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chant, by 1752; planter, by 1765, 1792; owned a
flour mill. Acted as mortgagee, especially during
the period from 1765-1782, accepting land and/
or personal property. Almost all mortgages were
released after a few years. PUBLIC CAREER. LEG-
ISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Anne Arundel
County, 1756-1757 (elected to the 5th session of
the 1754-1757 Assembly), 1757-1758 (Bills of
Credit 1, Cv, 2), 1758-1761 (Bills of Credit Cv
1, 1, Cv 2, 2, 3, Cv 3), 1762-1763 (Bills of Credit
1, 2), 1765-1766 (Bills of Credit 2, 4; Public Of-
fices 3, 4; Laws to Expire 4), 1768-1770 (Public
Offices 1; Grievances 1-4; Claims 1-4; speaker
for three days during the 4th session), 1771
(Grievances; Claims), 1773-1774 (Grievances 1,
Cv; Claims 1, Cv); Conventions, Anne Arundel
County, 1st, 1774, 2nd-3rd, 1774, 4th, 1775, 5th,
1775, 9th, 1776 (Elections; Claims; Loan Office;
resigned on August 27, 1776, because the opin-
ions of his constituents concerning the establish-
ment of a state government were "incompatible
with good government and the public peace and
happiness"; he was subsequently reelected and
seated); Senate, Western Shore, Election of 1776:
1777 (member of Loan Office Committee, first
session), 1777-1778, 1778-1779, 1779-1780, 1780-
1781; Lower House, Anne Arundel County, 1781-
1782 (Grievances 1, 2; Claims 2), 1782-1783
(Grievances 1, 2), 1783 (Elections), 1784, 1785
(Elections; Grievances; Manufactories), 1786-
1787, 1787-1788 (Elections 2; Grievances 2), 1789
(Elections; Claims), 1790; Senate, Western Shore,
Term of 1791: 1791-1792, 1792, 1793, 1794 (died
before Assembly began). OTHER STATE OFFICE:
5th Council of Safety, Western Shore, 1776-1777.
LOCAL OFFICES: churchwarden, St. Anne's Par-
ish, Anne Arundel County, 1753-1754; St. Anne's
Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, 1754-1757,
1760-1763, 1767-1771; member, Committee of
Observation, Anne Arundel County, elected 1775.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY:
assessed value £1,837.0.0, including 45 slaves and
75 oz. plate, 1783; loaned his brother-in-law Henry
Ridgely (1728-1791) over £2,300.0.0 sterling and
£90.0.0 current money by 1770, with slaves, live-
stock, and land as collateral; received 29 slaves
from Ridgely's estate in 1791. LAND AT FIRST
ELECTION: 1,564 acres in Anne Arundel and Bal-
timore counties (all inherited from his father).
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST
ELECTION AND DEATH: His holdings in Anne
Arundel County remained stable, but in 1756
Worthington patented over 1,100 acres in Fred-
erick County, and in 1766 about 1,500 acres in
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the part of Frederick County that later became
Montgomery County. The certificates for these
tracts and his later small patents in Montgomery
County are listed in the name of Worthington and
Joshua Cecil, an illiterate resident of Montgom-
ery County. The Frederick and Montgomery
County lands were apparently not purely specu-
lative ventures, since although part was sold, the
majority of the land remained in his estate. WEALTH
AT DEATH. DIED: on July 17, 1794, at his plantation
near Annapolis. PERSONAL PROPERTY: requested
that no inventory or account of his estate be made.
LAND: 3,531 acres in Anne Arundel, Montgom-
ery, and Frederick counties.
WORTHINGTON, JOHN (1650-1701). BORN: in
1650, probably near Manchester, England. IM-
MIGRATED: in 1678 or 1679 as a free adult. RE-
SIDED: in Anne Arundel County. FAMILY BACK-
GROUND. FATHER: Francis Worthington, son of
Roger Worthington of Manchester, England.
MOTHER: Sara, daughter of Ed Byrom of Man-
chester, England. ADDITIONAL COMMENT: Pos-
sibly related to Samuel Worthington (?-1717).
MARRIED probably ca. 1688 Sarah (?-1726),
daughter of Matthew Howard (ca. 1640-1692/93)
and wife Sarah Dorsey. Sarah was the niece of
Cornelius Howard (?-1680); Elizabeth Howard,
who married Henry Ridgely (?-1710); and Mary
Howard, who married John Hammond (1643-
1707). Her brothers were Matthew Howard (ca.
1675-1750); Samuel; and John. Sarah Howard
Worthington subsequently married ca. 1702 John
Brice (?-1713). CHILDREN. SONS: John (1689/90-
1766), who married first, in 1713/14, Helen,
daughter of Thomas Hammond (?-ca. 1724/25),
and second. Comfort (probably 1701-probably
1741/42), probably the daughter of John Ham-
mond (1665-1742/43); Thomas Worthington (ca.
1691-1752/53); William (1694-?), who married
in 1717 Sarah Homewood; (first name unknown)
(1699-died in infancy); and Charles (1701-?), a
posthumous child, who married first, Hamutel
(by 1713-?), daughter of Charles Hammond (ca.
1670-1713), and second, Sarah Chew. DAUGH-
TER: Sarah (1696-1721/22), who married Nicho-
las Ridgely. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: liter-
ate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Protestant; called a
"halfe churchman" and "very great with the
Quakers," 1700. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES:
appointed to special committee on relations with
the Indians, 1700. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE:
planter; merchant, probably the John Worthing-
ton of Manchester, Lancaster County, England,
913
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