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AMERICAN TRADITIONS.
————o—————.

 [Note: Spelling is as originally recorded]
BESIDES Arthur Aylworth, or North Kingstown R. 1., there
are early traces of but few persons of the name on this side
of the Atlantic.
   Robert Aleworth, Pemaquid, 1681.  [Farmer's Register.]
   Francis Aleworth, Dorchester, freeman, May 15, 1631, was chosen
lieutenant at a court of Assistants, [Prince ii., Annals 32], but returned
to England in March, 1632.  At the court in March, 1631, another man
with this surname was ordered to go " as unmeet to inhabit here." [See
Farmer's Reg. and Savage's Gen. Dict.]
   Ffrancis Aleworth took the freeman's oath in Boston, May 14, 1634.
[New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg.]
   Edward Aleworth (or Aldworth), aged 13, embarked on the ship
Freelove in London for Bormoodcs. June 10, 1635. Elizabeth Ald-
worth. aged 15, embarked the next year in London for the same destin-
ation. where Bartho Aldsworth owned a plantation and slaves, about
1680.
   This name is found in the States.  Alfred Aldsworth, who, at
the time of his death, resided in Williamsburg, and was engaged in
mercantile business. mar. June, 1835. Eliza Van Brunt, b. Feb.26,
1831, d. July 5.1851.  Their children were, Albert Van B. Aldsworth,
Eliza Ann, William Henry, Matilda, and Alfred.  We have already
seen that there was a family seat in Gloucestershire, Eng.. spelled
Aldesworth.   This fact raises a presumption that the Aldsworths origi-
nated there.
   Jeremiah Ellsworth, Rowley, 1650. m. 2 Dec. 1657. Mary, widow of
Hugh Smith, and died 6 May, 1704. [Savage' Gen. Dict.]
   Christopher Elsworth, New York, as early as 1653.  Eldest child
born 1655.
   Thomas E. Alesworth. b Sept. 22, 1800, mar. April 18. 1822, Mar-
garet Gibson, in Cumberland Co. , Pa.  His parentange is unknown to
his descendants.  One account is that his father emigrated from Eng-
land, remained in this country, near Philadelphia. several years, where
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Thomas E. was born, and then returned to England with all his family
excepting Thomas E. [Wm. B. Butler.]  Another statement is that
Thomas E. Alesworth went to Cumberland Co, Pa., from some part of
the State of New York. [Josiah F. Ellsworth.]  Thomas E. Alesworth
was a local preacher in the M. E. Church, and died July 31, 1832.
Margaret Gibson was dau. of John and Margaret (Reynolds) Gibson, of
Franklin Co., Pa.  Their family consisted of five children :

     Elizabeth M , b. April 17 , 1823, m. March 3, 1842, James E. Coan,
                  res. Carlisle, Pa.
     John Wesley, b. March 16, 1825, (bachelor), P. 0., Slacks Canyon,
                 Cal.
     Josiah F., b. July 18,1827, m. ——, dw. Williamsburg, Pa.
     Charles Brewster, b. July 17, 1829, m. July 29,1851, Rebecca Wil-
                 son, res. Johnstown, Pa. r
     Harriet, b. July 26,1831, d. :Nov. 2, 1854, Ottumwa, Iowa.

   After his death, his widow married John M. Butler, who died March
3, 1874.
   Charles B. Alesworth remembers that his mother told him that his
father lived in or near Philadelphia, and that his ancestors were
English.
   John W. Alesworth says his father was a carpenter by trade, but that
he never followed it for a business; that he was a school teacher at the
time of his marriage; that he was also a Methodist preacher for a time,
and a Presbyterian as to doctrinal preferences; that he thinks he with-
drew from the Baltimore Conference and only preached occasionally
while engaged in the saw-mill business.
   he descendants of Arthur Aylworth may never learn the trans-
Atlantic family history of their ancestor.  At present they have no pos-
itive information respecting his English home. They desire, however,
no doubt to learn the known and also the probable facts of his history.
Keeping as far as possible from theories, purely speculative, the account
presented in these pages has been prepared under the indulgence of a
faint hope that something may yet be ascertained that will determine
his English ancestry. 
   Arthur Aylworth was living in the Narragansett country July 29,
1679.  He wrote his name as here given.  The surname has been
brought down to the present time in this form, which form was not
uncommon in England at the date here given.
   The Register states that he was a Welshman, born in England.
Traditions respecting the matter are, as usual. somewhat conflicting.
One says he was of Welsh descent; another that he was of English an-
cestry ; another that he came from England near the border of Wales ;
another that he came from Monmouthshire, while from many sources
we are told he came from the west of England.
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   Abel Aylsworth, of Arlington, Vt., was born in West Greenwich, R.
I., in 1745, where he remained until he was about thirty years of age.
He died in 1830, in his 86th year. The following statement made by
him in 1824 was committed to writing at the time by Judiah, son of
Frederick :
   Arthur Aylsworth lived with narrator's father, and died at his house
in West Greenwich, R. I., in July, 1760; he was narrator's grandfather,
and died when he was 76 years old.  Narrator was named Abel by
his grandmother, called Aunt Mary, the wife of Arthur, and was so
named for her brother, Abel Franklin, the uncle of Benjamin Franklin.
[Note: This statement was proven false. The website editor]
   The brothers of Arthur Aylsworth were :


