USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Windsor > The birthplace of Vermont; a history of Windsor to 1781 > Part 9
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1 4 Doc. Hist. 435.
2 4 Doc. Hist. 489.
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Benning Wentworth's conduct had not been approved in Eng- land. Luckily for him, at the time the latest charges against him were preferred, there happened to be in England his nephew, John Wentworth, who, with the aid of their patron, Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham, suc- ceeded in making it appear that the old governor had deter- mined to resign in favor of John when the latter should be appointed and assume the duties of the office. John Went- worth's letter in defence of his uncle, under date of March 10, 1765, which may be found in volume 18 of the New Hampshire State Papers at pages 560 to 567, throws some light on the nature of the charges.
John Wentworth, who thus succeeded his uncle and became the last of the royal governors of New Hampshire, received his appointment in August, 1766, while still in England. He was born at Portsmouth, August 9, 1737, was graduated at Harvard in the class of 1755, was a classmate and friend of John Adams and had the good fortune of acquaintance among the best and the influential people both in the American colonies and in the mother country. He had also the advantage of travel abroad. As an executive, his industry and zeal and his devotion to the public interests made his administration a marked contrast to the last years of his uncle's. At the time of his appointment as governor he was also commissioned surveyor-general of the King's Woods in North America. On his return to the Colonies he landed first in South Carolina and there and in each colony or province on his journey to the northward he recorded his surveyor's commission. On June 13, 1767, he reached Portsmouth, where his personal popu- larity won for him a hearty greeting, and on that day took the reins of government from his uncle who had continued as governor until the hour of the nephew's arrival. His adminis- tration continued to the Revolution.
John Wentworth gave to Dartmouth College its charter and an endowment of forty-four thousand acres of land. He also gave a piece of land to each member of the first class to graduate. Always a Loyalist, he remained at his post until August 24, 1775, when he took refuge in Boston. In February, 1778, he sailed for England, shortly following which his entire
Courtesy of the State Department, New Hampshire
JOHN WENTWORTH
GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
From a painting in the State-house, Concord, New Hampshire
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JOHN WENTWORTH VISITS WINDSOR
estate in New Hampshire was confiscated. He received in 1792 the appointment of governor of Nova Scotia and continued as such until 1808. In 1795 he was created a baronet. On the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria's father, to Halifax in 1799, Governor Wentworth gave a dinner and ball of princely magnificence in the Duke's honor at the Government House. After retiring as governor, Sir John with Lady Wentworth visited England where they received marked attention. On their return to Nova Scotia in 1810 they were accorded a public welcome. Sir John Wentworth died in Hali- fax, April 8, 1820. His valuable letter-books, sadly neglected by historians, are in the library of the Provincial College at Halifax. A manuscript copy made in 1886, covering letters written between 1767 and 1775, was lodged in the office of the Secretary of State at Concord, New Hampshire.
As a sidelight on Sir John Wentworth's personal character the following extract from the diary of John Adams, giving an account of meeting Wentworth in Paris on May 6, 1778, is pleasant :
"Went to the Comedie Française and saw the Brutus of Voltaire and after it the Cocher Supposé. As I was coming out of the box, after the representation, a gentleman seized me by the hand. I looked at him. 'Governor Wentworth, sir,' said the gentleman. At first, I was somewhat embarrassed, and knew not how to behave towards him. As my classmate, and friend at college, and ever since, I could have pressed him to my bosom with most cordial affection. But we now belonged to two different nations at war with each other, and, conse- quently we were enemies. Both the governor and the minister were probably watched by the spies of the police, and our inter- view would be known the next morning at Versailles. The gov- ernor, however, relieved me from my reverie by asking me questions concerning his father and friends in America, which I answered according to my knowledge. He then enquired after the health of Dr. Franklin, and said he must come out to Passy, and pay his compliments to him. He should not dare to see the Marquis of Rockingham, after his return, without making a visit to Dr. Franklin. Accordingly, in a day or two,
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he came and made me a morning visit. Dr. Franklin and I received him together; but there was no conversation but upon trifles. The governor's motive for this trip to Paris, and visit to Passy, I never knew. If they bore any resemblance to those of Mr. Hartley, his deportment and language were very different. Not an indelicate expression to us, or our country, or our ally, escaped him. His whole behavior was that of an accomplished gentleman." 1
Governor John Wentworth married November 11, 1769, Frances Deering Atkinson. She was at that time the widow of Theodore Atkinson, junior, whose father's signature appeared upon the New Hampshire charter of Windsor. She was born Frances Deering Wentworth and was related by blood to both of her husbands. John Wentworth and she had been attached to each other before her first marriage. She was beautiful, accomplished, and gay. Her portrait, by John Singleton Copley, is rated as a notable and interesting example of his work. She was conspicuous and admired at court while she and Governor Wentworth were in England. Queen Charlotte appointed her a lady in waiting. In the early days of the Revolution there must have been some gossip of a separation since on February 7, 1776, we find that Rufus King, then a student at Harvard College, wrote this suggestive bit of news to Doctor Southgate: "Governor Wentworth's lady has left him & exhibits as an actress upon the Theater in Boston. 1) 2 Yet whatever then occurred in the early excitement of the Revolution they were presently reunited. Francestown, Deering, and Wentworth in New Hampshire are said to have been named in honor of Lady Wentworth.
