Nathaniel WOODWARD and his wife, Margaret LAWRENCE baptised three of their children at Puddington (Podington), Bedfordshire:
James 21st September 1623
Ezekiel 8th May 1625
Benjamin 5th November 1626
Prudence 18th January 1629
The Woodward family were Puritans. They emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633. Nathaniel surveyed the boundaries between Massachusetts and Connecticut, and also the Merrimac and Charles Rivers. They were probably married in Rushden, Northamptonshire on 16th September 1608 and it is believed that their family roots were in Warwickshire. Possibly Ezekiel, Snitterfield and Richard, Stratford-on-Avon.
Trying to connect Nathaniel to:
John le Wodeward born abt 1388 in Arden, Warwickshire England, died abt 1420 in Arden, warden of Arden Forest (owned by mother of Wm Shakespeare's family)
John Le Wodewarde born about 1421 in Solihull, Warwickshire, married Alice
John Woodard born abt 1454 in Butler's Marston, Wawickshrie, and died abt 1486. He married Petronilla Clinton who was born about 1451 in Butler's Marston
Richard Woddward born about 1487 in Butler's Marston and died bef 1557 in Bultler's Marston
Richard Woodward born about 1540 in Stratford on Avon, died 1596 probably Northamptonshire, England married Frances Paiot or Perrott.
Children:
Ezekiel b 1558 died 1596 graduated from Oxford at age 15
Susannah - married Richard Tyler, youthful companion of Wm Shakespeare
Judith born 1574
Paiot or Perrott b 1580
Esther b 1581
William
Elizabeth b 1583
Foulke b 1586
Francis b 1588
Richard in above list:
married Elizabeth
Children:
John b 1607
Joseph died 1662
Ezekiel in above list
married Francis
Children:
Hezekiah the Schismatical Vicar of Bray born 1596 died 1675 in Uxbridge, Middlesex, England. There is an old English ballad about Hezekiah. It seems that he changes his religious theology to conform to the political trend, Episcopalian, Puritan, Episcopalian?
Nathaniel?????? This is only supposition. Hezekiah's daughter Sara lived near Nathaniel in Boston. She named one of their children Nathaniel. She married Captain Daniel Henchman who served in the King Philip's War and was one of the few colonists to stand up for better treatment of the Indians after the war had been won She was born in 1622 in Bray, Berkshire, England and died after 1669 in Boston, Mass, USA.
Her children were : Richard, Hezekiah, Nathniel, Susanna, and William.
Hezekiah's other daughter, Frances married John Oxenbridge who is buried in King's Chapel, Boston, Mass. She was born about 1624 in Bray and died probably in childbirth in Eton, England on July 26, 1659, the same day as her daughter Theodora was born. Theodora Oxenbridge married Peter Thatcher on November 21, 1677 in Milton, Norfolk, Mass.
Nathaniel Woodward seems to have been the standard bearer and later gallant captain of the Warwich Yeoman Guards, and was founder, or a prominent supporter of the Standish Hall branch of these guards. He was a stron Puritan and apparently hot-headed for he was cited in 1632 by a bench of Anglican Bishops to the hall of Lord de Birlmingham to take oath to keep his Puritan teachings wihtin his own family and home. Unwilling to do this and heavily fined by the cclesisstical court, he gave notice with his brother, Ezekiel, likwise cited, that he would leave England for good. Some time late, Lord de Bradford of Castle Bromwich near Birmingham, England, who was interested in Nathaniel because of his gallant service in the Warwich Guards, ordered remittance of the fines levied against Nathaniel and Ezekiel and severely censured the Warwickshire Episcopal Court for its arbitrary procedure. A Grand Jury thereupon caused the British Government of Charles I to grant lands inb New England to the brothers Nathaniel and Ezekiel, now freemen. It is said that there Royal Grants were made in 1642 in the township of Roxbury, Mass.
Nathaniel I had a son Nathaniel Jr. and it is possible that the person fined was Nathaniel Jr.
Nathaniel Woodward - Margaret Lawrence married 16th Septemebr 1608 Rushden, Northamptonshire England
Children:
Nathaniel II - born between 1608 - 1609 Rushden - Married Mary Jackson daughter of gentleman Edmund Jackson of Boston, Lincolnshire, England in Boston, Mass. Removed to Taunton, Mass. Proprietor of Ironworks in Taunton.
John Woodward baptised 22nd September 1610 in Rushden
Robert Woodward baptised 22nd February 1612 in Rushden
Elizabeth Woodward baptised 24th April 1614 in Rushden
Anne/Agnes Woodward baptised 12th May 1616 in Rushden
Lambert Woodward baptised 10th May 1617 in Rushden
Thomas Woodward baptised 6th February 1620 in Rushden
James Woodward baptised 21st September 1623 in Puddington, Bedford, England
Ezekiel Woodward baptised 5th November 1626 in Puddington, Bedford
Benjamin Woodward baptised 5th November 1626 in Puddington
Prudence Woodward baptised 18th January1629 in Puddington
Nathaniel is mentioned by John Winthorop, founder of the Mass Bay Colony in his diary, and Nathaniel Jr was an indentured servant to William Coddington, one of the leaders of the Winthrop Fleet. He then became a freeman, joined the church and married Mary Jackson. Nathaniel obtained grants in Brookline, Mass, and his home lot is shown on one of the first maps of Boston, Mass. A descendant of John le Wodeward, Anne born 1709 died 1797 married Thomas Thakeray. They had 16 children one of whom was the grandfather of William Makepiece Thackeray.
Much of this information was contributed by Faith Eckert Woodward whose father spent years researching the family and from the English Origin of Nathaniel Woodward by Doris J. Woodward and Patricia Law Hatcher; Publication: The Maine Genealogist, Nov. 1998, Vol 20,number 4
Footnote
This information was supplied by Gladys Woodard Roby of California who is researching this family. If you have any information or would like to know more then please contact Gladys (