By Muriel Bristol | November 21, 2021
Hiram Varney Wentworth was born in Milton (or Rochester), November 12, 1818, son of Ichabod H. and Peace (Varney) Wentworth. He was a namesake for his maternal uncle, Hiram Varney (1804-1855).
Ichabod H. Wentworth headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixth (1840) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 40-49 years [himself], one female aged 40-49 years [Peace (Varney) Wentworth], one male aged 20-29 years [Hiram V. Wentworth], one male aged 15-19 years [Eli Wentworth], one female aged 15-19 years, and one male aged 5-9 years. Four members of the household were engaged in agriculture. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of John Plumer, Jr., and William Wentworth.
Hiram V. Wentworth married, circa 1842, Mary J. Nute. She was born Milton, circa July 1820, daughter of John C. and Sarah A. (Varney) Nute.
Younger brother Eli Wentworth married in Milton, July 23, 1843, Mehitable Jane Howe, both of Milton. Jacob Davis performed the ceremony. She was born in Milton, in 1822, daughter of Jonathan and Mehitable (Twombly) Howe.
Son Henry Harrison Wentworth was born in Milton, December 3, 1843.
Hiram V. Wentworth was an officer on the regimental staff of the 39th NH Militia Regiment in 1846. He was its Adjutant. The 39th NH Militia Regiment was commanded by Col. Asa Roberts of Farmington, NH. His regimental staff included also Lt. Col. Samuel Jones of Farmington, NH, Major James Bodge of Rochester, NH, and Quartermaster Enoch Bunker of Farmington, NH.
The Militia of New-Hampshire, according to the returns made to the Adjutant General, is organized in four Divisions, eight Brigades, and forty-two Regiments; the 41st Regiment has never been organized. The number of Division and Brigade officers in June, 1845, was 52; Regimental, Field and Staff officers, 323; the number of companies – Infantry, 281; of Grenadiers, 8; of Light Infantry, 60; of Riflemen, 46; aggregate of officers, musicians, and privates, 26,117. Cavalry companies, 20; aggregate of officers, musicians, and privates, 740. Artillery companies, 35; aggregate of officers, musicians, and privates, 1,954. Grand total of the enrolled military force of the state, 28,863 (Claremont, 1846).
The 39th NH Militia Regiment was one of five regiments in the 2nd NH Militia Brigade, which was commanded by Brig. Gen. Alfred Hoit of Lee, NH. The 2nd NH Militia Brigade was one of three brigades in the 2nd NH Militia Division, which was commanded by Maj. Gen. Jeremiah Roberts of Farmington, NH. (Col. Enoch W. Plumer of Milton was commander of the 33d NH Militia Regiment; his officers were from Brookfield, NH, East Alton, NH, Sanborn[ville, Wakefield], NH, and Wakefield, NH. The 33d NH Militia Regiment was in the 7th NH Militia Brigade, which was also in the 2nd NH Militia Division).
Hiram B. Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Mary J. Wentworth, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH), and Henry H. Wentworth, aged six years (b. NH). Hiram B. Wentworth had real estate valued at $350. They shared a two-family residence with the household of [his brother,] Eli Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH). Their two-family residence appeared in the enumeration between those of Asa M. Dunnell, a farmer, aged eighty-one years (b. NH), and Ichabod Wentworth, a farmer, aged fifty-five years (b. NH).
Mother-in-law Sarah A. (Varney) Nute died in Milton, October 7, 1856.
The NH Agricultural Society awarded H.V. Wentworth of Milton its $20 second prize in the category of Stallions of 6 Years and Upwards for his Morgan horse stallion St. Laurence, in 1859. Enoch W. Plummer of Milton received the $5 third prize for his stallion Messenger (NH State Agricultural Society, 1859).
H. Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged forty-one years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Mary J. Wentworth, aged thirty-eight years (b. NH), and H.H. Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged sixteen years (b. NH). H. Wentworth had real estate valued at $1,000 and personal estate valued at $500. Their household appeared in the enumeration between John H. Varney, a shoemaker, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), and Eli Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged thirty-nine years (b. NH).
Younger brother Eli Wentworth enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th NH Vol. Infantry Regiment, October 18, 1861. The 6th Regiment fought at the Battle of South Mills (aka Camden), April 19, 1862. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, July 4, 1862. The Sixth NH Regiment fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run, August 29, 1862; South Mountain, September 14, 1862; the Battle of Sharpsburg (or Antietam), September 17, 1862, and the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11-15, 1862. Wentworth was assigned as regimental Quartermaster, March 19, 1863. The Sixth NH Regiment was sent with General Burnside to Kentucky, and from there, it participated in the siege of Vicksburg, MS, and the Mississippi campaign. Vicksburg fell on July 4, 1863.
The hardships which all [in his Ninth Corps] were obliged to endure were excessive. Water which the horses refused to drink, the men were obliged to use in making their coffee. Fevers, congestive chills, diarrhea, and other diseases attacked the troops. Many sank down upon the roadside and died from sunstroke and sheer exhaustion (Jackman, 1891).
Eli Wentworth died of a camp fever in Milldale, MS, July 18, 1863, aged forty-two years, and six months. (He left a widow, Mehitable J. (Howe) Wentworth, and two children, Clara M. Wentworth and Charles W. Wentworth). Milton’s GAR veterans’ post would be named for him.
Son Henry H. Wentworth married in Dover, NH, January 17, 1864, Louisa M. Hayes, both of Milton. He was a shoemaker, aged twenty-one years, and she was aged eighteen years. Rev. J.T.G. Colby performed the ceremony. She was born in Milton, December 12, 1846, daughter of Luther and Louisa A. (Bragdon) Hayes. (See South Milton’s High Sheriff Luther Hayes (1820-1895)).
H.V. Wentworth of So. Milton, was assessed $10 for his Class B horse dealing license in the U.S. Excise Tax of 1864. Ordinarily, the Federal government subsisted mainly on import duties. This series of Federal excise taxes were emergency wartime measures.
Granddaughter Anna Harrison Wentworth was born in Milton, March 31, 1866, daughter of Henry H. and Louisa M. (Hayes) Wentworth.
The NH State Treasurer paid H.V. Wentworth $100 in recruiting fees between June 1866 and May 1867 (NH Treasury Department, 1867).
Hiram V. Wentworth was one of the ten prominent Milton citizens who incorporated a private secondary school – the Milton Classical Institute – at Three Ponds Village in Milton, NH, in July 1867. The incorporators included also NH Governor’s Councilor (and ex-officio NH State Board of Education member) Charles Jones, Strafford Sheriff Luther Hayes, manufacturer William P. Tuttle, Dr. George W. Peavey, and others.
Milton voters sent John U. Simes and Hiram V. Wentworth to represent them in the NH House of Representatives during the 1867-68 biennium. Rep. John U. Simes occupied seat 5-33, and resided at G.L. Nutter’s boarding house; Rep. Hiram V. Wentworth occupied seat 2-42, and resided in the Eagle hotel (McFarland & Jenks, 1867).
Hiram V. Wentworth appeared in the Milton business directories of 1868, and 1869-70, as postmaster at South Milton. He appeared also in the latter year as a Milton manufacturer of boots and shoes.
