A Stevens, Tomes, and Nash Family History
The Woodcock Family Story
For the Woodcock family story, we have to travel back to the very beginning of our country, back to a time when it was referred to as the "New World". One branch of the Woodcock family is traced back to the voyage of the Mayflower in 1620. Yes, we have actually confirmed that we can trace our lineage through two different routes in the Woodcock line (try not to think about that too much). And another branch follows settlers coming nearly as far back. The following is the story of the settlers and their many (often dubious) adventures.
Mayflower Descendants
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Our family (along with thousands of others) can be traced back to William and Alice Mullins, and their 18 year-old daughter, Priscilla Mullins. The Mullins family sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, and once they reached the New World--if you remember your history correctly--life was very tough. Priscilla's parents and her only sibling, Joseph, died during the first winter in Plymouth. This left Priscilla on her own, and the only single woman of marriageable age. Allegedly roommates Captain Miles Standish and crewman John Alden both wooed Priscilla sincerely. John won her hand and the two married in about 1621. They had as many as eleven children. For the sake of our story, we're only interested in Ruth Alden, who was born November 28, 1634
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Ruth wed John Bass, and before she passed at the ripe old pilgrim age of 40, the couple had seven children. One of them was Hannah Bass, whose grandson was our second president, John Adams (making the president my 2nd cousin 8 times removed). But, for our sake, we're not so interested in Hannah, but rather her younger sister Sarah Bass (b. March 29, 1672).
Or alternately, we could look at Sarah and Hannah's slightly older brother, Joseph Bass, who through a marriage to Mary Belcher, had a daughter named Ruth Bass, who married Samuel Trott. Their daughter, Mercy Trott married Samuel Jones, and had a son named Samuel Jones...and his name will come up again in our family tree! Like I said, we can trace two routes from the Mayflower fanatics to our modern-day family, though this line through Joseph Bass is slightly harder to substantiate. Whereas, the Sarah Bass line has been confirmed by the Mayflower Society.
Anyway, back to Sarah Bass. Sarah wed Ephraim Thayer in 1692, who together had an extremely large family. Well into the 19th century, this branch of the family typically produced between seven and fourteen children per generation. For the sake of brevity, we will only examine the pertinent ancestors to our line. One of them was Abigail Thayer (b. November 13, 1713), daughter to Ephraim and Sarah (Bass) Thayer. Abigail married Benjamin Richards in 1734.
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Continuing down our family line full of daughters, it was Abigail and Benjamin Richards's daughter, Mary Richards (b. April 9, 1753) who married Samuel Jones, Jr. (remember him from above?) on October 18, 1770. Keep in mind that Mary was a contemporary of John Adams, and while the Bostonian served in the Second Continental Congress and then as Vice President, then 2nd President of the United States, Mary was able to brag that he was her second cousin. One wonders if she was aware of the connection or not. Or perhaps she did not want to brag too heartily about her connection to second cousins, seeing as she was married to one.
Finally a son factors into our line, as it was Samuel Jones, III (b. April 29, 1773) who married Joanna Leseur (b. April 4, 1777) on May 8, 1795. One of their daughters was Harriet Jones (b. November 16, 1802).
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And it was young Harriet Jones who met a man named John Thompson Woodcock and brought us to our titular surname.
John Woodcock Sails to the New World
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Long before Harriet Jones and her Mayflower heritage entered the picture, the Woodcock family had its own long history in the United States. The first recorded Woodcock (of our branch, anyway) in America was John Woodcock, who was probably born in about 1615, and sailed from Weymouth, England on March 20, 1635 at age 20. He settled for a few years in Springfield, Massachusetts, where his name was listed on the tax rolls in 1638. He relocated to Roxbury, MA briefly after that, acquiring a house and some land. While in Roxbury, he married a woman named Sarah Curtis in about 1649.
Shortly after, by June 6, 1651, Mr. Woodcock sold off his Roxbury property to move his new family to Rehoboth, MA. There, the couple started a large family that included children John Woodcock, Jr., Israel Woodcock, Jonathan Woodcock, Thomas Woodcock, Nathaniel Woodcock, Sarah Woodcock, Mary Woodcock, and Deborah Woodcock. Patriarch John became quite the respected townsman as his family grew.