If explanation be needed for the foregoing somewhat ex- tended notice of Sir John Wentworth the writer offers the sug- gestion that he expects shortly to show that Sir John Went- worth had a surprisingly great though hitherto unrecognized part in shaping the history of Vermont in general and Windsor in particular. Besides, he was an attractive figure and it is not unpleasant to play up those persons of engaging qualities
1 3 Life & Works of John Adams, p. 150.
2 1 Life & Correspondence of Rufus King, p. 20.
hà ng
FRANCES DEERING WENTWORTH WIFE OF GOVERNOR JOHN WENTWORTH
From a painting by John Singleton Copley, in the New York Public Library
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JOHN WENTWORTH VISITS WINDSOR
who have to do with the main topic in hand. The writer trusts that what ensues will justify the digression.
An early exercise of Governor John Wentworth's authority as surveyor-general of the King's Woods in North America was the appointment of Joshua Loring, junior, as deputy surveyor. Loring must have been the son of that Captain Joshua Loring who had petitioned Governor Sir Henry Moore for a grant of land along the eastern boundary of Reading adjoining those lands in Windsor that were supposed to have been selected for the Earl of Ilchester, Lord Holland, and their associates; and it is a somewhat curious coincidence to dis- cover that on one of the trips of inspection taken by Joshua Loring, junior, into the woods of North America he visited the Connecticut River valley and evidently found cases of timber depredation near the very locality that had appealed to his father three years earlier. At any rate, he reported to Governor Wentworth that the law against felling white pines was being violated along the Connecticut River and subse- quently we find Governor Wentworth on his way through the wilderness to Windsor to investigate.
In a letter written by John Wentworth from Portsmouth to his kinsman Nathaniel Rogers at Boston under date of Jan- uary 13, 1769, he says: "On Sunday or Monday next I sett out on a Journey about 180 miles hence, to the interior Country on Connecticut River where my Duty calls me on Naval Services and expect to extend my progress thence about 80 miles into N. York Government." Obviously the "Naval Services" were in connection with a report or reports of the unlawful felling of white pines that had been reserved for masting the royal navy. His letters show that he was back in Portsmouth some days prior to January 30. Writing six months later to Lord Hillsborough he referred to this trip as covering three hundred miles and continuing for sixteen days. Since the distance from Portsmouth to Windsor was then rated at about one hundred and fifty miles it would seem that the governor abandoned the plan of travelling "about 80 miles into N. York Government" and went merely as far as Wind- sor.1
