Ancestors

John Woodruffe

John Woodruffe was baptized in 1604 at St Mary Northgate, a parish church of Canterbury in Kent. He was the only son of John Woodroffe, a husbandman of Fordwich and Northgate, and his wife Elizabeth Cartwright. His father died in 1611, when John was about seven.

His mother married again. Her second husband, Mr. John Gosmer, was a gentleman of Fordwich, a small town on the River Stour below Canterbury, and had served as its mayor. John grew up at Fordwich. At thirty two he was a churchwarden there, one of the lay officers who kept the parish church and its accounts.

He married Anne, whose parentage is not known. The 1909 genealogist allowed that she might have been a daughter of John Gosmer by an earlier wife, but nothing proves it. Their son John was baptized in 1637 at Sturry, half a mile from Fordwich.

In 1639 or 1640 John, Anne and the baby left for New England with John Gosmer. They came by way of Lynn, in Massachusetts, and went on to found a new town at Southampton, on the east end of Long Island. Gosmer was one of its "undertakers," the men who organized the settlement.

A second son was born about 1650 and was also named John. There were daughters too, Anne, who married Robert Woolley, and Elizabeth. The younger John grew up in Gosmer's house, and in 1659 Gosmer gave him all his goods and lands as "my adopted sone." The elder John moved to Elizabeth Town in New Jersey.

John Woodruffe made his will on 4 May 1670. He died five days later, on 9 May, "in the 66th year of his age." The will was proved on 1 June. To his eldest son John, of Elizabeth Town, he left a half crown, a coin worth two shillings and sixpence. His daughters Anne and Elizabeth were to have twenty pounds each.

If John Woodruffe is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "John Woodruffe (1604-1670)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/john-woodruffe-1604-1670-470c96.