The Woodruffs: Machiasport Maine 1861 emmigrate to West

William Hyram had two brothers, Frank and Joseph, and one sister.G-VII: Otis Woodruff, from farmer to gold field vessel venture partner and lumberman.

b 1794 machias-d. 1876 machias.

GVIII: Jonathan Woodruff II, b 1770 died >1820>?

GIX: The revolutionary War Generation:

1. Jonathan Woodruff

2. Daniel Meserve

Current Studies:

THE LAST GENERATION OF WOODRUFFS BEFORE LEAVING THE EAST COAST FOR THE GOLD FIELDS

1760-1860 Machiasport Maine: California and Nevada 1866-1880, Montana 1910

Note: The last of our generations to live in Machias were Earl and Otis. abt 1800-1880.

Otis's oldest son Aaron, had a son who went on to be a chemist graduating Brown University (William O. Woodruff)

Private Jonathan Woodruff: 1730-1790 The Great Great Grandfather of William Hyram Woodruff of Butte Montana: THE ELDEST HISTORICALLY PROVABLE WOODRUFF ANCESTOR: Emerges in the historical record as the recipient of a land grant in Cornwallis Nova Scotia, around 1762, and likely was married in Scarborough to the Widow Ackley, depending on whether her lands in Cornwallis were owned by her former husband before his death (Mr. Benajah Ackley).

Personal Note to Portland Hagens" Interestingly the Gruetter's are descended from Benajah on Belle Babb's side, but I believe he too had a first wife so I believe there is no shared blood.

Private Daniel Meserve: 1730-1790 The OTHER Great Great Grandfather: THE ELDEST HISTORICALLY PROVABLE WOODRUFF ANCESTOR:

Prior to 1760. Jonathan Woodruff is the only of the Woodruff ancestors that were not part of the emmigration of 1765 from Scarborough Maine which had severe fires and drought, and Machias. He must have married Widow Ackley in Scarborough, but the most likely place for him to have originated is Connecticut. He was with the Longfellows so perhaps there origins might also shed light unless they passed through Scarsborough en route to Nova Scotia.

-1860 Machiasport Maine: California and Nevada 1866-1880, Montana 1910

Note: The last of our generations to live in Machias were Earl and Otis. abt 1800-1880.

Otis's oldest son Aaron, had a son who went on to be a chemist graduating Brown University (William O. Woodruff)

Gen 1: Jonathan Woodruff A "Cornwallis Nova Scotia Man", along with grandson of H.W. Longfellow, moved To Machias Maine 1765

b. 1730 ? MArried Lurana Gill or Lurana Bill or Laurania Gill, the widower of Benajah Ackley, of Scarborough, Maine, moved to Machias, Maine after a time in Cornwallis Nova Scotia. Jonathan Woodruff's earliest known whereabouts was COrnwallis Nova Scotia Was a belligerent against the Crown.

Gen 2: Jonathan Woodruff b. 1770 ? Machias Maine.

Gen 3: Otis and Earl Woodruff born 1799.

Gen 4: Horatio and his cousin ? James William Or James Warren - neighbors in Gold Hill. Horatios brother Aaron stays on the East Coast, and his sister Sarah born 1835 I cannot find after 1870.

Gen 5: William Hyram Woodruff

Gen 6: Gertrude Marie Woodruff

Generation 1:

ii Anna, [b prob Scarborough], m abt 1774-75 (first child b. 3 Nov 1775, per Jackman’s Machias, p. 6) Benajah Ackley (Machias Memorial, p. 166), b 1754-55 (from ae at death) prob son of Benajah & Lurana (Gill) Ackley of Lebanon CT (see discussion below), d. Whiting 16 May 1830, ae 75 y (Eastport Sentinel, p. 106, issue of 2 Jun 1830; his death date listed as 16 May “1829” in Whiting VT). [Benajah Ackley’s parentage is not found in any single document, however a strong case can be built that he was the son of Benajah Ackley of East Haddam CT who m Lebanon CT 21 May 1747 Lurana Bill (Rev. Frederic W. Bailey, Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1900, Fifth Book [1968], p. 43). Lurana moved to Cornwallis NS about 1760-61-her husband either dying before or shortly after the move, as Lurana was undoubtedly the “Lawrence” Akley listed as one of the original grantees of land in Cornwallis along with her brother Amos Bill and other members of the Bill family (Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, The History of Kings County, Nova Scotia [1910], p. 74). Lurana m (2) [prob in NS] Jonathan Woodruff, this being proven by a land conveyance dated 22 May 1765 in which Jonathan and “Laurania” sold land that “was granted to the said Laurania Woodruff (before her marriage with the said Jonathan Woodruff by the name of Laurania Ackley). . .” (FHL film #567, 506, Deeds at Cornwallis, NS, vols. 1 and 2, 1764-1792, p. 20, recorded instrument 18). Jonathan Woodruff and his wife and children moved to Machias by 1769, as evidenced by his signature on a petition of Machias residents (Drisko’s Machias, p. 20). As Benajah is the only Ackley found in Maine before 1790, and with the repetition of the unusual name Benajah, it is likely that he was a son of Lurana (Bill) (Ackley) Woodruff by her 1st marriage. Furthermore, Samuel Holmes, Anna’s father, owned 2 marsh lots situated on Woodruff Cove in Machias, suggesting the Woodruffs lived in Machias near the Holmes’s and Ackley’s (John Cooper, chief appraiser, “Record of Valuations of Houses & Lands in the 2nd District, 1st Division, Massachusetts 1799” [MS, MHS Coll. 1269, Vol 3]).]

THE LONGFELLOW FAMILY

Jonathan1 Longfellow (Nathan, William,) a first cousin once removed of the grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet, was born May 23, 1714, and Oct. 28, 1731, m. Mercy Clark, b. Oct. 28, 1731. In 1760 he removed from Nottingham, N. H., to Cornwallis, but in 1765 went to Machias, Me., where he spent the rest of his life, and died. Other Cornwallis men who went to Machias were, Jone Pineo, Archelaus Hammond, Jabez West, and Jonathan Woodruff. Before he left Cornwallis Mr. Longfellow sold his property to his son Nathan. Children:

William Hyram Woodruff's parents were Anna Gertrude Flick of New Jersey, daughter of a blacksmith, and Horatio E. Woodruff.

Horatio E Woodruff born March of 1836 to as late as 1838 in Machias Maine, father of William Hyram Woodruff. In the history of Montana he is cited as having come from Machiasport Maine, and census records where we can positively ID William H and Horatio E along with his wife Anne Gertrude Flick (I Believe the G is Gertrude) in Gold Hill Nevada.

TRACING HORATIO TO MAINE:

In Gold Hill, two Woodruffs from Maine lived side by side, James Warren or James William. sometimeAnd Horatio both from Maine. This is in 1870. We know they passed through California because WIlliam Hyram's older sibling Frank was born in 1866 in California. This corresponds with the Histiory Of Montana. Horatio came through California, and he probably met Annie Flick in California. Horatio had 1 brother Aaron, if the Horatio of Gold Hill is indeed the Horatio of Machias Maine.Aaron was still living in Machias in 1880

The J W Woodruff born in 1830 in Machias Maine and who married Nelly and moved to California, what was his relation to Horatio ? Horatio appears to be the son of Sarah Meserve and Otis Woodruff. This K W Woodruff or James Warren Woodruff, or

THE WOODRUFF AND ASCHENBACH FAMILIES OF 1910 BUTTE and their descendents: William Woodruff and Catherine Anna Aschenbach had two children

Marie Hoenneger and Eric

William Hyram Woodruff and Catherine Anna Aschenbach had two children:

William Woodruff (Killed in a tobaganing accident at 13)

Gertrude Marie Woodruff