The Woodcock Farm and King Philip's War
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By 1666, the family settled at a farm lot seated at Ten Mile River (in what is now Attleboro). Within a few years, the farm had become a critical strategic point in King Philip's War of the 1670s in which many native tribes battled the New England settlers. John Woodcock set up not only a public house for travelers, but also an official garrison on his property in 1670. Their stance on the "Oulde Bay Road" made it the primary thoroughfare from Rhode Island, to Rehoboth to Boston--it was a perilous and untamed road that was a full eight-day journey to trek. The road, at the time, would have been heavily wooded, with bears, deer, and many other creatures in the surrounding wilderness. The Woodcock home sat nestled on that road as a welcome refuge for weary travelers. They entertained many troops, local townsfolk, and travelers at their house, including Judge Sewall who wrote of dining on boiled venison at the Woodcock house.
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As King Philip's War escalated into the mid-1670s, the family's position became more dangerous. In April, 1676 there was a concentrated attack on the Woodcock farm and garrison. At the time, the Woodcock sons were working the cornfield near the house. The native people gathered at the edge of the wood nearby, and from their concealed vantage point, they fired on the young men, killing son Nathaniel Woodcock instantly. The others bolted to the garrison house, leaving behind the dead body in their panic. This gave the natives access to the corpse, and they removed Nathaniel's head and placed it upon a long pole and set up on a hill in full view of the family.
John described, in a letter pleading for aid written to the Governor and Council, that the "heathens" had attacked his garrisoned farm and had slain two of his family members, and wounded one of his sons. The garrison had temporarily only consisted of only fourteen men--six of whom could bear arms, and all of them quite ill. Sure, he bemoaned, he could hobble away with his family, but he was fortunate enough to have near a hundred bushels of corn that could not be transported, and he could not stand to see the "heathens" get it.
The incident caused Papa Woodcock to declare that he would never make peace with the natives, and he actively and relentlessly spent the rest of
his days hunting them--an obsession at which he was regrettably quite successful. He also was said, at one point, to have acted out some minor
grievances by laying hands on a native chief's papoose, and held it as security for a debt that the chief refused to pay. Because his actions in
doing so were not sanctioned by the town authorities, he was punished according to Puritanical laws, but lost no standing or respect within his
community.
By the time the old garrison house was torn down in 1806, the timbers were said to be pierced many times through by bullets from the War.
A relic of the garrison was preserved by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
A historical recreation of the Woodcock Garrison, which still holds tours and special events
By the end of the war, many colonists had perished, and many settlements destroyed--to say nothing of the decimation of many native
tribes. Somehow, the Woodcock family survived the war and actually prospered quite well. On June 2, 1691 John was chosen as a deputy to
the General Court at Plymouth, which was the highest honor they could bestow upon a citizen.
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The much honored, prosperous John Woodcock, Sr. died on October 20, 1701 at age 86. It is said that he had the scars of seven bullet holes counted upon his body, all from natives' guns. Before his decease, he had distributed his real estate holdings among his sons John Jr., Israel, Jonathan, and Thomas.
The Woodcock Family Grows...and Grows
Our focus moves to John's son, Jonathan Woodcock, who, along with his brothers, was one of the largest landowners in the Attleboro area. He waited relatively long in life to settle into marriage (age 36), first taking a wife named Rebecca Martin on August 23, 1694. Rebecca was out of the picture within three years or so, and he married second wife, Mary Mercy Williams on December 14, 1698. The 29 year-old Mary produced eleven children by her aging husband. Their fifth child, Benjamin Woodcock (b. 6-12-1707) is my great x7 grandfather. The young and beloved son of Jonathan waited to wed until he was 26, when he took as his bride 19 year-old Margaret White (b. 4-13-1715). Shortly after the couple married and had their first child--Benjamin Jr.--patriarch Jonathan passed away, bequeathing his land between two of his son, Jonathan Jr. and Benjamin.