Robert, who lived at Exeter, south of West Greenwich.
John, lived in same town and .died at his son-in-law's house, J.
            Rathbun. ,
Judiah, lived in Scituate, R. I.
Philip, lived at Quid Nesick Neck

   Children of Arthur Aylsworth and Mary Franklin :

Philip, small man.
David, tall man, full six feet.
James.
John.
Judiah, short, thick-set man.
Freelove, tall, spare, married Tenant.
Austis, tall, very fleshy, married Colvin.
Demis, married Phillips ; 2d husband Travis.
Barbara, short, married Jonathan Hill.

   Judiah, married Ruth Draper, daughter of Thomas Draper.
Children :

Abel, the narrator, small-sized man; was an ensign in Warner's
             Regt., and went to Quebec with General Montgomery in
             1776.
Molly, middling size, married Abel Parker.
Lydia, short woman, married Thomas Gordon.
Arthur, short, stout man; soldier in Revolution.
Christian, tall and fleshy, married ——— Harris.
Judiah, small man.
Stephen, slim and tall; soldier in Revolution.
Ruth, tall and large, married Budlong.

Judiah married for his second wife Rosanna Stafford, daughter of
Jonathan Edwards, and widow of Stukely Stafford.  Children :

Wanton, large man, more than common size.
Perry Greene, short, chunked man.
Stukely, large man, florid complexion.
John, large, stout man.

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   Judiah died April, 1800, and is buried in Pownal, Vt. He came from
West Greenwich to Pownal in 1780, was called Esquire Chad in Rhode
Island, and for thirty years prior to his removal kept a tavern at West
Greenwich.  The dispute about the way or writing the name dates far
back.  The children of Ruth Draper all wrote their name with the "y."
The children or Rosanna Edwards all wrote their name Ellsworth.
Narrator heard his father say that the Saybrook and Windsor Ells-
worths wrote their name Ellsworth, and bad often heard them talk over
their relationship, and that they were all or the same family.  They.
were drovers and took cattle to Newport to sell, and were accustomed 
to stop at the tavern of narrator's father.
   Narrator's grandfather told narrator's rather and narrator never to .
drop the "y" out or the name.  He said his was the original Welsh 
name, and never mixed blood with the Danes.  Narrator's grandfather 
took narrator and held up his hand and looked through between the 
first and second fingers on his right hand and told narrator never to .
leave out the "y" as long as he could see the two fingers, and made nar-
rator, when a small boy, promise he would not.  Narrator, when a
Member or the Vermont Legislature, went to Boston and examined the
books or English Heraldry — could find no name of Aylsworth, but
found the English name Ellsworth, and said he should keep the "y" as
long us he lived, but his sons could do as they pleased about it.
   The opinion prevails, rounded on tradition, that Arthur Aylworth left
England on account or religious troubles.  His childhood and youth
must have been in the troublous times of Charles II.  What part his
father or other relatives took, if any, in the contests or that day may
never be learned,  According to tradition his relatives were adherents
of the Cromwell party, and some were officers in his army,
   The first settler in the Narragansett country, or second only to Roger
Williams, was Richard Smith, Sen., " who for his conscience to God
left faire possessions in Gloster Shire and adventured with his relations
and estate to New England," etc."  A recent town history of Rhode
Island says that Richard Smith, Sen., emigrated to this country in con-
sequence of the persecutions practiced under the reign of Charles I. and
that his son, Richard Smith, Jr., was a major in the service of Crom-
well.  From the circumstances it is probable that the son did not come
to America for quite a number or years after his rather came †  The
names or Richard Smith, Jr., and Arthur Aylworth are associated in a
petition to the king in 1679.  If the latter came from Gloucestershire,
where was the seat or the Ay I worth Manor? Personal associations in
England may have directed Arthur Aylworth.s course to Narragansett.
.Roger Williams, July 24, 1679. 
________________________________________________________.
  † Cromwell did not receive his commission until he was upwards of forty-five years
of age. [Macaulay.] Richard Smith, Sen., was here several years previous to 1644.

