View source for John Wentworth (lieutenant governor, born 1671)

{{Short description|American politician, judge & colonial administrator (1671-1730)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = John Wentworth
|image       = Lieut Governor John Wentworth Province of New Hampshire.jpeg
|title       = [[List of colonial governors of New Hampshire|Lieutenant governor of New Hampshire]]
|monarch     = [[George I of Great Britain|George I]] (1717–1727) <br /> [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] (1727–1730)
|term_start  = 1717
|term_end    = 1730
|preceded    = [[George Vaughan (New Hampshire official)|George Vaughan]]
|succeeded   = [[David Dunbar (New Hampshire official)|David Dunbar]]
|birth_date  = {{birth date|mf=yes|1671|1|16}}
|birth_place = [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]], [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]
|death_date  = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1730|12|12|1671|1|16}}
|death_place = Portsmouth, New Hampshire
|occupation  = Sea captain, merchant, judge, politician, colonial administrator
|spouse      = Sarah Hunking
|parents     = Samuel Wentworth <br /> Mary Benning
|children    = 14, including [[Benning Wentworth|Benning]]
|religion    =
|signature   = Lt. Col. John Wentworth's signature.png
}}

'''John Wentworth''' (January 16, 1671 – December 12, 1730) was an American politician, judge and colonial administrator who served as the [[List of colonial governors of New Hampshire|lieutenant governor of New Hampshire]] from 1717 to 1730.<ref name="John Norris McClintock 1889 p. 174">John Norris McClintock, ''Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: History of New Hampshire'', (1889), p. 174 at: Google Books accessed August 27, 2010</ref><ref>"Publications - A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998"  http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/wentjohn.html accessed June 25, 2010.</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:Wentworth House MET DP219653.jpg|thumb|The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] purchased the Wentworth house in 1926, and moved portions of the interior to the museum.  The house was unusually grand in scale, and the spiral-turned balusters are the earliest known in New England.]]
[[File:Wentworth House MET ADA3721.jpg|thumb|Interior of the John Wentworth house, now in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York City.]]

He was a grandson of "Elder" [[William Wentworth (elder)|William Wentworth]] (born at Alford, Lincolnshire, England, in 1615; died in [[Dover, New Hampshire]], March 16, 1697),<ref name="John Norris McClintock 1889 p. 174"/> an early settler in [[New England]]. William was a follower of the Rev. [[John Wheelwright]]. With him and 33 others, William signed, August 4, 1639, “A Combination for a Government at Exeter, N. H.” William moved to [[Wells, Maine]], with Wheelwright; and when the latter went to England on the accession of [[Oliver Cromwell]] to power, William moved to Dover, where he was a ruling elder and often preached. On his death, he left a widow, nine sons, and one daughter.<ref name=amcyc>{{Cite AmCyc|wstitle=Wentworth, William}}</ref>

==Political career==

John Wentworth was raised to be a sea captain. In 1712 he was appointed by Queen Anne a councillor for New Hampshire; in 1713 he became a justice of the common pleas, and late in 1717 lieutenant governor.<ref name=amcyc/> Before New Hampshire received its own Royal Governor in 1741, its governors were also commissioned to govern the neighboring [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], where they spent most of their time.  Consequently, the lieutenant governors exercised significant power.  As lieutenant governor, John Wentworth had little function in the government for several years. Then in January 1723, Governor [[Samuel Shute]] abruptly returned to England, so Wentworth took over in New Hampshire, governing until the arrival of Shute's replacement, [[William Burnet (administrator)|William Burnet]], in 1728. He continued as Lt. Governor until his death in 1730,<ref>[[John Wentworth (Illinois politician)|John Wentworth]], ''Wentworth Genealogy: English and American'', 1878, vol. 1, pp.178-183 as found at Google books.</ref> again governing between Burnet's death in 1729 and the arrival of [[Jonathan Belcher]] in 1730.  During his administration he brought focus on the border dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, cultivating power centers in London that eventually led to resolution of that dispute (albeit in 1740, long after his death), and establishing the dynasty that would dominate New Hampshire until independence.

==Family==
On October 12, 1693 Wentworth married Sara Hunking. The couple had thirteen children, three of whom (Samuel, Benning, and Mark Hunking Wentworth) would become prominent themselves. [[Benning Wentworth]] was later the first directly appointed royal governor of New Hampshire. Mark's son in his turn would also become the last royal governor, [[Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet]].

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wentworth, John}}
[[Category:1671 births]]
[[Category:1730 deaths]]
[[Category:American sea captains]]
[[Category:Merchants from colonial New Hampshire]]
[[Category:17th-century American merchants]]
[[Category:Politicians from Portsmouth, New Hampshire]]