Richard Waldron (Secretary)
Encyclopedia
Richard Waldron was a major opponent of the Wentworth
oligarchy in colonial New Hampshire
. He supported a continued political subordination of New Hampshire to Massachusetts
and opposed moves to separation from this traditional senior partner. Through his friendship with Massachusetts governor
and kinsman Jonathan Belcher
and his positions of Secretary, Councillor, and New Hampshire assembly speaker
, for a time he was "the central authority" in colonial New Hampshire politics.
, grandson of Major Richard Waldron
, and nephew of New Hampshire Lieutenant-Governor George Vaughan
, he married Elizabeth, only child of Colonel Thomas Westbrook, on 31 Dec 1718, and by this marriage further enhanced the position of the Waldron family in New Hampshire.
Most of his children died early, including his oldest, Harvard-educated Richard
, leaving only his sons Thomas
and George to live long into adulthood.
and household at the Pulpitt Farm.
At about age 15 he entered Harvard College
, graduating in 1712 and continuing another three years in a master's program that prepared him for law. On the eve of commencement for 1711 he and another student "conducted themselves in such a manner that the scandalized authorities the next morning denied John Wainwright [who was a year older and ready to graduate] his degree. Richard had conveniently gone home but in October he had to face the music:"
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in 1713.
He "was graduated from Harvard College
in 1712. ... He was a member of the Royal Council for New Hampshire in 1728; secretary of the Province for a long period, including the administration of Governor Belcher
; judge of the Probate from 1737 to 1742, and representative in the General Assembly
in 1749, of which body he was unanimously chosen speaker."
was considered a "friend" of the last of the three Governors Wentworth..
He "witnessed, during 1716-1717, the political coup, wangled by Samuel Penhallow
and John Wentworth
, which removed all his relatives, including his father
and uncle
, from positions of political authority in the colony. Emerging from this coup with the council clerk office intact, he was frustrated and vengeful. For the next thirty-five years he sought both to restore and to maintain himself, his family, and his friends in positions of leadership in New Hampshire during an era of economic and social change."
and "was the right hand with which Governor Belcher pounded Colonel David Dunbar, Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire." "During the 1730s Waldron, described by ... Dunbar as a "pert, little attorney," was the central figure in New Hampshire politics, acquiring more offices (judge of probate and naval officer), writing all the council and "party" documents, and executing the policies of Belcher's administration. The Belcher-Waldron faction controlled the executive and the council, while the Wentworth clan gained control of the assembly after 1731 as the inland town leaders, having achieved their goals, became complacent."
After some years during which Waldron "practically ruled New Hampshire in the name of the absent Governor and in defiance of the Lieutenant-Governor" Dunbar, Belcher and Waldron were replaced in their respective roles. "In 1741 Shirley
succeeded Belcher in Massachusetts and Benning Wentworth
... became Governor of New Hampshire. The new executive's first act was to consolidate his position and avenge his and his father's sufferings at the hands of Belcher and Waldron. He suspended the secretary from the Council...." Waldron wrote bitterly:
Just as Waldron had decided to move away, he was unexpectedly elected a Representative from Hampton
, and was almost unanimously elected speaker
. "The Governor negatived the choice, but the House stood by it, and for three years there was a deadlock. In twenty sessions the legislature passed only one bill." '[T]he World acknowledges [Waldron] to be a Master of Eloquence." However, after three years the House tired of holding up business for a family quarrel, and he was not reelected as speaker, and he soon resigned as Representative.
] laws, he might have succeeded. But he was not and did not--his ambitions stopped at the water's edge--and Wentworth
... emerg[ed] from the conflict in 1752 with a complete victory. ...
now hangs in the Governor John Langdon House
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
with that of his wife. Copies previously hung in the "Council Chamber" of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion
. These copies suffered at the hands of the children of later residents of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion, who admitted they "mischievously touched up the [portraits] with fence paint!" .
John Wentworth (Lieutenant-Governor)
John Wentworth served as Lieutenant Governor for the Province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1730.-Biography:...
oligarchy in colonial New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. He supported a continued political subordination of New Hampshire to Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and opposed moves to separation from this traditional senior partner. Through his friendship with Massachusetts governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
and kinsman Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher was colonial governor of the British provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.-Early life:Jonathan Belcher was born in Cambridge, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in 1682...
and his positions of Secretary, Councillor, and New Hampshire assembly speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
, for a time he was "the central authority" in colonial New Hampshire politics.
Family
A son of Colonel Richard WaldronRichard Waldron (Colonel)
Richard, son of the Major of the same name, maintained the position of the Waldron family in Dover and colonial New Hampshire through intermarriage with other leading families and inheritance or purchase of many of the positions once held by his father...