1 John Wentworth's manuscripts.
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Mr. B. H. Hall, who is the first historian to have remarked on this trip of Governor John Wentworth, states that at this time there were growing in Windsor and in Cornish the finest forests of white pine trees to be found on the borders of the Connecticut River.1 Wentworth himself after visiting Windsor put the facts even more strongly by informing the Earl of Hillsborough, the Lords of Admiralty, and the Commissioners of the Navy that the region "abounds with great quantities of the finest white pine timber on this continent !" That the naval authorities might not fail to be impressed with the im- portance of his discovery, he adds that in the district west of the Connecticut River "there are now more good white pine masts of an extraordinary length, diameter, and soundness than upon this whole continent besides & more convenient to be procured for the King's contracts." Cornish, prior to its settlement, was sometimes called the Mast Camp and doubt- less shared to some extent with Windsor the local fame for the magnificence of the pine forests. It is worth relating here, by way of corroborating this expert testimony of John Went- worth based on his inspection of the Windsor forests in 1769, that as late as the year 1919 an experienced judge 2 of white pine timber, viewing the beautiful tall pines in the forest or park called "Paradise" on the estate of the late William M. Evarts in Windsor, pronounced them the finest specimens he had ever seen.3
While we have Governor Wentworth's mere statement that his trip to Windsor was on "Naval Services," Mr. B. H. Hall, in his History of Eastern Vermont, ascribes to the governor intense personal feeling against one or more of the Windsor settlers, but especially against Captain William Dean. Says Mr. Hall: "But the spirit of malice which had actuated the uncle in his conduct towards those settlers on the 'Grants' who acknowledged the jurisdiction of New York, was not wanting in the nephew." Mr. Hall, who unearthed some very valuable facts in regard to the governor's errand, but who missed its real significance and its bearing on future history,
1 History of Eastern Vermont, p. 146.
2 The writer's friend, the late Charles Downer of Sharon, Vt.
3 Alas ! many of these noble trees have since been felled.
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asserts that Captain William Dean, together with his sons Willard Dean and William Dean, junior, of Windsor, had re- fused to join with their neighbors "in denying the authority of New York." What evidence Mr. Hall had that in the fall and winter of 1768 or in the month of January, 1769, the people of Windsor were denying the authority of New York does not appear. He states, however, very positively the con- ditions under which those Windsor settlers who adhered to New Hampshire could obtain licenses for cutting pines. Rather than to paraphrase Mr. Hall's readable version of the story it is better to quote:
"The owners of the land whereon these forests grew, being for the most part friendly to the jurisdiction of New Hamp- shire and opposed to that of New York, found it easy to ob- tain from the Surveyor General or his deputies, certificates permitting them to fell certain trees 'unfit for his Majesty's service,' and to appropriate them to their own use. Thus they were busy, day after day, in cutting and putting into the river, timber which was afterwards floated to the most con- venient markets. .
"Wishing to procure some pine timber, not reserved by law, and observing with what ease certificates were obtained, Cap- tain Dean applied to Daniel Jones, a justice of the peace, residing at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Benjamin Whiting of Newbury, and others of the Surveyor-General's deputies, to survey some trees for him and give him a permit to cut such as they might deem unfit for his Majesty's service. These applications were in all cases accompanied by the customary offering of fourteen shillings, proclamation money, per diem.
"After vain solicitations on the part of Capt. Dean, at various times during four months, for a written permission, Whiting gave him verbal leave to cut such white pines as were unfit for the King's use. Dissatisfied with this license, Capt. Dean repaired to Governor Wentworth, the Surveyor-General, informed him of the efforts he had made to procure a proper certificate from the deputy surveyors, and of the ill success he had met with, and desired that a special deputy might be appointed to make the necessary examination and grant his lawful request. Whiting, who was present on this occasion,
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promised Capt. Dean in the presence of the Governor, that he would survey the timber for which he had applied, and give him a certificate within a fortnight from that time, specifying the trees which he might deem unfit for the King's use. On returning home, Capt. Dean found that his sons, in conse- quence of the verbal license obtained from Whiting, had felled seventeen trees, much inferior in size to many which had been cut by his neighbors, and to all appearance unsuited for naval purposes. Information of this circumstance having been car- ried to Governor Wentworth, he immediately set out for Windsor, for the purpose of punishing the Deans. On his way thither 'he rode through a pine forest in Cornish and dined in the midst thereof at the house of Samuel Chase, Esq., and must thereby have had a view of the notorious destruction of the same, as the pines, felled, lay on the ground on each side of the road, and around for many acres.' 1 Still these sights did not withdraw his attention from the end which he had proposed. The friendship of the Deans towards the govern- ment of New York was to him a graver offence than that sug- gested by the evidences of destruction which surrounded him, and the opportunity of satisfying a grudge by the use of ap- parently legal means, was too good to be postponed to causes which should have demanded his most serious attention." 2
We shall later show that Mr. Hall's story not only differs in some particulars from what Captain Dean claimed to be the facts, but is contradicted on important points by other testimony. Now whatever authority Mr. Hall found for stat- ing that Governor Wentworth was actuated by spite and had been cherishing a grudge, the instance would appear from Sir John Wentworth's character in history to be exceptional. The magnanimity of his bearing towards Benjamin Franklin and John Adams after the confiscation of all his American posses- sions by the Revolutionary authorities does not seem to be of a piece with the picture Mr. Hall draws of him. If personal feeling were needed, it might possibly have been supplied through the circumstance that Captain Dean had acquired a part of his Windsor lands through a conditional purchase of
