The next letter from George Haworth was written in 1715 and he tells his brother he is "hoping these few lines will
find you in good health, as I and my Wife and child is at present blessed be
the Lord for it...". He recently saw his niece and nephew, children of Mary. "Two of my Sister Mary's children,
John and Mary came to see me this Spring and they are all in good health..." (All italics are excerpts from George’s letters, as written.(1))
We find out that Mary is a Quaker but her husband is not. "Sister Mary owneth Friends,
but her Husband holdeth more for the Church of England; but she hath brought up
her children very orderly and they behave themselves very civilly amongst
sober people, and their love is very respectfully desired to you all and they
were glad to see and read the letters I received from thee." It looks like many in the area were Quakers. "...the greatest share of
people in our parts is called Quakers and Meetings are kept in good order,
there is a great many of meeting houses built, I can take my Horse and ride to
any of 8 meetings in a morning before the Meeting begin."
George shares information about all the different religions in his area. "
There is of all sorts of
Professions, as Church of England, Anabaptists, Presbeterians, Independents,
Papists &c. and most of them hath houses or churches to meet together to
worship in..."
I doubt the family in England ever had the chance to meet George's wife. They were curious about her and it seems that his brother had married twice and George didn't know anything about his wives either. "Further Brother thou
desired to know what County my Wife was of; her parents were born in London and
she was born in Pennsylvania, but thou hath had 2 Wives and never sent where
thou married them nor who they were."
At this point it appears that George is still a weaver and a farmer. "So concerning what calling
I and my Wife doth follow we make our own cloth both linnen and wollen and
sometimes I weave for wages I clears land and plows I count I have 100 bushels
of Corn this year very good wheat Rye and Barley and Indian Corn, I plant trees
and hath Apples Peaches and Cherries and I have good land and wants more hands
to help me I have 4 Cows and 4 Horses and 31 Swine..."
George talks about the country and what it is like at this time. Can you imagine Philadelphia only one mile long? "...one thing more concerning
the Country how it is settled Philadelphia is our greatest town we have; it is
very large about a mile long with a great breadth might be populated a market
twice a week and full of all Country business and Sea affairs the River full of
Sloops and Ships, Bristol is a market town and there is a many more too tedious
to set down. We have a fine large country with great conveniency in it."
By the time of this letter, George and Sarah have had their first child. "My Son is 2 years and 5
months old his name is Stephanus..." Stephanus is my 6th great grandfather and the start of the first generation of Haworth's, born in America. There were other children too. More on them later.
Today's Terri's Tidbit: I have been having so much fun using Google Books. Have you been to this website? Click here to check it out. Try putting a family name in the search box and see if something comes up. I put George Haworth's name in and lots of things came up. I was surprised when I put my name in and two things came up. Some of these books are free, some you can buy and some you can order to be delivered to your local library. I am finding more and more interesting things, each time I go there to explore. Happy Searching!
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(1)George's letters can be found in many publications but most notably in:
Early Letters from Pennsylvania, 1699-1722
George Haworth The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
Vol. 37, No. 3 (1913), pp. 330-340
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