Nelson Woodruff & Junie Warner Family

The Woodruff family history is connected to many of the early Eastern families histories. We will begin with the earliest proven histories of Nelson and Junie Warner Woodruff. We learn of this couple from the death certificate of their son, Waite Warner Woodruff. According to this certificate we learn that Junie Warner was of "York State" (New York) and that Nelson was from Vermont. Waite, was born in 1838. It was not known if he had any brothers or sisters until January 2002 when we learned the early Woodruff history. This page had been my first page on the Woodruff history, but with the new information I have added the earlier history, please see the link at the bottom of this page. Nelson & Junie started some of our Woodruff migration. The Erie Canal was completed about 1825, and in the following years many New Yorkers migrated to the mid-west via the canal.

Thanks to our new found cousin Sharon, we now have history and a connection for our Nelson Woodruff family. It is not all set in stone, but the line goes up from Nelson to the earliest possible person, Bryan Woodrove of 1298. This is many more generations than we had ever hoped to find. According to records, Nelson was born 1815 in Vermont. He married Junie Warner. She was born about 1811 in Vermont. Before going to the census noted here, a new entry was found showing the birth of another daughter, Harriet A. Woodruff, on April 18, 1847. It is believed this other entry is of her death on September 28, 1849, though shown as Harriet C. Woodruff as the time and place fit for the family. On the 1850 census in Louisville, St. Lawrence Co., New York, page 230, household #6 there is this entry,

1. Nelson Woodruff, age 35, shoemaker, born VT
2. Junie (but name looks like Irmina), age 42, born VT
3. Ruth, age 13, born NY
4. Wait W., age 11, born NY (our gg grandfather)
5. Amos, age 9, born NY (Sharon's gg grandfather)
6. Crosby, age 5, born NY
7. Truman A., age 5 months, born NY on Nov 3rd 1849

Since finding both the 1850 and the 1880 census I have now found the 1860 census in York Township, Medina, Ohio. The family is listed on 2 separate pages and it was noted in these census that Ellen (Colegrove)Woodruff was living with the family. It was also noted that the young Crosby was not in these census, yet he reappears in the 1880 census. The names in the family are liste as:

1. Nelson Woodruff, age 45 (yet was 35 in 1850?) and was shown as a farmer
2. Junia, age 50, (at least they finally spelled her name Junia which helps to link her to the Warner family.)
3. Ruth Ann Woodruff, age 23, her name starts at top of next page in census
4. Wait, age 21, Shoemaker His name sort of looks like Waiti
5. Amos, age 19, no other info on him
6. Truman, age 11 (see his picture below. This was found in Wait's descendant's collection.
7. Ellen (most likely Colegrove and possibly already married as last name dittoed as Woodruff)

Later, in 1880, in Hagar, Berrien Co., MI., page 179A there are these entries:

Nelson Woodruff, age 65, farmer, born VT, parents born CT. and his wife Junie (clearly shown) age 69, born VT, father born VT, mother born Canada. Nelson is listed as a farmer.

Children of Nelson Woodruff and Junie Warner are:

1. Amos Woodruff, b. November 11, 1840, Vermont;d.July 22, 1899, Coloma,MI
2. Ruth A. Woodruff, b. 1836, New York
3. Crosby Woodruff, b. 1844, New York
4. Truman A. Woodruff, b. 1850, New York
5. Wait W. Woodruff, b. December 15, 1838, New York

We now have pictures of Truman A. Woodruff and Wait W. Woodruff. If other pictures are found I will add them in here as well.

Truman Woodruff	Waite Warner Woodruff

We know that two branches of the Woodruff family in England settled in the United States. One branch settled in Long Island, N.Y., eventually moving to New Jersey and, later, further south to the Carolinas, and Georgia. (One of the Woodruff's was a long-time president of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta) Still later, members of the southern branch of the Woodruff family migrated to Missouri.

The other branch of the Woodruff family settled in Connecticut. If remembered correctly, the head of this branch was one of the original "proprietors" of Hartford. Some of his descendants eventually moved to Litchfield in western Connecticut, where Ethan Allen, of "Green Mountain Boys" fame, and his cousin, Seth Warner, also lived. There is a strong suspician that our Wodruff ancestor probably followed Allen and Warner to Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War as one of what became the "Green Mountain Boys" But that gives a gap of some 40 to 50 years between the Woodruff's and Warner's known to be in Litchfield, and our Vermonter, Nelson Woodruff, and his "York State" wife, Junie Warner.

Click to see new page having the early Woodruff history as we know it today.

Click to see another new page having the early Warner history if I remembered to enter it correctly.

Click to learn more about Waite Warner Woodruff and his family.

Another page gives more of Ellen & Jane Colegrove's history.

Wait & Ellen's son & daughter-in-law Melvin A.& Emma Blood Brown Woodruff's history is on the following page.

To contact me just click Rox61@hotmail.com

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