, grandson of Major Richard Waldron
Richard Waldron
Major Richard Waldron dominated the society and economy of early colonial Dover, New Hampshire and had a substantial presence in greater New Hampshire and in neighbouring Massachusetts...
, and nephew of New Hampshire Lieutenant-Governor George Vaughan
George Vaughan (New Hampshire)
George Vaughan may be best known for being Lieutenant Governor of colonial New Hampshire for only one year. A graduate of Harvard College in 1696, he was also at various times a merchant, Colonel of militia, agent for the province to England, and counsellor.1Sources disagree regarding whether he...
, he married Elizabeth, only child of Colonel Thomas Westbrook, on 31 Dec 1718, and by this marriage further enhanced the position of the Waldron family in New Hampshire.
Most of his children died early, including his oldest, Harvard-educated Richard
Richard Waldron IV
Richard Waldron IVs 1735 handwritten transcript of Harvard College laws or regulations is considered the earliest extant example of the use of the slang word "John" to describe a washroom or bathroom or privy.-Birth and parentage:...
, leaving only his sons Thomas
Thomas Westbrook Waldron
Thomas Westbrook Waldron, a captain in the 1745 expedition against the Fortress of Louisbourg, afterwards a commissioner at Albany, New York, a Royal councillor in 1782 and later described as a Colonel, abandoned a close friendship with the last royal governor of colonial New Hampshire, John...
and George to live long into adulthood.
Youth
In the summer of 1694 the young Waldron and his parents narrowly escaped the massacre of his great aunt CuttJohn Cutt
John Cutt was the first President of the Province of New Hampshire. John Cutt was born in Wales, emigrated to the colonies in 1646, and became a successful merchant and mill-owner in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was married to Hannah Starr, daughter of Dr...
and household at the Pulpitt Farm.
At about age 15 he entered Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, graduating in 1712 and continuing another three years in a master's program that prepared him for law. On the eve of commencement for 1711 he and another student "conducted themselves in such a manner that the scandalized authorities the next morning denied John Wainwright [who was a year older and ready to graduate] his degree. Richard had conveniently gone home but in October he had to face the music:"
Career
While still a graduate student he, together with some other graduates, signed the Treaty of PortsmouthTreaty of Portsmouth (1713)
The Treaty of Portsmouth, signed on July 13, 1713, ended hostilities between Eastern Abenakis with the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The agreement renewed a treaty of 1693 the Indians had made with Governor William Phips, two in a series of attempts to establish peace between Indians and...
in 1713.
He "was graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1712. ... He was a member of the Royal Council for New Hampshire in 1728; secretary of the Province for a long period, including the administration of Governor Belcher
Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher was colonial governor of the British provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.-Early life:Jonathan Belcher was born in Cambridge, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in 1682...
; judge of the Probate from 1737 to 1742, and representative in the General Assembly
General assembly
General assembly may refer to an official meeting of the members of a trade union, church, association, or similar organization, or of their representatives, in particular:-Governing bodies of international organizations:*The United Nations General Assembly...
in 1749, of which body he was unanimously chosen speaker."
Opposition to the Wentworth "clan"
"... [A] major opponent of the Wentworth oligarchy until his death in 1753," reads a caption to his portrait printed in Colonial New Hampshire - A History. By contrast, his sonThomas Westbrook Waldron
Thomas Westbrook Waldron, a captain in the 1745 expedition against the Fortress of Louisbourg, afterwards a commissioner at Albany, New York, a Royal councillor in 1782 and later described as a Colonel, abandoned a close friendship with the last royal governor of colonial New Hampshire, John...
was considered a "friend" of the last of the three Governors Wentworth..
He "witnessed, during 1716-1717, the political coup, wangled by Samuel Penhallow
Samuel Penhallow
Samuel Penhallow was a Cornish colonist and historian in early American.-Life:He was born at St Mabon, Cornwall, UK. From 1683 to 1686 he attended a school at Newington Green conducted by the Rev. Charles Morton , a dissenting clergyman, with whom he emigrated to Massachusetts in 1686...
and John Wentworth
John Wentworth (Lieutenant-Governor)
John Wentworth served as Lieutenant Governor for the Province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1730.-Biography:...
, which removed all his relatives, including his father
Richard Waldron (Colonel)
Richard, son of the Major of the same name, maintained the position of the Waldron family in Dover and colonial New Hampshire through intermarriage with other leading families and inheritance or purchase of many of the positions once held by his father...
and uncle
George Vaughan (New Hampshire)
George Vaughan may be best known for being Lieutenant Governor of colonial New Hampshire for only one year. A graduate of Harvard College in 1696, he was also at various times a merchant, Colonel of militia, agent for the province to England, and counsellor.1Sources disagree regarding whether he...
