Wentworth Cheswell

Wentworth Cheswell^[a] (11 April 1746 – 8 March 1817) was an American assessor, auditor, Justice of the Peace, teacher and Revolutionary War soldier in Newmarket, New Hampshire. From 1768 to his death in 1817 he served in local government every year but one.

Some sources consider Cheswell to be the first African American elected to public office in the history of the United States, as well as the first African American judicial officer.^[1]

Around the time of his marriage, Wentworth purchased a plot of land from his father Hopestill. His grandfather Richard is believed to be the first African American in New Hampshire to own land. A deed shows that Richard purchased 20 acres (8.1 ha) from the Hilton grant in 1717. In 1801, Wentworth was among the founders of the first library in the town and provided in his will for public access to his personal library.

Wentworth was the only child born in Newmarket, New Hampshire, to Hopestill Cheswill, a free black man of biracial ancestry, and his wife, Katherine (Keniston) Cheswell, a white woman. The senior Cheswell was a master housewright and carpenter who worked mostly in the thriving city of Portsmouth.^[2] Among other projects, Cheswell helped to build the Bell Tavern on Congress Street and the John Paul Jones House, now a designated National Historic Landmark and a museum run by the Portsmouth Historical Society.^[3] Cheswell also built the Samuel Langdon House, which was later moved to Old Sturbridge Village.^[3]

Hopestill Cheswell was born free to a white mother and Richard Cheswell, an indentured black laborer in Exeter, New Hampshire, who was the first Cheswell recorded in New England.^[4] (Because his mother was free, the boy was free, according to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, by which children followed the mother's status, which was incorporated into slave law in the colonies.)^[5] After completing his servitude, Richard Cheswell purchased 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land from the Hilton Grant. The deed, dated 18 October 1717, is the earliest known deed showing land ownership by a black man in present-day New Hampshire.^{[citation needed]} The land was located in what was to become the town of Newmarket.

Hopestill Cheswell earned enough as a housewright to purchase a total of more than 100 acres (40 ha) of land between 1749 and 1773, which he farmed while working as a housewright. Later, he had part ownership of a sawmill and stream in Durham, New Hampshire, as well as "mill privilege" at another falls, to handle his need for lumber.^[5] His prosperity helped provide for his son's education.^[5]

He sent his son Wentworth to Governor Dummer Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts.^[4] There the youth studied with the Harvard graduate Samuel Moody, who taught the classical subjects of Latin and Greek, reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as swimming and horsemanship.

After completing his education, Wentworth Cheswell returned to Newmarket to become a schoolmaster. In 1765, he purchased his first parcel of land from his father. By early 1767, he was an established landowner with more than 30 acres (12 ha) and held a pew in the meetinghouse.^[5] By 1770, he owned 114 acres (46 ha).^[6]

Cheswell was first elected to public office in 1768 as the town constable, and later was elected to local offices every year (except for 1788) until his death in 1817, to positions such as town selectman, auditor, assessor, and others.^[7][6] He is believed to be the first African American elected to public office in the history of the United States. He preceded Alexander Twilight of Vermont (1836), Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina (1870), and John Mercer Langston of Virginia (1888) for the title.^[8]

Cheswell married Mary Davis of Durham on 13 September 1767. Eleven months later, the first of their 13 children was born.^[9] Their children were: Paul (1768), Thomas (1770), Samuel (1772), Sarah (1774), Mary (1775), Elizabeth (1778), Nancy (1780), Mehitable (1782), William (1785), a daughter (name unknown) (1785), Martha (1788), a daughter (name unknown) (1792), and Abigail (1792).

His son Thomas Cheswell attended Phillips Exeter Academy and later became a deacon.^{[citation needed]} Thomas' wife and children remained in Newmarket, and are buried in Riverside Cemetery.^[6]

During the American Revolutionary War, the citizens of Newmarket, including Cheswell, were unequivocally for the patriotic cause. In April 1776, along with 162 other Newmarket men, Cheswell signed the Association Test. Patriots collected signatures of people opposed to what they considered the hostile actions by the British fleets and armies. The abundance of the returns gave the signers of the Declaration of Independence assurance that their acts would be sanctioned and upheld by most of the colonists.^{[citation needed]}

He was elected town messenger for the Committee of Safety, which entrusted him to carry news to and from the Provincial Committee at Exeter.^{[citation needed]} On 13 December 1774, Paul Revere was dispatched to Portsmouth to warn the town that the British warships, frigate Scarborough and the sloop of war Canseau, were on their way to reinforce Fort William and Mary (known as "The Castle") and seize its powder and arms. When Portsmouth asked for help from neighboring communities, Newmarket held a town meeting to decide on their response. Townsmen voted to send 30 armed men to Portsmouth. Cheswell was also with the party which built rafts to defend Portsmouth Harbor.^{[citation needed]} On the morning of 14 December 1774, John Langdon made his way through Portsmouth with a drummer, collecting a crowd to descend on the fort. Several hundred men responded to his call, in what would become called the Capture of Fort William and Mary.

