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| Amy Gardner Worthington 1867-1953 |
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| Henry Worthington 1868-1943 |
My Great Grandmother Amy-I remember her. I remember her house with the Pump right outside the kitchen door, her Cellar door in the ground, her rocking chair; I remember her person, tiny. Even though I was very young, she seemed very tiny. And very old. But I know so little about her, her life and her sister and their parents! I know even less about her husband, Henry Worthington and his family! These are the Family Lines that I know the least about, yet they lived just 30 miles away in Geneseo, Henry County, IL. My Great Grandfather, Henry lived next door to my Dad and his Sister when they were Teenagers, yet they rarely mentioned his name.
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| Amy Gardner Worthington and me, After Grandma died, my parents inherited this rocking chair and Mom rocked all my sibling in it. Sister Jo now has it. |
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| Amy Gardner Worthington, age about 90 |
So, Let's try starting with Henry. Henry was the first child of David Worthington and Rose (Rosannah, Rosalia, Rosetta) Straus (Strauss, Strouss, Strouse, Strouce, Strauce, Stroush) He was born 20 March 1868 reportedly in Illinois.
David (1827-1905) was an unskilled Laborer, who may not have known his parents. On the 1880 Census, he says he was born in Pennsylvania, as were both his parents. On the 1900 Census, he says he was born in Pennsylvania, but it is unknown where his Father and Mother were born. He is also listed as Unable to read or write; he worked as a Laborer. ( I have searched early Censii, looking for both David and his wife, but of course run into the old problem of children not being named. I did run across a Census with a Rose Strauss, a child and a Worthington child living in the same Strauss household in Ohio. Can't find it now, of course-but I believe the Worthington was named John. I have come across many possibilities for both of them, but something always is off-names, dates, location, something). David's oldest child by Rose, Henry was born in 1868 when David was 41. His wife Rose was 20 years younger than him. This leads me to speculate that he was maybe married prior to marrying Rose. I have no basis for this except that a David Worthington married an Orlenda Lee in 1844, in Rock Island, the adjacent County to Henry. David would have been about 18. I have tried to trace this couple backward and forward on the Federal Census and have no luck. David, while not an unusual name, is not a terribly common name so having 2 David Worthingtons in the same general geographic area and of the same approximate age is worth looking at. I can't find any data to back up my theory though. (Nothing new with these families!!)
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| Death Certificate David Worthington April 3, 1910 |
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Rose ( 2 Feb 1846-18 Jan 1916) was 20 years younger than her husband. She had eight children but only three lived to adulthood, Henry, Isaiah and Laura. . On the Censii, Rosetta (her name on her Will papers although it is Rosalia on her Death Certificate)) listed both her parents as being born in Pennsylvania. On her Death Certificate, her son Henry said she was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, although on the 1880 Census, she is listed has being born in Ohio.
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| Marriage Certificate Henry Worthington and Amy Gardner 14 May 1891 |
Henry, the oldest child and my Great Grandfather, was a Cook; many of the men in our family are great Cooks!!. He married Amy Gardner on 14 May 1891 and their oldest child Rosa Belle was born the next year. Two son, Harry and William (Willie) were born in 1896 and 1900 respectively. Our Grandmother Clara Anita followed on 26 Sept 1902. Henry and Amy apparently separated sometime or maybe many times in this twelve year period Because there is no 1890 Census for either Henry County or Rock Island County, we do not see Henry and Amy on the Census together until 1900. On 1910, they are living separately, Amy in Geneseo and Henry in Rock Island. I remember Aunt Dee saying once that "she kicked him out." On the 1910 Census, Henry is 39 years old and is boarding with a woman age 40 who has an 8 years old child. He lists both his parent's birthplaces as Germany, which is totally bogus. Also he is listed as married as is Amy although they are living apart. On 1920, they are both listed as Divorced. I doubt that they went through the paperwork and expense of a legal Divorce. Probably just considered themselves Divorced. Neither ever remarried.
