Kings County Biographies

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


JOHN WORSWICK
 
a rancher and vineyardist of Grangeville, was born in Manchester, England, in 
1847.  His father was a dry-goods merchant of that city.  Our subject was 
educated in the common schools, after which he worked in his father�s store 
until his seventeenth year, and then came to the United States with the 
intention of joining his brother, William H. Worswick, at Brantford, Canada; but 
on arrival in New York he was taken in hand by some of the sharpers, who secured 
all his money, and then shipped him to sea on board a whaler.  After seven 
months, and while at Fayal, in the Azores Islands, our subject escaped and 
re-shipped on board a schooner to work his passage back to England.  Landing at 
Bristol, and having loaned his savings to a companion, he was without funds and 
had to walk to Manchester, a distance of 200 miles. Thus, returning to his home 
after an absence of over one year, he gathered experience which will never be 
forgotten!  In 1866 he again set forth and joined his brother at Erie, 
Pennsylvania, where he began work as fireman on the Philadelphia & Erie 
Railroad, and later on the Erie and Pittsburg railroad.  After five years of 
service he was promoted engineer, and for two years thereafter ran an engine.  
He then resigned that position and went to Panama, where for three years he was 
engineer on the Panama railroad.  In 1876, Mr. Worswick came to California, and 
at Grangeville joined his mother, -- his father being deceased, -- who purchased 
a ranch of 80 acres, where he resided until his marriage, in September, 1881, to 
Miss Laura S. Callaway, a native of California. He then settled upon his ranch 
of 172 acres south of Armona, where he engaged in wheat-raising and the stock 
business, continuing until 1885.  In that year he set twenty acres in fruit and 
vines, being among the first to improve so large an acreage, which he 
subsequently increased to the amount of eighty-six acres, selling the remainder 
of his ranch.  His fruit trees and vines are now in full bearing, and represents 
one of the finest ranches in his locality.  He has also improved and sold other 
ranches, and continued in the stock business, having an average band of 
thirty-five head.
            Mr. and Mrs. Worswick have two children:  Miriam and Imogene.  Mr. 
Worswick has been secretary and director of the Last Chance Ditch since 1883.  
He is a member of Lemoore Lodge, F.&A.M., and in his political views is a 
Republican.
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, 
California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 p. 412-413