Link to Hollingsworth family in America
This link above shows our family coat of arms and also links to the American side of the family. It also has details of the family move to Ireland.
The first known fact of the Hollingsworth family history is that an ancestor
was an Anglo-Saxon who came to Britain during the invasion of the sixth and
seventh centuries and eventually settled in what is now the village of
Mottram Cheshire County England on approximately 1,000 acres. It was located
on the east side of town on the high ground. According to a very ancient
pedigree, the family has been seated at Hollynworthe Hall since 1022 and
became part of the nobility under King James 1. (Genealogical and Heraldic
Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland dated 1858). Since the title was
hereditary, the ancestry would have been unbroken. The name Hollyworthe was
derived from two words, "Holly" for holly trees and "Worthe"
for land. It
became the family surname in the 13th century. The present spelling
gradually evolved as the English language changed
The origin of the Hollingsworth name appears to be associated with old Anglo-Saxon families whose ancestors probably came from North Germany in the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. Variations of the name, such as Hollinworth, Hollinsworth, and Hollingworth, first appeared on records in Cheshire and Lancashire Counties, England around 1022.
The family established an estate in Cheshire known as Hollingworth Manor. Today we probably would call it Holly Farms, which may account for the holly leaves in the family shield. The Manor, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book as being located on the edge of the woods near Macclesfield, lasted until after World War II, but became so dilapidated that it was torn down. Part of the family went to Ireland early in the 17th Century.
Valentine and his family became associated with William Penn and his Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers. In 1682, Valentine and his family moved to America about the same time as William Penn and settled in Delaware. Valentine and some of his family made the voyage on the ship Antelope. One son, Henry, made the voyage on the ship Lion.
It took 167 years for some of Valentine's descendants to make their way to the American West Coast. In the meantime, branches of the family scattered across the country and around the world making it very difficult to keep track of them. This is further complicated by the fact that there were several other Hollingsworth patriarchs that came over about the same time as Valentine.
Origin of the Hollingsworth Name
The two old Angle-Saxon words, HOLEGN, or HOLYN, (a holly tree), and WORD or WUR DE, (both pronounced similar to our modern English word 'worth', meaning "an enclosed place,") are believed to be the roots forming the ancient place name HOLYNWORTHE, or HOLLINGWORTH. Thus, the meaning of this place-name and surname, would be, "THE HOLLY-TREE FARM," or " ENCLOSED HOMESTEAD AMONG HOLLY BUSHES." It is thought that the place HOLISURDE (pronounced HOLLYS-WERTH) mentioned in the Cheshire Domesday Book (c1086 A.D.) lying in the area of Mottram-in-Longdendale, in the northeastern part of the county, gave rise to the surname.
There is also a "Hollinworth", a hamlet or chapelry in Butterworth Township in Mottram Parish. Two families calling themselves "Hollingworth" held manors and also grants of arms, in this township, beginning about the year 1613. Persons bearing the surname extend back to at least 1215 at this place. How, by what means, or for what purpose, some of the members of the Hollingworth or Hollinworth families in England began to spell the name "Hollingsworth," by adding the letter "s", is unknown. The practice first appears about the middle of the 17th century, although isolated instances can be noted back into the 1500's.
Source: Hollingsworth Register. All material provided is copyrighted to the public domain for non-commerical, non-profit use only. No commercial use is legal without permission.