Anyway...In the early years of his marriage, he is listed in the Rock Island City Directory as working as a Cook at the Hotel Gordon 222-224 17th St in Downtown Rock Island. I do not know if the couple was then living in Rock Island instead of Geneseo. It would have been too far in those Horse and Buggy days to commute to work daily from Geneseo to Rock Island but I never heard that they lived here. Maybe it was the kind of marriage where she stayed home in Geneseo with the children, he stayed in Rock Island and showed up now and again to beget another. I don't know. The 1890 City Directories do not give his residence address. After he and Amy permanently parted ways, he variously worked at a Chef, Bartender or Porter in Rock Island and he Boarded here, either with his oldest Daughter or elsewhere.
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| Back of photo, in Aunt Dee's writing says "Henry Worthington, father of Clara" |
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| Rock Island Argus June 30, 1910 |
I do think that Henry had an issue with Alcohol and womanizing. He was a very handsome man and was probably popular with the ladies. We know he died at East Moline State Hospital in 1943; the immediate cause of death of Bronchial pneumonia. He also had Cancer of the rectum. Apparently he was at the State Hospital because of a disease known as "General Paralysis of the Insane". This was a severe neuropsychiatric disorder that was caused by late stage Syphilis. Henry was not at EMSH in 1935 but he was on the 1940 Census. He died on 18 Apr 1943.
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| Death Certificate of Henry Worthington 18 April 1943 |
No one in my Dad's family really talked much about Henry. I knew he was an Artist-a pair of beautiful pastels he had drawn always hung over the staircase in my Dad's childhood home. My youngest brother has the originals and I had digital prints made so I also have a copy. I've never known if they were a gift from Henry to his son-in-law, Grandpa Wright or if Grandpa got them after Henry died. My Mom told me that shortly after she married Dad in 1947, Dad's paternal aunts, Auntie Louise and Aunt Marian pulled her aside and asked her what she knew about Henry (he was on Dad's maternal side). I don't know if they ever tried asking their brother, Dad's father about his Father-in-law, but Mom knew nothing!!
Henry's oldest daughter Rosa Belle, Aunt Rosie, lived next door to my Dad and his sister while they were growing up. Their Mother Clara Anita was the youngest daughter of Henry and Amy and was Rosie's sister. After Clara died in 1939, when Dad was just 12, Aunt Rosie helped raise them. Rosa's Husband was Samuel Knight; I believe it was a Common-law marriage. Sam had been married previously and had children by his deceased wife. Sam and Aunt Rosie "adopted" a neighbor child Harriet Allen who was raised as a cousin to my Dad and Aunt. When Rosie died after Sam, Sam's children refused to let her be buried with Sam so she was buried in Geneseo with her family. Her name is on a tombstone in Chippianock Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois but she is not there.
Aunt Rosie's and Grandma's father Henry lived with Rosie and her family, but I never remember Dad mentioning him nor did his sister Aunt Dee. Of course, I discovered that Grandma Amy Worthington also lived at the Wright's house, at least in 1940, after her Daughter Clara died in 1939 to help with the children, and neither Dad nor Aunt Dee ever mentioned that either! Stiff upper lip WASPs, never shared much and certainly not much about Henry.
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| "Cabinet Card" probably of Amy Gardner's Mother Arabella Little Gardner |
Amy, Great Grandma Worthington, Henry's wife was just as enigmatic, especially her childhood. Her parents George W. Gardner (1835-after 1867) and Arabella Little (1844-Aft 1867) married on 16 Dec 1865. They had both been born in New York, Arabella in Yates County. I have no idea where in New York George was from. He did have a relative, Brother, Uncle, Cousin?? with whom he was living in 1860 in Whiteside County which is adjacent to Henry County. Isaac Gardner was born in 1822 and died in June of 1869. He left a wife and 3 children.
