MySource:Cos1776/Woodwards WeSearch Research Newsletter

Vol 5 (Jul 1997), No 4

John Woodward of Wayne County, Indiana

Contributed by Nadine D. Holder

John Woodward moved from Tennessee to Wayne County, Indiana in 1814. He took up a claim of government land 16 August 1814, identified as teh SE 1/4 of Section 28, Township 16 North, Range 13 East.[1] The location was characterized as "where the Washington road intersects the National Pike,"[2] but of course at the time John Woodward came "the valleys and table-lands of the Whitewaters were a dense forest, where bear, the wolf, the panther, brushed their trunks."[3]

John was born in North Carolina, likely in Duplin County. The location can only be inferred by the location of Irish settlement in North Carolina along with the information that John's wife, Rachel, heard the canons during the Revolutionary War.[4] He is probably the John Woodward family found in the 1790 census in the Wilmington District. We know from census records that John's wife Rachel was also born in North Carolina, so they likely married there before moving to Tennessee.

In the 1820 Wayne County, Indiana census we learn something about the ages of the members of John Woodward's household members: John Woodward: 1 male 45 or over, 2 males 18 to 25, 1 male 16 to 18, 1 male under 10, 1 female 45 or over, 1 female 10-16, 2 females under 10, 3 persons engaged in agriculture, no slaves.

Sutherland, Isaac [residing next door], 1 male under 25 engaged in agriculture.

John Woodward wrote his will 4 January 1821. He names his wife, Rachel, sons Aaron, Patrick, and John, and Daughters: Ana, Lydia Sutherland, Jane, Rachel, and Eliza. John's son Aaron filed letters of administration on 16 February 1824,[5], however other estate records cannot be found.

From marriage records of Wayne County, Indiana, we know that Lydia Woodward married Isaac Sutherland on 2 September 1819. Ann Woodward married John Brown on 17 January 1821. aaron Woodward married Sarah Canady on 11 December 1823. Jane Woodward married Ezekiel dicks on 13 January 1825. Patrick Woodward married Elizabeth Gonover on 22 December 1831. John Woodward (Jr.) married Mary Crownover on 30 August 1832. Possibly Elizabeth Gonover and Mary Crownover were sisters. In various census records in Wayne County, the names of Conover, Gonover, and Crownover seem to be used interchangeably. Rachel Woodward married Harvy Welch on 9 January 1834. We find no evidence that Eliza Woodward ever married.

The 1830 Wayne County, Indiana (Jackson Township) census tells us: Rachel Woodward: 2 males 20-30, 2 females, 15-20, and 1 female 50-60.

Ezekiel Dix: 1 male 5-10, 1 male 20-30, and 1 female 20-30.

Aaron Woodward: 1 male 20-30, 1 female 20-30, and 3 females under 5.

John Brown: 1 male under 5, 1 male 30-40, 1 female under 5, and 1 female 30-40.

The Sutherlands are not found in Wayne County in 1830.

The 1840 Wayne County (Jackson Township census identifies the family group as:

Harvey Welsh: 1 male age 30-40, 2 males under 5, 1 female age 20-30, and 1 female under 5.

John Woodward: 1 male age 20-30, 1 male 70-80 (this appears to be an error as it should be John's mother Rachel), 1 male under 5, 1 female 20-30, 1 female 5-10, and 2 females under 5.

Aaron Woodward: 1 male 30-40, 1 male under 5, 1 female 30-40, 2 females 15-20, 1 female 10-25, 1 female 5-10, and 1 female under 5.

The Brown and Dicks families are not found in Wayne County in 1840.

The 1850 Wayne County (Center Township) census enumerated the following household members:

Harvey Welsh, farmer, age 46, born Tennessee (error, he was born North Carolina); Rachel Welsh, age 35, born in Tennessee; William Welsh, age 15; John Welsh, age 13; Joseph Welsh, age 9; Lydia Welsh, age 8; Patrick Welsh, age 6; Elizabeth Welsh, age 4; and Wiley Welsh, age 1.

Rachel Woodward, age 85, born in North Carolina; and Eliza Woodward, age 34, born in Indiana.

