Woodward 1

Rudy Woodward
Mrs. Simmons
4/14/15
Term 5
The Origins and History of the Woodward Family Name
The Woodward surname has been around for many years. I came into this paper with the
question, Where did my last name originated from? Throughout this paper, I hope to
learn more about my last name and to teach my readers the history about the Woodward
family. It is going to be tough to find some information but I know that there has to be
many websites that have information about the Woodward family.
The Woodward name dates back to the year 1208 with the original spelling, which
was Sewhal le Wudeward, which happened during the reign of King John. The name
came from the Anglo-Saxon, which was a medieval occupational name for a forester. (It
comes from the Old English word wode, which means wood, and ward, which means
guardian or protector. (The Surname Database) A forester is a man employed to look after
the trees and the animals in the forest mainly for the kings and lords for they had their
own hunting grounds. The reason why they had a lot of land where they can hunt is that
most of England was covered in woods during the medieval times. It was an imperative
and appreciated profession for they protected the woods against the
poachers and they would maintain the grounds.
The name Woodward was carried to England in the great wave of
migration from Normandy. This followed the Noman Conquest that
happened in 1066. The name was first founded when Commander Wadard
was given land by the king because Wadard helped with the Battle of
Hastings. The originally upsurge of Woodwards that came to America came Figure 1 Woodward
Family 2012
to the states to get away from the government and the church that was in
England; therefore, they embarked on ships and traveled to the new country
in which they were one of the main families that helped settle the young
countries of Canada and America. Another spelling of the name is Waudard.
It also claims to come from a branch from John Wodeward who was a ranger of Arden
Forest.
People that migrated here to the United States early on began to take the spelling
Woodward (the one that my family uses today). These people included Christopher
Woodward who lived in Virginia in 1620, Henry and Mary Woodward in 1623, John
Woodward who settled in Boston in 1634. In addition, a Joseph Woodward was amongst
the first settlers at Boat Harbor in the newly found land in 1860. The early Woodwards
were involved in local politics. Either most of them lived in England or Scotland but most
of the families that were living in England moved to Scotland. (Library of Congress)
In 1851, fifty-eight recorded Woodward families came over to America. Thirtyeight recorded families came over in 1857. In 1861, the Civil War had begun. One
thousand three hundred ninety Woodwards fought in the war. Three hundred fifty two
Woodwards were on the Confederate side and one thousand thirty-eight were for the
Union. After the Civil War, that is when many of the immigrants began to come over and
to settle in America. The main reason why most people came over to the States after the
Civil War was crops were being destroyed, people were vagrant and unemployed, the
taxes began to rise. The potato famine in Ireland began to happen (this is when most of

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the potato crops were being destroyed causing the country to starve and not have enough
food to survive. (Wikipedia) ) Most people came over here to find jobs so that they are
able to support their families and so that they have food to bring home to their families.
They were also in the search for better farmlands so that they are able to plant crops and
have a farm. Most of the Woodward Family came to Ellis Island, which is in New York.
In 1867, twenty-seven families came over. The number of families that came over
continued to increase throughout the 1800s and that number is still growing to this day.
They all come either England, Ireland, Great Britain, Wales, Scotland or Durham. The
majority of the recorded number came from England.
Many Woodwards, when they came to the United States, were looking for jobs
and many of them found one. That is why most of them came over here. According to the
1880 Census data, more Woodwards were farmers along with the rest of the public with
35% of the Woodward family. Seven percent of Woodwards were housekeepers, which
was right above the public, which was six percent. Five Percent of the Woodward
population was laborers. Nine percent of the public were laborers. Four percent of the
Woodward family was carpenters. Only two percent of the general public were
carpenters. Four percent of the family was either a farm laborer or into farming. Six
percent of the public was either a farm laborer or into farming. (Ancestry)
Between seventy-four and one hundred fifty-four of the Woodward, population in
1840s settled in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Between twentyseven and seventy-seven of the population settled in Maine, New Hampshire,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. The
rest of the population settled in the Iowa Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Delaware
and Rhode Island.
In the 1880 national census, there was between five hundred sixty-seven and one
thousand one hundred thirty-two living in New York, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Georgia, Massachusetts, and South Carolina. Between one hundred ninety
and five hundred sixty-six of the population were in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Texas,
California, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland.
The rest of the population lived in the rest of the states except New Mexico and
Oklahoma where there was no Woodward Families.
In 1920, there was between two hundred eighty and five hundred fifty-eight living
in California, Texas Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. Between
ninety-four and two hundred seventy-nine of the population lived in Washington,
Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, South
Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey,
Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine. All the rest of the states had at least one
Woodward living in their state. These states include Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico,
Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, Montana, Idaho,
Wisconsin, and more.
The life expectancy for the Woodward family compared to the general is very
weird because there is many times that the average age for the family would go above the
public and there is other times that it would nose-dive down below the public.
Throughout the 40s and 50s, the average age expectancy continuously went above the
average of the public. In 1943, the average age of death was fifty-seven and in 1950, it