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| Grave site photo of Isaac Gardner, probably a brother of our Great Great Grandfather George W.Gardner. His only son,Newton is buried in Sandytown Cemetery, Atkinson Henry Co, IL, with him,. |
Now, those of you who are paying very close attention will remember that we met some Gardners before. Emma Gardner Pattison and her Father George, Mother and Grandfather of Henry Pattison. They also were from New York, from Troy. Their line goes way back to the Immigrant Gardner, another George born 1599; he came to the New World in 1637, settling in Rhode Island. Many of his descendants were living in New York State. I do not honestly know if George W. Gardner, Father of Amy Gardner Worthington descended from this same line or not. I have not been able to go back further than George W. and Isaac, the older Brother/Cousin/Uncle.
George signed up to fight in the Civil War-he joined the Company B, Illinois 34th Infantry Regiment on 7 Sept 1861. He "re-upped" in 1863 and mustered out on 12 July 1865 at Louisville. KY. You can find more on this Regiment at
http://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/reg_html/034_reg.html.
I found a photo of George W. Gardner from Illinois on ancestry.com-however, I have since decided that it is not our George. I really thought it was because he has the same heavy chin that we see in Amy Gardner and her Worthington children, The photo is difficult to see, but if you compare this man's uniform to an Infantry Uniform, it is obvious that it is not the same. This man is wearing a Calvary uniform and he has 2 stripes on his sleeve so he is not a Private, which was the rank of our George.
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| Not our George W. Gardner, this man wear the short jacket of the Calvary, which allowed for ease when riding a horse. |
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| Union Infantry Uniform |
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| Marriage Certificate George W. Gardner and Arabella Little |
George married Arabella Little on 16 Dec 1865. Arabella was the daughter of Rosel W. Little and his wife Harriet Morris of Starkey, Yates County, New York. They were early settlers in Henry County, farming in Atkinson. Rosel and Harriet came to Illinois in the late 1840 as they had a daughter born in New York in 1846 and were in Atkinson on the 1850 Census. Their Daughter, Arabella Little Gardner gave birth to her first daughter Mary Jane Gardner in February of 1862, prior to their marriage, while George was fighting in the Civil War. Our Great Grandmother Amy was born in October of 1867. Also in 1867, George and Arabella inherited a parcel of land, which they sold, from her brother Sherman who died in 1866. After this record, they disappear. I do not know if they were killed in an accident, or died of illness; I do not know if they died together or separately. Arabella is buried in Grandview Cemetery in Atkinson with her parents, brothers and sister. Her Birth date is given as 1843, death date is unknown. I do not know where George is buried.
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| Little Tombstone in Atkinson Grandview Cemetery |
I find none of the Gardners on the 1870 Census, neither George nor Arabella, nor either of their daughters. I find Amy, at least an Amy Gardner is on the 1880 Census She is 13 years old, so born in 1867 as was our Amy- an inmate at the Whiteside County Poor House and Insane Asylum. She is listed as "Idiotic" and cannot read or write. Her birthplace is listed as Illinois but parent's birthplaces are unknown. I totally do not understand this. Why would she be in Mt. Pleasant?? She had a Grandfather still living and several Aunts and Uncles living in Atkinson. Where is her sister?? Is this really her?? Are her parents dead?? If so, why did her family not take her in?? Why is she listed as "Idiotic".
The next time we see her is when she marries Henry Worthington 11 years later on 14 May 1891. They had 4 children, Rosa Belle, Harry, who married but had no children, Willie who enlisted in the Army in April 1917 and died of Influenza on 14 August 1917; he was 17 years old, and our Grandmother Clara Anita. After her marriage ended-Amy took in laundry to make a living. Many of her customers could not pay her so they gave her pieces of glassware. She had many lovely pieces of Victorian glassware. Amy lived alone in her own home, without running water or electricity, until she died on 26 Sept 1953, shortly before her 95th birthday. She is buried in North Cemetery, Geneseo with Aunt Rosie and Willie. Henry is nearby with his parents.
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The Worthington Children
Top Willie and Harry Bottom Rosa and Clara |
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| Amy and her daughter Clara Worthington Wright |
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