The Hayworth Family

by Donald D. Erwin

My Haworth/Hayworth ancestors were Quakers. Those who are descended from Hazel Dell Hayworth Erwin can trace their roots to the Friends Church movement of the early seventeenth century in England. But in order to un­derstand how the Religious Society of Friends movement – perhaps better known as Quaker – came to be, one must have some idea of the religious turmoil in England during the 1600s.

Early in 1642 an English civil war broke out between the supporters of Charles I on the one hand, and Parliament on the other. As the conflict grew, the Parliamentarians, or Round­heads, took the offensive. They made steady progress, espe­cially when Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell took com­mand, with their specially trained cavalry and retrained army. In the end Charles I and his supporters were defeated. Parlia­ment in July 1646, issued a set of reforms which came to be known as the Propositions of Newcastle. It established that Parlia­ment would control over foreign policy and of the army, but it also abolished Episcopacy.

When Charles I and his supporters were defeated, Charles – thinking that he would get better terms with the Scots – left London and turned himself in to them. He agreed to a set of conditions in 1647, known as the Engagement; the main points being that the Scots would help him regain his throne, and that Presbyterianism would replace the Anglican Church as the preferred state church for a trial period The Scots sent an army to England in July 1648 to place him on the throne, only to be decisively defeated by an English army commanded by Oliver Cromwell.

In January 1649 Charles I was tried for treason. By a majority of only one vote he was condemned to death and was executed January 30, 1649. The Scots then transferred their allegiance to Charles’ son, Charles II, declaring him King of Scotland, while in England the Crown was abolished, and Oliver Cromwell became the Lord Protector of England.

Oliver Cromwell, now a near absolute ruler, at first left the various churches free of state control. After about five years of witnessing the wrangling between the various sects and religious move­ments,  he came to believe that a state-endowed church was indispensable to education and morals. In 1654, he appointed a “Commission of Triers” to test clergymen for fit­ness to receive support from the central government, but only Puritans, Baptists and Presbyterians were eligible to apply. Catholicism, once all powerful, was outlawed.

Intolerance was increased instead of being lessened. In­stead of Anglicans persecuting Catholics, Dissenters and Puri­tans, now the triumphant Puritans – who had formerly clam­ored for tolerance – were now persecuting all others who did not agree with their beliefs. The Puritan attempt to legislate morality was probably the most extensive outside Mosaic Law. Adultery was made a capital crime. Profane language was graduated on a class-graduated scale: a duke was thus penalized twice as much as a baron, three times as much as a squire, and ten times as much as a commoner. Wednesday was a day of obligatory fasting from meat, even on Christmas, and soldiers were authorized to invade homes to enforce the fasts. No shops were to be open on Sunday, no games or sports were to be played, and no worldly work could be done. Despite the Restoration and its moral relapse, the English “blue” Sunday has remained in effect in some areas of the Commonwealth and the U.S. even today.

George Fox (1624-1691) is credited as being the founder of the Society of Friends Church (first known as Friends of Truth). As a young man he was puzzled by the selfish attitudes of the very men who were entrusted with the progress and well-being of the citizen population. These individuals, who were usually associated with the Church of England and closely connected with the Crown, were grasping, greedy, powerful, and invariably wealthy. Their chief concern was the furthering of their own personal interests. Fox, like many others who questioned the establishment, eventually suffered terrible persecution from these men.

It is a common belief that Quakerism and Puritanism were originally affiliated, or at the very least had the same basic doctrines. The Quakers claim, however, that there was no theological or ideological relationship between the two reli­gious movements, other than the fact that both arose from the obsession of many members of English society to free them­selves from the tyranny of the State Church. Quakers contend that each movement followed its on path, as did many other sects which sprang up in England at the same general time.

Even though the Quakers tend to deny an early connection with the Puritans, many of their virtues – though degraded somewhat by their fantasies and bigotry – can be found in the Quaker beliefs. The fear of God and Satan was so strong in them that sometimes this fear made their bod­ies tremble … and it gave them a name. Robert Barclay, himself a Quaker, said in 1679:

“The power of God will break forth into a whole meeting, and there will be such an inward travail, while each is seeking to overcome the evil in ourselves, that by the strong workings of these opposite powers, like the going of two opposites tides, every individual will be strongly exercised, trembling, and a motion of the body will be upon most, and as the Power of Truth prevails, will from pangs and groans end with a sweet sound of thanksgiving and praise. And from this the name of Quakers was first reproachably passed on to us.”

The explanation of George Fox is slightly different. He said:

“Justice Bennet of Derby was the first that called us Quakers, because we bid them tremble at the word of the Lord. This was in 1650.”