AGRICULTURAL FAIRS. Strafford County, N.H. Fair at Great Falls, Sept. 11-16. The Journal says that the entries of Stock, Fruit, Vegetables, implements, manufactures, &c. were large and attractive. In the procession were town teams of eleven yoke of oxen each from Barrington, Somersworth, Rollinsford, and the County Farm; and ten yoke from Dover, drawing huge carriages, tastefully ornamented, and filled with singing children and other happy people. The Journal does not give the premiums awarded, but remarks that the exhibition is ahead of all previous ones, and all are perfectly satisfied. The receipts amount to about $5000, which will place the Society on good footing pecuniarily. On Wednesday morning the following board of Directors was chosen M.C. Burleigh, S.C. Chick, Great Falls; Noah Tebbetts, Joseph Nutter, Rochester; H.V. Wentworth, Milton; W.R. Garvin, Rollinsford; C.R. Meserve, Madbury; Wm. F. Jones, Durham; E. Bartlett, Lee; C.W. Davis, Farmington; A.G. Orne, Middleton; G.S. Gilman, New Durham; R.B. Peavey, Strafford, Elisha Locke, Barrington (New England Farmer, September 25, 1869).
Hiram V. Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged fifty-one years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included Mary J. Wentworth, keeping house, aged forty-eight years (b. NH), Henry H. Wentworth, a shoe manufacturer, aged twenty-six years (b. NH), Louisa A. Wentworth, a housekeeper, aged twenty-three years (b. NH), Anna H. Wentworth, at school, aged five years (b. NH), James M. Gage, a shoe cutter, aged twenty-four years (b. NH), James M. Corson, a shoe finisher, aged twenty-two years (b. ME), Charles L. Furber, a farm laborer, aged forty-six years (b. NH). Hiram V. Wentworth had real estate valued at $1,500 and personal estate valued at $1,654. Their household appeared in the enumeration between a vacant house (adjoining Theodore Lyman, a farmer, aged fifty-seven years (b. NH)), and Mehitable J. Wentworth, a farmer, aged forty-seven years (b. NH).
H.V. Wentworth appeared in the Milton business directories of 1871, and 1873, as a South Milton manufacturer of boots and shoes. His son, H.H. [Henry H.] Wentworth, appeared in his place in the Milton business directory of 1874, and 1875, as the South Milton manufacturer of boots and shoes.
Father Ichabod H. Wentworth made his will, presumably in Milton, October 28, 1871. He devised $200 and an undivided share in West Milton land to his son, Hiram V. Wentworth; $50 to Mary J. [(Nute)] Wentworth; $50 to Mehitable J. [(Howe)] Wentworth; $10 to Clara M. [(Wentworth)] Burley, wife of Daniel S. Burley; a life estate in all notes, bonds, money, and personal property to his wife, Peace [(Varney)] Wentworth; and, after her decease, the household furniture to Mary J. [(Nute)] Wentworth and Mehitable J. [(Howe)] Wentworth. He devised the remaining undivided share in the West Milton land to his grandsons, Henry H. Wentworth and Charles W. Wentworth, as well as any rest and residue not devised. (The land was bounded north by land of H.H. Pinkham, west by land of Joseph Horn, south by land of Joseph Barker, and east by land of David Furbush). John F. Hart, Ira S. Knox, and Ezra H. Twombly signed as witnesses (Strafford County Probate, 83:99).
Father-in-law John C. Nute died in Milton, April 26, 1872. Mary J. (Nute) Wentworth died in Milton, May 13, 1872, aged fifty-one years, ten months. Father Ichabod H. Wentworth died in Milton, July 19, 1872. Mother Peace (Varney) Wentworth died in Milton, August 14, 1873.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. FIRE IN SOUTH MILTON. Great Falls, July 24. Hiram P. Wentworth’s shoe manufactory at South Milton was totally destroyed by fire, with in contents, last night. Loss shout $30,000; partially insured. It is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary (Boston Evening Transcript, July 24, 1875).
AT SOUTH MILTON, N.H. Great Falls, N.H., July 24. Hiram V. Wentworth’s shoe manufactory, at South Milton, burned last night. Loss $30,000. Partly insured (Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1875).
H.H. [Henry H.] Wentworth appeared in the Milton business directories of 1876, as a South Milton boot and shoe manufacturer. (The directory publishers may not have awoken to the facts on the ground: the shoe manufactory had been destroyed in the previous year).
