Wentworth family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(French for 'In God is all')
| Wentworth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Place of origin | England |
| Motto | En Dieu est tout (French for 'In God is all') |
The members of the Wentworth family of both the United States and Australia, as listed below, are descended from Thomas Wentworth[clarification needed] and Jane, the daughter of Sir Oliver Mirfield. Sir Oliver died about 1522. The American Wentworths of New Hampshire are descended from Thomas' son Oliver.[1][2] The Wentworth branch of Virginia and Maryland, and the Australian Wentworths, are descended from another son Roger.[3][4] It claims to be one of few families in Britain that can trace its patrilineal descent back to a pre-Norman era Anglo-Saxon ancestor (the other four being the Arden, Berkeley, Swinton, and Grindlay families), but their claim is disputed.[5][6][7]
The Wentworth family was a prominent American political family, mostly based in the British colonies and later U.S. states of New Hampshire, Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prominent members of the family include:
- William Wentworth (1616–1697), patriarch of the New Hampshire branch of the family, and one of the early settlers of New Hampshire
- Thomas Wentworth, Gentleman (1625–1672), Born into a cadet branch of the ancient Wentworth family, emigrated to Maryland and patented Wentworth-Woodhouse Plantation, named after the Wentworth family seat Wentworth-Woodhouse in Yorkshire.
- John Wentworth (1671–1731), grandson of William Wentworth, and Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New Hampshire. As the Governor of New Hampshire at the time was simultaneously Governor of the Province of Massachusetts, the Lieutenant Governors of New Hampshire served with considerable power over the colony.
- Benning Wentworth (1696–1770), first independent colonial Governor of New Hampshire who was not also Governor of Massachusetts
- John Wentworth (1719–1781), a grandson of Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth, and cousin to the colonial governor of the same name, the 1st Baronet Wentworth. He was a judge, a colonel in the colonial militia, and sided with the revolutionary cause against his cousin.
- Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet (1737–1820), a grandson of Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth through his son Mark, nephew of Benning Wentworth, and loyalist colonial Governor of New Hampshire during the American Revolution.
- John Wentworth Jr. (1745–1787), son of Judge John Wentworth, and New Hampshire representative to the Continental Congress. Like his father, he was a revolutionary sympathizer and member of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety.
- Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton (1759–1846), poet
- Stephen G. Wentworth (1811–1897), descendant of William Wentworth and founder of the Wentworth Military Academy and College in Missouri.
- Erastus Wentworth (1813–1886), a Christian missionary to China
- John Wentworth (1815–1888), born in New Hampshire, but migrated to Chicago where he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and also Mayor of Chicago
- Moses J. Wentworth (1848–1922), nephew of Mayor John Wentworth of Chicago, and his protégé. He would himself serve in the Illinois House of Representatives
- Hunt Wentworth (1895–1929), son of Moses J. Wentworth