1 Here Mr. Hall has been quoting, but from what authority does not appear.
2 B. H. Hall's History of Eastern Vermont, pp. 146-147.
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the charter rights of Mr. Mark Hunking Wentworth, one of the original Windsor proprietors and the father of Governor John Wentworth, and that Mr. Mark Wentworth had claimed that Captain Dean had incurred a forfeiture of the land through a breach of the conditions of the deed.1 These facts, however, seem not to have been known by Mr. Hall.
Of course, before making the journey to Windsor Governor Wentworth knew of the boundary line adjudication in 1764; he knew of Samuel Robinson's mission to England in 1767; he had, indeed, received on October 18, 1768, a memorial from Mr. John Wendell, of Portsmouth, seeking to enlist the help of the New Hampshire Provincial Council in behalf of settlers under the New Hampshire charters west of the Connecticut who were represented as wishing to be placed under the juris- diction of New Hampshire; but so far as contemporary records have come to the writer's knowledge, there is none showing that prior to the Windsor visit had Governor John Went- worth conceived a hope or intention of adding the Vermont country to his own Province or taking sides on the subject. Still, Mr. Wendell had brought the matter to his attention and had shown him an extract from a letter written by Samuel Robinson's adviser, William Samuel Johnson, in which it was intimated that if the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants would exhibit more activity and contribute more money to their case they would very likely succeed. Robinson, who had died in London October 27, 1767, had presented to the officers of the Crown a petition asking alternative relief, viz., the issu- ance of confirmation charters from New York on reasonable terms, or the establishment of the jurisdiction of New Hamp- shire over the region of the Grants. It was the latter alterna- tive that Mr. Wendell now desired for his principals or clients.
It was on the 20th or 21st day of January, 1769, that Gov- ernor Wentworth crossed the Connecticut River and proceeded to the "Lower Meadows," 2 where the sons and employees of Captain William Dean had been felling pines and drawing
1 1 Cumberland County Deeds, pp. 166-167.
2 The "Lower Meadows" are the meadows along the Connecticut River in Windsor township south of "Cummings's Rocks" (about a mile south of the Mill Brook) as distinguished from the "Upper Meadows" north of "Cummings's Rocks."
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them to the river. On the testimony of Israel Curtis, Benja- min Wait, and Joseph King that seventeen white-pine mast trees, from twenty-eight to forty inches in diameter and from eighty to one hundred feet in length had been felled on Cap- tain Dean's land, and on the evidence of the measurement of three such trees, varying from twenty-eight to forty-four inches in diameter and eighty to one hundred feet in length, the governor felt that he could make a case. The three latter logs he seized, the remainder being lodged under the ice in the river.
Besides thoroughly scaring the Deans by his visit and by threat of prosecution, he evidently made the acquaintance of Nathan Stone, who was still the active political leader of Windsor and with whom he established then or shortly there- after a political alliance which became the talk of the settle- ments up and down the Connecticut valley as well as of the government offices of the Province of New York. Governor John Wentworth's visit to Windsor may be chronicled as the first of a long line of visits made to Windsor by men of emi- nence who, because of the political importance of the town, the beauty of its village and the surrounding country, or be- cause of the distinction of some of the inhabitants, have from the earliest days been attracted to this little corner of the world.
