Re: Matthew Woodruff 's[b.1612-16] Father???
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In reply to:
Re: Matthew Woodruff 's[b.1612-16] Father???
billie wilde 4/11/11
Unfortunately the link between Matthew Woodruff and Sir David is less likely than more likely.My ancestor, Frederick Orr Woodruff, was the author of the 1925 Woodruff Genealogy tracing Matthew Woodruff's ancestry (with a hard-to-find, but very interesting family connection to Benjamin Franklin).
In this book, he stated quite clearly that he had believed, for a time, the Sir David connection, but was forced to conclude that it did not exist.It seems Sir David never had a son named Matthew.
But the story of how the connection became known as fact (as published in various journals and books) is interesting - it follows below.
I had another lead at one time (I don't remember its origin) that Matthew was born in Cambridge and that his birth record could be found there.I went to the Cambridge archives and retrieved a birth record for a Matthew Woodruff, born 28 July 1616.His father's name was Matthew Woodruff and his mother's name was Margaret Sander.I reviewed the transcribed record and a microfiche of the original handwritten record ("Mathue Wodrufe").
However, this birth record isn't enough to prove that he is the emigrant ancestor either!I've done the DNA test and it clearly shows my descent from Matthew (Jr?).I'd love to find someone in England who has proven DNA descent from Matthew (Sr?) and Margaret and compare the two!
In any event, I will be in London at the end of September 2011 attending the NEHGS English Research Week.I intend to do two things with regard to Matthew:
1.Re-research the children of Sir David to see if he DID have a son named Matthew.
2.See if I can find more records for Matthew (Jr?) - trace his life and movements in England.
Here is the excerpt from Frederick O. Woodruff's 1925 genealogy addressing this issue.
From Woodruff Genealogy, pub. 1925:
NOTE – Regarding Woodruff’s [sic] of Wooley, England
Regarding the genealogy of the Woodruff Family, published in Volume III of the Colonial Families of the United States, will say that the circumstances surrounding the record of Matthew Woodruff in said book are as follows:
Sometime in 1910 a party called on me stating that his name was Norris Woodruff, that he was from England and naturally well acquainted with the Woodruff Families there, that he was a descendant of the Woodruffs of Wooley, England, and for a consideration would give out details that would establish a direct connection between the Woodruffs of England and the Woodruffs of the United States.Naturally I was interested and agreed to pay his price for said information, which was as follows:
The Genealogy of Woodruffs of Wooley, England.
Coming down to the time of Sir David Woodruff of Poyle, who married in 1611 Lettice Duncombe.
Issue:
Matthew, born 1612 and died 1682
Thomas
David
George
Robert
Nicholas
Six daughters
He claimed he had investigated and found that Matthew Woodruff, the emigrant, was born in London in 1612, that he came from England with his wife, Hannah, and settled in Hartford, Conn., and died in Farmington, Conn., in 1682.
I advised him to take up the matter with Mr. George N. Mackenzie who was to publish Volume III of the Colonial Families of the United States.
Later Mr. Mackenzie wrote asking if I would furnish him the genealogy of my branch of the Woodruff Family in America from the time of Matthew Woodruff, the emigrant.If so, he believed a direct connection could be established between the Woodruff family of Wooley, England and the Woodruff Family of America.
I agreed to this and furnished Mr. Mackenzie with the American Genealogy (My branch of the Woodruff Family) from Matthew Woodruff, the emigrant, and the same was published as it appears in Volume III of the Colonial Families of the United States.After this was published, it occurred to me to take up the matter and substantiate certain data furnished by Norris Woodruff.Therefore, entered into correspondence with several genealogists in London: after considerable research by them and considerable financial cost to me, they reported as far as they could learn, Sir David Woodruff of Poyle, England, had no son by the name of Matthew.They did, however, report [the other] five sons as described above.
Therefore, it is my sincere belief that this party who styled himself as Norris Woodruff and sold the information to Mr. Mackenzie and myself was an imposter, for as far as I can learn, Sir David Woodruff of Poyle, England, had no son by the name of Matthew – and if Matthew Woodruff, the emigrant, was connected with the Woodruffs of Wooley, England, it was through some other branch of the family.