Walter Woodworth was born England by about 1612; his origins are thus far unknown. He migrated to New England by 1633, where he was first at Plymouth, and by 1635 had settled at Scituate when he is named in a land division. His last name is frequently seen as Woodward. He is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.
It appears that Walter came to Plymouth Colony as an identured servant, perhaps a short-term arrangement to pay his passage as he was was no longer a servant when taxed in 1633/4. In the colony he was a farmer and surveyor of highways. In 1664 he was granted land with another man and it is noted they “have a right as servants.” [Records of New Plymouth, hereafter PCR, 4:75]
“Walter Woodart” was assessed 9 shillings in Plymouth tax list of 2 January/27 March 1633/4. [PCR 1:26, 29] Walter Woodward was propounded as a freeman on 1 December 1640 and admitted 2 March 1640/1. [PCR 2:3, 8] Walter Woodward is in the Scituate section of freemen in 1639 (added after his admission on 2 March 1640/1), 1658, 29 May 1670 and early 1683. [PCR 5:275, 8:175, 198, 204] In July 1666 he was taxed 4 shillings 8 pence and 3 shillings 3 pence. [PCR 7:130]
Many early Scituate settlers were from Kent, followers of Rev. John Lothrop who was from Edgerton. However Lothrop arrived in Boston in September 1634, which is after Walter is first recorded in the colony.
Walter signed his will and a deed by mark but his inventory included books, so perhaps he could read but not write.
Walter married a woman whose name is unknown by about 1641 [approximate birth year of first born], likely at Scituate. They had ten children, all named in Water’s will [estimated births from Anderson]:
- Thomas born say 1641; married Deborah Damon at Scituate 8 February 1666[/7] [Scituate VR 2:336]; his house was destroyed by fire during King Philip’s War [Behan]; died 1719 Scituate [PCPR No. 23482]
- Sarah born Scituate say 1643; apparently was married by 26 November 1685 [father’s will]
- Joseph born say 1645; married Sarah Stockbridge at Scituate 6 January 1669[/70] [NEHGS Register, hereafter “NEHGR” 133:100]; died after June 1718 when he wrote his will [Behan]
- Elizabeth born say 1648; in court 27 October 1675, 7 March 1675/6 and 22 July 1676 [PCR 5:181-2, 188, 208] about her illegitimate child with Robert Stetson; apparently married by 26 November 1686 (father’s will)
- Mary born Scituate 10 March 1650/1 [Scituate VR 1:418]; married at Scituate 24 December 1677 Aaron Simmons/Simonson [Scituate VR 2:336]
- Benjamin born say 1656; m 1st by about 1680 Deborah —?—; m 2nd by 1691 Hannah —?—
- Isaac born about 1658; married Lydia Standlake [Plymouth County Land Records, hereafter PCLR, 8:172-74, 207-8]; removed to Little Compton and finally to Norwich CT where he died 1 April 1714 [Behan]
- Martha born say 1660; married Zachariah Damon June 1679 at Scituate [Scituate VR 2:96]; died after 27 May 1732 at Scituate when she conveyed land to daughter Hannah [Plymouth County Deeds 27:88]; had eight children
- Mehetable born 15 August 1662 Scituate; on 6 March 1676/7 Mary Ingham was tried for, and found not guilty of, witchcraft and her accuser was Mehitable Woodworth who was “almost bereaved of her senses” and “fell into violent fits.” [PCR 5:223]; unmarried on 26 November 1685 (father’s will)
- Abigail born about 1664; married John Jackson 24 December 1695 at Plymouth [Scituate VR 2:335]
I descend from Martha. I wrote about Martha and husband Zachariah Damon here. She and her brother Thomas married Damon siblings.
