The progenitor of the Woodward family in America, Richard Woodward, was born in England in the year 1589. He embarked October 10, 1634, at Ipswich, England, for New England, making the voyage in the "Elizabeth," and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts. His wife's given name was Rose.
(II) George, son of Richard Woodward, was born in England in 1621, accompanied his father to America, and died May 31, 1676. His wife's name was Mary.
(III) John, son of George and Mary Woodward, was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, March 20, 1651, died in 1728. His second wife was Sarah Bancroft.
(IV) Joseph, son of John and Sarah (Bancroft) Woodward, was born in Newton, Massachusetts, November 26, 1688, died May 30, 1727. He married, June 24, 1714, Elizabeth Silsby.
(V) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) and Elizabeth (Silsby) Woodward, was born February 26, 1725-26, in Canterbury, Connecticut, died July 8, 1814, at Ashford, Connecticut. He filled many public positions in Windham and Ashford, and for twenty-six years held the most important offices in the gift of his townsmen. He served in the revolutionary war, and was in Boston at the time of its evacuation by the British. There is in existence a letter that he wrote to his wife while there. He married, May 19, 1748, Elizabeth Perkins, of Norwich, Connecticut, who died September 28, 1823, at the age of ninety-one years. Children:
- Elizabeth, born May 22, 1749, died January 18, 1814.
- Joseph, May 26, 1751.
- Jason, July 10, 1753, died July 15, 1821.
- John, June 10, 1755.
- Martha, August 13, 1757, died January 8, 1847.
- William, November 14, 1759, served as a soldier in the colonial army, was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, and remained a prisoner until he died, December 30 of that year.
- Abner, see forward.
- Phineas, born June 3, 1764, died in 1776.
- Othniel, September 8, 1766.
- Perkins Bushnell, August 17, 1770.
- Levi, August 19, 1773.
(VI) Abner, son of Joseph (2) and Elizabeth (Perkins) Woodward, was born July 10, 1762, in Ashford, Connecticut, died January 28, 1840. He was an extensive farmer in Ashford. According to "Connecticut in the Revolution," Abner Woodward was a pensioner of the revolutionary war, having served through several campaigns. He married (first) April 15, 1789, Miriam, born December 15, 1766, in Ashford, daughter of Abraham Knowlton, and a relative of Colonel Knowlton, of Ashford, Connecticut. She was a descendant of Miles Standish, who came over in the "Mayflower." She died August 14, 1793. Children:
- Hial, see forward.
- Joseph, born December 30, 1792, died October 17, 1793. He married (second) Eunice Fuller, born July 1, 1769. Children.
- Joseph, born November 17, 1795, died August 31, 1851.
- Jonathan, September 23, 1797, died December 10, 1875.
- Jerusha, June 26, 1799, died October 27, 1847.
- Jelina, September 8, 1802. No date of death.
- Ashbel, June 26, 1804, died December, 1885.
- Otis, August 10, 1807, died May 26, 1894.
- Henry, 1809, died December 6, 1809.
- Elizabeth Perkins, August, 1811, died February 26, 1814.
- Royal, November 13, 1815, died October 2, 1882.
(VII) Hial, son of Abner and Miriam (Knowlton) Woodward, was born in Ashford, September 20, 1790, died at Enfield, March 23, 1857. About 1819 he located in Enfield, Hartford county, Connecticut. He started the first United States mail coach on the east side of the Connecticut river, between Hartford, Connecticut, and Walpole, Massachusetts, continuing this service for seven years. He engaged in farming in Enfield, and in 1826 settled on the farm, later occupied by his son Henry C., where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He married, February 8, 1818, Anna Higgins, daughter of Abram Andrews, of Haddam, Connecticut, where she was born December 30, 1796. She died February 15, 1875. Abram Andrews lived in Haddam, Connecticut. He was a soldier in both the revolution and the war of 1812, entering the former at the age of sixteen and serving several years. Until the beginning of the war of 1812 he carried on the grocery business in Hartford, but when the war broke out he offered his services to the government, and died while with his company at Green Bay, Wisconsin. He married Sarah Higgins, of Haddam, Connecticut. Children of Hial and Anna Higgins (Andrews) Woodward:
- Miriam, born February 11, 1819; married Erastus Hemingway.
