When asked many of us usually say we are of German descent, apparently for no better reason than as a matter of habit. When considering the line of Springfield Fulbrights, as an example, it is quite evident that old Uncle Billy was certainly totally German))but he did marry an English woman, Ruth Hollingsworth. Their children, it seems, could have just as well claimed English descent, rather than German. One of their sons, Wilson, married a Hooker. The Hookers were of English descent. Wilson's son, Leander, married a woman of Scotch and Welsh descent. Leander's son, Rufus, was therefor 1/8th German, and he married a woman of Polish and English descent. Their daughter, the writer's mother, could hardly have been more than 1/16th German, and she married a man of generally English descent, yet somehow I am of German descent! This sort of thing really makes mixed up Americans out of all of us, not Germans or Englishmen or whatever.

Since so many of us descend from Ruth Hollingsworth Fulbright, it may be of general interest to know more of that family line and recall some of their early history. The Hollingsworth family name extends back to the time of the Crusades. The name is shown in English land records, dated in 1289, over seven hundred years ago. In the early 1600's the English were already in deep trouble with the Irish, even as is the case today. An area of six or seven counties, known as 'Ulster' and more recently called 'Northern Ireland' , for centuries was dominated by the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel.

Ulster has been a religious center since at least the 5th century when Saint Patrick is said to have settled there. It is the seat of both the Roman Catholic and the Church of Ireland archbishops, which perhaps accounts in a large part for some of the problems of the time. The two Earls, and other Irish tribal chiefs, unsuccessfully rebelled against England from 1594 to 1601, then in 1607 gave up the effort and fled to Rome. King James of England, taking advantage of their hurried departure, deemed the flight to be treasonous and confiscated their lands thereby acquiring millions of Irish acres. In order to protect this vast area he then issued patents to huge blocks of land to certain Gentlemen, Clergymen and otherwise titled Englishmen. About an equal number of Scotch and British families were so enriched, all were required to go to their new estates taking with them a number of armed men, and to settle on their land building fortifications and homes, and to maintain allegiance to the King of England. Periodic inspections of the tenants and of their arms were taken, resulting in muster rolls. One of these pioneers was William Brownlow, and by 1619 his colony, known as the City of Lurgan, had grown to a population of 42 English families. A Muster Roll, taken in 1631, clearly shows the fifth entry in a list of 24 Englishmen as "Henery Hollinwort", listed as one of the men of Richard Cope who then held an interest in some 2000 acres.

Henry Hollingsworth was among the many members of the Lurgan Quaker Meeting who lived in Seagoe Parish, County Armagh (ahr-mahN), Ireland. He apparently came from Calverly, in West Riding of Yorkshire, which is a parish about five miles northwest of the city of Leeds and about twenty five miles north of Mottram. The exact place of birth of Henry is yet unproven, as is the place of his death. He was born about 1600, and possibly as late as 1610. Henry is thought to be the first of this name in Ireland, and his son Valentine is known to be the progenitor of the American Quaker branch of the family.

On April 9, 1632, Henry signed an 'Article relating to some of his property which is believed to have conveyed a water right, and he is thought to have lived in Seagoe Parish beginning in the 1620's. He was otherwise noted as being deceased prior to 27 Oct. 1675, in an agreement signed on that date, regarding the same land. He had held the land until at least the outbreak of the Rebellion which began in 1641 and lead to the great Civil War period which resulted, in 1660, with King Charles II's restoration to the throne.

Henry very well may have been among the thousands of Englishmen killed in that great rebellion; precipitated by the Catholic native Irish, and involved County Armagh. It is now known as the Irish Rebellion of 23 October 1641. A rebellion, incidentally, that appears to continue in that area to this very day. It is believed that no less than 25,000 Protestants were killed by the sword, by gun, rope, drowning and so forth during the first three or four years of the rebellion. A deposition taken soon afterward states that on 26 June 1643 about 400 Protestants were murdered by drowning at the Bridge of Portadown. This is about a mile and a half from the location of Henry's home. Another deposition describes how Richard, Walter and Anthony Cope and 'others of gentle birth , on 24 Oct. 1641 which was the second day of the rebellion, were brought to join prisoners held under strong guard in rooms at the Castle of Carrick. Since Henry was one of the armed men of Richard Cope, he would have been called in Cope's defense, It is not likely that Henry survived the encounter as he was not named among the prisoners. Another deposition states that, "Almost all of the Protestants in the county were murdered, one in a hundred hardly escaped with life." Today, some 355 years later, the struggle in Northern Ireland still makes history.