The reader who has thus far borne with this narration and has forgiven and forgotten the length of space devoted to the biography of Sir John Wentworth, may be at a loss to know why the writer has dwelt in such detail on the visit of Gov- ernor Wentworth to Windsor. Such a reader is entitled to an answer. The importance of Governor Wentworth's visit lay in its three main results, namely, first, the organization of a town government in Windsor; second, the institution of the famous actions of ejectment brought by New York grantees in the supreme court at Albany against settlers under the New Hampshire charters; third, the formation of those bands of in- surgents, rioters, or outlaws known in history as the Green Mountain Boys. The writer will now proceed to show how, step by step, history hinged on John Wentworth's visit to Windsor in January, 1769.
CHAPTER XIV ORGANIZING A TOWN GOVERNMENT
CAPTAIN WILLIAM DEAN was a modest specimen of that great American type, the American adventurer, the type that stands for industry always, for profiteering whenever oppor- tunity offers, for advancing by work rather than by words- in short the type of the genuine American progressive, the type that has made the last century and a half of American history.
Captain Dean had come from Plainfield in the Colony of Connecticut to the new Windsor on the New Hampshire Grants in the year 1766, to engage in lumbering and husbandry and to make money. Of his education we know little. Probably it was slight. It is safe to say that he had not been taught to value "vision" above foresight or to consider either more re- liable than "hindsight," and that he thought he could labor efficiently without even knowing the word "functioning." These were among his scanty advantages that were charac- teristic of the times in which he lived. "Social justice," the "yearnings and aspirations of mankind," "uplift," the passion to pose as a hero of humanity concerned him not.
With Captain Dean there came to Windsor his sons Willard and William Dean junior. They worked with their father, shared his misfortunes and stood by him politically. There were also in Windsor Phinehas Dean and Reuben Dean-the former a considerable landowner, the latter a silversmith who made the first seal for the State of Vermont-but whether they were kinsmen of the captain the writer has not ascertained. Later there came to Windsor Grandfather William Dean, who was the father of the captain. Though the Deans owned land in various parts of Windsor, their settlement seems to have been in the southeasterly part of the township near the river. William Dean junior (William Dean ye third) before the Revolution moved across the town line into Weathersfield.
Unquestionably Captain William Dean had business rela-
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tions on a considerable scale with lumber dealers in Springfield, Massachusetts, and in other towns in the lower part of the Connecticut Valley, where frame buildings were being con- structed. To supply these dealers he was engaged in felling timber and floating it down the river. That he or his sons, or both, had consciously or unconsciously violated the timber law is plain, and it is scarcely credible that they could have been wholly ignorant of the stringent statutes for the preser- vation of white pines fit for masting the royal navy. These statutes had been in force for many years. As early as 1700 the Earl of Bellomont, when governor of the Province of New York, had reported to England the wanton destruction of tim- ber in the American Colonies-particularly in New Hamp- shire-and had recommended the passage of an Act in Par- liament for its preservation.1
The first statute on the subject, which was passed in 1710 in the ninth year of the reign of Queen Anne, and which may be found in the ninth volume of Statutes of the Realm at page 480, prohibited generally the cutting of pines of twenty-four or more inches in diameter, without Her Majesty's license, under penalty of one hundred pounds fine for every offence. One-half the penalty recovered went to the informer and one- half to the Crown. By this statute a prosecution might be brought before a justice of the peace. This law was amended in 1721 in the eighth year of the reign of George I, so as to protect only white-pine trees "not growing within any town- ship," and provided the following scale of penalties:
"for trees of 12 inches diameter at 3 feet from earth £5, for trees of 12 to 18 inches £10,
for trees of 19 to 24 inches £20 and for trees of 24 or more inches £50."
The statute of 1721 also transferred jurisdiction of prosecu- tions to "the judge of the admiralty or his deputy within the colony or plantation where such pine tree shall be cut, felled, or destroyed," and provided for the collection of the fine by levy on the "goods" of the offender. If sufficient goods of the offender could not be seized to satisfy the judgment, he
1 4 Lond. Doc. 675.
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