worth. She was beautiful, accomplished, and gay, and when abroad was conspicuous at court. Her portrait by John Singleton Copley is considered an “excellent likeness and a rare picture.” The towns of Francestown, Deering, and Wentworth, N. H., perpetuate her name.—Their son, Charles Mary, b. in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1775; d. in Hingsand, Devonport, England, in April, 1844, was long private secretary to the Earl of Fitzwilliam. He was appointed a member of the council of Nova Scotia in 1801, and died unmarried. His property descended to his maternal cousin, Mrs. Catherine Frances Gore, the novelist.—William's great-grandson, John, jurist, b. in Dover, N. H., 30 March, 1719; d. in Somersworth, N. H., 17 May, 1781, was a member of the legislature from 1768 till 1775, serving as speaker in 1771, in 1773 became chief justice of the court of common pleas, and on 17 Jan., 1776, was made one of the judges of the supreme court, although he had never studied nor practised law. He was president of the first Revolutionary convention in Exeter, N. H., on 21 July, 1774, and was also chairman of the Revolutionary committee of correspondence. He was usually called Colonel John, or Judge John, to distinguish him from others of the same name.—The third John's son, John, lawyer, b. in Somersworth, N. H., 17 July, 1745; d. in Dover, N. H., 10 Jan., 1787, was graduated at Harvard in 1768, and studied law, which he practised in Dover. From 1776 till 1780 he served in the legislature, and was appointed by Gov. John Wentworth register of probate for Stratford county, which office he held until his death. He was a delegate to the Continental congress in 1778-'9, and was a member of the state council in 1780-'4, of the state senate in 1784-'7, and of the New Hampshire committee of safety, which administered the government during the recess of the legislature. He was an ardent patriot, and signed, in behalf of New Hampshire, the original articles of confederation.—The second John's nephew, John, lawyer, b. in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1768; d. in Paris, France, in 1816, was taken to England about 1775 and educated as a lawyer. He was appointed attorney-general of Prince Edward island, and removed to Portsmouth, where he married Martha Wentworth. In 1816 he returned to Europe. He was the author of a “System of Pleading” (10 vols., London, 1797).—
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The fourth John's grandson, John, journalist, b. in Sandwich, N. H., 5 March, 1815; d. in Chicago, Ill., 16 Oct., 1888, was a son of Paul Wentworth, and the grandson on his mother's side of Col. Amos Cogswell, a Revolutionary officer. After graduation at Dartmouth in 1836, he settled in Illinois in 1836, attended the first meeting to consider the propriety of organizing the town of Chicago into a city, did much to procure its charter, and voted at its first city election in May, 1837. He studied law at Chicago, attended lectures at Harvard law-school, and was admitted to practice in Illinois in 1841. While studying law he conducted the Chicago “Democrat,” which he soon purchased and made the chief daily paper of the northwest and of which he was publisher, editor, and proprietor until 1861. Being elected to congress as a Democrat, he served from 4 Dec., 1843, till 3 March, 1851, and again from 5 Dec., 1853, till 3 March, 1855. He introduced in that body the first bill favoring the establishment of the present national warehouse system, was instrumental in securing the grant of land to the state of Illinois out of which was constructed the present Illinois Central railroad. He was one of the Democrats and Whigs in congress that assembled at Crutchet's, at Washington, the morning after the repeal of the Missouri compromise passed the house, and resolved to ignore all party lines and form an anti-slavery party. Out of this grew the present Republican party, with which he afterward acted. He was elected mayor of Chicago in 1857 and again in 1860, and was the first Republican mayor elected in the United States after the formation of the party, and issued the first proclamation after Fort Sumter was fired upon, calling on his fellow-citizens to organize and send soldiers to the war. He introduced the first steam fire-engine, “Long John,” in Chicago in 1857, and later two others, the “Liberty” and “Economy.” Upon each occasion of his assumption of the mayor's office he found a large floating debt, and left money in the treasury for his successor. In 1861 he was a member of the convention to revise the constitution of Illinois, and he was a member of the board of education in 1861-'4 and in 1868-'72. He served again in congress from 4 Dec., 1865, till 3 March, 1867, was a member of the committee of ways and means, and was an earnest advocate of the immediate resumption of specie payments. Mr. Wentworth had been a member of the Illinois state board of agriculture, and was the largest real estate owner in Cook county. He received the degree of LL. D. from Dartmouth, to which college he gave $10,000, and was elected president of its alumni in 1883. Owing to his extreme height he was called “Long John” Wentworth. In addition to lectures and writings upon the early history of Chicago, and historical contributions to periodicals, he was the author of “Genealogical, Bibliographical, and Biographical Account of the Descendants of Elder William Wentworth” (Boston, 1850), and “History of the Wentworth Family” (3 vols., 1878).
WERDEN, Reed, naval officer, b. in Delaware county, Pa., 28 Feb., 1818 ; d. in Newport, R. I., 13 July, 1886. He was appointed from Ohio a midshipman in the navy, 9 Jan., 1834, became a passed midshipman, 16 July, 1840, was commissioned lieutenant, 27 Feb., 1847, and served in the sloop " Germantown " during the Mexican war in 1847-'8, in which he commanded a detachment of men from that ship in the expeditions against Tuspan and Tampico. When the civil war began he was attached to the steam frigate "Minnesota," in which he participated in the attacks on the forts at Hatteras Inlet and operations in the sounds of North Carolina in Stringham's squadron. He commanded the steamers " Yankee " and " Stars and Stripes " on the North Atlantic blockade in 1861-'2, and in the latter led the first division in the capture of Roanoke island. He was commissioned commander, 16 July, 1862, had charpe of the steamer "Conemaugh," on the South Atlantic blockade, in 1862-'3, was fleet-captain of the Eastern Gulf blockading squadron in 1864-'5, and commanded
