Borough of Haworth, New Jersey History of Haworth's Name

"Story of Haworth's name is a gothic page-turner"

The Record - Saturday, June 10, 2006

By SONI SANGHA
STAFF WRITER
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It may not be the mystery of the Sphinx, but for interested residents and local history buffs, the definitive origin of Haworth's name has been an enigma for decades.

While residents Beth Potter, Margaret Cooper and Ruth Kelly doggedly traveled as far as Trenton to chase property deeds and wills for clues, the answer was as close as their computer. Today the three self-appointed history sleuths will reveal the answer at the library at 10:30 a.m., joined by the great-great-granddaughters of the man responsible for giving the borough its name.

"It became like a Nancy Drew quest," said Potter, a Haworth resident and house historian by profession. "It's almost anticlimactic after all this work we went through."

For decades, the prevailing theory was that the borough was named for Haworth, the small English burg best known as the home of the Bronte sisters, the authors responsible for the classics "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights." But that wasn't the only theory. Some had speculated the borough was named for a British entomologist and botanist named Adrian Haworth. Others thought the home to about 3,400 residents was named for the South African flowering plant Haworthia. Speculation abounded, but hard facts did not.

"I think it's fabulous they took the time to discover this," said Mayor John DeRienzo.

Interest in discovering the origins of the name intensified just before the borough's centennial celebration in 2004. A librarian who noticed Potter, Cooper and Kelly were all interested in the borough's history united the three women. The trio's goal became finding the answer to the name question and including it in the borough's 100th anniversary book. A previous book indicated that Haworth was probably named for the English town but said there were no records to prove it.

They started searching for people who had ties to England and were influential in the borough. One lead pointed to mover and shaker Marion Harland, a 19th century author whose family lived in the community and who was a fan of Charlotte Bronte, author of "Jane Eyre." The ladies say they contacted descendants and received no answers and no additional clues.

"We had so many red herrings and it takes ages to figure it all out," said Cooper.

They also examined another influence at the time – the railroads, which arrived in 1872 and markedly increased the borough's expansion. In tracing the history of the railroad station, they discovered that the borough's name existed before Haworth was incorporated in 1904. But they were still lacking a definite answer.

"I almost thought we'd have to have a seance to find the answer," said Potter.

It turns out what they needed was a computer.

Three months ago, Potter was conducting a regular check of eBay to see if any Haworth-related items turned up online. She hit the jackpot. Potter discovered a 1923 directory of names and addresses. Inside was a line that identified John Sauzade as the person who had named the borough. Sauzade, it turns out, was a literary aficionado with significant real estate holdings who named the train station Haworth in honor of the Brontes' hometown. The borough would grow around it and adopt its name.

Using wills and obituaries, Potter tracked his descendants, Laurie Gioia and Ellen Forbes of Massachusetts. Both will explore their family roots when they come to Haworth this weekend. They will tour Jersey City, where Sauzade lived, and will visit his grave in Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn.

"It was like a big relief," Cooper said. "Finally, an answer."

E-mail: sangha@northjersey.com

Reproduced with permission of North Jersey Media Group. The Borough of Haworth is grateful to North Jersey Media Group for their kind permission to post this article. The Record has not endorsed any person, enterprise, service or product connected with this article.