WILLIAM WENTWORTH

William Wentworth, Puritan Preacher, is an examination of the life and times of a lay preacher of the 17th century from Dover, New Hampshire. Baptized in England in 1616, William followed his kinsmen, John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson, to Boston. Banished following the Antinomian Controversy, he settled first in Exeter, then Wells, Maine, and finally in Dover where he preached for 40 years while holding numerous public offices. A mill owner and farmer, he acquired extensive land-holdings, which he passed to his many sons. His descendants number in the thousands today. William Wentworth's life neatly brackets the Puritan experiment in America from the turbulent 1630's to the late 1690's. His social, religious, political and economic life is illuminated using primary documents and current historical research.