, from positions of political authority in the colony. Emerging from this coup with the council clerk office intact, he was frustrated and vengeful. For the next thirty-five years he sought both to restore and to maintain himself, his family, and his friends in positions of leadership in New Hampshire during an era of economic and social change."
Alliance with Governor Belcher
Waldron became a fast friend of new governor Jonathan BelcherJonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher was colonial governor of the British provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.-Early life:Jonathan Belcher was born in Cambridge, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in 1682...
and "was the right hand with which Governor Belcher pounded Colonel David Dunbar, Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire." "During the 1730s Waldron, described by ... Dunbar as a "pert, little attorney," was the central figure in New Hampshire politics, acquiring more offices (judge of probate and naval officer), writing all the council and "party" documents, and executing the policies of Belcher's administration. The Belcher-Waldron faction controlled the executive and the council, while the Wentworth clan gained control of the assembly after 1731 as the inland town leaders, having achieved their goals, became complacent."
After some years during which Waldron "practically ruled New Hampshire in the name of the absent Governor and in defiance of the Lieutenant-Governor" Dunbar, Belcher and Waldron were replaced in their respective roles. "In 1741 Shirley
William Shirley
William Shirley was a British colonial administrator who served twice as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and as Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s...
succeeded Belcher in Massachusetts and Benning Wentworth
Benning Wentworth
Benning Wentworth was the colonial governor of New Hampshire from 1741 to 1766.-Biography:The eldest child of the John Wentworth who had been Lieutenant Governor, he was born and died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Wentworth graduated from Harvard College in 1715...
... became Governor of New Hampshire. The new executive's first act was to consolidate his position and avenge his and his father's sufferings at the hands of Belcher and Waldron. He suspended the secretary from the Council...." Waldron wrote bitterly:
Representative and Speaker
"Intensely ambitious, however, Waldron schemed, maneuvered, and conspired ineffectually, from 1742 until his death, to regain his lost authority. As he put it in 1742, "I sing but low notes at present, perhaps they may hear a tune heretofor which will grate in their ears." "Just as Waldron had decided to move away, he was unexpectedly elected a Representative from Hampton
Hampton, New Hampshire
Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,976 at the 2010 census. Located beside the Atlantic Ocean, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination....
, and was almost unanimously elected speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
. "The Governor negatived the choice, but the House stood by it, and for three years there was a deadlock. In twenty sessions the legislature passed only one bill." '[T]he World acknowledges [Waldron] to be a Master of Eloquence." However, after three years the House tired of holding up business for a family quarrel, and he was not reelected as speaker, and he soon resigned as Representative.
Analysis
Sibley's states that Waldron was hampered in his aim to go to England to make his case by a lack of contributed money from supporters. But Van Deventer states that Waldron should have absorbed the cost personally: "If Waldron had been willing to travel to England (as his old friend Belcher advised), to spend money there freely, and to attack the Wentworth clan and John Thomlinson for their profiteering through violations of the White Pine [royal navy mastMast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
] laws, he might have succeeded. But he was not and did not--his ambitions stopped at the water's edge--and Wentworth
Benning Wentworth
Benning Wentworth was the colonial governor of New Hampshire from 1741 to 1766.-Biography:The eldest child of the John Wentworth who had been Lieutenant Governor, he was born and died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Wentworth graduated from Harvard College in 1715...
... emerg[ed] from the conflict in 1752 with a complete victory. ...
Portrait
A portrait by John GreenwoodJohn Greenwood (artist)
John Greenwood was an early American portrait painter and engraver.Greenwood was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1727. He apprenticed with Thomas Johnston, a sign painter and engraver from 1742 to 1745 where he copied various English works. Besides portraits, Greenwood painted many satirical works...
now hangs in the Governor John Langdon House
Governor John Langdon House
The Governor John Langdon House, also known as Governor John Langdon Mansion, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA, is a mansion house built in 1784 by John Langdon, that is now a National Historic Landmark. Langdon was a merchant, shipbuilder, American Revolutionary War general, signer of the United...
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
with that of his wife. Copies previously hung in the "Council Chamber" of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion
Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion
Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion is a 40-room clapboard house which was built as the home, offices and working farm of Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth. It is located on the water at 375 Little Harbor Road, about 2 miles southeast of the center of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is one of the few royal...
. These copies suffered at the hands of the children of later residents of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion, who admitted they "mischievously touched up the [portraits] with fence paint!" .
External links
- Portrait of Richard Waldron at Historic New England
- Portrait of Mrs. Elizabeth Westbrook Waldron at Historic New England
- Michael C. Batinski, Jonathan Belcher, Colonial Governor, pp.108-124 contains an analysis of his political partnership with Governor Belcher.