George Fox was a man with little education, but the jour­nal that he wrote is considered an English classic. Soon George Fox felt the call to preach the Inner Light to all. Son of a weaver, apprenticed to a shoemaker, he left his master and his relatives “at the command of God” and began, at the age of twenty-three (1647), his preaching that ended only with his death in 1691. Although he attracted a few followers early on, most who heard him speak considered him a crackpot. Con­vinced that true religion was found not in churches but only in the enlighten heart, he entered a church in Nottingham and interrupted a sermon by crying out that the test of truth was not in the Scriptures but in the Inner Light. He was arrested (1649), but the sheriff released him and the sheriff’s wife be­came one of his first converts. He continued his missionary wanderings and was arrested a number of times. On one occa­sion he was stoned out of town by the local citizens. In Derby, after preaching against churches and sacraments as vain ap­proaches to God, he was sentenced to six months in jail (1650). He didn’t accept his incarceration well, however, so instead of six months it was a year before he was released.

Fox’s methods were crude, and as a result he suffered a long series of arrests and setbacks. Puritans, Presbyterians and Anglicans alike attacked him, for he rejected sacraments, churches and ministers. Magistrates sent his followers to jail for disturbing public worship, for preaching pacifism to sol­diers, and also for refusing to swear allegiance to the govern­ment.

Some, even though they did not agree with Fox’s religious beliefs, privately admired some of the Quaker “peculiarities.” The Quakers refused to take off their hats to any person, of whatever rank, even in church or at court. They addressed all persons in the singular thee or thou. They rejected the pagan names of the days of the week and the months of the year, saying, for example, “the first day of the sixth month.” They worshipped as readily in the open as indoors, and each wor­shipper was invited to tell what the Holy Ghost had inspired him to say. And, perhaps the most radical belief of all, Quakers believed that women were equal to men. Aside from the fact that Quakers denounced other sects as false, they tended to be model Christians. Their rule against marrying anyone outside their faith limited their growth, but neverthe­less by 1660 there were 60,000 Friends in England.

It was in 1652 that the first Quaker community was formed in northern England. Quakers were persecuted because they would not attend the established worship, hold office, pay tithes, or bear arms. Due to these and other reasons they were fined, jailed, or even banished by English authorities. Because of the persecution in England, Quakers migrated to America with the help of William Penn in the 1660’s, particularly in New Jersey and after 1681 in Pennsylvania, where there were about seven thousand people by the year 1684.

Oliver Cromwell died September 3, 1658. His son Rich­ard took over as Lord Protector, but he was not the leader his father was, and in May 1659 he resigned. This opened the door for the monarchy to be restored, and in May 1660 Charles II returned from his exile in France. He was crowned King of England in Westminster Abby on April 23, 1661.

Charles II had become a Catholic during his years of exile in France, but he realized that he would have to put this aside, at least publicly, in order to placate the Protestant English Par­liament. Some scholars believe that he was a skeptic with a leaning toward Catholicism; i.e., doubting their theology but preferring Catholicism for its colorful ritual, marriage with the arts, its lenience to the flesh, and its support of monarchy. But, as an amiable politician, he accepted the support of the Angli­can Church. He remembered that the Anglican Church had supported his father, who had died as a result of his defense of the Established Church. Charles took for granted that some religion should receive state sanction and aid as an agent of education and social order. It is reported that he was horrified by Puritanism, and he could not forget that Presbyterians had imprisoned his father, and that the Puritans had beheaded him.

An Anglican-dominated Parliament passed the “Act of Uniformity” in 1662, which served to restore the Anglican Church as the State Church. One of the main provisions of the Act was that it required all clergymen and teachers, no matter their denomination, to declare their full assent to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Clergymen who rejected the condi­tions of the Act were to vacate their quarters. Some twelve hundred refused and were ejected. These, and the eight hun­dred others already displaced by restored Anglicans, joined with others to become the “Dissenters” who finally compelled the Act of Toleration of 1689.

Charles tried to modify the Act of Uniformity, but Parlia­ment refused. Nevertheless, Charles released all imprisoned Quakers (about 4200) on August 22, 1662, and mandated religious toleration in the charters that he granted to Rhode Island and North Carolina.

William Penn (1644-1718) was the son of Admiral William Penn who had captured Jamaica for England. When the boy was twelve he went through various stages of religious fervor, during which he was so “suddenly surprised with an inward comfort and… an external glory in the room, that he has many times said that from thence he had the seal of divinity and im­mortality.” He later wrote that while still a lad he had the con­viction “…that there was a God, and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying His divine communication.”

At Oxford William was fined and expelled for refusing to attend Anglican services (1661). Returning home, he was whipped and kicked out of the home for his avowed Quaker­ism. His father soon relented, however, and sent him to France in the hope that the gay life of Paris would cleanse his mind of his radical religious beliefs. Instead of being a playboy, how­ever, he attended a Protestant College and absorbed even more theories of religious liberty.

