The Worland Family in America and Beyond

I began my life in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, on an island filled with forests and wild rhododendrons. I was separated from my Worland family there at an early age. Recently, I was reunited with my family and learned of my heritage. And so, this journey to know my ancestors began. The Worlands, Gideons, Newtons, Conards... they were the colonists, the settlers, the pioneers. They fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War. This is their story, and the story of a nation. -Deci Worland MacKinnon

Saturday, November 30, 2013

November 1742, Massachusetts

Servants and Colonists in Colonial America
  

November 15, 1742-A son, Tisdale, is born to Salisbury Sherman & Abigail Tisdale in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts.

(Tisdale Sherman is my third cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are Thomas Lawton & Elizabeth Salisbury.)

 Life in New England

A majority of New England residents were small farmers. Within these small farm families, and English families as well, a man had complete power over the property and his wife. When married, an English woman lost her maiden name and personal identity, meaning she could not own property, file lawsuits, or participate in political life, even when widowed. The role of wives was to raise and nurture healthy children and support their husbands. Most women carried out these duties.
During the 18th century, couples usually married between the ages of 20-24 and 6-8 children were typical of a family, with three on average surviving to adulthood. Farm women provided most of the materials needed by the rest of the family by spinning yarn from wool and knitting sweaters and stockings, making candles and soap from ashes, and churning milk into butter.

New England farming families generally lived in wooden houses because of the abundance of trees. A typical New England farmhouse was one-and-a-half stories tall and had a strong frame (usually made of large square timbers) that was covered by wooden clapboard siding. A large chimney stood in the middle of the house that provided cooking facilities and warmth during the winter. One side of the ground floor contained a hall, a general-purpose room where the family worked and ate meals. Adjacent to the hall was the parlor, a room used to entertain guests that contained the family's best furnishings and the parent's bed. Children slept in a loft above, while the kitchen was either part of the hall or was located in a shed along the back of the house. Because colonial families were large, these small dwellings had much activity and there was little privacy.

By the mid-18th century in New England, shipbuilding was a staple, particularly as the North American wilderness offered a seemingly endless supply of timber (by comparison, Europe's forests had been depleted and most timber had to be purchased from Scandinavia) The British crown often turned to the cheap, yet strongly built American ships. There was a shipyard at the mouth of almost every river in New England.
By 1750, a variety of artisans, shopkeepers, and merchants provided services to the growing farming population. Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and furniture makers set up shops in rural villages. There they built and repaired goods needed by farm families. Stores selling English manufactures such as cloth, iron utensils, and window glass as well as West Indian products like sugar and molasses were set up by traders. The storekeepers of these shops sold their imported goods in exchange for crops and other local products including roof shingles, potash, and barrel staves. These local goods were shipped to towns and cities all along the Atlantic Coast. Enterprising men set up stables and taverns along wagon roads to service this transportation system.
After these products had been delivered to port towns such as Boston and Salem in Massachusetts, New Haven in Connecticut, and Newport and Providence in Rhode Island, merchants then exported them to the West Indies where they were traded for molasses, sugar, gold coins, and bills of exchange (credit slips). They carried the West Indian products to New England factories where the raw sugar was turned into granulated sugar and the molasses distilled into rum. The gold and credit slips were sent to England where they were exchanged for manufactures, which were shipped back to the colonies and sold along with the sugar and rum to farmers.

Other New England merchants took advantage of the rich fishing areas along the Atlantic Coast and financed a large fishing fleet, transporting its catch of mackerel and cod to the West Indies and Europe. Some merchants exploited the vast amounts of timber along the coasts and rivers of northern New England. They funded sawmills that supplied cheap wood for houses and shipbuilding. Hundreds of New England shipwrights built oceangoing ships, which they sold to British and American merchants.

Many merchants became very wealthy by providing their goods to the agricultural population and ended up dominating the society of sea port cities. Unlike yeoman farmhouses, these merchants resembled the lifestyle of that of the upper class of England living in elegant 2 12-story houses designed the new Georgian style. These Georgian houses had a symmetrical façade with equal numbers of windows on both sides of the central door. The interior consisted of a passageway down the middle of the house with specialized rooms such as a library, dining room, formal parlor, and master bedroom off the sides. Unlike the multi-purpose space of the yeoman houses, each of these rooms served a separate purpose. In a Georgian house, men mainly used certain rooms, such as the library, while women mostly used the kitchen. These houses contained bedrooms on the second floor that provided privacy to parents and children. -Wikipedia
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Friday, November 29, 2013

November 1742, Pennsylvania


November 11, 1742- Robert Roberts, son of Cadwalader Roberts, marries Sarah Ambler, daughter of Joseph Amber & Ann Williams, at the Gywnedd Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

November 30, 1742- Six years after his marriage to Esther Rhoades, Nathan Potts was required to make acknowledgement for his "outgoing," to Abington Monthly Meeting.
The couple had been married at the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, and was accomplished contrary to the "usage of Friends".

