Third in the series.

No complete list of Revolutionary Soldiers who moved to this area exists.
Perhaps it never will, but we certainly hope to be able to make a good start at creating one. In January I sent this e-mail to our PPHS President, Sylvia Trueworthy Pease. Her Revolutionary ancestor was John Trueworthy born in Biddeford in 1739.

“I have been trying to find a complete list of Revolutionary War veterans
who lived in Parsonsfield but so far no luck.  I’ve been piecing a list together from various sources.  None of which show your ancestor, Sylvia.  Ancestry shows this as a possibility with the name Treworgy. Does it agree with your records?”

Had Sylvia not been a part of our historical society, I may well have not become aware of John Trueworthy. Her assistance in gathering this information has been invaluable.

The Trueworthy family was originally from the Kittery area.  The original descendant bore the name of TREWORGY. James Treworgy who was originally from Brixham, Devon, England bought land in Kittery, District of Maine in 1635. He had married, Katharine, dau. of Alexander Shapleigh in Kingsweare, England, on 16 March 1616. The Treworgy family was involved in the cod fishery in New England as well as
Newfoundland.  This name became Treworthy, Truworthy and Trueworthy.

John Trueworthy was 36 years old when he enlisted on May 4, 1775.

After his service he returned to Biddeford where on April 23, 1780 he married Charity Emery, his first cousin. They had the following children: Rebekah, b. 1780; Mary, b. 1782; John Jr, b. 1785; Phebe, b. 1787; Noah, b. 1791 and William, b. 1798.

The 1790 Census shows his family still residing in Biddeford but they later took up residency in Phippsburg where in 1803 John served as constable and was required to collect taxes of several people in the town. Perhaps that was not to his liking because in February of 1807 he bought a parcel of land from Benjamin Rolfe in Parsonsfield. Rolfe was the first settled minister of the town.

On this 1856 Map of Parsonsfield the property on Kezar Mountain Road was home to John’s grandson, Jonathan Woodman Trueworthy (1823 – 1906), the son of John Trueworthy Jr. (1785 – 1877).

This early 1900’s photo by George French shows the Trueworthy Family
in front of the family home. Nothing remains of the house today.

The families members, identified by Sylvia Pease, are:

Left to right: Fred Trueworthy, Helen Parker Trueworthy (married to Ralph), Ralph Trueworthy, Angeline Trueworthy (Mrs. J. W. Trueworthy), 
Uncle John Trueworthy (brother to J.W. Trueworthy), Josie Rounds, Al Floyd, Mrs. A. Floyd,  Children: Lula Floyd Whiting, Perley Floyd.

J. W. Trueworthy’s son, Elmer, and grandson, Harry also farmed here but when Harry inherited the farm he chose not to live there and moved to neighboring Porter. Our PPHS President, Sylvia Trueworthy Pease has supplied us with her lineage to John, our Revolutionary Patriot.

Her Father – Lloyd 1920-1980 married Isabel Perkins
Grandfather – Harry 1881-1952- married Minnie Wilkinson
Gr. Grandfather – Fred 1858-1937  married Imogene Holmes
Gr. Gr. Grandfather – J. W.Trueworthy 1823-1906 married Angeline Foss
Gr. Gr. Gr. Grandfather  – John Trueworthy Jr. 1785- 1877 married Olive Stone
Gr. Gr. Gr. Gr. Grandfather John Trueworthy 1739-1832 married Charity Emery

John Treworgy/Trueworthy died November 25, 1832 at the age of 93 and is buried in the Trueworthy Cemetery alongside his wife, Charity Emery Trueworthy who also lived a long life, dying in 1843 at the age of 92.

The book, “Cemeteries Records, Parsonsfield, Maine” recorded by Constance Hobbs and revised by Ancient Landmarks Society of Parsonsfield in 1982 states that the remnants of his stone has crumbled. This is the sad fact of many of the gravestones of our ancient forebears.

But as you can see both John’s stone and that of his wife, Charity, have been lovingly replaced. Note also that the listing in the book incorrectly gave Charity’s year of death as 1813, rather than 1843, another sad fact of the old stones being difficult to read.

We thank you, John Trueworthy, for your service in the founding of our Country. And we thank the Trueworthy family for their care in honoring their Revolutionary Soldier ancestor.

A little additional information for all you history nerds out there, like myself. Have you ever wondered what a bounty coat was?