Thomas Westbrook Waldron
| Thomas Westbrook Waldronn | |
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Portrait of Thomas Westbrook Waldron by John Greenwood (1750)
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| Born | January 6, 1721 |
| Died | April 3, 1785 (aged 64) Dover, New Hampshire |
| Occupation | merchant, magistrate, councilor, mill owner, Captain and Colonel of the New Hampshire militia, county treasurer and recorder of deeds, and chairman in Dover, New Hampshire of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety |
| Spouse(s) | Constant or Constance Davis |
| Children | William, Elizabeth, Richard, Samuel, Eleanor, Charles, Abigail, Daniel |
| Parent(s) | Richard Waldron (secretary) and Elizabeth Westbrook |
Thomas Westbrook Waldron, a captain in the 1745 expedition against the Fortress of Louisbourg, afterwards a commissioner at Albany, New York, a Royal councillor in 1782 and later described as a Colonel, abandoned a close friendship with the last royal governor of colonial New Hampshire, John Wentworth (governor), for the role of a cautious patriot of the new United States.
"He was born and died in Dover" New Hampshire.
"He inherited the homestead, mill privileges, etc., purchasing the rights of his brother George. ... He lived on the old property, and in the Waldron house ..." This house, which he had built in 1763, was for a time "by far the best in Dover; its joiner work was ornate and elaborate, in every apartment; the furnishings were the best that period afforded.". "... [S]tood in Revolutionary times the mansion of Thomas Westbrook Waldrone, the soldier of Louisberg.".
"Thomas Westbrook Waldron.... was a man of large property and extensive influence, although not so much in public office as father, grandfather, or great-grandfather.... "The town records show him to have been frequently moderator of Dover town meetings... a selectman... townclerk... representative.... Described as "a representative at Exeter in 1768 and a councilor in 1773....". "Thomas Westbrook Waldron (1721-85) was a Recorder of Deeds, Strafford County, 1776. He was the Dover, New Hampshire, town clerk from 30 March 1772 until his death in 1785
In 1748 Waldron's father complained that though Thomas Westbrook Waldron had done much at the siege of Louisburg, he couldn't receive a significant militia commission: "and for which he has been very illy requited by Mr. W--ntw--th" However this situation improved when a different Wentworth became governor. In later life he was described as a colonel.
He has been described as the first volunteer in the 1745 invasion of the French Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton Island, now part of Canada. "I have engaged for 1,000 men," writes William Vaughan, a prominent early proponent for the invasion. "When I was in New Hampshire, in a ludicrous manner talking of these affairs, your son Thomas desired a Lieut'y and if it go and I shall have a great hand in the nomination of the officers and if it may be that he may go, and be thought equal to a higher part, he may have it, if he can get 50 men. 'Tis proposed that the government find vessels, provisions and ammunition, &c--the men only find themselves and arms, without pay from the province, all to be volunteers. ... Your Kinsman, friend and Humble Servant, W. Vaughan"
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