After about two years in France, William returned to Lon­don where he studied law for about three years. During this period William Penn, Sr. was away on Navy business, leaving William essentially head of the family. In 1667 young William went to Ireland to look after the family estates, and while there heard Thomas Lee, a Friends minister, preach. Shortly after­ward he returned to England and burned the last bridge with his father by announcing that he would preach the Friends doctrine himself. During the next two years he and many of his associates were arrested several times. His trial in 1669 played a prominent role in English law. The jury acquitted him, but the judge did not agree with their verdict and had him arrested again. The jury appealed to a higher court where they were vindicated, thus forever making jury decisions final unless overturned by ap­peal. Penn was arrested again, however, for refusing to remove his hat in court.

Admiral Penn died in 1670, leaving William a fortune of fifteen hundred pounds a year, plus a claim on the Crown for sixteen thousand pounds. In an interval of freedom, he married a wealthy woman, and bought an interest in the western half of what is now the State of New Jersey. During the next few years many Friends emigrated there and Penn worked hard to establish a well governed colony. Then, in 1681, he petitioned the King for the grant of a tract of land to the west of New Jersey, in lieu of a debt still owed to his late father. The peti­tion was granted, and this was the beginning of Pennsylvania; the name given by the King himself to Penn’s new domain.

The preceding set the stage for George Haworth to make his way to William Penn’s colony in 1699.

The surname Hayworth was originally written “de Haworth,” in the Norman style. There was a Robert de Haworth in the 13th century in England. He was monk of the Cisterian Order, and in 1272 he was elected Abbot of Stanlow. There are now several variations of the name: Haworth, Howarth, Howorth and Hayworth. My mother’s branch of the Haworth/Hayworth family has been traced back to Henry Haworth, who was born about 1616 in Lancashire, England. He had three sons: James, Henry and William. James Haworth, who was born in 1642 and lived at Rockcliffe near Bacup in Lancashire, England, was my ancestor. James Haworth married Isabel and they had six children: Mary, Sarah, Susannah, an unknown daughter, James and George. George Haworth, who was my ancestor, was born in 1682 in Rockcliff, Rochdale Parish, Lancashire, England.

The towns of Lancashire did not escape the religious upheaval involving the return of Charles II. With his coronation the Established Church returned to power. The Haworths of Lancashire, like many of their fellow Quaker believers, were stubbornly in opposition, refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the King, and refusing to pay tithes to the Church of England. The Act of Toleration was passed in 1680, and this put a stop to punishment for refusal to attend services at Church of England churches, but prosecution for refusal to pay tithes and to take oaths continued.

George Haworth emigrated to the North America in 1699, and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Scarborough, daughter of John Scarborough, Jr. and Mary Pierson, September 28, 1710, in the village of Buckingham in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Their marriage certificate is recorded in the Friends’ Library, 142 No. 16th Street in Philadelphia. It reads:

“Whereas George Haworth of ye Township of Makefield in ye County of Bucks & Province of Pennsylvania, Weaver, and Sarah Scarborough, daughter of John Scarborough of ye township Solebury in ye county and province aforesaid, spinster, having intentions of taking each other in marriage did publish ye same before several monthly meetings of ye people called Quakers in ye county aforesaid according to ye good order used amonst ym, whose proceedings therein after a deliberate consideration thereof & having consent of relations and parties concerned nothing appearing to obstruct were approved of ye ad meetings.”

“Now these are to certify all whome it may concern yt for ye full accomplishment of their said intentions this 28th day of ye 9 mo/ anno 1710 they ye ad George Haworth and Sarah Scarborough appeared in a publick meeting of ye said people and other mett together at their usual meeting house in ye township of Buckingham and County aforesaid and ye sd George Haworth taking ye sd Sarah Scarborough by ye hand in solemn manner openly declare yt he took her to be his wife and did likewise promise to be to her a true and loving and faithfull husband untill should separate ym & yn and there in the said assembly she ye sd Sarah Scarborough did likewise declare yt she took ye sd George Haworth to be her husband  promising to be unto him a loving and faithfull and true wife untill death should separate them and moreover ye sd George Haworth & Sarah Scarborough , (she according to ye custom of marriage assuming ye name of her husband) as a further confirmation thereof did then and there to those psents sett their hands & ye names are hereunder subscribed being amongst others psent at ye solemnization of their sd marriage and subscription in aforesd as witnesses thereunto have also to these psent set our hands ye day & year above written.”

Next there followed a list of 38 witnesses…

George Haworth and Sarah Scarborough had eight children:

  1. Martha Haworth, born 1711 in Buckingham, Bucks Co., PA.
  2. Stephanus Haworth, born February 17, 1712, in Bucks Co., PA; died March 19, 1756, in North Carolina.
  3. Rachel Virginia Haworth, born in 1715 in Bucks Co., PA.
  4. Absolom Haworth, born April 5, 1716, in Bucks Co., PA; died April 17, 17
  5. John Haworth, born November 1717, Bucks Co., PA; died November 19, 1776, in Pennsylvania.
  6. James Haworth, born October 10, 1719, in Bucks Co., PA; died in 1756.
  7. Mary Haworth, born February 23, 1721, in Bucks Co., PA; died in 1771 in Pennsylvania.
  8. George Haworth, Jr., born in 1724, in Bucks Co., PA; died in 1748.

