Husband of Elizabeth Robinson. Father to Theodore, William L., Stephen, Robert Robinson, Elizabeth, Mary, John A., Benjamin, And Edward/Edwin.William was killed by a falling tree. He died between the 1850-1860 census.
"From the memoirs of his great-great-grandson Guy Woodward:
If credence can be given to tales that I recall hearing as an infant, the Woodward lineage is likewise traceable to England through great-great-grandfather Woodward, who was said to have been a very junior member of a very large, and probably quite poor, family in an era when the eldest son received such heritage as might pass from father to son. With dim prospects for his future in that environment, this forebear elected to run away from home, probably still in his early teens, and find employment as a galley helper on a whaling ship.
Whaling ships remained at sea in the stormy, frigid north Atlantic continuously for many months and life aboard these vessels was no bed of roses. It is reported that while working as a galley helper the young Woodward went to throw a pan of potato peelings into the sea when he slipped on the icy deck and over the side. He would surely have been lost at sea had not his trousers been snagged by a spike protruding from the ship's side. There he dangled until his shouts brought crew members to pull him back aboard. On another occasion he was manning an oar in one of the small boats when a harpooned whale smashed the boat to bits. Woodward, not a swimmer, managed to keep afloat by clinging to a piece of wreckage until he was pulled into one of the other boats.
I have no way of knowing how long this Woodward's seafaring life continued or when it was that he landed in America, took a wife and eventually moved westward, possibly as a homesteader, to settle in Monroe County, Michigan. There he cleared a spot in the woods, built a log cabin and began the toilsome task of trying to eke out a living by farming the sandy soil of that region."
-Thank you to Contributor and cousin Darrell Brown
#47458585
note:
Michigan Wills and Probate Records:Probate Recorded in situ 2 Feb 1855 and filed 10 March 1856 for minor children of William Woodward , Monroe County, Michigan. Petition for guardianship of minor children (Robert, Edwin, Elizabeth, Mary and John Woodward) by John Enoch Willard
"From the memoirs of his great-great-grandson Guy Woodward:
If credence can be given to tales that I recall hearing as an infant, the Woodward lineage is likewise traceable to England through great-great-grandfather Woodward, who was said to have been a very junior member of a very large, and probably quite poor, family in an era when the eldest son received such heritage as might pass from father to son. With dim prospects for his future in that environment, this forebear elected to run away from home, probably still in his early teens, and find employment as a galley helper on a whaling ship.
Whaling ships remained at sea in the stormy, frigid north Atlantic continuously for many months and life aboard these vessels was no bed of roses. It is reported that while working as a galley helper the young Woodward went to throw a pan of potato peelings into the sea when he slipped on the icy deck and over the side. He would surely have been lost at sea had not his trousers been snagged by a spike protruding from the ship's side. There he dangled until his shouts brought crew members to pull him back aboard. On another occasion he was manning an oar in one of the small boats when a harpooned whale smashed the boat to bits. Woodward, not a swimmer, managed to keep afloat by clinging to a piece of wreckage until he was pulled into one of the other boats.
I have no way of knowing how long this Woodward's seafaring life continued or when it was that he landed in America, took a wife and eventually moved westward, possibly as a homesteader, to settle in Monroe County, Michigan. There he cleared a spot in the woods, built a log cabin and began the toilsome task of trying to eke out a living by farming the sandy soil of that region."
-Thank you to Contributor and cousin Darrell Brown
#47458585
note:
Michigan Wills and Probate Records:Probate Recorded in situ 2 Feb 1855 and filed 10 March 1856 for minor children of William Woodward , Monroe County, Michigan. Petition for guardianship of minor children (Robert, Edwin, Elizabeth, Mary and John Woodward) by John Enoch Willard
Husband of Elizabeth Robinson. Father to Theodore, William L., Stephen, Robert Robinson, Elizabeth, Mary, John A., Benjamin, And Edward/Edwin.William was killed by a falling tree. He died between the 1850-1860 census.
"From the memoirs of his great-great-grandson Guy Woodward:
If credence can be given to tales that I recall hearing as an infant, the Woodward lineage is likewise traceable to England through great-great-grandfather Woodward, who was said to have been a very junior member of a very large, and probably quite poor, family in an era when the eldest son received such heritage as might pass from father to son. With dim prospects for his future in that environment, this forebear elected to run away from home, probably still in his early teens, and find employment as a galley helper on a whaling ship.
Whaling ships remained at sea in the stormy, frigid north Atlantic continuously for many months and life aboard these vessels was no bed of roses. It is reported that while working as a galley helper the young Woodward went to throw a pan of potato peelings into the sea when he slipped on the icy deck and over the side. He would surely have been lost at sea had not his trousers been snagged by a spike protruding from the ship's side. There he dangled until his shouts brought crew members to pull him back aboard. On another occasion he was manning an oar in one of the small boats when a harpooned whale smashed the boat to bits. Woodward, not a swimmer, managed to keep afloat by clinging to a piece of wreckage until he was pulled into one of the other boats.
I have no way of knowing how long this Woodward's seafaring life continued or when it was that he landed in America, took a wife and eventually moved westward, possibly as a homesteader, to settle in Monroe County, Michigan. There he cleared a spot in the woods, built a log cabin and began the toilsome task of trying to eke out a living by farming the sandy soil of that region."
-Thank you to Contributor and cousin Darrell Brown
#47458585
note:
Michigan Wills and Probate Records:Probate Recorded in situ 2 Feb 1855 and filed 10 March 1856 for minor children of William Woodward , Monroe County, Michigan. Petition for guardianship of minor children (Robert, Edwin, Elizabeth, Mary and John Woodward) by John Enoch Willard
"From the memoirs of his great-great-grandson Guy Woodward:
If credence can be given to tales that I recall hearing as an infant, the Woodward lineage is likewise traceable to England through great-great-grandfather Woodward, who was said to have been a very junior member of a very large, and probably quite poor, family in an era when the eldest son received such heritage as might pass from father to son. With dim prospects for his future in that environment, this forebear elected to run away from home, probably still in his early teens, and find employment as a galley helper on a whaling ship.
Whaling ships remained at sea in the stormy, frigid north Atlantic continuously for many months and life aboard these vessels was no bed of roses. It is reported that while working as a galley helper the young Woodward went to throw a pan of potato peelings into the sea when he slipped on the icy deck and over the side. He would surely have been lost at sea had not his trousers been snagged by a spike protruding from the ship's side. There he dangled until his shouts brought crew members to pull him back aboard. On another occasion he was manning an oar in one of the small boats when a harpooned whale smashed the boat to bits. Woodward, not a swimmer, managed to keep afloat by clinging to a piece of wreckage until he was pulled into one of the other boats.
I have no way of knowing how long this Woodward's seafaring life continued or when it was that he landed in America, took a wife and eventually moved westward, possibly as a homesteader, to settle in Monroe County, Michigan. There he cleared a spot in the woods, built a log cabin and began the toilsome task of trying to eke out a living by farming the sandy soil of that region."
-Thank you to Contributor and cousin Darrell Brown
#47458585
note:
Michigan Wills and Probate Records:Probate Recorded in situ 2 Feb 1855 and filed 10 March 1856 for minor children of William Woodward , Monroe County, Michigan. Petition for guardianship of minor children (Robert, Edwin, Elizabeth, Mary and John Woodward) by John Enoch Willard
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