Preserving the Ha(y)worth Family History for Future Generations, Part 9

George Haworth was the fifth Great Grandfather of my
Grandmother, Mittie Ethel Hayworth Garrison.  

I would not be here today if it were not for George Haworth and his many descendants.  The Haworth line has continued for many generations in our family and will live on for many more. My Grandmother, Mittie Hayworth Garrison, was the 5th Great Granddaughter of George.  She was almost 92 years old when she passed away.  I felt very blessed to have her around that long.  The picture to the right was taken just a couple years before she died.  Four generations. My mom is on the left, holding my daughter Stephanie.  

So, we are all thankful to George for coming to America, risking his life on the ship Brittania, and starting a family.  He died in January of 1725 (Quaker calendar) and was buried in Buck's County, Pennsylvania.  At the time of his death, he and Sarah had had eight children.  The children were, in birth order:
1.  A son who died in infancy
2.  Stephanus Haworth, born in 1713 and married Rachel Beeson
3.  Rachel V. Haworth, born in 1715 but died young
4.  Absalom Haworth, born in 1716 and married Elizabeth E. Payne
5.  John Haworth, born in 1717, married Mary Garner
6.  James Haworth born in 1719, married Sarah Wood
7.  Mary Haworth born in 1721 married John Michener
8.  George Haworth Jr. born in 1724 and married Mary Brown

Buckingham Friends Meeting House still stands today.  

George had been a weaver and a farmer. He and Sarah were Quakers and belonged to the Falls Member Meeting and they were charter members of the Buckingham Friends meeting.  

Three of George and Sarah's sons, Stephanus, Absalom and James, left Pennsylvania and headed south.  They landed in Virginia, where they set up their new homes and started their own families. Stephanus later moved to North Carolina.  

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  Were you a Little House on the Prairie fan?  Did you read the books, watch the show, or both?  There is a new book out by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and edited by Pamela Smith Hill.  It is called Pioneer Girl:  The Annotated Autobiography.  It is a beautiful book that would be worthy of your coffee table.  Check it out here!

Preserving the Ha(y)worth Family History for Future Generations, Part 3

After spending a week at his sister's, recouping from the trip across the ocean, George “the Immigrant” Haworth headed to Philadelphia, and then on to Buck’s County, Pennsylvania, where his cousin James Haworth lived. He "...dwelleth near to him being about 250 miles from my Sister. James Haworth and his wife is well and hath one daughter." (Text from George’s letters are quoted and in italics as written.)(1)

We don’t know a lot about the first couple of years that he was in Pennsylvania. One thing we do know is that when he arrived they were dealing with a yellow fever epidemic spreading across the area. As if he had not seen enough illness on the “sick ship,” he was now surrounded by this.

We only have eight of the letters that George wrote to his family. There may have been more but they either didn’t survive or have not surfaced, at this time. It was two years before the next letter was sent from George to his mother. It was dated May 14, 1701, (Quaker calendar date) but it is not certain when it arrived in England.  At the time he wrote the letter he was well and explains to his family what he had been doing during this time. He once again was encouraging everyone to come to America. "I hired myself for a year and had about 19L wages in the year and since I was free I work by the piece or by the day, and hath 2/6 a day and victuals, and in harvest 3/6 a day and if we take our work we commonly get more, So if any of my relations have a mind to come to this country, I think it is very good country and that they may do well, but be sure to come free, but if you come servants, they must be sold for 4 or 5 years and work hard, so be sure to come free and bring such things as will suit plantation work, as Horse chains plowgears and all things suitable to work withal as ploy irons and things for selling: bring stores of good cloth and good sarge and bedding of all sorts with good store of silk to sew withal and good ticking and good stockings and shoes and good Ivory combs and knives very good ones, and good Alchymy buttons and good light Hats and Iron pots."

He described what the land was like and what types of crops they grew, the animals they kept and those they used for food. I love how he described the different things; in a way his family could envision it. "And as for the land there is both good and bad, both Hills and also Vales and the common product of the land is Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, Beans, Pease and Buckwheat and Indiana corn and Apples plenty often and Cyder and Peaches and Cherries: Cattle and Horses there is plenty, and store of hogs and there is sheep, and victuals is good and plenty all over the Country as far as I know: there is fishes and fowl is pretty plenty, and this last Winter there was a great Snow and some got store of Deer 8 or 10 in a weeks time; and what varmant we have, as Wolves I have seen some but they have not hurt me tho' I have been near them, there is a few panthers and Bears, but they hurt nobody as I know of, and land is dearer than it was when we first came. There is several sorts of grapes and strawberries plenty and mullberries and whimberries, but they grow upon stalks 3 foot high, there is many sorts of wood, as Black Oaks, White Oaks, Red Oaks, and other sorts and many other sorts of other Trees as Chesnuts, Walnuts, and many sorts of things. We have Turkeys wild in the Woods, Pheasants and Partridges, with many other sorts of birds of divers colours and strange colours and notes; and thus much for the Country and its product."

We found out the names of Mary’s children as he shared a little more about them. “…there found my Sister and she hath 4 children 2 Sons and 2 daughters John, James and Mary and Sarah…”

Family seemed very important to George. In each of his letters you sense a homesickness for his mother and siblings. "I have sent one letter and something in another and heard nothing from you, but I desire you in all love to hear from you as soon as possible you can, for I could be glad to hear from you especially of your wellfare and if any of you come I desire you to send me word hard." This homesickness grew with each letter.

He asked that they send their letters to "Phineas Pembertons in the county of Bucks". Out of curiosity, I researched that name and found that this was a prominent person in Buck's County, at that time. He was Buck County's first Clerk of the Court and remained in that position until his death. Phineas was married to Phoebe Harrison, daughter of James Harrison, who was held in high esteem by William Penn. To this day there is still a Phineas Pemberton House, or Bolton Farm, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, in what is now Levittown, PA.

Today's Terri's Tidbit: When William Penn decided to name the 40,000 square miles he was granted in the New World, he named it New Wales. The King didn't like that, so William suggested Sylvania, which means forest or woods. The King took that one step further and added the Penn, in honor of William's dad, the senior Admiral William Penn.
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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