I promised earlier in the month to cover the Woodward family, who settled early in Sudbury, Essex, Massachusetts until Mary Woodward married Robert Wilson in 1759 and they settled on Campobello Island in Canada.

Today, we return to the family sketch about Mary’s parents, John Woodward and Saphira Moore, and her siblings in Sudbury, a very old town in Middlesex County, founded in 1639.

Both the Moores and the Woodwards had settled in Sudbury by the 1640s.

John Woodward was born on 17 April 1692 in Sudbury, the son of John Woodward and Susannah Grout. John died in Sudbury and probate on his estate, which was eventually declared insolvent, began on 5 April 1762. He married (1) Saphira Moore, 1 August 1721 in Sudbury. She was born 4 August 1701, the daughter of Joseph Moore and Elizabeth Cleveland, and died on 9 February 1738/39, both in Sudbury.  Saphira died giving birth to her 7th child, Abigail, born on 8 February 1738/39. Abigail died on the same day as her mother. (2) Abigail Learned, 10 March 1739/40, Sherborn, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

Children of John Woodward and Saphira Moore (All events in Sudbury unless otherwise noted.):

1. Josiah, born 20 November 1721. No further record. He likely died young.
2. Elizabeth, born 27 December 1726; married Edmund Allen, 10 March 1748. The Allens removed to Kennebec County, Maine. Edmund died in 1803. Elizabeth reportedly died in 1776.
3. Mary, born 24 February 1728/29; died before 7 February 1806, when probat4e on her estate began on Campobello Island, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada; married Robert Wilson, 22 February 1759.
4. Isaac, born 13 April 1732; died 9 March 1814, Swanzey, Cheshire, New Hampshire; married Susannah (Parmenter?), c1756.
5. Joseph, born about July 1734; died 28 July 1734
6. Susannah, born 21 August 1736; married William Clark, c1769, probably on Campobello Island, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada.
7. Abigail, born 8 February 1738/39; died 9 February 1738/39.

This branch of the Woodward family suffered many losses. Josiah, Joseph and Abigail all died at very young ages. The four surviving children lost their mother when they were small.

Their father left an insolvent estate when he passed away in 1762. He had remarried after Saphira’s death, but second wife Abigail had one child with John, a daughter, also names Abigail, born 26 August 1742, but who died at the age of 8 on 13 November 1750.

Not long after John died, Elizabeth, Mary and Susannah had all removed from Sudbury with their husbands. Even Isaac, whose children were born in Sudbury up to 1771, eventually left and moved to New Hampshire.