View source for User:RWIR/sandbox/Richard Waldron (Secretary)

{{Infobox person
| name   = Richard Waldron
| image     =SECWALDRONHSE crop.jpg 
| image_size     = 250px
| alt = the family home many years after its occupation by Secretary Waldron
| caption  = "[Richard Waldron's] house was built with taste and elegance for those days"<ref>C.S. Gurney, ''Portsmouth, Historic and Picturesque'' (1902) p.62 at http://www.archive.org/stream/portsmouthhistor00gurn#page/62/mode/2up/search/waldron accessed 6 September 2010</ref>
| birth_name = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|mf=yes|1694|2|21}}
| birth_place = [[Dover, New Hampshire]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1753|08|23|1694|2|21}}
| death_place = [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire]]
| occupation     = [[Secretary]] of [[colonial]] [[New Hampshire]] and [[merchant]], [[magistrate]], [[councilor]], [[mill]] owner, [[Major]] of the [[New Hampshire]] [[militia]] and [[speaker (politics)|speaker]] of the colonial [[New Hampshire]] assembly
| spouse         = Elizabeth Westbrook
| parents        = [[Richard Waldron (Colonel)]] and Elinor Vaughan
| children       =  [[Richard Waldron IV]], [[Thomas Westbrook Waldron]], William, Elizabeth, George, Elizabeth, Elinor, William <ref>C.H.C. Howard, ''Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America'', p.21, 34  at: http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogyofcutts00howa#page/20/mode/2up/search/Waldron accessed 6 September 2010</ref>
|religion            = [[Congregationalist]]
|signature           = Richard Waldron (secretary) signature.JPG
}}

Secretary Richard Waldron was a major opponent of the Wentworth oligarchy in colonial [[New Hampshire]] <ref>Jere Daniell, ''Colonial New Hampshire - A History'' (1982), p. 203</ref>.  He supported a continued political subordination of New Hampshire to Massachusetts and opposed moves to separation from this traditional senior partner.  Through his friendship with [[Massachusetts]] [[governor]] and kinsman [[Jonathan Belcher]] and his positions of Secretary, Councillor, and New Hampshire assembly [[Speaker (politics)|speaker]], for a time he was "the central authority" in colonial New Hampshire politics.<ref>David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010</ref>

==Family==
A son of [[Richard Waldron (Colonel)]], and grandson of Major [[Richard Waldron]], and nephew of New Hampshire [[Lieutenant-Governor]] [[George Vaughan (New Hampshire official)|George Vaughan]], he married Elizabeth, only child of [[Colonel Thomas Westbrook]] on 31 Dec 1718<ref>C.H.C. Howard, ''Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America'', p.21, 34  at: http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogyofcutts00howa#page/20/mode/2up/search/Waldron accessed 6 September 2010</ref> and by this marriage further enhanced the position of the Waldron family in New Hampshire. <ref>David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010</ref>

Most of his children died early, including his oldest, Harvard -educated [[Richard Waldron IV|Richard]], leaving only his sons [[Thomas Westbrook Waldron|Thomas]] and George to live long into adulthood.

==Youth==
In the summer of 1694 the young Waldron and his parents narrowly escaped the massacre of his great aunt [[John Cutt|Cutt]] and household at the Pulpitt Farm. <ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.653</ref> <ref>Charles W. Brewster, "President Cutt's Will and Ursula's Murder (late 1600s)", Rambles about Portsmouth #5 at: http://www.seacoastnh.com/brewster/5.html accessed 12 September 2010 </ref>

At about age 15 he entered [[Harvard College]], graduating in 1712 and continuing another three years in a master's program that prepared him for law.<ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.653</ref> On the eve of commencement for 1711 he and another student "conducted themselves in such a manner that the scandalized authorities the next morning denied John Wainwright [who was a year older and ready to graduate] his degree.  Richard had conveniently gone home but in October he had to face the music:"<ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.653</ref>

{{cquote|Waldron returning to College after his absence in the Vacation, was publickly adminish'd, and made a publick Confession in the Hall upon his Exorbitance committed before the Commencement.<ref>John Leverett, ''Ms. Book Relating to College Affairs'' (Harvard College Library), p.32 In: ''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.653</ref>}}