Henry H. Wentworth, a butcher, aged thirty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included Louisa M. Wentworth, keeping house, aged forty-three years (b. NH), Annie H. Wentworth, at school, aged fifteen years (b. NH), and Hiram V. Wentworth, at home, aged sixty-one years (b. NH). Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Henry B. Scates, a farmer, aged thirty-seven years (b. NH), and Charles W. Wentworth, a farmer, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH).
H.V. Wentworth & Son, i.e., Henry H. Wentworth, appeared in the Milton business directory of 1880, 1881, and 1882, as lumber manufacturers.
REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS. H.V. Wentworth to D.S. Burley, land in Milton, $1,200 (Farmington News, July 27, 1888).
Sister-in-law Mahitabale [J. (Howe)] Wentworth, widow of 1st Lt. Eli Wentworth, appeared in the surviving Veterans Schedule of the Eleventh (1890) Federal Census.
Hiram V. Wentworth died in Milton, September 12, 1890, aged seventy-one years, ten months, and seventeen days. C.D. Jones, M.D., signed the death certificate.
Granddaughter Annie H. Wentworth married in Milton, April 21, 1891, Henry E. Chamberlain, she of Milton and he of Lakeside, NH. He was a stock grower, aged twenty-six years, and she was aged twenty-five years. Rev. John Manter performed the ceremony. Chamberlain was born in Union, [Wakefield,] NH, circa 1865, son of George W. and Emily E. Chamberlain.
Henry Wentworth, a truckman, aged fifty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-five years), Louisa M. Wentworth, aged fifty-three years (b. NH). Henry Wentworth owned their house in Milton Village, free-and-clear. Louisa M. Wentworth was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of George E. Wentworth, a butcher, aged thirty-two years (b. NH), and Daniel Corkery, a shoe shop hand, aged fifty-seven years (b. Canada (Eng.)).
Henry H. Wentworth, an odd jobs laborer, aged sixty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton 3-Ponds”) household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of forty-five years), Louisa Wentworth, aged sixty-three years (b. NH). Henry Wentworth owned their house, free-and-clear. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Harry F. Whitehouse, an odd jobs painter, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), and Edward Costeau, a leatherboard beater-man, aged thirty-two years (b. Canada).
Louisa M. (Hayes) Wentworth died of throat and lung cancer in Milton, January 21, 1915, aged sixty-eight years, one month, and nine days. Edson M. Abbott, M.D., signed the death certificate.
Henry H. Wentworth, a widower, aged seventy-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his granddaughter, Louise E. Chamberlain, aged twenty-two years (b. NE). Henry H. Wentworth owned their house on Upper Main Street, in Milton Village, free-and-clear. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Grover C. Rines, a leatherboard laborer, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), and Fred B. Roberts, a lumberman, aged fifty-five years (b. NH).
Henry H. Wentworth died of chronic myelitis in Milton, May 9, 1920, aged seventy-six years, five months, and six days. M.A.H. Hart, M.D., signed the death certificate.
References:
Claremont Manufacturing Company. (1846). New Hampshire Register and Farmer’s Almanac. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=5ucWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA89
Find a Grave. (2012, June 2). Annie Harrison Wentworth Chamberlain. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/91246369/annie-harrison-chamberlain
Find a Grave. (2016, November 13). John C. Nute. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/172705709/john-c.-nute
Jackman, Lyman. (1891). History of the Sixth New Hampshire Regiment in the War for the Union. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=FFG5ulXEkKsC
McFarland & Jenks. (1867). Political Manual and Annual Register for the State of New Hampshire. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=13sBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA58
NH State Agricultural Society. (1859). Transactions of the New Hampshire State Agricultural Society. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=CoQ5AQAAMAAJ
NH Treasury Department. (1863). Report of the State Treasurer for the Fiscal Year Ending June 1, 1863. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=bVNEAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA29
Milton Observer 