(Nathan Potts is my first cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are Thomas Potts & Elizabeth Baset.
Sarah Ambler is my second cousin 7 times removed. Our common ancestors are Aret Klincken & Niske Agnes Jensen.)

An interesting article about politics, violence and Quakers in Philadelphia:
THE BLOODY ELECTION OF 1742
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Thursday, November 28, 2013

November 1742, Connecticut

Map of Connecticut highlighting New Haven County
Map of Connecticut highlighting New Haven County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
November 8, 1742- A daughter, Submit Dowd, is born to Janna Dowd & Desire Cornwall in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut.

November 16, 1742- My eighth great grandmother, Mary Cornwall, dies at the age of 75 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
Mary was born in November 20, 1666, the daughter of John Cornwall & Martha Peck.
In 1688, on her 22nd birthday, she married Samuel Doolittle, son of Sergeant Abraham Doolittle & Abigail Moss. Solomon received land in Wallingford in 1689, and there they first settled.
After their second child was born they moved from Wallingford to Middletown.
Samuel suffered from poor health by 1714, and in 1717 he died at the age of 52. Mary survived him by nearly thirty years.
They had eleven children, all of whom lived to adulthood.

November 29, 1742- A son, Isaiah, is born to Isaiah Tuttle & Susanna Doolittle in North New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. The child would not reach adulthood, and dies young.

November 30, 1742- Solomon Moss, son of Solomon Moss & Ruth Peck, marries Elizabeth Fenn, daughter of Theophilus Fenn & Martha Doolittle in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut.



(Submit Dowd is my second cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are John Cornwall & Martha Peck. Elizabeth Fenn is her second cousin.
Isaiah Tuttle is my second cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are Sergeant Abraham Doolittle & Abigail Moss. Elizabeth Fenn is his second cousin. Solomon Moss is his second cousin once removed.
Elizabeth Fenn is my second cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are Sergeant Abraham Doolittle & Abigail Moss and John Cornwall & Martha Peck. Solomon Moss is her second cousin once removed.
Solomon Moss is my second cousin 9 times removed. Our common ancestors are John Moss & Abigail "Goody" Charles.)
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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

November 1742, Maryland

White Marsh Catholic Church (Sacred Heart)
 
Prince George's County, Maryland


Charles Carroll d'Annapolis.jpg
Charles Carroll
Atop a steep hill sits White Marsh Church, a rectangular brick building erected in 1856 on the foundations of a church built in 1742.

White Marsh was first called St. Francis Borgia, and was one of the early Catholic Jesuit Missions in the English colonies. The land where Sacred Heart sits is from a 2000-acre land bequeathed with 100 slaves from James Carroll, cousin of Charles Carroll of Annapolis, to George Thorold, a Jesuit priest. Upon the death of James Carroll in 1729, George Thorold of Charles County, and his fellow Jesuits took possession of the land and developed a farm, which they called White Marsh Plantation. White Marsh was the center of Catholic life in Prince George’s County.

"The Fathers who resided there made missionary trips to various locations in the county and to Annapolis, Baltimore, Doughoregan Manor and areas of the present day District of Columbia."

One of the earlier priest at the White Marsh was Rev. John Lewis who was named Superior of the Catholic Church in 1784. During this period, the Jesuit Fathers of White Marsh, with the help of indentured servants and slave labor worked the plantation as private citizens and served the Catholic communities in Prince George’s and nearby counties. The earliest known slaves at the White Marsh were those owned by Rev. John Lewis. In a memoranda, Lewis recorded having "at the Lower Quarters: Nanny, Kate and her child, Fanny born 1762, and Samuel 1764, Ruth, Terry, Regis, (Sampson, Jenny), Frank and children, Lucy, Davi, Nancy, Paul, and Henrietta born May 1763." One priest in particular Father John Ashton, owned a number of slaves during his time at White Marsh. Many the slaves owned by Ashton, as many as twelve at one time, ran away from his service. Some the slaves in the Queen and Mahoney family petitioned the courts for their freedom against Rev. Ashton.