Henry's son, Valentine was born in August of 1632. He was the first ancestor to come to America of Ruth Hollingsworth, also known as 'Aunt Ruthy' to the early residents of Springfield, and he was her great great grandfather. Incidentally, one of the Copes, mentioned above, sold part of his share of land to a Michael Harrison, who in turn, on 22 Aug. 1664, sold to Valentine Hollingsworth, a Yoeman, 120 Irish acres, about 240 acres as we measure them. It is believed possible that Valentine leased the same lands prior to that date as his oldest daughter was born there before the date of the deed. Much later Valentine sold this property prior to departing for America. Valentine Hollingsworth, Yoeman and humble Quaker, held his farm outright as his own property and not under a lives or years lease from a head-landlord, which was then a very unusual circumstance.

A Dictionary of English Law, by Clifford Walsh, Editor, written in 1959, defines "yeoman" as a "name for a man of a small estate of land; a farmer; a gentleman farmer; also a 40 shillings freeholder not advanced to the rank of a 'gentleman' . Yoeman were qualified to serve on juries and to vote for knights of the Shire, holding free land worth to 40 shillings a year. They held the rank next after 'gentlemen' in precedence. The same authority defines a 'gentleman' as a person above yeomen 'whereby noblemen are truly called gentlemen. A man of independent means and no occupation, who is not entitled to be called 'Esquire' ."

Valentine Hollingsworth, Yoeman, exactly fit the description given above. He was not a serf, a pauper, nor a mere tenant farmer. He was a moderately wealthy farmer, literate, and with some knowledge of law, else he never could have held the various offices he later held in America. Valentine became a prominent leader of the Lurgan Monthly Meeting; he had espoused the teachings of George Fox while still a young man. It is the marvelous records kept by the Quakers which are the source of most of the information about this particular family.

Valentine was first married on 7 June 1655 to Ann Wray. She was born in the same County, about 1628 and died on 1 Apr. 1671, and was buried in the Friend's Cemetery about two miles northeast of their farm home. The couple had four children. Valentine remarried, still in Lurgan, on June 12th 1672 to Ann Calvert, the daughter of an English couple living in a nearby town in the same County. This second couple had four more children, before coming to America.

Valentine migrated from Ireland as the head of a large group that included all of his immediate family except his two oldest children, who followed later. The group departed from Belfast in the vessel 'Antelope' of that port, with Edward Cooke as Master, and landed at New Castle on the Delaware River, on the 10th of December, 1682. They were among those who were on hand to greet William Penn upon his arrival in the "Welcome" at Chester, Pennsylvania, about a month later. Penn himself had been instrumental in their decision to migrate with his promises of religious freedom, made to them in Ireland, as was the case with many other followers of George Fox. The family first stayed, together with their servant, John Musgrave, at the house of Robert Wade in the town of Chester, which was probably a 'public house. before moving into a home of their own.

Valentine soon became the leader of the first Quaker colony in Delaware at what is now Newark, where he held 986 acres of land. The first meetings of the Kennett (Newark) Quakers were held in his home and the original name, Newark, was evidently taken from the name given to his survey of land on Shellpot Creek. He was a good Quaker, as were most of his family members for the first three generations, and he was a good citizen of the new land. Valentine was elected an Assemblyman of the first Pennsylvania Council and Assembly, which met on 12 March 1683 for the purpose of forming a government that would be fair and just. The session adjourned on 3 April 1683 with Penn's Great Charter passed and signed, and he was one of the 61 men who signed the Charter. He was a Justice of the Peace over four years, then in 1687 he returned to the Assembly as an Assemblyman from New Castle County, taking an active part with his counsel and good advice often sought. Again in 1689 he was in the Assembly under Governor Blackwell, then returned in 1695, one of six members from the county. He attended his sixth session in 1700 at the age of 68, then felt it time to retire to his home in Newark.

Valentine died after 1710, the last reference to him in the Newark Meeting is dated in June of that year, it is also the last entry recorded for the Meeting House. It appears there was no one left at the House, then closed, to record his death which is believed to have occurred in 1711. His second wife had preceded him in death, on 17 Nov. 1697, and had been buried in the Newark, and he is believed to have joined her there. Now there is a Hollingsworth Memorial at the Newark Burial Ground that was established in 1936 in their honor. Nearly all of the older families of northern Delaware can trace their ancestry to this great man. In later years his large family spread to the south, and into Indiana, and members are found throughout the entire country today.