The Woodworth family lived on Kent Street near First Meeting House Cemetery in Scituate, amongst many men of Kent. [Sumner] He also had land at what was called Walter Woodworth’s Hill on the Northeast part of Walnut Tree Hill and on the first Herring Brook below Stockbridge’s Mill. [Deane]
Walter served his community in several ways:
- Scituate surveyor of highways, 4 June 1645, 2 June 1646, 3 June 1656. [PCR 2:84, 102, 3:100]
- He was in the Scituate section of 1644 Plymouth list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:191]
- Arbiter settling land disputes and the like 4 June 1645, 3 June 1662/3, 9 June 1665. [PCR 2:85, 4:31, 100]
- In 1653 Walter made inventory of the estate of Thomas Hickes of Scituate; and in 1672 conducted the inventory of William Soanes’ estate. [Behan]
- Served on jury [committee] to make division of lands between John Williams Sr and Jr, 3 March 1662. [PCR 4:31]
- On 9 June 1665 Walter Woodward was one of the men asked to help Scituate townsmen that are helping settle the bounds of some lands of William Randall but are being hindered by Turner’s unworthy speeches. [PCR 4:100]
- Coroner’s jury 1 July 1680 about the sudden death of an approximately six month old child of Thomas Hatch of Scituate, who had been sick with a cold and was in a bed with two people including his sister Sarah where he was found dead, face down. Determined he suffocated from lying on his face or “accidentally over layed in the bed.” [PCR 6:45]
Records pertaining to Walter’s land:
- In February 1634/5 and April 1635 Scituate division of land, Walter received the third lot as a houselot on corner of Kent Street and Meetinghouse Lane. [Deane] He also received a tract on the First Herring Brook not far below the Stockbridge Mill and another tract on the northeast side of Walnut Tree Hill just west of the present Queensbush or South Scituate railroad station, which in early times was called Walter Woodworth’s Hill. These were the first of what became Walter’s considerable land holdings. [Behan]
- On 12 June 1642, Anthony Annable of Barnstable sold for £19 to Thomas Rauline of Scituate, houses, outhouses, and a large amount of land adjoining to that of Walter Woodward on the east side and to the swamp of the Herring Brook on the west side. [PCR 12:85]
- In a 13 November 1643: Deed from Samuell House to Thomas Tilden, land in Scituate near North River bounded by marshland of Walter Woodward. [PCR 12:101]
- On 20 April 1644 Samuell House of Cambridge sold Scituate land to Thomas Tilden, also mentions Scituate land bounding marshland of Walter Woodward of Scituate. [PCR 12:101]
- 25 March 1650: Deed of a parcel of marshland bounded on the west by land of Walter Woodward, once of William Hatch Sr, and by the First Herring Brook. [The Mayflower Descendant 1:92]
- Walter is on the 3 June 1662 list of servants and ancient freemen granted land at Saconnett Neck, later Little Compton, Rhode Island [PCR 4:18) and as a consequence on 4 October 1664 was granted 60 acres. [PCR 4:75]
- On 4 Oct 1664, Plymouth Court granted unto John Hanmore and Walter Woodward, of Scituate, “who have a right as servants” unto each of them is granted sixty acres of and near about the place abovementioned [near the line between Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay], and also that they pay the Indian purchase for it if any be justly demanded. [PCR 4:75]
- On 5 June 1666 court granted 50 acres of land unto Joseph Whiston, heir of John Whiston deceased, at the southernmost side of land granted to Walter Woodward upon the path from Bridgewater to Weymouth, bounding at the east end upon a little brook, and the west end by the common land and the southernmost side likewise to the common. [PCR 4:129]
- 5 July 1666: Walter Woodworth taxed for purchase of Indian Purchase for the west end of town. [PCR 7:130]
- On 14 November 1670 Isaac Stedman of Muddy River sold Scituate land to John Otis two acres of which “was disposed of by the said Isacke Stedman unto Walter Woodworth.” [PCLR 3:184]
- In 1673 with Josiah Winslow and 27 others, we was at Plymouth Colony Court to establish right to land in Little Compton RI. He received a whole share of the land, then called Seconet, which included Lot No. 2 in the First Purchase, drawn at Duxbury in 1674. [Behan]
- In 1675 Walter drew two adjoining 50 acre lots in Seconet together with Thomas Williams in the Second Purchase. [Behan]
Court involvement:
- At 8 June 1651 Court, Walter Woodward was one of the men who gave evidence about George Russell and Isaac Stedman concerning their encroachment on common undivided lands in Scituate. [PCR 2:170]
- On 7 July 1681 “Walter Woodworth of Scittuate” sued Japhett Turner for £10 for tearing down some of his fencing on the northerly side of the First Herring Brook between his house and John Turner’s and was awarded “five shillings damage and the cost of the suit;” the “Bill of Cost,” apparently prepared by Woodworth himself, totaled £3 16s. [PCR 7:238-9]
- In 1673 with Josiah Winslow and 27 others, he was at Plymouth Court to establish right to land in Little Compton. [Sumner]
Walter Woodworth was one of the brethren of Rev. Chauncy’s Church who gave him a house and land in 1653 and confirmed it by deed the following July. He signed the deed with his mark. [Bangs] On 24 October 1679 it was voted that the two religious groups in town would reconcile, “that we may be one Societie in peace and love, that then the place for our publicke worship shall be at Walter Woodworth’s hill, or the center of the present inhabitants of the Town.” [Deane]
Mrs. Woodworth died after March 1676 [court case mentions Mehitable Woodworth’s parents] but before 26 November 1685 [not named in husband’s will].