==Career==
While still a graduate student he, together with some other graduates, signed<ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.653</ref> the [[Treaty of Portsmouth (1713)|Treaty of Portsmouth]] in 1713.<ref>"Peace Treaties in Portsmouth", at: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/nh/es_nh_peace_1_e.html accessed 12 September 2010</ref>

He "was graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1712. ... He was a member of the [[Royal Council]] for New Hampshire in 1728; secretary of the Province for a long period, including the administration of Governor [[Jonathan Belcher|Belcher]]; judge of the Probate from 1737 to 1742, and representative in the [[General Assembly]] in 1749, of which body he was unanimously chosen speaker." <ref>C.H.C. Howard, ''Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America'', p.515  at: http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogyofcutts00howa#page/514/mode/2up/search/Waldron accessed 6 September 2010</ref>

==Opposition to the Wentworth "clan"==
"... [A] major opponent of the [[Wentworth]] oligarchy until his death in 1753," reads a caption to his portrait printed in ''Colonial New Hampshire - A History'' <ref>Jere Daniell, ''Colonial New Hampshire - A History'' (1982), p. 203.  Chapter 9 of that book discusses the ascendency of the Governors' Wentworth and Richard Waldron's leadership in attempts to curb their power.  </ref>.  By contrast, his son was considered a "friend" of the last of the three Governors' Wentworth. <ref>Brian C. Cuthbertson, ''The Loyalist Governor - Biography of Sir John Wentworth'' (1983), p. 20</ref>.

He "witnessed, during 1716-1717, the political [[coup]], wangled by [[Samuel Penhallow]] and [[John Wentworth (Lieutenant-Governor)|John Wentworth]], which removed all his relatives, including his father and [[George Vaughan (New Hampshire official)|uncle]], from positions of political authority in the colony. Emerging from this coup with the council clerk office intact, he was frustrated and vengeful. For the next thirty-five years he sought both to restore and to maintain himself, his family, and his friends in positions of leadership in New Hampshire during an era of economic and social change."<ref>David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010</ref>

==Alliance with Governor Belcher==
Waldron became a fast friend of new governor [[Jonathan Belcher]] and "was the right hand with which Governor Belcher pounded Colonel David Dunbar, Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire."<ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.655</ref>  "During the 1730s Waldron, described by ... Dunbar as a "pert, little attorney," was the central figure in New Hampshire politics, acquiring more offices (judge of probate and naval officer), writing all the council and "party" documents, and executing the policies of Belcher's administration. The Belcher-Waldron faction controlled the executive and the council, while the Wentworth clan gained control of the assembly after 1731 as the inland town leaders, having achieved their goals, became complacent."<ref>David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010</ref>

After some years during which Waldron "practicaly ruled New Hampshire in the name of the absent Governor and in defiance of the Lieutenant-Governor" Dunbar, Belcher and Waldron were replaced in their respective roles.  "In 1741 [[Shirley]] succeeded Belcher in Massachusetts and [[Benning Wentworth]] ... became Governor of New Hampshire.  The new executive's first act was to consolidate his position and avenge his and his father's sufferings at the hands of Belcher and Waldron.  He suspended the secretary from the Council...."<ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, pp.655-6</ref>  Waldron wrote bitterly:

{{cquote|Nothing remarkable has occurred since my last, onely a rumour in the Town, that there was no bending or bring of me ''too''; that I had drawn a Party to me, and stopp'd the busyness of the Generall Court, and was like to breed a Mutiny in the Council.  Indeed I opposed the oppropriating of the excise to the Governours salary, as it was a General Grant to the King by a perpetual Act, for answering the incidents of Government.  'Tis said things go along harmoniously now I am out of the way.<ref>''N.E.Hist.Gen. Reg''. xix, 222 In: ''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.656</ref>}}

==Representative and Speaker==
"Intensely ambitious, however, Waldron schemed, maneuvered, and conspired ineffectually, from 1742 until his death, to regain his lost authority. As he put it in 1742, "I sing but low notes at present, perhaps they may hear a tune heretofor which will grate in their ears." "<ref>David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010</ref>

Just as Waldron had decided to move away, he was unexpectedly elected a Representative from Hampton, and was almost unanimously elected [[speaker (politics)|speaker]]. "The Governor negatived the choice, but the House stood by it, and for three years there was a deadlock.  In twenty sessions the legislature passed only one bill."  '[T]he World acknowledges [Waldron] to be a Master of Eloquence."<ref>''Provincial Papers'', xviii, p.405 In: ''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.657</ref>  However after three years the House tired of holding up business for a family quarrel and he was not re elected as speaker, and he soon resigned as Representative.<ref>''Sibley's Harvard Graduates'', vol. 5, p.657</ref>