In October 1775, Portsmouth asked for help from neighboring communities and Newmarket voted to send forty-three minutemen. Cheswell rode to Exeter to deliver this information.^[2]

As a private, Cheswell served under Langdon in a select company called "Langdon's Company of Light Horse Volunteers", which helped to bolster the Continental Army at the Saratoga campaign. Langdon's company of Light Horse Volunteers made the 250-mile march to Saratoga, New York, to join with the Continental Army under General Horatio Gates, defeating British General John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga, which was the first major American victory in the Revolution.^[2] Cheswell's only military service ended 31 October 1777. As with many other men, he served for a limited time, as his family was dependent on him for support.^{[citation needed]}

After his service in the war, Cheswell returned to Newmarket and continued his work in town affairs. He also ran a store next to the school house. Cheswell supported his family as a teacher, and was elected and appointed to serve in local government for all but one year of the remainder of his life, as selectman, auditor, assessor, and other roles.^[6] In 1778, Cheswell was elected to the convention to draft New Hampshire's first constitution, but he was unable to attend.^[2]

He was interested in artifacts from the town and wrote about his studies; he has been called the first archeologist in New Hampshire for his work. The scholars W. Dennis Chesley and Mary B. Mcallister have said, "Cheswell's writings clearly contain the seeds of modern archaeological theory. His eighteenth century fieldwork and reports, limited though they were, justify calling him New Hampshire's first archaeologist." ^[10]

In 1801, Cheswell and other men established the first library in Newmarket, the Newmarket Social Library. Of the estates of men who started the library, Cheswill's was valued the highest at over $13,000. In his will he stated,

I also order and direct that my Library and collection of Manuscripts be kept safe and together…if any should desire the use of any of the books and give caution to return the same again in reasonable time, they may be lent out to them, provided that only one book be out of said Library in the hands of any one at the same time.^[2]

Cheswell was an unofficial town historian. He copied many of the town records going back as far as the town's incorporation in 1727, including two regional Congregational Church meetings.^[6] He collected stories and took notes of town events as they occurred. Jeremy Belknap, who wrote a three-volume History of New Hampshire, quoted Cheswill more than once at length in his work, and credited him for his local histories. They corresponded several times.^{[citation needed]}

In 1805, Cheswell was elected as the Justice of the Peace for Rockingham County, making him the first African-American judge in U.S. history. In that position, he executed deeds, wills, and legal documents. He served as Justice until typhus fever caused his death on 8 March 1817, a month before his 71st birthday.^[6]

In 1820, shortly after Cheswill died, the New Hampshire Senator David L. Morril used him as a positive example of the contributions of mixed-race persons in a speech to the United States Congress regarding the negative effects of discriminatory racial legislation. Morril opposed a bill to forbid mulatto persons to become citizens of Missouri. In his speech Morril noted,

"In New Hampshire there was a yellow man by the name of Cheswell [sic], who, with his family, were respectable in points of abilities, property and character. He held some of the first offices in the town in which he resided, was appointed Justice of the Peace for that county, and was perfectly competent to perform with ability all the duties of his various offices in the most prompt, accurate, and acceptable manner." Angrily, Morril added, "But this family are forbidden to enter and live in Missouri."^[11]

Note: As a mixed-race person, there is little evidence about how Cheswell's racial identification was perceived in his lifetime. He was listed as white on the census, but Morril's reference suggests he was considered mulatto by some contemporaries.^[12]

Cheswill is sometimes called the "black Paul Revere,"^[13] and his messenger work for the patriot cause in New Hampshire is compared with Paul Revere's midnight ride.^[14]

Wentworth's grandfather Richard Cheswill, a former slave of African ancestry, is the first known resident by that surname in New England; all descendants share his African ancestry, as well as that of his English wife. PBS Frontline Online discussed the Cheswell family among mixed-race American families in its web feature Blurred Racial Lines of Famous Families, associated with its program Secret Daughter (1996), based on the life and family of producer June Cross.^[4]

In 2006, Cheswell descendants and other New England residents raised funds to restore or replicate the Cheswell gravestones. In addition, they and members of the New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association worked to restore the old Cheswell gravesite.^[15] Some Cheswell descendants, whose families have identified as white for many generations, discovered their connection to the Cheswells and African-American heritage due to publicity in 2002 and following years of research about Wentworth Cheswell done by Rich Alperin, a local resident.^[6]

In 2007, a New Hampshire historical marker (number 209) highlighting Wentworth's accomplishments was erected at the Cheswell gravesite in Newmarket.^[16]

New Hampshire officially celebrated April 11, 2022 (Cheswill's 276th birthday) as "Wentworth Cheswill Day."^[17]

• List of African-American jurists

• Fitts, James Hill. History of Newfields, NH, Volumes 1 and 2 (1912).
• George, Nellie Palmer. Old Newmarket (1932).
• Getchell, Sylvia (Fitts). The Tide Turns on the Lamprey: A History of Newmarket, NH. (1984).
• Harvey, Joseph. An Unchartered Town: Newmarket on the Lamprey-Historical Notes and Personal Sketches.
• Herman, John, Wentworth Cheswill's Ride: Chasing a Would-Be American Folk Hero. Moonlight Bridge Books, 2024.
• The Granite Monthly. Volume XL, Nos. 2 and 3. New Series, Volume 3, Nos. 2 and 3 (February and March 1908).
• Knoblock, Glenn A. "Strong and Brave Fellows", New Hampshire's Black Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution, 1775-1784 (2003).
• Tuveson, Erik R. A People of Color: A Study of Race and Racial Identification in New Hampshire, 1750-1825. Thesis for M.A. in History (May 1995). Available at library of the University of New Hampshire.

• Mario de Valdes y Cocom, "Cheswell", The Blurred Racial Lines of Famous Families, PBS Frontline, 1996
• Wentworth Cheswell at Find a Grave
• The Wentworth Cheswill Appreciation Society