I have my Worcester line documented back to Reverend William Worcester born 1595 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. He held the position of Vicar of the Church of Olney in Buckinghampshire, having been educated at St. John's College (Cambridge) where he was ordained in 1622.

He retained his position as Vicar until 1636 until he refused to read from the Kings's book about allowing sports and recreation on the Lord's day. He was suspended from his position and disinherited by his father. Reverend William came to the colonies several years later settling in Salsbury, Massachusetts. A large number of Rev. William's descendants chose the clerical profession. To name just a few, Reverend Frances Worcester, his grandson Reverend Leonard Worcester to his son Reverend Samuel Austin Worcester, who worked for 34 years as a Missionary to the Cherokee Indians.

Reverend Samuel Worcester followed the long family history of standing up for his beliefs and went to prison because of his non-compliance with restrictions of missionaries living in Cherokee territory. Upon his eventual release over a year later, he filed a lawsuit against the State of Georgia (Worcester v. Georgia 1832) which went to the Supreme Court. The Court determined the State laws were unconstitutional and upheld Cherokee sovereignty. Reverend Worcester moved his family to Indian Territory in 1836 where he resumed his ministry until his death in Park Hill, Oklahoma. The Cherokee gave Reverend Worcester the honorary name A-tse-nu-sti, which translates to "messenger" in English.

I descend down to Benjamin Worcester, who fought in the Revoluationary War to Leverette Downs Worcester who arrived in New York, settled in Greene County, Wisconsin and finally in Hill City, Kansas.

There is much information on the web regarding this family and I will try to list the links I know of under Helpful links tab. I hightly recommend The Worcester Family website.