George and Sarah Haworth lived the rest of their lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. George died November 28, 1724, and Sarah passed on March 4, 1748. Both are buried in Bucks County.

Absolom Haworth, their fourth born, was my ancestor. John Haworth, their fifth born, was the great-great-great-grandfather of Herbert Clark Hoover, the thirty-first President of the United States.

Absolom Haworth was born in 1715 in Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and died April 17, 1752 in Frederick County, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Payne in 1738 in Frederick County, Virginia. She was born December 5, 1724 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of Josiah Payne and Martha Sheppard.

In 1738 Absolom and Stephanus Haworth, his next older brother, moved to Virginia along with a great many other Pennsylvania Quakers. They settled on Smith’s Creek, about four miles west of New Market, in Rockingham County, Virginia. An interesting note: Valentine Sevier, who owned lands adjoining Haworth lands near New Market, was the father of famed Indian fighter John Sevier, Governor of the short-lived State of Franklin, first Governor of the State of Tennessee, and hero of the Battle of King’s Mountain during the Revolutionary War.

Absolom and Elizabeth Haworth had four children:

  1. Nathaniel Haworth was born in 1740 in Opeckton River, Frederick County, Virginia. He married Hannah Barrett.
  2. Absolom Hawoth, Jr. was born in 1743 in Opeckton River, Frederick County, Virginia. He married Mary West.
  3. Mary Haworthwas born in 1745 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. She married William White.
  4. Hannah Haworthwas born about 1745 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. She married Benjamin Moreland.

Nathaniel Haworth was born in 1740 in Opeckton River, Frederick County, Virginia, and died there in 1790. He married Hannah Barrett November 3, 1766, in Frederick County. Little is known about Nathaniel and Hannah, other than that they moved to Newberry County, South Carolina by 1770. Nathaniel Haworth died in South Carolina, but it is not known where, and it is not known where he was buried. There is no record of what happened to Hannah. Nathaniel and Hannah had five children:

  1. Absolom Haworthwas born in 1767. He married Phoebe Wright in Green County, Tennessee March 4, 1798, and died there September 3, 1798.
  2. John Haworthwas born in 1770 in Newberry County, South Carolina, and died in Kentucky in 1831. He married Catherine Cartwright in South Carolina.
  3. James Wade Haworthwas born February 6, 1775, and died in 1831.
  4. Sampson Haworthwas born April 13, 1779, in South Carolina, and died September 22, 1843. He married Kezia Longshore.
  5. Sarah Haworthwas born in South Carolina about 1782. She married John Wright.

James Wade Haworth was born February 6, 1775, in Newberry County, South Carolina, and died in Miami County, Ohio December 1, 1829. He married Anna Emily Coppock, the daughter of John Coppock and Abigail Skillorn, on July 26, 1797 in Newberry County. She was born March 18, 1781, and died September 11, 1870, in Miami County, Ohio. The children of James and Anna were:

  1. Sarah Haworthwas born May 18, 1798, in Newberry County, South Carolina. She married Elisha McCool May 28, 1817, in Miami County, Ohio.
  2. Elizabeth Haworthwas born June 18, 1800, in Newberry County, South Carolina. She married David Ellemon May 4, 1817, in Miami County, Ohio.
  3. Hannah Haworthwas born September 20, 1801, in Newberry County, South Carolina and died July 19, 1904.
  4. Nathaniel Haworth was born February 12, 1803, and died February 10, 1871.
  5. James Haworthwas born August 24, 1804, and died July 31, 1864, in Newton County, Indiana. He married Elizabeth Clary October 4, 1824, in Miami County, Ohio.
  6. Abigail Haworthwas born January 29, 1804, in Newberry County, South Carolina and died November 11, 1804.
  7. John Haworthwas born May 5, 1807, in Newberry County, South Carolina, and married Sarah Penry in 1826, in Maimi County, Ohio.
  8. Anna Haworthwas born January 29, 1809, and died July 12, 1849. She married Issac C. Hall.
  9. David Haworthwas born June 14, 1810, in Miami County, Ohio.
  10. Susannah Haworth was born February 14, 1812, in Miami County, Ohio, and died December 5, 1865. She married Thomas PenryFebruary 9, 1831.
  11. Phoebe Haworthwas born December 20, 1813, in Miami County, Ohio and died May 15, 1865. She married Benjamin Coate December 30, 1830.
  12. Wade Haworthwas born December 5, 1815, in Miami County, Ohio, and died in McLean County, Illinois. He married Margaret Ogden.
  13. Joseph C. Haworthwas January 18, 1817, in Miami County, Ohio. He married (1) Elizabeth Coate and (2) Victoria Gall.
  14. Sampson Haworthwas born July 21,1819, in Miami County, Ohio. He married Hetty Penry.
  15. Samuel Haworthwas born October 7, 1821, in Miami County, Ohio and died in 1803 in Ludlow Creek, Miami County, Ohio. He married Roseanna Frank.
  16. Mary Haworthwas born January 14, 1825, in Miami County, Ohio. She married Jessie Jones in Miami County on February 17, 1842.