Samuel Hollingsworth, the first son of Valentine and Anne (Calvert) Hollingsworth, was the great grandfather of our Ruth. He was born on 27 Mar. 1673, and came to Delaware with his parents in 1682, living in New Castle County from then until his marriage. In 1701 he married Hannah Harland (Harlan) in the Kennett Meeting. Her grandfather, Peter Harland, is also found on the Muster Rolls of County Armagh, in 1631. The new couple moved to Chester County, Pennsylvania, where they remained the balance of their lives. He was Justice of the Peace for Chester County in 1729 and again appointed in 1738. He served in the Provincial Assembly as an Assemblyman from New Castle County for one session from 1725 to 1728 and his name often appears in the old books of the courts of that time. During the Pennsylvania-Maryland Boundary case, which finally ended with Mason's and Dixon's famous line, he appeared in 1740, at age 67, in lengthy testimony. He died in September of 1748 in Birmingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. This couple had five children, the third was a son, also named Samuel.

Samuel Hollingsworth, grandson of Valentine and Anne (Calvert) Hollingsworth, was born about 1707. He married on 13 Nov. 1736 to Barbury Shewin in the Kennett Meeting, Newark, and she survived him. Both were of Chester County and he was shown as a yeoman. Samuel and Barbury had two sons and both were born in New Castle County, Delaware. He died between 2 Oct. and 11 Nov. 1751, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His will provided that his sons be apprenticed to learn the carpenters trade. Barbury then remarried, on 9 May 1754 at Old Swedes Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware, to Phillip Phillips. For this she was disowned by the Quakers on 5 July 1759, there was no issue. Phillips died in about 1764 and listed his step-sons, Samuel and Jacob, as his next of kin in his will.

Samuel Hollingsworth, great-grandson of Valentine and the father of Ruth, was born about 1740 in New Castle County, Delaware, and he died in 1810 in Haywood County, North Carolina. He married Elizabeth, probably in Baltimore. They lived in what was then Guilford County and later became Randolph County, North Carolina, after arrival there from Pennsylvania following the Revolutionary War. They settled near his brother Jacob, who was in Guilford by 1772. Samuel, and his brother, were together in what became Randolph County in 1779, and both moved to Burke County (to an area believed to have later become part of Haywood County) about 1788, and were listed there in the 1790 census. He apparently was an active business man, listed in many records, among them the Burke County land records where he was shown as being issued on 28 Oct. 1782 a grant of land "300 acres both sides Mountain Creek including improvement on which he lives. Entered 28 Aug. 1778." Its description indicates it adjoins the road that leads to Ramsour's Mill and to Sherrill's Ford upon the Catawba River Crossing placing it in close proximity to land acquired by the Fulbrights several years earlier. He signed a petition dated 19 Oct. 1779 in Burke County that asked to "add a certain part of the said County of Burke to the said County of Lincoln" as that court House was closer and therefore more convenient. He also is listed as a First Lieutenant, Volunteer Troop of Horse, Franklin County, Georgia Regiment of Militia on 18 Nov. 1793. A Bastardy Bond dated 2 Sep. 1798 and recorded in Burke County establishes that Elizabeth Hollingsworth, single woman, was carrying the child of one Joseph Jackson of that county. In January Term, 1799, Sam entered into a bond of $250.00 for "the maintenance of a base born child....of Betsy Hollensworth." who apparently was his youngest granddaughter.

Sam remained in what was then Buncombe County and later became part of Haywood County and he continued to be shown in many public records. In one he won a suit against son Abraham over a debt in July, 1803. He was made Constable of Buncombe County in January of 1808, and was appointed Constable of the new County of Haywood for a year on 28 March 1809. He died there in 1810, and his widow, by then known as 'old Mrs. Hollingsworth' was still living in Haywood County in 1814. His will left his estate, during her life, to the widow, then the land to his youngest son, Enoch, and the personal property to be divided between his two daughters 'Marget and Ruth. There were very many carpenter tools in his estate inventory, showing a trade familiarity.

Quite naturally many of the Hollingsworth name who migrated to America were not Quakers. Also many of the descendants of Valentine left that faith. Many, too, were 'read out of the Meeting or disowned when they married out of the faith; others were disowned because they bore arms in the Revolutionary War, in the War of 1812, the Indian Wars, or otherwise. Members of the family fought in the wars of the Union and the Confederate States for over 180 years. Had Ruth been a Quaker she, too, probably would have been read out of the meeting for her activities during the Civil War. That is a little of the story of how our Ruth happened to be available for a trip to Springfield))a great and worthy ancestor.

Much of the Hollingsworth information offered has been found in the voluminous works of Mr. Harry Hollingsworth, C.G., R.G., a well known authority on this outstanding family.