1925 Biography - Worley
Worley — taken from Kaskaskia records — "John Worley heir of Samuel Worley granted one hundred acres of land, 1791 for militia duty". John and Joseph Worley are given as residents of Illinois in Kaskaskia records in 1785. J. M. Peck says Joseph Worley was a soldier under General Clark on his Illinois Campaign and came with his family to the territory in 1785, from near Wheeling, West Virginia. Whether John was the father of Joseph, if they were brothers or if either was the founder of the Worley family of this county is left to tradition or surmise. The following data was copied from a family record entered in a bible published 1844, and can be relied on, yet it need not be forgotten that John Worley may have been born in North Carolina and came to this state from West Virginia. John Worley born in North Carolina, 1726, married Nancy, and had Isaac (2) born 1786, died 1862, married Margaret Crow who was born 1792 and died 1835. They had George H. (3), Born 1813, Hiram (3), born 1814, Grandison (3) born 1817, Eliza (3), born 1819, Lucinda (3), born 1821, Clarisa (3), born 1826, Francis M. (3), born 1831, Mary (3), born 1833. Only four of these children had families, George H. (3) married Grace Harper, and they had Hiram (4), who married Louisa Elkins, they had George (5) and Vernila (5); Hiram (3) married Vernila Graves, born 1816, and they had Margaret (4), born 1839, George H. (4), born 1840, Mary J. (4), born 1842, Sarah Catherina (4) born 1848, Thomas Jackson (4), born 1860. Margaret (4) married John Mozley, and they had Norman J. (5), Charles (5). Norman J. (5) married Mary Whitnel, they had Ladd (6), Mary E. (6). Ladd (6) married Margaret Hooker and they have Margaret (7) and Norman G. (7); Mary Elizabeth (6) married Edward Simpson and their children are Melba (7), Elizabeth (7) and Norma Joe (7); Charles (5) married Ella Phillips and they have Hal (6), Loren (6), Joseph (6), Charles (6). This family lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico; George H. (4) married Drucilla Damron and had two children. He married second Sarah Stubblefield and they had Vernilla (5), Sidney (5), Adolphus (5), none of whom reside in the county; Mary J. (4) married Thomas J. Cowan, and their children are Martha A. (5), born 1861, David J. (5), born 1865, Thomas J. (5), born 1869, Gertrude (5), born 1877, John O. (5), born 1880. Martha A. (5) married William Nobles and has Dr. Charles D. (6), who has resided in Buncombe and practiced medicine in this county several years. He is a graduate of the School of Physicians and Surgeons, of St. Louis, Mo., and has recently been appointed assistant physician at the Southern Illinois Hospital, for the Insane at Anna, where he and family reside. They are greatly missed from their home county both socially and professionally. He married Hattie Melvin and has Arthur (7); David J. (5) married Sarah (Duncan) Poor; Thomas J. (5) married Nora Farris and they have Mary (6) who married Olin R. Kerley (see Kerley); and Ruth (6), Gertrude (5), married Jefferson Gore and has Mary (6), Maud (6) Norman (6) and Margaret (6); John O. (5) resides with his mother at the county seat; Catherine (4) married Wesley Mathis, and had Thomas (5), Melissa (5), Martin (5); Thomas Jackson (4), married Cordia Whiteaker and had Luela (5), Thomas (5), Ellis (5). Eliza Worley (3) married William Jones and had Bruce (4), Jasper (4), Eliza (4), Polk (4); Lucinda (3) married Thomas Findley and had Joseph (4), Eliza (4), Hiram (4), Charles (4), Amanda (4). This family lies in Union County.
Extracted 08 Feb 2017 by Norma Hass from 1925 A History of Johnson County, Illinois, by Mrs. P. T. Chapman, pages 469-470.