Not to be outdone by his prolific parents, the now very well situated Benjamin and his bride went on to have eleven children. Their fourth child, David Woodcock (b. 6-4-1742) continues our line.
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The Woodcocks and the American Revolution
On September 17, 1765, David wed Abigail Holmes (b. 1739) in Attleboro, Massachusetts. The two had seven children against the backdrop of the American Revolution. Perhaps the family would have been larger, but David served as a sergeant in Captain Jacob Ide's Company of Attleboro, who marched on the alarm of the battle of Bunker Hill. He was also in Captain Stephen Richardson's Company in the Six Weeks' Campaign at Roxbury. He also was noted to have served under Captain Alex Foster and Colonel Thomas Carpenter.
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In 1777, the couple sold off all their Attleboro property to David's cousin, Jonathan White, Jr. Then, in 1784, the family moved to Union, Maine, along with several neighbors--though the reason remains unclear. David was a proud member of the Union community. He built a grist mill, was active in church matters, and was active in raising funds to build a new church. In 1788, he was even elected town selectman.
Three years later, father Benjamin passed away on October 25, 1791.
Life Continues in Maine and New Brunswick
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The next ancestor in our line is David and Abigail's second son, David Woodcock, Jr. (b. 10-23-1771). At the age of 23, he wed Aphia "Mary" Peabody in 1794. This couple carried on the tradition of breeding large families and had twelve children.
Fifth child John Thompson Woodcock, my great-great-great-great grandfather, met a young woman named Harriet Jones (of Mayflower descent!), and the two married on August 4, 1826 in Robbinston, Maine. The two settled across the Canadian border at Moores Mills, St. David, New Brunswick, where John was engaged in a tanning business. There they began their family of eight children. Unfortunately, the tanning business was destroyed in a fire in the early 1830s, and John and Harriet packed up the family--including eldest son, my great-great-great grandfather, Alfred Carpenter Woodcock--and moved to Robinson Ridge, Maine.
The family continued to move around frequently: During the course of the 1830s and 1840s, they lived in Robbinston Ridge, ME, Red Beach, ME, Robbinston, ME, and Milltown, ME. Milltown is where the aging couple spent their last years. John Thompson Woodcock, the last of his eleven siblings to survive, passed away at age 90 on November 17, 1892.
Woodcock Family Hoteliers & the Great Chicago Fire
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The Woodcock family entered the Chicago hotel trade beginning with the eldest daughter of John and Harriet, Sarah Ann Woodcock. She wed a gentleman named Robert Hill in 1850 . Almost immediately, the couple moved to Chicago where Robert wanted to pursue his career path as a hotel manager--having started out running the family farm and hotel with his father in Maine. By 1853, Robert purchased the Lake Street House at the corner of Lake and Franklin Streets. He sold it after only a year and went on to lease Clarendon House and the Garden City House between 1854 and 1857. He ran the Garden City House for seven years until, in 1864, he teamed up with businessman M.O. Walker to purchase the historic Matteson House hotel for $130,000.
The Matteson House was a grand success, and Sarah took an active role in its management. She brought her younger brother, John Leighton Woodcock, as a manager, and it truly became a family venture. Sadly, the hotel was completely destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
Robert opted to sell the charred property at Dearborn and Randolph Streets, right after the fire, but elected to rebuild The Matteson House at West Lake and Canal Streets. The new and unburnt Matteson opened for business on February 3, 1873, at which point he decided to make his brother-in-law, John L. Woodcock a partner in the business, along with Malek Loring.
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Within a few years, Robert took ill, and passed away on March 4, 1878. After his death, John Leighton and Malek Loring took over ownership of The Matteson House under the titles of Woodcock & Loring. The duo sold the hotel in 1882, and purchased the Clifton House hotel, which John Leighton managed until his retirement in 1892.
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That means that in total, the Woodcock family had a prominent role in the Chicago hotel industry from 1853 until 1892 at a total of five different major and prestigious hotels.