    "Following the Revolutionary War the Jesuit Fathers under the leadership of John Carroll, S.J. called several meetings of the clergy for the purpose of organizing the Catholic Church in America. The meetings, called the General Chapters, took place in 1783 and were held at White Marsh Plantation. Deliberations of the General Chapters led to the appointment of John Carroll by the Vatican as Prefect Apostolic, making him superior of the missionary church in the thirteen states, and to the first plans for Georgetown University. Also at White Marsh, the priests of the new nation elected John Carroll as the first American bishop on May 18,1789."
JohnCarrollGilbertStuart.jpg
Father John Carroll
Carroll tolerated slavery, and had two black servants - one free and one a slave (the latter of which was released from slavery in his will with a generous inheritance). While calling for the humane treatment and religious education of slaves, he never agitated for the abolition of slavery.Over the course of his life, Carroll's attitude toward slavery evolved from advocating for humane treatment and religious instruction of slaves to a policy of gradual emancipation (albeit through manumission rather than law). His view was that gradual emancipation of a plantation's slaves allowed for families to be kept together and for elderly slaves to be provided for. He addressed critics of his approach as follows:
"Since the great stir raised in England about Slavery, my Brethren being anxious to suppress censure, which some are always glad to affix to the priesthood, have begun some years ago, and are gradually proceeding to emancipate the old population on their estates. To proceed at once to make it a general measure, would not be either humanity toward the Individuals, nor doing justice to the trust, under which the estates have been transmitted and received."
White Marsh became a Novitiate for young men studying for the priesthood, after it was moved from Georgetown in 1814, where it remained for twenty years. A fire at White Marsh occurred May 15, 1853. The fire that destroyed the church also destroyed the early records of the congregation. "The fire destroyed the priest house, the church and the vacant old Novitiate building. The chapel was rebuilt in 1856. By 1874 the priest house was restored and a large addition was added to the front of the building." In 1876, a bell tower was added to the chapel.

November 1742-
Charles County Court Records, November 1742 Court, Liber T#2, Page 463. Pursuant to an order of last August Charles County Court, Commission issued, returnable here, to Robert Yates, William Penn, John Maddox, & Barton Warren, to examine witnesses touching the bounds of a tract of land in possession of Atwicks Fearson.

And now here, John Maddox & Barton Warren return to this Court the Commission aforesaid, with the certificate and deposition thereto annexed - viz

To Robert Yates, William Penn, John Maddox, & Barton Warren, Gentlemen. Whereas Atwicks Fearson is in possession of a parcel of land lying in a Bite between Neals Creek and a branch making out of the said Creek of Neals called Back Creek, bounded on the north and west with certain lines and distances as per certificate directed, laid out for William Hungerford, the right of which land having lately laid in John Newman, deceased, and now in John Newman, his son, Minor, did, on Aug 10, in the 28th year of our Dominion, prefer his petition to Charles County Court on the day aforesaid, before Robert Hanson, Gentleman, and his associates, for Commission to examine witnesses to prove and perpetuate the memory of the bounds of the said tract of land, know that we have given you (not being any way related to the petitioner, contiguous proprietor, nor interested in said land) power to examine witnesses as aforesaid. Signed Aug 14, 1742 - Edm'd Porteus, Clerk.

We have taken the several depositions as above, pursuant to a Commission to us directed. Signed Sep 21, 1742 - John Maddox, Barton Warren.

Charles County. The deposition of Walter Fearson, age about 37, who declares that about 23-24 years ago, his father told him that a red oak standing near the head of a small branch called Hungerfords branch, was the beginning tree of a tract of land then in possession of John Newman, at the stump of which tree now stands a locust post, and further says that a white oak was a corner tree which parted George Newman's land and Samuel Fearson's and since in possession of John Newman, and likewise declares that a white oak now down that his father told him was a line tree and the courses now answers. Signed - Walter (W his mark) Fearson.

Charles County. The deposition of Mr. Raphael Neale, aged about 59, who declares that about 12 years ago that John Newman told him that a white oak standing at the end of 70 perches from a bounded red oak or post standing at the head of Hungerford branch, was a dividing tree between him and his uncle, George Newman. Signed - Raphael Neale.

Charles County. The deposition of Mr. Barton Hungerford, age about 56, who declares that the abovesaid white oak, by what Samuel Fearson told him, about 35 years [ago], is the 2nd bound tree of a tract of land now in possession of John Newman, by the courses. Signed - Barton Hungerford.

