Members of the Worthington family may have read two books produced by my brother Philip M. Worthington - THE WORTHINGTON FAMILIES OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND (1985) and THE WORTHINGTONS OF FAILSWORTH AND THEIR DESCENDANTS (2005) - both books published by Phillimore & Co. Ltd., of Chichester. The first deals with the Worthingtons of Lancashire - 12th century to 1600 - and the second covers c. 1550-2000, re the descendants of Thomas Worthington of Failsworth (Manchester) ... Lancashire, Staffordshire, and South Africa. At the end of last year, the inaugural meeting took place of members of the WORTHINGTON 17th CENTURY PROJECT: this was established to (a) try to link the ancient Worthington families of Worthington, Blainscough, Crawshaw, Shevington, Turton (all Lancashire) etc. to one another; (b) try to establish whence came Nicholas Worthington, who reached the US in 1649; (c) try to fine the link of Manchester Worthingtons to one of the old families in (a): this line is that of Captain John Worthington, who reached America in the latter part of the 17th century; and (d) try to find the link of the Cheshire Worthingtons back to one of the old families in (a). Many of the Cheshire families in the 17th century were Quakers - from the Styal area near Wilmslow: their antecedants were established there from early in the 16th century. One line at least moved (via Ireland) to America, arriving there early in the 18th century: that of Robert 'the Quaker' Worthington. Whereas American sources give many particulars of the various Worthington families once they had crossed 'the pond', linking such families 'back to Lancashire' is of major importance. Anyone who has any details to provide on any of the above topics is asked to e-mail me at worthington@guadalmina.com. Likewise, if anyone is willing to become a reseracher, please let me know ... and I shall put you in touch with my brother, who is the family archivist in the UK, and the 'spearheader' of the 17th century project. Kindest regards. Stuart Worthington