Page 34

   The date previously given. July 29, 1679, is the earliest recorded date
yet found fixing his presence in this country. This date is that of the
petition before referred to, and has the following heading :

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. The humble Petition and Re-
     monstrance of your subjects, the inhabitants of the Narragansett
     Country, in the southerne parts of New England, called by your
     Majesty.s Commissioners the King's Province.*
______________________________________________________
 *  The petition is too lengthy to be given In full.  The whole is full of interest, 
The latter part is, however, inserted as showing the presumption that Arthur Ayl.
worth, one of the subscribers, may have been in America quite a number of years
before its date.

   *    *    *    In the times of these troubles and contests, the Indians in-
solent and very injurious to your petitioners the inhabitants, not without 
private abetters, as was suspected, killed our cattle, destroyed our crea-
tures and plundered some of our houses, soe that wee were hardly able
too live among them; some of us loosing in  some few yeares neare 150
head of cattle.   And when complaint was made to our superiors at
Rhode Island, wee could have no reliefe, which made some of us apply
ourselves to the Massachusetts Collony for redress of these outrages
and enormities committed against us, according to an order of your
Majesty's granted unto them about the yeare 1663, but still were with-
out remedy; which many of us saw  would end in a warr with the In-
dians if not timely and wisely prevented. Which afterwards came on
ap:1ce, to the rutn and destruction of your petitioners' visible estates in
that Province So that ..it became a desolate wildernesse againe; and
instead of Christian people, replenished with howling wolves and other
wild creatures.  But it pleased the Lord in his due time to put a period
to these warrs, and your petitioners the former inhabitants, went over
from Rhode Island, whither we retreated with the little wee had left,
where it cost us one half of our cattle  to keep the rest find carry us
over.  So cold was their charity to their poore neighbours in distress:
and then and since imposed taxes on us, when your petitioners had
hardly anything left for the subsistence of themselves and their little
ones; and settled in the Kings Province againe, when very dangerous
living. in [cellars and holes] under ground, till we got a little before
hand to rebuild, which with our owne industry and hard laboure, we
hope in time to effect, if not discouraged and hindered by many that
threaten to turn us off.
   May it Please your Majesty,  this being n short, the true state of affairs
of the Narragansett Country and the people  there inhabiting, from the
first settlement to the present time. Your petitioners, the inhabitants 
thereof, do humbly supplycate your Majesty. as you have been pleased
to send your gracious letters to the foure Collonys of New England
 Page 35
strictly to win and require them to take care of the inhabitants there at
present, so that you would in your princely wisdom and Royal bounty.
and justice, for the future vouchsafe an eye of favour upon the poore
inhabitants your petitioners, the first settlers thereof, in a more peculiar
manner, who have been at great cost and charge, and have laid out
(most of us) all wee have in this world upon the same, and are not able
to subsist, if removed from thence; it being now become in a manner
our native country to Some of us, and is as to many our children who
were there borne; and we hope and promise for ourselves and children
that shall succeed us, that your Majesty in no part of New England
shall have more loyall and faithful subjects than your pesent petitioners ;
humbly requesting and desiring, that your Majesty would put an end
to these differences about the government thereof, which has been so
fatall to the prosperitie of the place; animosities still arising in people's
minds, as they stand affected to this or that government, and rnay be
wronged and injured by either government of these that take place, the
transactions of former things being fresh in memory. an impartiall and
equall judicature being the great and earness the desires of your peti-
tioners to live under, being wearied out with the former contests and
the troubles wee have mett with from both Collonies commanding us,
do aIl of us unanimously and with one consent supplicate your Majesty
not to leave us to the goverment and dispose of those that seek advan-
tages against us.  The country being large and able to containe many
families, may make an entire Provence, if your Majestye see cause.
And your petitioners shall ever pray, &c.  And subscribe your Majesty's
humble, loyal and obedient subjects.
   Kings Province in Narragansett July 29, 1679.
(Signed in one hand )
   William Bently, Henry Gardner, John Greene, Richard Smith, Nich-
olas Gardner, Benj. Gardner, John Coale, Jer. Bull, Geo Gardner,
Sam, Eldred, Tho. Gold, Daniel Greene. ARTHUR AYLWORTH, Geo.
Whitman, Sam. Wilson. Hen, Reynolds, Robert Vinin. Jame s Greene,
James Reynolds, John Eldred, James Renolds, Thomas Lovell, Daniel
Eldred, Rob't Spink, Daniel Swete, Robt Spink Junr, ,Joseph Dalaner,
Samual Alsbery, John Shelldin, Alexander Fenix, William Gardner,
William Coston. Henry Tipets, John Sheldon  Junr, Aron Jockwaies,
William Knolls, Fred Newton, Thos Brooks, Rouse Helme, George
Palmer, Joseph Reynolds, Lodwick Updike,
                                              [R. I. Col. Rec., Vol. III.. pp. 56— 60.]

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