- Anna Maria, September 21, 1820, died April 30, 1880; married George L. Welton.
- Emily, December 14, 1822, died November 28, 1884; married George Lord.
- William, October 15, 1824, died May 28, 1873; married Abigail Smith.
- Sarah C., July 2, 1826; married James B. Packard.
- Abner, February 7, 1828, died May 11, 1895; married Lucy Harris.
- Henry C., see forward.
- Hial, May 24, 1832,died September 10, 1833.
- Joseph, August 20, 1835.
- Harriet L., August 24, 1837; married Caleb L. Packard.
(VIII) Henry C., son of Hial and Anna Higgins (Andrews) Woodward, was born October 27, 1829. He was reared to manhood on the homestead, receiving his education in the common school of the neighborhood. In early youth he served an apprenticeship of two and one-half years and learned the carpenter's trade in Hartford, Connecticut. During the year 1856 he went to Charlestown, South Carolina, where he was employed as foreman of a gang of slave carpenters. The following year he engaged in contracting on his own account. He returned to Enfield in 1858 and carried on extensively contracting and building there and in surrounding towns, including including Boston and Hartford, employing many carpenters and laborers. He continued in that business until 1877, since then he has devoted his time and attention to agricultural pursuits, making a specialty of tobacco raising and dairying, keeping for the latter purpose a large herd of cows. He has been very successful in all his undertakings, and besides his farm has acquired much valuable property in Windsor Locks. He is a charter member of Doric Lodge, No. 94, A. F. and A. M. Politically he was a Democrat with the Greeley movement in 1872; since then he has been an ardent Republican. He has taken an active interest in public affairs, and in 1891 originated the citizens' ticket, which was successful for three years. Mr. Woodward is descended through his grandmother, Miriam Knowlton, from Captain William Knowlton, the ancestor of the American branch of the family, who was a native of England. He married in England Ann Elizabeth Smith, and is supposed to have sailed with his family from the port of London in 1632, bound for Nova Scotia. He was part owner of the ship in which he took passage. He died on the voyage, and his widow and children, after remaining a short time in Nova Scotia, removed to Ipswich, Massachusetts. Mr. Woodward married, May 15, 1861, Adelaide, born in Simsbury, Connecticut, December 31, 1836, a daughter of Joseph N. and Wealthy Ann (Lord) Hall, of Windsor, Connecticut. Mr. Woodward and his wife have long been members of the First Congregational Church of Enfield, and identified with church work in all its branches. Children:
- Cassius Henry, born July 20, 1863; married, 1895, Sarah Morris, of Ping, Garfield county, Washington.
- Carrie Hall, July 7, 1865; living in Enfield, Connecticut.
- Herbert William, January 17, 1872, died May 25, 1873.
- Burton Knowlton, see forward.
- Mary Adelaide, March 7, 1876, died January 2, 1902; married, June 28, 1899, Albert M. Jones, principal of the boys' literary department of Perkins Institute, South Boston, Massachusetts.
(IX) Burton Knowlton, son of Henry C. and Adelaide (Hall) Woodward, was born June 30, 1873, in Enfield, Connecticut. He received his education in the public schools of Hartford, graduating from high school in 1892. He entered the employ of Hall & Hartwell, as clerk, at Troy, New York. In 1908 he was admitted to a partnership in the firm, and is at the head of the purchasing department, a position for which he is eminently fitted. The firm, now (1910), Hall, Hartwell & Company, manufacture shirts and collars, have mills at Troy and Albany, New York, and are among the leading manufacturers in their line. Mr. Woodward is a member and an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church. He is a Republican in politics. He married, June 23, 1897, Grace E., daughter of George K. and Elizabeth (Abbe) Pryor, of Enfield, Connecticut. Children:
- Henry Abbe, born April 2, 1898.
- Burton Knowlton (2), April 23, 1899.
- Hermon Hall, February 1, 1901.