The Justices of the
6 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 178.
.
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Inferior Court of Common Pleas were Daniel Warner, Clement March, John Phillips and Christopher Toppan, and the clerk was Isaac Rindge. There are now but thirty-seven towns in this county, since the formation of Merrimack county.
Strafford county was named for William Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, and Dover was made the shire town, with the hope that Wolfeborough would at some time share the honor and privilege. There were in 1773 twenty-one towns, having two thousand three hundred and twelve polls. It now contains thir- teen towns. The Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas were John Wentworth of Somersworth, George Ffrost, Otis Baker and John Plummer, and the clerk was Ebenezer Thompson.
Hillsborough county was named for the Earl of Hillsbor- ough, one of the privy council of George III. There were thirty towns, besides the Society Land. The shire towns have been Amherst, Hopkinton, Manchester and Nashua. The county records are kept at Nashua. The Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, in 1773, were Matthew Thornton, Samuel Hobart, John Shepard and Samuel Blodget, and the clerk was Stephen Holland.
Cheshire county contained thirty towns in its beginning and now has twenty-three. Keene is the shire town. The first Justices of the Court of Common Pleas were Daniel Jones, Samuel Ashley, Elisha Marsh and Benjamin Bellows, and the clerk was Simeon Jones.
Grafton county was named for Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton. Its shire towns are Plymouth and Haverhill. It had nineteen towns in 1773 and now has thirty-nine. The first Justices were John Hurd, Asa Porter, David Hobart and Beza- leel Woodward, and the clerk was John Fenton.
Coos county, formerly the northern part of Grafton county, was incorporated December 24, 1803. It contains twenty-six towns, the shire towns being Lancaster and Colebrook. Here are the loftiest mountains of New England, including the presidential range. The largest asset is the influx of summer tourists and boarders, though in the lowlands, along the rivers and streams is very fertile land. The county has an area of one million acres.
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Merrimack county was taken from the counties of Rocking- ham and Hillsborough and incorporated July 23, 1823. The shire town is Concord, and the county contains twenty-seven towns. Its name is derived from the river that flows through it.
The northern part of Cheshire county was incorporated as Sullivan county July 5, 1827, and named in honor of General John Sullivan. It has fifteen towns, the county seat being Newport.
Belknap county, originally a part of Strafford county, and named in honor of Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire, was incorporated December 22, 1840. It has eleven towns, the shire town being Laconia, formerly Gilford. Its northeastern boundary is Lake Winnipiseogee and Carroll county.
Carroll county was incorporated the same day as Belknap county. It was originally the northern part of Strafford county. It has seventeen towns, and the county seat is Ossipee.
Many towns received their charters during the administra- tion of Governor John Wentworth, but they were granted before his time and have been already mentioned. Among the grants of 1771 were Berlin and Milan, both granted to Sir William Mayne and a company of gentlemen, said to have been of Barbadoes. Berlin was granted under the name of Maynes- borough and was incorporated, July 1, 1829, under its present name. Milan was Paulsburg till December 16, 1824, when it was incorporated by its present name. Berlin has become a thriving and prosperous place because of its production of wood pulp.
Franconia was granted as Morristown, February 14, 1764, and was incorporated in 1772 by its present name. It has become well known for its scenery and summer hotels. Breton- Woods was granted, February 8, 1772 to Sir Thomas Went- worth and others, many of whom were of Portsmouth. It was incorporated as Carroll June 22, 1832. Additions have since been made. Dummer was granted March 8, 1773, to Mark Hunking Wentworth, father of the governor, and others of Portsmouth and vicinity. It was incorporated December 19, 1849, and a part of Stark was annexed in 1868. Shelburne was granted, May 3, 1769, to Mark Hunking Wentworth, Daniel
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Pierce, Daniel Rogers, John, Daniel, Isaac and Jotham Rindge, all related to the governor. It was regranted with additions November 21, 1770. It was incorporated December 13, 1820. Shelburne Addition was incorporated as Gorham June 18, 1836.
Stratford was granted June 26, 1762, by Gov. Benning Wentworth, to John Prindle and others and was incorporated under the name of Woodbury. The charter was renewed Janu- ary 15, 1770. It was granted May 26, 1773, to Joshua Wentworth and others and incorporated as Stratford. It was reincorporated November 19, 1779.
Deering was a part of Society Land, or Cumberland. It was incorporated January 17, 1774 and was named for the wife of Governor John Wentworth, whose maiden name was Frances Deering Wentworth. Francestown named also for her was incorporated June 8, 1772. John Carson had settled there as early as 1760, when it was known as New Boston Addition.
The town of Percy, named probably for the king's chaplain, Thomas Percy, was granted August 3, 1774, to Jacob Walden and others. The name was changed to Stark December 28, 1832, in honor of General John Stark.
Success was incorporated in 1773; Warner, Nelson, Stod- dard, Errol, Kilkenny, Millsfield and Whitefield, in 1774, though some of them had been granted before; Washington and Marl- borough in 1776.
It may be noticed that Governor John Wentworth was as careful to name his relatives and friends in grants of land as his predecessor had been. He also reserved one share for a glebe for the Church of England, one share for the first settled minister, and one for a school. Complaints were made to the king about the unfair granting of lands in the colonies, which led him and his Council, in 1773, to forbid all the governors in America to make further grants without express permission from the king.7
It seems that Governor John Wentworth expected to inherit the property of his uncle, the preceding governor, and when a late will was unexpectedly found bequeathing all Benning Wentworth's property to his young widow, there was disappointment, and a way was sought whereby the five hundred
7 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII., p. 320.