Walter died between 26 November 1685 (date of will) and 25 February 1685/6 (date of inventory), likely closer to the latter date. In his will, Walter Woodward of “Sittuate,” being weak in body but of sound and perfect memory, left the following bequests: [PCLR 5:382-85]
- Thomas Woodward ,my eldest son, a parcel of upland containing five acres bounded to the north by the Common in Scituate
- my two sons Thomas & Joseph Woodward ten acres of marshland in Scituate to be equally divided
- to the said Thomas my son one-third part of all my lands at Seconet which is purchased, & the other two-thirds I give unto my son two sons Beniamin & Isaak Woodword to be equally divided excepting twenty & five acres which I do give unto my son Joseph…& ten acres the which I do give unto my daughter Martha
- all the rest of my land at Seconnett which is yet to be purchased I give unto my two sons Thomas & Joseph Woodward to be equally divided
- Beniamin my son aforesaid my dwelling house with my barn & other outhousing with all my land both upland and marshland thereunto belonging, that is to say twenty acres of upland…& six acres of marshland…upon condition that my son Beniamin aforesaid do pay & allow the sum of seventy pounds unto my son Joseph & my six daughters Sarah, Elyzabeth, Mary, Martha, Mehetebel & Abigaile £10 a piece, and permit my two daughters Mehetabel & Abigaile to live in the house as long as they are unmarried
- my said two daughters Mehetabel & Abigaile my feather bed with the furniture thereunto belonging & all the rest of my household goods I give unto my six daughters Sarah, Elyzabeth, Mary, Martha, Mehetabel & Abigaile to be divided equally
- residue of estate after funeral expenses and other debts paid to be equally divided by all my children
He named his son Beniamin sole executor and two sons Thomas & Joseph overseers. He signed his will by mark. Witnessed by Thomas King Sr, Thomas Palmer, and Charles Stockbridge, who made oath at court on 2 March 1685/6.
The inventory of the estate of Walter Woodward of Scituate was taken 25 February 1685/6 and presented at court by Benjamin Woodward on 2 March 1685/6. It totaled £355 10s. [PCLR 5:383-4] It included purse with cash, apparel, books, three beds and other furniture, kitchen items, spinning wheel, sheep’s wool, four cows, on oxen, three young cattle, two sheep, and 12 bushels of Indian corn.
Real estate listed in his inventory:
- one dwelling house & barn & upland & meadowland adjoining thereto with common privileges, £140
- ten acres of salt meadow land, £50
- five acres of upland, £20
- one whole share of land at Saconet [Little Compton], £100
Various unproven claims: There is some speculation Walter married Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers, but no proof of this has been found. There is also a story that he came to New England with two brothers, but again no proof. The 1898 Woodworth genealogy assigns a son Walter but modern researchers agree this is an error.
Resources:
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995, pg 2064-7
Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, 12 vols. (New York: AMS Press, 1968)
Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, The Seventeenth Century Town Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, Volume Two, 1999
Harvey Hunter Pratt, Early Planters of Scituate, 1929
Samuel Deane, History of Scituate Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1831, 1831
Edith Bartlett Sumner, Ancestry and Descendants of Samuel Bartlett and Lucy Jenkins, 1951
Jeanette Woodworth Behan, The Woodworth Family of America: Descendants of Walter Woodworth of 1630 Through Six Generations, Volume 1, published by author, 1988
