WORST, Henry, of Berks and Cumberland Counties PA

Henry Worst is probably the same man who married Elizabeth Laub in Tulpehocken Township, Berks Co PA, 6 Mar 1759.[1] His birth date and place are unknown, but he died between Oct 1812 and before 25 Aug 1816 in Frankford Twp, Cumberland Co PA.[2] Henry may have been a son of Jacob and Barbary Worst, for whom several records survive.[3]

            Elizabeth Laub was born in Groetzingen, Schwartzwald, Wurttemberg 7 Sep 1738, daughter of Michael and Anna (Scherer) Laub.[4] She was probably the wife listed in her husband’s 1810 census.

            The fact that there are very few Worsts of any spelling in early Pennsylvania makes the likelihood of this identification more likely. There was another Henry Worst in Lancaster Co PA records.[5] There was also a Peter Worst (1753-1822).[6]

            It is not clear which Henry Worst is referred to in Church Records: Adams, Berks & Lancaster Counties, PA, 1729-1881, baptized 22 Jun 1755, father Jacob, Church records at Michael Amweg’s, from 1749, Records of Rev. Waldschmidt.

            In 1790, his census entry said Cumru Twp, Berks Co PA, p 31: Henry Worst, 2/1/2. This fits the family listed in charts, a 20-year-old male, a 15-year-old male, either a wife and one daughter or the two known daughters. He purchased land in Frankford Twp, Cumberland Co PA, 5 Jul 1796.[7] In 1800 Henry Worst was in Frankford Twp, Cumberland Co PA, p 202: Henry Worst Sen, 00001/00001/00; also on the page was Henry Worst, undoubtedly his son Henry Jr: 00001/10001. Son Jacob was in Cumberland Co PA, p 201, that is, one page away: Jacob Worst, 20010/10010/00. The married names of the daughters are not known. Henry Worst’s last census was Frankford Twp , Cumberland Co PA, Henry Werst: 00001/00001.

            There is a ten-year gap between the marriage of Henry Worst and Elizabeth Laub; this may indicate other children existed but are not now known, or it could point to a second wife, married about 1769. Evidence for the first option is found in the 1790 census: John and his son Michael Laub were on page 62, with one household separating them from three members of our Remp/Ramp family; Henry Worst, who married John’s sister was on page 63, with three names separating his from the Laubs.

            The known children of Henry Worst are:

1. Jacob WORST was born ca 1770 in Berks Co PA. Jacob died in Cumberland Co PA, before May 1810. His wife pre-deceased him, and his children are:

                        i.            Jacob (->1831)

                        ii.            Peter (ca1803->1831)

                        iii.            Elizabeth (1794-1868)

                        iv.            Anna Mary

                        v.            David (1797-1850)

                        vi.            Daniel (1799-1849)

                        vii.            Samuel (1804-1876)

                        viii.            Catherine (1809-1858)

 

2. Henry WORST, Jr was born on 30 Nov 1775 in Berks Co PA. Henry died in Ashland Co OH,[8] on 1 Jun 1869; he was 93. In 1799 when Henry was 23, he married Barbara DONET.  Their children included Nancy, Jacob A, Samuel, George and Margaret, plus three others.

 

3. Margaret WORST was born ca 1777 in Berks Co PA.

4. Elizabeth WORST was born ca 1781 in Berks Co PA.

 

© 2008, Kathy Alvis Patterson

 

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[1] Marriage record to Elizabeth Laub, Host Church, north of Womelsdorf, Berks Co PA, 6 Mar 1759.

[2] Henry Worst’s will, Frankford Twp Cumberland Co PA, Oct 1812-Apr 1816.

[3] Will, Antrim Twp., Cumberland Co PA, 14 Mar 1775. This will mentions wife Barbary, not sons Henry or Jacob.

Possibly 2 Oct 1741. Palatines imported in the ship St. Andrew, Charles Stedman, Master, from Rotterdam, included Jacob Worst.

Jacob Worst was sponsor at the 4 May 1746 baptism of Anna Maria Kissinger in Moden Creek PA (Stoever).    

His son John Jacob Worst was baptized 4 Nov 1749, according to the church records of Michael Amweg’s, from 1749, and/or Records of Rev. Waldschmidt.

Daughter Maria Juliana was baptized 6 Apr 1751, also according to the church records of Michael Amweg’s, from 1749, and/or Records of Rev. Waldschmidt.    

Henry Worst was baptized 22 Jun 1755, also according to the church records of Michael Amweg’s, from 1749, and/or records of Rev. Waldschmidt.

A Margareta Worst was married 28 Oct 1783 in Brecknock, Berks Co PA, accoring to the Misc. Records of Rev. William Boos.    

[4] Michael Laub, ch Dec 29 1704 in Groetzingen, Schwartzwald, Wurt, m #1 Sep 2 1732 Anna Ursula Hoch, #2 Jun 12 1736 Anna Scherer, will probated Dec 14 1786, Cumru Twp, Berks Co PA: had a daughter Elisabeth Laub, b Sep 7 1738, in the same place, who may be this Elisabeth.

[5] 1790 census, Dauphin Co PA, Henry Worst, 3/3/3.

*Ancestry.com. History of Dauphin Co PA, with genealogical memoirs [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc, 2005. Original data: Kelker, Luther Reily,. History of Dauphin Co PA, with genealogical memoirs. New York Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co, 1907.

*West Hanover Twp list at Ancestry.com. Notes and queries : historical, biographical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, [1st-2d ser., v. 1-2, [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Notes and queries : historical, biographical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, [1st-2d ser., v. 1-2, 1881-1883, 3d ser., v. 1-2, 1887-1891, 4th ser., v. 1, 1893], 1881-1893.

*Some of his probable descendants named in Ancestry.com. Directory of Lancaster County: embracing a full list of all the adult males and heads of families… [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Directory of Lancaster County: embracing a full list of all the adult males and heads of families, with their occupation, residence and P.O. address, and a classified business directory, also, an appendix, containing a descriptive list of the courts, banking houses, public buildings, churches, educational and benevolent institutions, secret and other societies, etc., 1869-70.. unknown: Barnes & Pearsol, 1869.

*Possibly in Mahoning Twp, Mercer Co PA in 1810.

[6] See, for example, “The Extended Duggan Family” at Ancestry.com, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pipeclay10&id=I01827.

[7] Cumberland Co PA deed, 5 Jul 1796.

[8] See Hill, George William, History of Ashland County, Ohio. Cleveland, Ohio: Williams Bros, 1876, p 324. HeritageQuest. Possibly a different edition at Ancestry.com has different page numbers, as follows. Page 445 states that Henry Worst was in Perry Twp, Ashland Co OH before 1815. Page 470: “Henry Worst, in the year 1814, entered the northeast quarter of section 14….” The passage details an expected attack by claim jumpers on March 20, 1815. “Mr Worst and family removed to his land. He had emigrated from Pennsylvania. His household consistes of his wife and eight children, the only survivors of whom, now residents of Ashland County, are Samuel Worst, who occupies the old homestead, and Mrs Margaret, wife of John Keener, of Jackson Township. Mrs Worst is now (Feb 1862) in the seventy-seventh year of his age.”