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was seventy-five years old, which was strangely more than the average life expectancy
for the public. The average age in 1955 was thirty-eight, which was below the average
age for the public and is the lowest for the Woodward family average age of death. Then
for the rest of the 20th century into the 21st century it went along with the general public
and remained the same with them only going over and going below the general public a
couple of times throughout the years. (Woodward Family History)
After doing the research, I was able to find out more and learn a little more about
last name. After doing this research paper, I will be completing a family tree of not just
the Woodward side but also the Baker side, which is my mothers family. My original
question was Where did the Woodward name originate from and after just a week of
research I was able to find out and was able to produce this paper for my readers. The
next step of this class is create the tree, which I will be using www.ancestry.com to create
my tree. I hope to dig deep into my family and to find out some cool facts that I did not
even know and probably even my own family did not know. One question that I have
while I am completing the rest of my project is, Why was the giant jump in the average
age of death in my family around the 1950s. When I came into this class, I had no clue
what I was getting myself into but now that the first quarter is ending, I have come to
realize that this class is not going to be a cakewalk. There is going to be many hardships
and many complications before this term is over. At the end of this class, I hope to have
some knowledge that even my own family does not have. That is why I decided to take
this class because I wanted and needed a challenge.
Work Cited
Baker, Barbra. E-mail interview. 12 Apr. 2015.
Baker, Richard. E-mail interview by Rudolph Douglas Woodward. 12 Apr. 2015.
Between the Leaves: "Questions to Ask Living Relatives. Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YiaYDqGJjGE&list=PL0xuz8BBkD4jZRKJboqfxkAuQqOfJc0xK&index=1>.
"Great Famine (Ireland)." Wikipedia. N.p., 16 Apr. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_%28Ireland%29>.
The Internet Surname Database. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Woodward>.
"The Origin and Meaning of the Name Woodward." Scott Woodward. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr.
2015. <http://scottwoodward.org/Family%20History/woodward_nameoriginandmeaning.html>.
Perl, Lila. The Great Ancestor Hunt. New York: Clarion, 1989. Print.
"Rise of Industrial America." Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations
/timeline/riseind/immgnts/>.
Stone, Karyn B. E-mail interview. 7 Apr. 2015.
"Where Does the Surname Woodward Originate?" Blurit. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
<http://references-definitions.blurtit.com/367680/where-does-the-surname-woodardoriginate>.
Willard, Jim, Terry Willard, and Jane Wilson. Ancestors. Boston: Houghton, 1997. Print.
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Woodward, Robert Earl. E-mail interview. 10 Apr. 2015.

"Woodward Family History." Ancestry. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=woodward>.
"Woodward Name History." House of Names. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
<https://www.houseofnames.com/woodward-family-crest>.

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