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acres in each of nearly one hundred and seventy-five townships, which the former governor, in making grants of towns, had reserved unto himself, might become the possessions of his successor, for the reservations were made unto himself, his heirs, or successors. The governor raised the question in his Council whether the reservation, in the charter grants, conveyed the title to Benning Wentworth, and the Council, seven of whom were the governor's relatives, answered this question in the negative. Then he asked them whether they would advise him to regrant those five hundred acre tracts to such of his majesty's subjects as should settle and cultivate the same. They so advised, but one of the Council was Peter Livius, and he thought that this was an indirect way of gaining those tracts for the governor. They could easily be granted to private persons with a secret or tacit understanding that they should be held for the governor or sold back to him for a nominal price. Peter Livius, Englishman, had married a daughter of John Tufton Mason, settled in Portsmouth and been one of the Council. He was a man of wealth, built a bridge in Portsmouth, owned shipping and carried on extensive business. He had three slaves and lived in considerable state in what was then called the White House, still standing. He had been one of the Justices but when the division of the province into five counties took place, somehow he was left out of the number of Justices. This may have had something to do with his complaints against the governor, yet there was a basis in fact for the complaints. He sailed for England in July 1772 and there brought his accusations against the governor and Council to the attention of the Lords of Trade.
The complaints in full and the replies to the same may be studied by those interested, in the Province and State Papers of New Hampshire. The complaint of chief interest is as follows :
In the beginning of March, 1771, the present governor proposed to his Council to advise & consent to the granting to himself, but thro other per- sons, all the lands which had been as afore said granted to his predeces- sor, alledging that the former grants, being made immediately to the late governor, were void, and the lands remained as if no grant had ever been made of them. Your memorialist observed to him that it would appear very strange on the Journals, that the governor should desire these grants for himself. The Governor allowed that it would and added that therefore the
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entry need only be, that the Council did advise and consent to the granting these lands to any of the King's subjects. Your memorialist made this ob- servation in hopes that the governor would have felt the impropriety of doing what he allowed unfit to appear when done, but he did not seem to feel it, and in answer to some objections concerning the invalidity of the former grants, he ordered to be read a long reasoning & opinion of a lawyer at Boston against the grants. Your memorialist then observed that although the Council had no legal power to give judgment in such cases, yet (if they would assume the power) your memorialist desired that as they had in effect heard counsel on the one side, they would also suffer counsel on the other. This was refused and at subsequent day it was voted as the governor desired. That all the Council (your memorialist excepted) were nearly connected and related to the governor. That it appeared to your memorialist a very extraordinary case, that the title of the King's subjects should be thus prejudiced without judge or jury, without tryal of any kind, without hearing or even giving her notice, when at the same time counsel was admitted against her. That your memorialist therefore thought it his duty to protest, but his protest was never suffered to be entered on the Journals, nor even to be put on file till twelve months after.8
There can be little room for doubt that this is a true state- ment of the facts in the case. There was a lot of talk in the Council and out of it that was never recorded. Hence depo- sitions that appeared in the case, quoting the precise words of the public records of Council, weigh but little. Mr. Livius made a mistake in saying that the five hundred acres in each township were granted to the late governor on the same conditions with the other grantees. They were not; they were a reservation at the very end of each charter and without any condition. But in the reply to Mr. Livius this point was seized upon, and it was urged that as no improvements had ever been made on said reservations, therefore the grants had lapsed, as in all other such cases, and could be regranted to any of the king's subjects. But this was an afterthought; the original ground of the action of the governor and his council was, that a grant made by the governor, as the king's agent, to himself was invalid after the death of the governor, and the land reverted to the king. The lords of the committee reported to the king in council that "the lands granted to the late governor were granted in the name of the king, which was sufficient to convey a title and that the Council was mistaken in thinking otherwise." By this decision the five hundred acres in each township were held to belong of
8 N. H. State Papers, XVIII. 624.
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right to Martha, widow of Benning Wentworth. There is no evidence that governor John Wentworth ever regranted any of such lands to anybody. The Revolution put an end to some claims. Vermont became a separate State, and Benning Went- worth's reservations therein were of no value to his heirs, while all of governor John Wentworth's property in New Hampshire was confiscated.
Depositions by members of the governor's Council and testimonials from the towns of Portsmouth and Francestown were gathered and sent to the king, through the agency of Mr. Thomas McDonogh, private secretary to the governor. The testimonial of Portsmouth was unanimously voted in annual town meeting, wishing that "his Majesty may be pleased to continue your Excellency in the chair for a long time to come, that we may go on to reap the fruit of your publick spirit and strenuous endeavours for the welfare of this Province and his Majesty's interests in general. We shall only add our wishes that your Excellency will continue to promote and encourage the settlement of the new townships in this Province, & counten- ance Learning and usefull Knowledge as you already very abundantly have done, and that you may hereafter meet your reward."9 This testimonial will not count for much, if we remember that two years later the people of Portsmouth planted a cannon pointed at the door of the governor's house and that he was constrained to flee from the country to save his life from the mob. The grants of land under both the governors had been more favorable to Portsmouth people than to the inhabitants of any other town, and so they had nothing to complain of in the conduct of the governor up to 1773.
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