Pioneer Information
Born into enslavement in Union County, South Carolina, McWorter was relocated to Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1795 to manage his enslaver’s land holdings. Four years later McWorter married Lucy (1771-1870), a woman enslaved on a nearby farm. McWorter often hired himself out for labor, expanding his knowledge about frontier farmsteads, mining, and saltpeter manufacturing. McWorter’s ventures were so successful that by 1817 he was able to purchase his pregnant wife’s freedom for $800, ensuring that their child would be born free. The couple had thirteen previous children born into enslavement, of which only four would live to adulthood. In 1819 McWorter purchased his own freedom, earning the moniker “Free Frank.” For the next ten years he invested in land and continued to operate his salt and saltpeter works.
In 1830, after trading one of his saltpeter operations for the freedom of a son who had escaped to Canada but wanted to return to the United States, McWorter sold his Kentucky holdings and moved his family to the free state of Illinois. In 1835 he purchased 80 acres in the Hadley Township of Pike County where he laid out a 42-acre gridiron city plan comprising 144 rectangular lots. The remaining acreage was dedicated to farming. McWorter registered his plans for the town, named New Philadelphia, with the county, becoming the first African American to plat and register a town in the United States. As the town grew, attracting both African American and European American residents, McWorter continued to help enslaved African Americans find freedom, operating the town as a stop on the Underground Railroad and purchasing the freedom of fifteen of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. McWorter died at the age of 77 and is buried in New Philadelphia’s McWorter Family Cemetery.