Nathaniel Hayworth was born February 12, 1803, in Newberry County, South Carolina, and died February 10, 1871, in Jasper County, Indiana. He married Deborah Furguson April 6, 1824, in Newton Miami County, Ohio. She was born February 24, 1805, in Virginia and died July 16, 1871, in Jasper County, Indiana. Nathaniel and Deborah were both living with their son David near Star City in Pulaski County, Indiana when they died. Both are buried in the Star City Cemetery.

A biography in Biographical History of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski Counties, published in 1899, describes Nathaniel Haworth as being five feet three inches tall and weighing 140 pounds. He was characterized as being “…quick and active in mind and action.” He was further described as “… a Whig and a Republican, and religiously connected to the Christian Church.”

It should be noted that, as an adult, Nathaniel added a letter “Y” to his surname, and his descendants have continued the practice. The children of Nathaniel and Deborah were:

  1. Sarah Ann Hayworthwas born in 1835 in Miami County, Ohio, and died in 1890 in Jasper County, Indiana. She married John A. Benson January 27, 1847, in Cass County, Indiana.
  2. James Nathaniel Hayworthwas born October 17, 1826 and died January 24, 1901.
  3. William Hayworthwas born about 1828 in Miami County, Ohio. He married Melissa Randall.
  4. Elizabeth Hayworthwas born in 1829 in Miami County, Ohio and died in Longton, Elk County, Kansas, in 1901. She married (1) Alexander Sturgeon, (2) Banson McConahay, (3) Cyres Stires, and (4) Lewis Parkinson.
  5. Malinda Hayworthwas born in Miami County, Ohio.
  6. David Wade Hayworthwas born December 11, 1835, in Miami County, Ohio and died in March 1898 in Elk County, Kansas. He married Mary Ann Shuler December 10, 1868 in Pulaski County, Indiana.
  7. John Hayworthwas born December 11, 1835, in Miami County, Ohio and died April 21, 1910, in Lafayette, Montgomery County, Indiana. He married Melissa McCanahay September 16, 1835, in White County, Indiana.
  8. Sampson Hayworth.
  9. Mary Jane Hayworthwas born March 4, 1846, in Indiana, and died September 4, 1884. She married Anthony Swayzee March 5, 1863, in Pulaski County, Indiana.

James Nathaniel Hayworth was born October 17, 1826, in Newton, Miami County, Ohio. He moved with his parents to Cass County, Indiana in 1845, and later lived for a time in Grant County, and in about 1848 the family moved to Pulaski County, Indiana. He was living near Star City in Pulaski County when he married Susannah D. Miller in January 24, 1850, daughter of Captain John Miller.

James and Susannah Hayworth lived first on a 120-acre homestead in Harrison Township in Pulaski County. After seventeen years they moved to Jasper County, Indiana where they bought a 250-acre farm near Hanging Grove. In 1880 James and Susannah moved again, this time to Elk County, Kansas, where they lived the rest of their lives. Susannah died November 4, 1894, and James Hayworth died January 24, 1901, while living with his son Charles. Both are buried in the Longton Cemetery in Elk County, Kansas.

As early as 1850 James Hayworth augmented his farming income by trading in furs. It was his practice to drive through the countryside with his horses and light wagon buying furs, and then periodically go by rail to Detroit, where the main market was, to sell them to wholesale dealers. Alpha, my mother’s sister, recalled in a letter to Bonnie Speer, that he did this even after he moved to Kansas. James and Susannah had the following children:

  1. John Ransom Hayworth, born November 6, 1850, in Star City, Pulaski County, Indiana. He died May 5, 1912, in Francisville, Jasper County, Indiana, and is buried in Roseland Cemetery in Francisville. He married Canzada HullingerNovember 18, 1874, in Jasper County.
  2. Sarah Elizabeth Hayworth, born January 18, 1852. She died October 12, 1905, in Longton, Elk County, Kansas, and is buried in the Longton Cemetery. Sarah had some type of physical deformity that made it difficult for her to walk, and never married. She was reportedly known as “Aunt Sat,” because she “sat a lot.”
  3. David Allen Hayworth was born February 4, 1853, and died November 9, 1878.
  4. Melissa Jane Hayworth, born September 20, 1854. She died August 2, 1881, in Longton, Elk County, Kansas, and is buried in the Longton Cemetery.
  5. Nancy Ellen Hayworth, my mother’s “Aunt Ellen,” was born December 5, 1856, and died March 12, 1940, in Longton, Elk County, Kansas. She married Thomas Stillwell and had one son, James Fay Stillwell, who died in France during WW1. Nancy Ellen and Thomas Stillwell are both buried in the Longton Cemetery. James Fay Stillwellis buried in Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas.
  6. William Riley Hayworth, was born May 12, 1858, and died September 10, 1913 in Valpariso, Porter County, Indiana. He married Edith Mattinglyin 1885.
  7. Mary Mirenda Hayworth, born October 11, 1859, and died July 1, 1881 in Longton, Elk County, Kansas, and is buried in the Longton Cemetery.
  8. James Nathaniel Hayworth, was born February 3, 1863, in Pulaski County, Indiana, and died April 6, 1933, in Rensselaer, Jasper County, Indiana. He married (1) Anna Bledsoe, (2) Clara Andrus.
  9. Charles Ellis Hayworth, born March 1, 1866, and died April 12, 1941.
  10. Edwin Day Hayworth, a twin, was born April 29, 1871, in Jasper County, Indiana, and died October 1, 1941.
  11. Evelyn May Hayworth, a twin, was born April 29, 1871, in Jasper County, Indiana, and died October 28, 1949. She married James M. Work in 1900 in Valpariso, Porter County, Indiana.

James N. Hayworth died January 24, 1901. The following obituary appeared in the Longton News February 1, 1901:

James Hayworth died at his home and family residence in the city of Longton, Kansas Thursday morning January 24 1901, at the age of 74 years, 3 months and 7 days. He was born in Miami county, Ohio, October 17, 1826, and moved from there with his parents to Pulaski county, Indiana at the age of 20 and was married to Susannah Miller January 24, 1850.  To this union eleven children were born, six boys and five girls, eight of whom are still living and six of the number being present at the funeral as follows: John R. Hayworth of Francisville, Ind., J. N. Hayworth, of Winamac, Ind, W. R. Hayworth, of Valpariso, Ind., S. E. and C. E. Hayworth and Mrs. Ellen Stillwell of Longton.  He leaves one brother, John F. Hayworth, aged 65 years of Francisville, Ind., and one sister, Mrs. E. Parkinson, aged 71 of Longton, who was present.
In November, 1880, James Hayworth moved from Indiana to Longton, Kansas, where his wife departed this life November 6, 1894 at the age of 62 years. His general health has always been very good until about two years ago, when he took the grip while visiting in Indiana and since that time his health has been very poorly, the disease affecting his lungs and he kept growing weaker and weaker until death came at last to relieve his suffering.  He was laid to rest by the side of his wife in the Longton Cemetery.
Mellisa & Charles Hayworth

Charles Ellis Hayworth was born March 1, 1866 in Francisville, Jasper County, Indiana and died April 12, 1941 in Fargo, Oklahoma. On November 13, 1885, he applied for a license to marry Melissa E. Stowe, aged 15, also of Longton, and on November 15 they were married. According to the marriage certificate Melissa was born in Chilhowec, Missouri to Joseph and Belinda Hilda Stowe.

The following March their first child was born. As Helen Erwin Campbell observes in her book The Grass is Always Greener…, “A little counting on the fingers tells another story, and in 1886 this was much more of a reason for gossip and finger pointing than it is in our 1980s more permissive society. This was a shakey beginning for a never-very-solid marriage.”

Charles and Melissa had four children:

  1. Cora Ruth Hayworth, born February 12. 1986, Longton, Elk Co., KS; died February 15, 1886.
  2. Alpha Mae Hayworth, born September 24, 1888, Longton, Elk Co., KS; died January 6, 1966, Fargo, Ellis Co., OK.
  3. Hazel Dell Hayworth, born November 27, 1889, Longton, Elk Co., KS; died February 16, 1976, Neodesha, Wilson Co., KS.
  4. Charles Raymond Hayworth, born September 12, 1892, Longton, Elk Co., KS; died September 5, 1918, as a Pvt. in France in WWI. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Cherokee Strip: Charles Ellis Hayworth made the run into the Cherokee Strip on September 16, 1893 and staked a claim near the little town of Cleveland. Alpha recalled those early days: “The very first I can remember was when we arrived at Cleveland, Oklahoma. My mother and us three children were helped out of a covered wagon and went into a long store. It was a general store, hardware, post office combined. My next remembrance was when we were living in a little board house on the claim…” “…Dad had made the run and had staked his claim near there (Cleveland). I was too little to remember if the house was built before we got there. It was rough, the walls were thin, and it was cold.” An Indian later challenged the validity of the claim. He apparently proved that he had gotten there first because Charles eventually gave it up. He then moved his family into Cleveland where he operated a saloon.