Charles County. The deposition of Alexander Sims, age about 41, who declares that about 8-9 years ago, that [at] the aforesaid white oak, that he heard Mr. Raphael Neale, John Newman, & John Hamill, they all acknowledged the aforesaid white oak was a bound tree of John Newman's land. Signed - Alexander Sims.

(Raphael Neale is my second cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are Benjamin Gill & Mary Mainwaring.)
 

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

October 1742, Maryland

Potomac River, Great Falls Park (the Maryland ...
Potomac River, Great Falls Park (the Maryland side), USA.
October 18, 1742- My sixth great granduncle, Sebastian Thompson, has died at Yieldingbury, St. Mary's County, Maryland.
Son of Arthur Thompson, he married Charity Bailey, daughter of John Bailey.

Thompson, Sebastian, St Mary's Co., 18th Oct., 1742; 3rd March, 1742.
To sons Arthur and Sebastian and hrs., real estate.
" child. John, Sebastian, Monica, Charity Wheeler, Appolina and Mary Brown, personalty.
" wife Charity, extx., residue of estate.
Test: William Gillimore, John Mills, A. Thompson. 23.79.

Sebastian Thompson 28.11 SM £43.10.1 Mar 3 1742 Jun 9 1743
Appraisers: Samuel Abell, John Mills.
Creditors: Philip Key, Appolina Thompson.
Next of kin: Oswal Thompson, Sebastian Thompson.
Administratrix/Executrix: Charity Thompson.


October 1742: John Colvill’s “Negro Quarter” near the mouth of Quarter Branch and the Potomac is the first mention in print of a slave population.
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Monday, November 25, 2013

October 1742, Connecticut

October 13, 1742- Nathaniel Bacon III, son of Nathaniel Bacon & Hannah Wetmore, marries Amy Sage Harrison, widow of Edmund Harrison, in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.

October 14, 1742- A son, Oliver, is born to Daniel Doolittle & Elizabeth Dayton in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut.

Official seal of Middletown, Connecticut
Official seal of Middletown, Connecticut (


(Nathaniel Bacon is my first cousin 9 times removed. Our common ancestors are Nathaniel Bacon & Ann Miller and Deacon Thomas Wetmore.
Oliver Doolittle is my second cousin 9 times removed. Our common ancestors are Abraham Doolittle & Abigail Moss and John Cornwall & Martha Peck.)

MIDDLETOWN

Before Europeans arrived, the territory where Middletown now sits was held by the Wangunks on the east bank and the Mattabesetts on the west bank of the Connecticut River. These two peoples shared a common chief, Sowheag, at the time of the initial European settlement in 1650.
In 1650, the first English families arrived from Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. The new community became officially a town the following year, adopting the name "Middletown" in 1653, a reference to its distance halfway between the mouth of the Connecticut River and Windsor.
The first Africans were brought from Barbados to Middletown as slaves eight years later in 1661. Slavery remained a part of Middletown life throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; by 1756, 218 slaves -- at the time the third largest African population in the colony-- lived among a population of approximately 5,44 Europeans.
Middletown and other Connecticut towns had their own militias, or train bands, and held regular training days. Colonial statute required Middletown to have a force consisting of at least eight armed men and a sergeant acting as guard at any assembly for public worship. The militia kept watch around the meeting house, a structure 20 feet square enclosed by a palisade.
During the fifty years before the guns of Lexington, Middletown merchants developed an extensive trade between New England and the West Indies. Middletown enjoyed booming times while the trade lasted. So closely was Middletown's economic life tied to the sea that, by the outbreak of the Revolution, one third of the population was engaged in maritime trade and merchant activities.
_The Society of Colonial Wars
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Sunday, November 24, 2013

October 1742, Massachusetts

English: Photograph of the John Howland House ...
English: Photograph of the John Howland House built in 1666 in Plymouth, Mass. Photographed circa 1921 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
October 8, 1742- A son, Ebenezer, is born to Sarah Nelson Cole, recent widow of Edward Cole, in Swansea, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.
The child is a descendant of Mayflower passengers, John Howland & Elizabeth Tilley.

October 10, 1742- A daughter, Rachel, is born to Jonathan Sherman & Susanna Gifford in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay.

(Ebenezer Cole is my second cousin 8 times removed. Our common ancestors are Hugh Cole & Mary Foxwell and Samuel Luther & Mary Abell.)
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