John Woodward, age 40, farmer, born in Tennessee; Elizabeth A. Woodward, age 31, born in Virginia (this is a second wife-Elizabeth Ann Leonard); Elizabeth Woodward, age 16; Mary Woodward, age 14; Angelina Woodward, age 12; Joseph Woodward, age 10, John Woodward, age 6; and Lydia M. Woodward, age 4.

Aaron and Patrick Woodward are no longer in Wayne County in 1850. William Conover married an Elizabeth Woodward on 23 January 1844 in Wayne County. This is possibly the second marriage of the widow of Patrick. In the 1860 census there is a William Crownover, age 40, born in Virginia with Elizabeth Crownover, age 44, born in Virginia, and Pat Woodward, age 24, born in Indiana.

We have been unsuccessful in finding further traces of Lydia Sutherland, Jane Dicks, Ann Brown, Aaron Woodward or Patrick Woodward. From an application to the Society of Indiana Pioneers [6] signed by Pauline Woodward Montgomery in 1957, we learn more of the family of John Woodward, Jr. Mrs. Montgomery stated that the date of birth of John Woodward, Jr. was 29 April 1810, and records his marriage to Betsey Ann Leonard on 17 December 1848, stating that both records are in the family Bible. A son, Benton Leonard Woodward, was born to John and Betsey on 28 January 1854. Benton L. Woodward married Mary Moore 23 March 1873, and had a son William Benton Woodward who married Anna Huddleston. William Benton Woodward and Anna Huddleston were the parents of Pauline Montgomery Woodward. [8] There is a handwritten notation on the application that states that Pauline Montgomery Woodward died 25 July 1982. Readers may be interested to know that she authored a book, Indiana Coverlet Weavers and Their Coverlets (Indianapolis: Hoosier Heritage Press, 1974).

Additional information is given about this family in Memoirs of Wayne County. Benton Leonard Woodward is listed as a citizen of the village of Dublin. His vocation is given as a dealer in coal, lime, cement, shingles, fence, fence posts, salt, feed, flour, etc., and the buying and selling of livestock.

Mr. Woodward came of staunch American lineage and is a representative of a family early founded in the State of Tennessee... The father came to Wayne County with his father in 1814, about two years prior to the admission of the State to the Union... The father secured his education in Wayne County, and there to the village of Dublin, where he purchased Daniel Crull's residence and passed the residue of his life. He died April 1, 1876, and his loved and devoted wife preceded him in death, as she passed away in Hamilton County, Indiana, in April 1861.

Rachel Woodward Welch and Harvey Welch had three other children born in Wayne County: Rachel, Hartwell, and Amanda. They left Wayne County, Indiana, about 1856 and moved to Mercer County, Illinois, where they had another son James. Their descendants are chronicled in a family history written by the author and her cousin, Jill Rebman Martin. [7] This history was written for family members and is not available for sale, but there are copies in the library at Richmond, Indiana, and at the museum at New Boston, Mercer County, Illinois.

Notes

[Author's address omitted for privacy]
[1] Margaret R. Waters. Indiana Land Entries, Volume 1, Cincinnati District, 1801-1840 (Reprint Kinghtstown, Ind.: The Bookmark) 101.
[2] Henry Clay Fox. Memoirs of Wayne County and the City of Richmond, Indiana (Madison, Wis.: Western Historical Association, 1912) I:243.
[3] John Macamy Wasson. Annals of Pioneer Settlers on the Whitewater and its Tributaries in the Vicinity of Richmond, Indiana, from 1804 to 1830 (Richmond, Ind.: Press of the Telegram Printing Company, 1875), 4.
[4] Letter written by the author's grandfather, Fred Eikenberry, to his sister Bertha in 1935. The letter is in possession of Bertha's granddaughter, Jill Rebman Martin. Fred Eikenberry spent some of his early childhood years in the home of Rachel Woodward Welch, John Woodward's daughter.
[5] Wayne County, Indiana, Probate Book A (1818-1831): 92.
[6] The Society of Indiana Pioneers, 315 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, will furnish copies of applications for a fee.
[7] Nadine Duguid Holder and Jill Rebman Martin, Harvey and Rachel Woodward Welch of Wayne County, Indiana, and Mercer County, Illinois, unpublished manuscript, 1996.

Comments

[8. cos1776 note: was she Pauline (Woodward) Montgomery or Pauline Montgomery Woodward?]