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| The McWhorters of Delaware |
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| The McWhorters of Delaware |
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Coming from Delaware, the first inclination may be to assume that William McWhorter is descended from the Hugh/Alexander McWhorters of whom much has been written. But, as I shall relate later, even some of the pedigree attributed to Hugh McWhorter is inconsistent. At this point, however, I have uncovered no evidence that William McWhorter is descended from Hugh McWhorter, though it could be so. My first area of investigation was the 1800-1830 census records. Surprisingly, there were very few McWhorters in Delaware, perhaps since most of Hugh's descendants are reported to have gone to North Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century. Following is a summary of the census data:
The presumed same individuals, or their widowed spouses, are indicated by the numbers to the left of the name(1),siblings by a number followed by a letter (e.g.1A)and children by number with decimal (e.g.1.1)
1800 - Kent Co, DE
1) John McWhorter, Duck Creek Hundred, m:1->45,3-<10 f:1->45,1-<10
1.1) Andrew McWhorter, Duck Creek Hundred, m:1-16/26 f:1-10/16
- New Castle Co, DE
2) William McWhorter, Christiana Hundred, m:1->45,1-16/26,1-10/16 f:1->45,1-10/16
3A) David McWhorter, Saint George's Hundred, m:3-26/45,2-<10 f:1-26/45,2-16/26
1810 - Kent Co, DE
1) J. McWerter, Smyrna
- New Castle Co, DE
3A) Lydia McWhorter,wid, Saint George's Hundred
3B) Thomas McWhorter, Saint George's Hundred
1820 - Kent Co, DE
1) John McWharton, Smyrna
- New Castle Co, DE
3A) Lydia McWorter,wid, Saint George's Hundred
3B) Thomas McWhorter, Saint George's Hundred
1830 - New Castle Co, DE
3A.1) John McWerter, Saint George's Hundred
3B) Thomas McWerter, Saint George's Hundred
4) John McWhorter, Wilmington
- Kent Co, MD
1.2) William McWhorter, #3 District
The genealogy of David McWhorter (3A) (1800) has been published and he is reputed to be
descended from Hugh McWhorter. However, the genealogy is not consistent with other accounts.
Considering the large number of adults listed in 1800, these are most likely David McWhorter's
siblings, Robert, Thomas, Jean, and Margaret or Sarah. The two male children are most likely
John and David. David McWhorter apparantly died before 1810 and his wife Lydia (Bennett)(3A)
appears in the census for 1810 and 1820. David's son, John (3A.1), appears in the 1830 census for
Saint George's. "My" William McWhorter is not the son of David McWhorter.
Thomas McWhorter (3B) (1820-1830) was David McWhorter's half brother. From the available
genealogy records we know that William McWhorter was also not Thomas' son.
William McWhorter (2) (1800) could have been the father, but he does not appear in any future
Delaware census. It is not clear who he was or what became of him, but he most likely moved away
between 1800 and 1810. Since William McWhorter was born in Delaware in 1803, the elder William
is probably not his father.
Andrew McWhorter (1.1) (1800) appears to have been recently married with no children. Since he
lived in Duck Creek Hundred it is quite likely that he was a son of John. He could have been
William's father, but this is unlikely since he appears in no further Delaware census.
John McWhorter (1) (1800-1820) could also be William's father and circumstatial evidence
indicates that he probably was. This evidence consists of:
1.The naming of William McWhorter's children:
The first child was named Analiza, possibly after Mary Ann Campbell's mother.
The second child was named Jonathan, presumably after William's father.
The third and forth children were named William and Mary Ann, after their parents.
The fifth child was named Andrew, possibly after "Uncle" Andrew, another son of John.
2.In the 1828 tax list, both William and John McWhorter appear on the poll tax list for
Smyrna which is in the Duck Creek Hundred.
3.In the 1830 census, William McWhorter was listed in Kent Co., MD in an area a few miles
west of Smyrna/Duck Creek Hundred.
4.In a court case in 1828, both a John and William McWhorter were plaintiffs in an assault
and battery case.
Hugh McWhorter has been clearly described as a "Linen
Merchant from Armagh, Ulster, Ireland" who came to America in 1730. One account
says that his eldest son, Alexander, was already in Delaware and he came at his invitation.
In this account, Alexander died in 1734, about the time that Hugh had a son whom he
named Alexander in memory of his eldest son. Another account says that Alexander
was Hugh's father. This has been discounted on the grounds that his father would have
been too old at the time he arrived. However, it could explain the "early" death of
Alexander and the apparant large gap between the birth of the first Alexander and the
other children of Hugh. One biographical account of Thomas See McWhorter, published in 1882
that Thomas See's grandfather, John, who was the brother of Hugh and Alexander (Rev, of Newark, NJ)
and that all three were sons of Alexander "who came to America in the early part of the
eighteenth century and settled near St. George's where he owned a large landed estate". This
account is rather compelling since it mentions in detail where each brother and the father
owned their land. The problem of course is that it is totally inconsistent with other
accounts. According to this account the following would be true:
Father: Alexander McWhorter (ca 1670 - ca 1734)
son: Hugh McWhorter (ca 1690 - 1748)
son: John McWhorter (ca 1700 - 1770)
son: Alexander McWhorter (ca 1734 -