==Analysis==
Sibley's states that Waldron was hampered in his aim to go to England to make his case by a lack of contributed money from supporters<ref>''Sibley's'' p.656</ref>.  But Van Deventer states that Waldron should have absorbed the cost personally: "If Waldron had been willing to travel to England (as his old friend Belcher advised), to spend money there freely, and to attack the Wentworth clan and John Thomlinson for their profiteering through violations of the White Pine [royal navy [[mast (sailing)|mast]]] laws, he might have succeeded. But he was not and did not--his ambitions stopped at the water's edge--and [[Benning Wentworth|Wentworth]] ... emerg[ed] from the conflict in 1752 with a complete victory. ... 

{{cquote|"For eleven years Waldron achieved his goals as the central authority in New Hampshire politics. Moreover, the Waldron-Belcher countercoup of the 1730s and Waldron's attempt to regain power in the late 1740s had lasting impacts in New Hampshire. His actions during the 1730s helped to bring about what he sought to avoid. By provoking a desperate and ultimately successful Wentworth clan opposition, his actions led to extensive boundary changes, a separate New Hampshire governorship, and the total triumph of the Wentworth faction. His ambitions in the 1740s helped strengthen both Crown prerogatives over the assembly and a Wentworth family government that would last until the [[American Revolution]]."<ref>David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010</ref>}}

==Portrait==
[[Image:Benning_council_chambers.JPG|thumb|right|Council Chambers in the Wentworth mansion where Wentworth presided over provincial council meetings and where a copy of Waldron's portrait once hung<ref>C.S. Gurney, Portsmouth, Historic and Picturesque, (1902), p.98 at:  http://www.archive.org/stream/portsmouthhistor00gurn#page/98/mode/2up </ref>]]
A [http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/collections-access/collection-object/capobject?gusn=GUSN-175692&searchterm=waldron portrait]<ref>"Portrait of Richard Waldron" at http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/collections-access/collection-object/capobject?gusn=GUSN-175692&searchterm=waldron accessed 12 September 2010</ref> by [[John Greenwood (artist)|John Greenwood]] now hangs<ref>Parlor with tea table, Governor John Langdon House, Portsmouth, N.H. (webpage) http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/collections-access/collection-object/capobject?gusn=GUSN-200960&searchterm=Langdon%20house accessed 11 September 2010</ref> in the [[Governor John Langdon House]] in [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire]] with that of his wife.  A copy previously hung in the "Council Chamber" of the [[Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion]] <ref>Charles W. Brewster, "British Governors Wentworth", Brewster's Rambles about Portsmouth #17 at seacoastnh.com http://seacoastnh.com/brewster/17.html accessed 12 September 2010</ref>.

==References==
 {{Reflist}}

==External Links==
*His portrait http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/collections-access/collection-object/capobject?gusn=GUSN-175692&searchterm=waldron
*His wife's portrait http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/collections-access/collection-object/capobject?gusn=GUSN-175701&searchterm=waldron
*Historian David E. Van Deventer, ''Richard Waldron III'' reposted at http://www.gencircles.com/users/jamesdm49/8/data/33217 accessed 11 September 2010
*An analysis of his political partnership with Governor Belcher (Belcher's late sister had been Richard's aunt) is given in ''Jonathan Belcher, Colonial Governor'', by Michael C. Batinski, pp.108-124, http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813119464&id=UINGstr6eRUC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&vq=Vaughan&dq=%22Thomas+Westbrook%22&sig=03hE-gbsBPQtKStTYUAkkSYdyY4&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Vaughan&f=false pp.108-9 which contrasts somewhat with Deventers view, and as a footnote in ''History of New Hampshire'', Belknap, p.227 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1-gAAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA227&lpg=RA1-PA227&dq=%22thomas+westbrook%22+(dover%7Cportsmouth%7Cmaine)+or+hampshire&source=web&ots=vnAMV70f6o&sig=YUvneL5gNdiJSbNqSCZOt8RpeDA#v=onepage&q=%22thomas%20westbrook%22%20(dover%7Cportsmouth%7Cmaine)%20or%20hampshire&f=false accessed 12 September 2010.