Cleveland, Oklahoma, in the 1890s, was a new pioneer town, and an article in the Cleveland Leader, September 17, 1914, page 1, illustrates what is was like:

“…Although Cleveland was in the Cherokee country, the Pawnee reservation lay not far to the west, the Creek to the south and the Osage to the north and east, making it the center of a triangle. Few Pawnees traded there, as their big town was Pawnee, but ‘going to town’ for thousands of Osages meant going to Cleveland, and the muddy streets of the little village were usually lined with Osage ponies in the old days. The Osages well knew the trail down to the old fort from their hills to the northeast.”

Hayworth’s Saloon – Following is a story and an advertisement that ran in The Jordan Valley Journal (Cleveland, Q County, Oklahoma Territory) from March 2, 1894, until April 13, 1894. The article seems to be tongue-in-cheek critical of the saloons in Cleveland:

“The three saloons seem to be right in the push of late. They keep music both day and night, and from abroad might think, from appearance and sounds, that this is a fast town for its size and age. The “4th” was an extensive one here in Cleveland this year, it seems to have lasted over a week, or a period of four days before the 4th and four days after the 4th. Will Mack says they took in $46.75 over the bar at the Coyote Saloon on the day of the 4th notwithstanding the fact that it was apparently a dull day in the saloons.”  

Following are items in the Cleveland Bee, Cleveland, Oklahoma Territory:

February 8, 1895: “Chas. Hayworth has his icehouse completed and filled with ice. He is now as happy as the dealer in a ‘big jackpot’.”

May 24, 1895: “Chas. Hayworth is having his well drilled deeper.”

June 7, 1895: “Chas. Hayworth is building an addition to the saloon, Rouse and Jackson are doing the work.”

September 13, 1895: “Pop on ice at Hayworth’s saloon.”

“Budweiser bottled beer is now available at Hayworth’s saloon.”

November 22, 1895: “Chas. Hayworth was acquitted before United States Commissioner Wrightman on a charge of selling spiritous liquor to an Osage Indian.”

May 1, 1896: “Chas Hayworth was arrested Wednesday on the charge of selling some Indian squaws whiskey. He was taken into police court and tried before a jury of six men, and the verdict was not guilty.”

November 6, 1896: “We are informed that Chas. Hayworth will reopen his saloon in a few days.”

April 12, 1897: “Chas. Hayworth and Bob Robinett Sundayed at Home returning to court Monday.”

Hardtimes In 1897, Charles Ellis Hayworth was convicted of selling whiskey to an Indian and was sentenced to three years in jail. In the meantime, his wife Melissa became ill, and members of her family from Longton, in Elk County, Kansas, came and took her and the children back to Longton, where her widowed mother took care of them all. Family friends and neighbors in Longton collected signatures on a petition for a hardship release for Charles. After having served about one year, Charles was released from jail in Oklahoma with a full pardon. He returned to Longton in early 1899, and moved his family into a rented house. Melissa was bedridden, so his sister, “Aunt Sat” (so nicknamed because she was lame and “sat a lot”), kept house for Charles.

Melissa Hayworth died April 5, 1899, of tuberculosis, or consumption as it was known then. Alpha recalls that “…Mother died in the spring,”, and many years later described the funeral in a letter to granddaughter Bonnie Speer: “…I was 11 years old so I remember her death and the day of the burial. I remember my sister Hazel brought her a hand full of early wood lilies a few days before, but it was so cold and stormy on the day of the funeral. I don’t think any of her folks were there excepting her mother who was a widow and lived in Longton. I don’t remember any, if there were. I met some of her brothers once but I don’t know where they lived and still don’t. After Mother’s death, Grandmother left Longton and was living with a son in Missouri until her death.”

Items in the Longton News, Longton, Elk County, Kansas:

February 10, 1899: “Charles Hayworth of Cleveland Oklahoma is in the city shaking hands with old friends and visiting relatives. Charlie formerly lived here.”

February 17, 1899: “Mr. Charlie Hayworth the noted Musician has been playing with the Longton Cornet Band the past two evenings. The members participate on getting him to instruct them for a short time, or as long as his stay makes it possible.”

March 1, 1899: Chas. Hayworth has moved his family into the house lately vacated by HE Newton.

April 7, 1899: “Mrs. M. E. Hayworth (Melissa E. Stowe) died at her late residence on South Kansas Avenue of this city at an early hour Wednesday morning after a lingering illness. The funeral services were held at the home on Thursday at 10 AM conducted by Rev. Umsted, and the remains interred in Longton Cemetery.”

August 17, 1900: “Chas. Hayworth has been helping Tom Stillwell with his hay.”

August 24, 1900: “C. Hayworth braved the dust and heat to attend the fair at Fredonia Thursday.”

November 30, 1900: “Chas. Hayworth arrived in Longton Monday after spending the summer traveling with a show as a member of the band.” 

James Hayworth, Charles’ widower father, came to live with the family after Melissa died, but after he passed away January 24, 1901, Charles soon got itchy feet and, with sister Sarah Elizabeth (Aunt Sat) and children Alpha and Raymond, moved back to Oklahoma. Hazel Dell, who was about eleven, was left in Longton with Nancy Ellen, another sister, and her husband Thomas Stillwell (Aunt Ellen & Uncle Tom).

