Wentworth Cheswell by Tess B.
Wentworth Cheswell was brave and was an important figure in the Revolution. He was a
man of many traits and was very determined to do well.
Cheswell was well educated and had a very good childhood. He was born
April 11, 1746 in New Market, New Hampshire as a free man. Cheswell attended the Dummer
Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts. There he learned Greek, Latin, reading, writing, and
arithmetic as well as swimming and horsemanship. After graduating from Dummer Academy he
went back to New Market and became a school master. On September 13, 1767 he married
seventeen-year-old Mary Davis from Durham, New Hampshire. They had thirteen children, Paul,
Thomas, Samuel, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth, Nancy, Mehitable, William, Daughter (unknown),
Martha, Daughter (unknown), and Abigail. By 1770 he owned 114 acres of land.
Cheswell had many roles in the American Revolution. First, he was a messenger who
would carry information from the Committee of Safety to Exeter. Then, when Paul Revere
warned them about the British warship, he was one of the thirty men to defend Fort William and
Mary. Lastly, Cheswell enlisted for the patriotic cause and served under Colonel John Langdon
in a select group called Langdons Company of Light Horse Volunteer.After the war Cheswell was well respected and kept doing good deeds. Every year except one of the years of the remainder of his life he was elected a town role. Some of the town roles were selectman, auditor, assessor, and scrivener (scribe). In 1805 Cheswell and some other men built the first library in New Market called the New Market Social Library.
Cheswell died at seventy-one in 1817, a good man. Courageous, loyal to his country, and compassionate are some of the great traits of Cheswell that helped save lives during the American Revolution. Without Wentworth Cheswell the U.S. would never be where we are today. Cheswell's importance in the Revolutionary War was humongous and will never be as appreciated as it should be.
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