Guilford-Randolph County NcArchives Biographies.....Worth, Jr., Joseph 1729 - 1816 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Curtis L. Older curtolder@earthlink.net September 8, 2009, 2:35 pm Source: www.cloldergen.com Author: Curtis L. Older Documentation for Joseph Worth Jr. (29th 9 mo. 1729 to Bef. May 1816) father of Charles Worth (June 17, 1761 to Aft. 1850) Joseph Worth was born on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, 29th 9 mo. 1729, the son of Joseph and Lydia (Gorham) Worth.(1) He died in New Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina, before May 1816, the date his will was proved.(2) Joseph Worth married on Nantucket 6 December 1753 Judith Starbuck, who was born on Nantucket 10 October 1734, the daughter of William and Anna (Folger) Starbuck.(3)(4) Judith died in New Garden, Guilford County, N.C., 25 October 1830. The Raleigh Register, published in Raleigh, N.C., 11 November 1830, carried this notice: "Died in Guilford Co., on the 25 ultimo, Mrs. Judith Worth, a native of Nantucket, in the 96th year of her age."(5) Joseph and Judith Worth may have gone to Barrington, Nova Scotia, around 1762 for a Joseph Worth was listed there as an American Protestant with a wife, one boy and two girls when the census was taken in 1770.(6) If so, they returned to Nantucket about 1773. Alexander Starbuck, in his History of Nantucket, states that this family "removed from the Island 29th 9 mo. 1774," before the start of the Revolutionary War.(7) On 23 September 1774, a few days before they left, Joseph Worth, Junr., weaver, and his wife Judith, of Sherborn, with Joseph Macy, blacksmith, and his wife, Mary, and with another heir, Jethro Starbuck, sold to Jethro Mitchell, cooper, land which had been given to them by their father, William Starbuck.(8) On 24 September 1774, Joseph and Judith Worth with their brother-in-law and Judith's sister, Joseph and Mary Macy, sold to William Rotch, merchant, of Sherborn, another piece of land devised to them by their father, William Starbuck.(9) On the same day Joseph and Judith Worth sold to Jonathan Burnell, merchant, a share of land "and the remaining two-fifths part is to remain to the use of our mother-in-law, Lydia Pinkham, during her natural life."(10) Lydia Pinkham was the step-mother of Judith (Starbuck) Worth and Mary (Starbuck) Macy, whose father, William Starbuck, had married second, Lydia Coleman who, after William's death had married Theophilus Pinkham.(11) In a final transaction, 8 October 1774, two weeks after the date given by Starbuck for their move to North Carolina, Joseph and Judith Worth and Joseph and Mary Macy jointly sold to William Hussey, merchant, 1/18th of one share in the Old North Warf.(12) Joseph and Judith Worth were Quakers. They were received as members of the Center Monthly Meeting in Guilford County, N.C., 20th 9 mo. 1774.(13) On 21 January 1776, records show the marriage of their daughter, Eunice Worth, to William Wilson, and on 27 November 1777 their daughter, Matilda Worth, married Latham Folger.(14) When the southern part of Guilford was cut away to form Randolph County in 1779, Joseph Worth and his eldest son, Jethro, called "single," were recorded on the first tax list. Most of the quakers, including Joseph and Jethro, refused to turn in an inventory of their property but their names were included anyway.(15) In spite of having been listed on the Randolph County tax roll in 1779, the minutes of the Guilford County Court for 1784 state that Joseph Worth, "an infirm person," was exempted from paying poll-tax "from year to year."(16) When the U. S. Census for 1790 was taken, Joseph Worth was listed in Hillsborough District, Randolph County, N. C., as head of a family of four males and two females.(17) On 7 October 1796 Joseph and Judith Worth were called "of Randolph County" when the New Garden Monthly Meeting recorded the marriage of their son, Silas Worth, to Matilda Macy.(18) In the spring of 1806 Joseph Worth, called "of Randolph, North Carolina, yeoman," and Judith, his wife, gave their power of attorney to Matthew Starbuck, trader, of Guilford, to sell property they owned on Nantucket, described as one-thirty-sixth part of a share in the Old Straight Wharf.(19) Joseph Worth, in his will dated 30th 9 mo. 1811, and proved in Randolph County, N.C., in the May term 1816, bequeathed to his beloved wife, Judith, all of his personal estate, together with one-third of the income from his real estate. He mentioned his sons, Charles, George, Paul and Silas Worth, and his daughters, Eunice Wilson and Matilda Folger. Son Paul Worth and kinsman Job Worth were named as executors. Witnesses were William Macy and Silvanus Swain.(20) Children (Worth), first four born and recorded on the Island of Nantucket, Mass., last three born in Barrington, Nova Scotia, all but first son mentioned in father's will:(21) i. Jethro, born 3 September 1754, died in Deep River, N.C., 8 November 1781, before his intended marriage to Mary Barnard could take place.(22) ii. Eunice, born 30 August 1756. iii. Matilda, born 14 October 1758. iv. Charles, born 17 June 1761. v. George, named in father's will. vi. Paul, named in father's will. vii. Silas, named in father's will. [An account of this family was published in NGSQ 76:275-77.] REFERENCES (1)Nantucket VR 2:630. (2) Randolph Co., N.C., (Original) Wills, 1775-1899, North Carolina State Archives (Joseph Worth). (3) Nantucket VR 4:526. (4) Nantucket VR 4:526. (5) Raleigh Register, Raleigh, N.C., 11 Nov. 1830; Nantucket VR 5:615, but gives date newspaper was published instead of actual date of death; NEHGR 100:286. (6) Nova Scotia Census, 1770 (Chicago, 1972), 5. (7) Starbuck, 831. (8) Nantucket Co. Deeds 9:180 [FHL #906235]. (9) Nantucket Co. Deeds 9:107 [FHL #906235]. (10) Nantucket Co. Deeds 9:111 [FHL #906235]. (11) Nantucket VR 5:484. (12) Nantucket Co. Deeds 9:116. (13) Starbuck, 828; Sallie W. Stockard, Hist. Of Guilford County, North Carolina (Knoxville, Tenn. 1902), 193. (14) W. A. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (1969) 1:583; 692, 795. (15) William Perry Johnson, "Tax List of Randolph County, N.C.," The North Carolinian, A Quarterly of Genealogy and History (June 1956) 2:2:179-81. (16) Guilford County Court Minutes (November 1784), 121 [FHL #0501190]. (17) U.S. Census of North Carolina, 1790, Randolph Co., 98. (18) Hinshaw, 1:583; Nantucket VR 4:530. (19) Nantucket Co. Deeds 19:341-42 [FHL #907355]. (20) Randloph Co., N.C., (Original) Wills, 1775-1899, North Carolina State Archives (Joseph Worth). (21) Randloph Co., N.C., (Original) Wills, 1775-1899, North Carolina State Archives (Joseph Worth); Nantucket VR 2:622, 626, 629, 633, 637; Gorham MS 3:352. (22) Hinshaw 1:795, 846. Additional Comments: The following link provides document images regarding Joseph Worth Junior: http://www.cloldergen.com/page178/page178.html File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/guilford/bios/worthjr55bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ncfiles/ File size: 7.4 Kb