Charles filed on 160 acres near Fargo, Oklahoma, and Sarah filed on an adjacent 160 acres. It is not clear how long Charles remained in Oklahoma, but it is thought that he was still there when Hazel married Odes H. Erwin in 1907. Sarah Elizabeth had returned to Elk County by 1905, for she was living with Ellen and Tom Stillwell when she died October 12, 1905. It is known that Charles had returned to Longton by the middle 1910s, because that was when he was involved in the theater business.

The Hayworth Band – Charles Hayworth in center.

Mary Erwin Plog recalls Charles Ellis Hayworth in a letter dated October 15, 1986: “I saw Grandpa Hayworth only one time that I really remember. Flossie had just had a baby (probably Bobbie, her first-born). Mamma knew Grandpa was coming and she was very pleased and excited that she was going to see her “Papa” after so many years. He had spent more time in Oklahoma with Alpha and Mamma was understandably jealous. I can’t remember how Grandpa Hayworth arrived or left, but I assume that he had a car. I remember a quiet, bald-headed man who didn’t talk a lot, but seemed to do a lot of observing. The reason I remember the incident so clearly is that Dad was so unpleasant that the visit was cut short. Mamma was in tears for a day or so after he left.”

The Hayworths and the Stillwells (Tom Stillwell was married to Charles’ sister Ellen) were very musically inclined. They played together at family gatherings and at local dances as well as other social gatherings. Charles Hayworth, my grandfather, had his own band for a time. In the early 1920s Charles operated a theater in Longton where early silent films were shown. It was also available for local dances, traveling stage shows and “musical revues.” In a letter to Helen Erwin Campbell, dated October 15, 1986, my sister Flossie recalls visiting the theater with Goldie during the summer of 1923:

“Yes, I remember Grandpa Hayworth’s picture show in Longton – the seats could be pushed against the wall – leaving a dance floor in the middle. I remember being there one night in particular when he was having a dance – it seems only Goldie and I went with Grandpa Hayworth. I had to have been in grade school – too young to dance – Goldie more of a young lady. Two or three young men asked her to dance, but she just shook her head. We just sat in seats along the wall and watched.”

Mary Erwin Plog recalls the theater also: “When Clifford showed us the theater still standing in Longton (about 1985) I remembered being there to see a silent movie once, and to hear Grandpa and other musicians playing in front of the screen before the show began. There were about four players besides Grandpa. I remember there were ordinary chairs for the audience, all placed on the same level.”

Daphne Stoner Wilson recalls, in a book entitled Hayworth and Stoner Families, edited by Bonnie Speer, that “…He (Charles Ellis Hayworth) played mostly classical music. My Dad, now he played more of the old-time dance music and stuff. But Grandpa Hayworth, he was classical. He had sheets and sheets of music he played. He also had a horn, one of those long straight ones, clarinet, but Edna Fay Hutchinson got that.”

Author’s note: Actually, a clarinet was sent to my mother in California when Charles Ellis Hayworth died, and I used it for a time in the Arcola School band. It is probable, of course, that Charles owned more than one clarinets when he passed away. 

A poem by Alpha Mae Hayworth Stoner:

My Brother

T’was the month of April, the fairest month,

With promises rich for the year,

When we bade him goodbye, and he went away,

And we felt no dismay or fear.

We knew that many a jolly lad,

That went would never return,

But some way, we felt, it couldn’t be him,

Chares Raymond Hayworth, ca. 1912

With his lazy ways and impudent grin.

Like a lightening flash came a telegram,

To destroy our confidence,

For it said, he died a month ago,

Somewhere over in France,

With a fever that burned like a hell-fire,

Sapping his life day by day.

Did he long for his home, and home people?

Or unconsciously slip away.

Was there someone to give him a drink?

Was there a comrade beside his bed?

Was there a bandage clean and white,

To wrap round his throbbing head?

Oh, no doubt we shall never know,

Just how it was over there,

Tho our hearts are o’er loaded with doubt,

It’s only our cross to bear.

Charles Raymond Hayworth died in France, Sept. 5, 1918, during the Great War. His body was returned to the United States, and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery July 21, 1921.

Sources: George Haworth, and Some of His Descendents, by James R. Haworth; Our Quaker Roots, by Ellen & David Berry; British Kings & Queens, by Mike Ashley; The Age of Louis Sill, by Will & Ariel Durant; The Age of Reason Begins, by Will & Ariel Durant; Cromwell, by Alfred A. Knopf; The New World, by Winston S. Churchill; Hayworth & Stoner Families, by Bonnie Speer.

 

Trivia: Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States of America, was a distant descendant of Absolom Hayworth (1716-1752), the fourth child of my immigrant ancestor, George Haworth.