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��as colonel. He was a member of the convention which declared New Hampshire to be a sovereign state. He served in the Continental Con- gress from 1776 to 1778, and in the latter year resigned to accept the chief-justiceship of Hillsborough county. He held this position only about two years, resigning to accept an appointment on the supreme bench of the state. In 17S3 he was a mem- ber of the state house of representa- tives, and the next year of the state senate. The year following he was a a member of the executive council, but soon afterward removed to Massa- chusetts. He died at Newburyport. Mass., June 24, 1804, in his orst year. William Whipple, born at Kittery, (now Maine), January 14, 1730, re- ceived his education on board a ves- sel, being bred a sailor, and w-is in command of a vessel in the African trade before he reached his 21st birth- day. During the Seven Years' War he retired from a sea-faring life and en- gaged in mercantile pursuits at Ports- mouth, N. H., in which he was re- markably successful. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, taking his seat in May ; was re-elected in 1776. taking his seat in February, in time to immortalize him- self as one of the signers of the Dec- laration. He was again elected in 1778, but did not take his seat till some time after the opening of the congress, as in the meantime he had accepted the command of a brigade for the defence of Rhode Island. He declined further re-elections to con- gress, which were tendered him, and resigned his military commission. June 20, 1782. He was a member of the state assembly 1 780-1 784. Superin- tendent of finance of the state 17S2- 1784. In 1782 he was appointed a judge of the state supreme court. holding the position till obliged to relinquish it on account of disease. While cap- tain of a vessel in the African trade he engaged to some extent in the slave-trade, but after the opening of the war of the Revolution he emanci-
��pated all his slaves, and refused to assist Gen. Washington in the recovery of a servant of Mrs. Washington, who had run away and taken refuge in New Hampshire. Captain Whipple, as he was familiarly called, died suddenly, of heart disease, November 28, 17S5.
George Frost was born at New- castle, April 26, 1727, and after re- ceiving a public school education, entered the employ of his uncle, the celebrated merchant, Sir William Pep- perell, at Kittery Point. For several years he followed a sea-faring life as super-cargo and captain, but in 1770 abandoned the sea and removed to Durham. He was made a judge of the Strafford county court of com- mon pleas in 1773, and served till 1 791, for several of these years being chief-justice. He was elected a dele- gate to the Continental Congress in 1777, and served, rendering good ser- vice, till 1779. For the three years 1 78 1-1784. he was a member of the executive council. Resigning his seat on the bench at the age of 70, he retired to private life and died at Dur- ham, June 21, 1796, in his 77th year.
Little need to be said of the Went- worths, a family of the first promi- nence in the colonial and early his- tory of New Hampshire, and the list of members of the Continental Con- gress could hardly be said to be com- plete unless it embraced the name of a Wentworth. John Wentworth, jr., was born at Somersworth, N. H., July 17. 1745, and graduated at Harvard college in the class of 1768. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law at Dover in 1770. This same year he was appointed by Gov. John Wentworth register of pro- bate for Strafford county. Was a member of the state house of repre- sentatives from 1776 to 1780. and served as a member of the Continent- al Congress for nearly the whole of i77Sand 1779. He was a member of the state senate, 1 781-1 784, and of the executive council, 1 780-1 784. He was recognized as a man of the most brilliant talents and of great
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