Current
Map 
Editor's Note - Winchester was the site of the 305 year national reunion celebration. We toured the locations shown in the thumbnail pictures, listed below.
James Haworth, the sixth child of George and Sarah Haworth, was born on October 10, 1719, at Bucks County, PA. He settled in Virginia in 1739, near his brothers Stephanus and Absalom and uncle Robert Scarborough, on Apple Pie Ridge, about 5 miles north of Winchester. He married Sarah Wood on November 3, 1743 at the Smith River Meeting, Frederick County, VA. They then settled in Back Creek Valley, where James bought land from Isaac Thomas in November of 1752. (Click here to see a copy of that deed)
The farm was located near the fork of Isaac's Creek and Back Creek, about two miles from Gainesboro. James had 227 acres on both sides of Green Springs Branch of Back Creek and North Mountain. The pictures below, are recent photographs (1999 and 2002) taken of the area. James died on October 10, 1757 and this was about the time that the area suffered from destructive raids by Indians.
Interest in the James Haworth family has been significant due to the large number of his descendants. While our sample was not "scientific" by any means, most of the family members (about 90%) that attended the reunion in June of 1999, descended from James.
Absalom was born in 1716 at Solebury, Bucks County PA, and died 17 April 1752 at Frederick County, VA. He obtained a certificate of transfer from the Buckingham Meeting to the Hopewell VA Meeting in 1738, and married Elizabeth E. Payne in Frederick County in 1738. He bought land on both sides of Smith's Creek and on both sides of Daniel James' Creek. He lived near his brothers Stephanus and James, and his uncle Robert Scarborough. He was a miller. (see pictures of the mill, below)
We have recently discovered copies of land grants and surveys pertaining to Absalom. (Click here to see copy of document)
Absalom's son, Absalom Jr, stayed in this area until the late 1770s, before moving on the NC. We have documents (grant and survey) where 111 acres adjoining the Absalom property was sold on 3 October 1787.Click here to see copies of these documents.
Stephanus was born on 17 February 1713 at Buckingham, Bucks County PA, and died on 1 September 1756 at Rowan County, NC. He married Rachel Beeson in 1740 at the Hopewell Meeting. He settled on 400 acres on both sides of Smith Creek. On July 4, 1738 he reported to the Buckingham Meeting that he had settled next to the Daniel James' branch of the Smith Creek. He lived 4 miles southwest of present New Market, near his uncle Robert Scarborough. In about 1763, he moved to Rich Valley Creek, Rowan (now Guilford) County, NC.
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(click on "thumbnail" picture below)
Early
Survey
Map
Current
Map
Back
and Isaac
Creek
Back
Creek 
Green Springs
Mill - Absalom
North
Mountain 
More Pictures
Hopewell Meeting
Marilyn Winton discovered additional information about the Haworth brothers. Marilyn writes:
I have discovered something that will be very interesting for the website, and that I would like people to see. I was looking again through my book by Lloyd Bockstruck, "Virginia's Colonial Soldiers", and on page 344, under a heading of "Frederick County" I found the following:
At a Court Martial held 2 Sept 1755. The following were present: The Right Honorable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, County Lieutenant; George William Fairfax, Col.; Thomas Bryan Martin, Lt. Col.; and many captains, including Jeremiah Smith who seems to have been the one in charge of the Hopewell area.
"Company of Jeremiah Smith: The following were fined for missing 2 muster: Thomas Pugh, George Rubel, and Azariah Pugh; for missing 3 musters: JAMES HOWART [my caps] was fined 5 shillings or 150 pounds of tobacco. Daniel Pritchard, James McCoy, and William Harvy were fined for missing 1 muster."
So now we know that James and many others raised tobacco among other things. Probably, this was the staple crop at that time; even in the small valley stream meadows which was what James's land "under North Mountain" consisted of.
In the same text, there follows a long series of paragraphs similar to the above for all the various Captains' companies, and therein are found many Quaker names. There is no doubt that the above "James Howart" is our James Haworth or Howarth.
In the same book, the Haworth brothers James, George and Absalom are listed in the militia for Augusta Co. (which then extended up into some of the present Frederick Co. area, although I don't know why they would be in the Augusta Co. militia). And their last name is given as "Howard" in that book. They are listed all together, so again, there is no doubt in my mind these are our Haworths, as Absalom was a fairly unusual name. Of course, this area was a hotbed of activity during the French and Indian Wars of the 1750's.
updated August 7, 2010