ELEANOR WORTHINGTON (1777-1848)

"Wife, mother, manager."

Eleanor Swearingen was born into a wealthy Virginia family near Shepherdstown, in the Shenandoah Valley in 1777. Her mother, Phebe Strode Swearingen, died when her daughter was just nine years old and the child's aunt (and namesake) Eleanor Shepherd became an increasingly important part of the young girl's life. Eleanor's mother and aunt taught her the genteel skills that were desired in a lady of her background, including music, dancing, and needlework. An unfinished sampler made by young Eleanor attests to this part of her education. They also taught her the skills needed to manage an estate, including the rudiments of reading, writing, and math and the social graces required for formal entertaining. She also learned to sew, to attend to relatives during sickness or childbirth, to take care of chickens, and to milk cows.

When Eleanor met Thomas Worthington, from nearby Charles Town, is not known. The young couple was married at the home of Abraham and Eleanor Shepherd on 13 December 1796. During much of the time that Eleanor Worthington lived at Adena, her primary role was that of mother. For a period of approximately twenty-two years, Eleanor was pregnant with or nursing one of her ten children. Eleanor was more fortunate in childbirth than many women of her day: all ten children survived to adulthood and she herself survived their births. Eleanor's youngest daughters began bearing children at the time Eleanor carried her last children. By all accounts, Eleanor was a devoted mother, and letters from her children indicate a sincere affection on their part. Correspondence indicates that she kept a close watch on her children. Later in life, one of the few negative comments she made about her daughter-in-law Julia was that she did not take close enough care of her sickly baby and left it in the charge of a servant who "does not [take] that care of it . . . as I should wish were it mine."

Religion seems to have been a unifying force for the young couple. In his first letter to Eleanor after their marriage, Worthington urged "Oh, my dear, do not forget to pour forth your soul to Him [God] whenever opportunity serves!" Although both Thomas and Eleanor professed strong religious beliefs, they may have differed over how their faith should be expressed. During an 1810 camp meeting, a participant wrote, "Mrs. Worthington . . . was among the penitent seekers of religion, and under the strong emotions and in this state of feeling she was taken away by the General who was displeased with these outward manifestations of inward feelings."

Eleanor also played an important role in business affairs at Adena because her husband was so frequently away from the homeplace. Eleanor kept the accounts of the farm, dealt with the bank and supervised tenants. In 1807, Worthington wrote that a member of Congress had remarked to him "You certainly lose money by your attendance here; but I am informed on good authority that if it was not for Mrs. Worthington you would lose more."

Following her husband's death on a business trip to New York, a journey Eleanor implored him not to take, Eleanor lived on at Adena, raising the youngest children. Her eldest son, James, took over the day-to-day affairs of the farm. Worthington left many debts and the economy was sluggish, so the years immediately after his death were difficult ones. Two of her adult children died during the last years of Eleanor's life, a source of great pain to her. Eleanor Worthington died at Adena on Christmas Eve, 1848, having lived 71 years.

TIMELINE:

ELEANOR WORTHINGTON:
22 September, 1777:	Eleanor Swearingen born in Berkeley County, Virginia.
1786:	Eleanor's mother died.
1795:	Eleanor's father died.
1796:	Married Thomas Worthington in Shepardstown, Virginia.
1797-1819:	Survived the birth of ten children, who all lived to adulthood.
1798:	Moved with her family to the Ohio Country.
1807:	Moved into and took charge of the completed Adena mansion.
1827:	Thomas Worthington died and Eleanor traveled to New York City to get her husband's body.
1837:	Took in the orphaned children of her daughter Mary.
1844 24 December:	Eleanor Worthington died at Adena.