My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH CUDWORTH, a prosperous farmer of Worthington, was born in Chesterfield, Mass., July 14, 1823, son of Charles and Susanna (Kith) Cudworth. Mr. Cudworth’s grandfather, John Cudworth, was a lineal descendant of General James Cudworth, who was made a freeman in Scituate in 1634, and became one of the leading men in Plymouth Colony, commanding its whole military force in the early part of King Philip’s War, and being Deputy Governor in 1681. He went to England as Colonial agent in 1682, and died in London in the autumn of that year. His children were: Captain James, Israel, Jonathan, Mary, and Hannah. John Cudworth, born in 1677, son of the second James, settled in Scituate, and was the father of a second John, born in 1706. The latter had a son, John Cudworth, the third of the name in direct line, who married Elizabeth Clap in 1772, and had five sons: John, Job, Charles, Abiel, and Arvin.

Charles Cudworth, Mr. Cudworth’s father, was born in Scituate, Mass., March 7, 1781, and in 1800 went to Chesterfield, where he labored diligently for some time. In company with a brother, he purchased a farm, and followed agriculture with success. Aside from farming he engaged in the meat business, and became a well-known man throughout that region. He was an active member of the Baptist church and a stanch Democrat in politics. He died April 25, 1846.

His first wife, Susanna Briggs Cudworth, a native of Scituate, died in Chesterfield, leaving eight children, all of whom are now dead. His second wife, who was a daughter of Edward Kith, was born in Chesterfield in 1786. By this union he had three children, as follows: Joseph, the subject of this sketch; Mary, who married Asa Todd, a farmer of Chesterfield, and died in 1846; and Julia Ellen, who became Mr. Todd’s second wife, and reared seven children. This family may here be briefly named: Isabella, who married Walter Trow, of Cummington, Mass.; Lyman, who married Mary Pease, and resides in Worthington; Mary, who died in infancy; Esther, who married James Dunham, of Chesterfield, and is now dead; Monroe, who married Lettie Middlebrook, and resides in West Chesterfield; Flora, who married William Trow, and resides in Westfield; and Augustus, who died young. Mrs. Susanna Kith Cudworth died in June, 1871.

Joseph Cudworth was reared to agriculture, and resided with his parents until reaching the age of twenty-one, when he engaged in farming in Chesterfield and Savoy, an occupation which he followed for three years. He then returned to the parental roof, and for a time managed the home farm, after which he purchased a farm in Worthington, and conducted it with prosperous results until his retirement from active labor, which occurred in 1883. He is a Democrat in politics.

On February 3, 1847, Mr. Cudworth was married to Aurelia F. Todd, who was born in Chesterfield, June 6, 1825, daughter of Lyman and Sarah (Kinny) Todd. Mrs. Cudworth’s father was a farmer and a teamster between Boston and Albany before the introduction of railroads. Mr. and Mrs. Cudworth have had three children, who are now grown to maturity, and are heads of families. Mary, the eldest, who was born April 16, 1848, married A. M. Locke, of the Smith Carr Baking Company of Northampton, and has seven children, as follows: Etta M.; Josephine; Minnie A., who is now dead; Walter Joseph; Owen A.; Alice, also deceased; and Ellen. Alice Augusta, second child of Mr. and Mrs. Cudworth, was born March 20, 1850, and married Isaac H. Steel, superintendent of the Cummington Creamery, and has two children: George W. and Frank D. Charles Monroe Cudworth, their youngest child, who was born July 8, 1860, married Mary Isadora Tower, daughter of Alden and Mary Tower, and has had three children: Joseph Harold, deceased; Mary Eva; and Alice Rosamond.