Person:John Worden (3)

JOHN WORDEN, the son of Thomas Worden and Hopestill , was born on 27 March 1741 in Fairfield County, Connecticut -- in the area known as the "Horseneck" of Connecticut. He died on 06 January 1842 in Wallkill, New York and has become know as "John the Centenarian." He was a cooper. He moved with his father to Pawling, Dutchess County, New York where he married (1) Hannah Stark, the daughter of Aaron Stark(1) and Margaret , on 02 October 1772 in Pawling. She died about 1810 in Dutchess County. Her father, Aaron, was killed in the Wyoming Massacre while his son watched. The son later died as a result of wounds received during the Massacre. John Worden married (2) Preston, who also lived over one hundred years. John was her third husband. They moved to the Wyoming Valley in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Their home on "The Plains," northeast of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was surrounded by so many houses belongin to his sons that the place was known as "Wordentown" in the 1820s. The Wordens were more zealous hunters than farmers. They were expert marksmen and fine athletes. About 1836, after the death of his second wife, he went to live near his son in Wallkill, Orange County, New York. He was over one hundrend years old when he died. He is buried in the Mapes Burying Ground near Howell Station with an inscribed headstone. John Worden served in the Army during the American Revolution. He enlisted about 01 September 1776 in Wilkes-Barre, and he served as a Private in Captain Samuel Ransom's Independent Company of Connecticut Troops. He fought in the Battles of Millstone and Bound Brook, and in numerous skirmishes with British troops. He served until 20 April 1777 when he left to move his family out of the Wyoming Valley back to Dutchess County because of the Indian danger -- leaving just before the Wyoming Massacre on 03 July 1778. He then served in the New York Militia until the end of the War. He returned to live in Wilkes-Barre in 1832, he was (at ninety years of age) the oldest man present. He applied for a pension on 05 September 1832. Three of his brothers were killed in the Revolutionary War. More About John Worden: Burial: Mapes Burying Ground, Howell's Station, Wallkill, New YorkMore About John Worden and Hannah Stark: Marriage: October 02, 1772, Pawling, Dutchess, New York

BIOGRAPHY: Some Records of Persons by the name of Worden Particularly of over One Thousand of the Ancestors, Kin and Descendants of John and Elizabeth Worden of Washington County, Rhode Island By O. N. Worden Lewisburg, Pa.: Printed at the Railway Press of J.R. Cornellus 1868 Page 137-138

  John Worden the Centennary Pensioner, was a cooper by trade. He was b. 29 March, 1739, at "the Horse Neck," in the lower corner of Connecticut, near the line of York State, but moved with his father to Pawlingstown; m, in Dutchess Co., Hannah Stark, the mother of his children, a reputed relative of Generals John Stark and Wm. Stark Rosecrans. She was a superior woman, of the Baptist order, as was also his 2d wife, whose maiden name was Preston, from Rhode Island. She m, first,_____Wood; next, _____ Ames, "a Revolutioner;" and , last, John Worden. She lived to be 100 or 101 years old. Her domestic and social qualities, her cheerful disposition and Christian virtue-and particularly her garden-received the high encomiums of her near neighbor, Hon. Charles Miner, the Historian of Wyoming. (See Wilkes-Barre Advocate or Montrose Spectator, Mar. or Ap. 1840.) Their home on (The Plains," north-east from Wilkes-Barre, was surrounded by so many of his sons' houses that the place was known as "Wordentown." The town is no more, and the family have moved away. The were more zealous hunters than farmers. Before, during, and after the Revolution, they were everywhere among the most expert marksmen, and first in athletic feats.
  What time John Worden came into the Valley I did not learn, but he was absent with other Wyoming men-at Bound Brook or Morristown-at the time of the Massacre. He afterwards returned to Dutchess county, but in 1796 his name appears among the taxables of Pittston, on lands now valuable for the coal under them. About 1830, at a large gathering of Revolutionary Heroes in Luzerne county, John Worden, aged 90, was the oldest man. Abt 1840, his wife being dead, he went to live with his son and name-sake, in Wallkill,Orange Co., N. Y.,  where he d, 6 Jan. 1842, aged one hundred and two years, nine months, and nine days. His remains lie in Mapes' burying ground, new Howell's station, with an inscribed head stone-the oldest Worden whose age I have gleaned from a grave-yard record.