As we move down the Woodruff generations, we come to Nathaniel Woodruff, son of Joseph Woodruff and Hannah (MNU), who settled in Westfield, Union, New Jersey.

Today’s post is the third of 3 parts – 9C – pertaining to documented information that has been about this Nathaniel Woodruff.

Nathaniel Woodruff was born c1719, most likely in Westfield, but possibly in neighboring Elizabethtown, the 7th of 13 children born to Joseph and Hannah (MNU) Woodruff.

Have you ever heard of the old saying “a rolling stone gathers no moss”? Well, Nathaniel Woodruff was a man on the move for most of his adult life. That has been proven by the timeline created in Part 9B.

Now, it’s time to weave those facts into an understandable and documented story of Nathaniel’s life.

There is no official marriage record or any other New Jersey document naming Nathaniel alone, or with the name of his wife, and proving when he married.

However, being born c1719 and with most men of that time period marrying between the ages of 21 and 25, let’s say Nathaniel was married c1741, when he would have been about 22 years old.

Two deeds dated in 1768 in Amherst County, Virginia name Nathaniel and his wife, Hannah. Given that Nathaniel’s only proven-without-a-doubt son, Samuel, named his first daughter Hannah, it is very possible that Hannah in Amherst County is Samuel’s mother.

Whether Hannah was a first wife, though, is unknown, since it is thought that there might be a 20 year gap between Nathaniel’s presumed son, Nathaniel Jr., born c1743 and Samuel, born no later than 1764. Of course, Samuel might have been born several years earlier, but no other documents have surfaced to narrow down his birth year any tighter.

So, given the available facts, my theory for now is that Nathaniel Woodruff married (1) Hannah (MNU), c1741, probably in Essex County, New Jersey.

Both of Nathaniel’s parents – Joseph and Hannah – died in 1742 and where Nathaniel lived before 1765 is not known. He might have stayed in New Jersey for a number of years or removed elsewhere before settling in Amherst County, Virginia.

Nathaniel entered surveys for land in Amherst County, Virginia in late 1765 and early 1766.

However, by 6 October 1768, Nathaniel and Hannah Woodruff sold part of their land (270 acres) to John Webb. Sometime between fall of 1768 and the day the Surry County, North Carolina taxman collected real and personal property taxes, the Woodruff family removed to Surry County.

Note, though, that they still owned land back in Virginia.

Hannah appears in no other records and she died between 6 October 1768 and 20 December 1784, when Nathaniel and Susannah Woodruff of Surry County sold land back in Amherst County.

Therefore, Nathaniel Woodruff married (2) Susannah (MNU), between 6 October 1768 and 20 December 1784.

Susannah appears to have died before 7 April 1786 when Nathaniel sold land to his son, Samuel. No dower rights were released in 1786 or in 1788, when Nathaniel sold off the last of his Surry County land in anticipation of his move to Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

Who were Nathaniel’s children? There is only one document naming Nathaniel’s relationship to a child of his and that is the 1786 deed just mentioned.

However, looking at the 1771 tax list of Surry County, North Carolina, there are several Woodruffs identified – Nathaniel with 2 polls, Nat, Joseph, and Thomas. By 1772, though, only one Nathaniel, but with 2 polls, and Thomas are found.

The families of Nathaniel Woodruff and his nephew, Moses Woodruff, are the two branches of the New Jersey family who settled in Surry County. Moses arrived a little later – by 1777 – and he didn’t have a son named Nathaniel, nor did he have a son named Joseph or Thomas.

So, who were the second Nathaniel, Joseph and Thomas Woodruffs on the 1771 tax list?

At this time, my theory is that the second Nathaniel and Joseph were sons of Nathaniel and Hannah. It’s very possible, too, that Thomas was also a son. The only hesitation I have with that is the fact that Nathaniel Sr. had a brother, Thomas, born c1722, and the Woodruff family histories have little to say about him. Whether that means he died young in New Jersey or went to North Carolina, I can’t venture a guess.

Not all of Surry County’s early tax lists have survived. The next list on which Woodruffs are found is that of 1777 when they lived in Jabez Jarvis’s district. For that year, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, and Joseph Woodruff are listed, along with newcomer Moses Woodruff, Nathaniel Sr.’s nephew.

However, on 8 August 1778, Thomas Woodruff entered a land survey for 300 acres. Further, on 12 May 1786, John Burch had a survey entered and the land description states his land bordered that of Thomas Woodruff.

In 1782, during the war, the tax list includes Nathaniel Sr., Joseph, Moses and we find the re-appearance of Thomas Woodruff.

Given that one Thomas Woodruff also appeared in Spartanburg County, South Carolina in the 1790 census, I believe, for now, that Thomas was another son of Nathaniel. As for daughters – if Nathaniel had daughters, most of them have been lost to time and not found in marriage records of Amherst or Surry Counties.

I have found no evidence that Thomas and his proposed second wife, Susannah, had any surviving children.

Possible Children of Nathaniel and Hannah:

1. Nathaniel, born, perhaps between 1742 and no later than 1750, as he was taxed in 1771, so 21 by that time
2. Thomas, born perhaps between 1744 and no later than 1750, as he was taxed in 1771, so 21 by that time
3. Joseph, born perhaps between 1746 and no later than 1756, as he was taxed in 1777, so 21 by that time; died before 24 December 1817, when his will was proved; married Anne Lindsey
4. Samuel, thought to have been born c1762 and no later than 1765, as he bought land from his father in 1786, so had to be 21 by that time; married Jennet Woodruff, daughter of Moses and Phebe (MNU) Woodruff, c1785

If descendants can provide any more official documents that add to the life story of Nathaniel Woodruff, please leave a comment.

The next family sketch will cover the family of Samuel and Jennet (Woodruff) Woodruff, which is my husband’s ancestral line.