A long time ago!: May 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Henry WORLEY and the Glass Button Factory

baby Amy Ella HAWKES 1898
Henry WORLEY was 70 years old when his great grand daughter Ella HAWKES (1897-1971) was born he lived another 17 years sharing his glass buttons with her.
teen Amy Ella HAWKES about 1915

Glass buttons made by Henry WORLEY

My Great Grandfather Henry Worley owned a glass button factory in England. He made all kinds of beautiful glass buttons. I remember when we went to visit him he used to give us a big box filled with all shapes and colors of buttons to play with. We would spend hours looking at them, and admiring them, picking out and matching them for a dress. If we wanted them bad enough he would always let us have them for our dresses. For a long times I was his only great grandchild and he let me have what I wanted." (Amy Ella HAWKES SMITH)

From their history:
....As a boy he [Henry WORLEY (1827-1914)] apprenticed himself to different trades but none seemed to satisfy him until he learned button making from his brother-in-law Peter Poll. This was a very attractive business and later he owned and operated a button factory. They had a good business, a good home and were very happy. The factory was a two story building in the rear of their home with a stairway on the outside. William or Billie liked to slide down the stairs. When quite young he fell down the stairs and broke his nose which caused an eye condition that required attention. His mother used to take him to London for treatments by a specialist.

Catherine [WILLMORE WORLEY (1822-1904] always cooked a good hot meal for the men that worked in the factory and they all learned to love her dearly, they begged her not to leave them to go to Utah.

Glass buttons made by Henry WORLEY

...twenty one years after Henry and Catherine were baptized they prepared to leave their native land. They offered their household goods for sale. When most of the things were sold, they turned the button factory over to Henry's brother William and Henry left for Liverpool where he went to say goodbye to his sister Ann. He was to meet his wife and children later. When all the things were sold a cabman came and took Catherine and the rest of the children which were Harry, Jane, Thomas and William or Billie (as he was called). She was put on board the ship with her family and no father was there. Can you imagine her feelings when the ship left the dock without him. On arriving at Queenstown to their happy surprise there was their father. He had missed the boat, so he took a train and met the boat as it stopped for passengers.

Pedigree link: Myrle Smith Dalton-McIntosh 1933- /4 Amy Ella HAWKES 1897-1971 / 5 Sarah Amy JONES 1875-1952 / 6 Sarah WORLEY1851-1925 / 7 Henry WORLEY 1827-1914 and Catherine WILLMORE 1822-1904

Corner of 3rd West and Center St., Logan, UT

Corner of 3rd West and Center St., Logan, UT
Henry and Catherine WORLEY home

"The whistle signalled that we had arrived at Logan.
Looking very earnestly for someone of our people, I espied a fellow with a broad brimmed hat, a pair of big boots with the trouser legs inside the tops of his boots, running down First South St. as hard as he could for the depot I recognized him to be my brother Alfred [Willmore]. Well, he was a strange looking fellow dressed that way in contrast to his Birmingham dress, but I was glad to meet him and have the greeting of welcome. Aunt [Catherine] Worley was there and Uncle [Henry Worley] with their team of mules and wagon to haul us home to the Worley's home, corner of 3rd West and Center St. During my greeting with brother Alfred, Father [George Edward Willmore] and his sister, Aunt Worley were hugging each other with such joy at meeting in Zion that they nearly got jammed..........Those that were the youngest rode up to Worleys. Alfred and I, with cousin Harry and Tom Worley, . . .walked up to see as we traveled and chatted together. .......After arriving at Worleys, Uncle Henry, Aunt Catherine [Willmore Worley], cousins Sarah Worley Jones and Catherine Worley Cowley had prepared a fine dinner for us, among which was some new kind of pie that looked like custard......Cousin Kate asked me how I liked it ......they told me it was a
squash pie,.....I thought what a funny country to make pies like that out of such things." (from Benjamin Willmore’s,“Fifty Years Among the Mormons”)

Henry WORLEY and Catherine WILLMORE WORLEY - two of Catherine's brothers and many nephews and nieces immigrated from Birmingham to Utah.

l948 Smith girls (Myrle 15years old)

My family used this picture of me to enter me in the Miss 15 year old Lux Soap Beauty Contest of the West. I won in my region (south SLC, Ut) To win the title, people then had to buy Lux soap, sent the paper wrapper to Lux Soap and vote for their favorite. A girl from Laramie, Wyoming won. I guess the whole town bought a truck load of Lux soap. All was not lost, however as it launched my TV model career that lasted until I left for BYU at the ripe old age of 17. I did advertisements and modeled for KDYL/KSL TV back when TV first came out and the picture was about as big as a postage stamp. I had some funny experiences there. It surely seemd like it lasted more than 2 years.