Legacy Library: John Worthington

JohnWorthington is a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the I See Dead People's Books group.

Random books from JohnWorthington's library

Reports of cases adjudged in the Court of King's Bench: with some special cases in the courts of Chancery, Common Pleas and Exchequer ... from the first year of K. William and Q. Mary to the tenth year of Queen Anne. By William Salkeld, ... In two volumes. ... by William Salkeld

Cases in law and equity: argued, debated and adjudged in the King's Bench and Chancery, in the twelfth and thirteenth years of Queen Anne, ... With two treatises, the one on the action of debt, the other on the constitution of England. Now first printed from the original manuscript of the late Lord Chief Baron Gilbert by Sir Geoffrey Gilbert

Commentaries on the laws of England by Sir William Blackstone

A new abridgment of the law by a gentleman of the Middle Temple by Matthew Bacon

Instructor clericalis ... : being a collection of choice and useful precedents for pleadings, both in the King's-Bench and Common-Pleas ... by Robert Gardiner

The practical register, or, The accomplished attorney consisting of rules, orders, and the most principal observations concerning the practice of the Common-law in His Majesties courts at Westminster, but most particularly applicable to the proceedings in the Kings Bench, as well in matters criminal as civil by William Style

A treatise of testaments and last wills, compiled out of the laws ecclesiastical, civil and canon, as also out of the common law, customs and statutes of this realm : the whole digested into seven parts ... by Henry Swinburne

Members with JohnWorthington's books

RSS feeds

Recently-added books

JohnWorthington's reviews

Reviews of JohnWorthington's books, not including JohnWorthington's

Helper badges

Member: JohnWorthington

CollectionsYour library (37)

ReviewsNone

TagsLaw (37), British Law (35), Courts (13), Reports (11), Pleadings (5), Court of King's Bench (5), Case Law (4), Court of Common Pleas (4), Court of Chancery (2), Manuals (2) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsLibraries of Early America

About meJohn Worthington (1719-1800), Massachusetts lawyer and land speculator. Worthington graduated from Yale College in 1740 and briefly studied theology there while serving as a tutor 1742-1743. He then took up the practice of law in Springfield, where he served as King's attorney for the western region of Massachusetts and as high sheriff of Hampshire County.

Called the "political dictator of Springfield" by one biographer, Worthington also was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives almonst continuously 1747-1766 and 1770-1774; for two years (1767-1768) he sat on the governor's Council. He was made a colonel of militia in 1754. During the 1750s he was among the more active legislators in the House of Representatives, but his involvement faded during the 1760s. Worthington's loyalism (he was close friends with Thomas Hutchinson) almost resulted in his removal to Canada during the Revolution, but he opted to stay in Massachusetts and by 1778 had contributed funds to the Continental army and resumed local political activities.

Worthington married first Hannah Hopkins; after her death in 1766 her took as his second wife Mary Stoddard. Three of Worthington's four daughters (by his first wife) also married leading lawyers: Hannah was the wife of Springfield attorney Thomas Dwight (1758-1819), Mary web Jonathan Bliss (1742-1822), and Frances married Fisher Ames (1758-1808), a lawyer and U.S. Congressman.

Worthington's land speculations tended toward the successful, and one investment resulted in the settlement of what is today Worthington, MA.

A short biography of Worthington can be found in John A. Schutz, ed. Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780: A Biographical Dictionary. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997. A more complete sketch is in the Dictionary of American Biography.

About my libraryWorthington's library of law books is now at the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School, having been acquired in 1995. The collection can be browsed through their online catalog here.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Do you know of additional books which should be included here? Please contact Libraries of Early America coordinator Jeremy Dibbell.

Real nameJohn Worthington

LocationSpringfield, MA

Favorite authorsNone

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/JohnWorthington (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/JohnWorthington (library)

Member sinceJan 5, 2009