Thomas Woodward Part 2

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(Conclusion)
(Conclusion)
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==Conclusion==
 
==Conclusion==
  
In closing this discussion, I would like to mention a few passing items of trivia which may possibly have some bearing on this Thomas Woodward, the immigrant. They can either be seen as possibly helping to clarify the issues, or perhaps only helping to further muddy the picture:
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Before closing this discussion, I would like to mention a few passing items of trivia which may possibly have some bearing on this Thomas Woodward, the immigrant. They can either be seen as possibly helping to clarify the issues, or perhaps only helping to further muddy the picture:
  
 
A “Thomas Woodward, Esq.”, had become a creditor (lender) in the amount of £1,000 to Sir Thomas Dawes, to satisfy a debt against the Crown, on 6 August, 1641. This was in company with several other gentlemen (apparently of quality), and was recorded in the ''Journal of the House of Commons'' (26).  This fact, while probably relatively meaningless in and of itself, nonetheless shows this particular Thomas Woodward (whether or not he is the same as our immigrant) to have been a man of (a) considerable wealth and advantage, and (b) a man comfortable among the political elite of his day and age.
 
A “Thomas Woodward, Esq.”, had become a creditor (lender) in the amount of £1,000 to Sir Thomas Dawes, to satisfy a debt against the Crown, on 6 August, 1641. This was in company with several other gentlemen (apparently of quality), and was recorded in the ''Journal of the House of Commons'' (26).  This fact, while probably relatively meaningless in and of itself, nonetheless shows this particular Thomas Woodward (whether or not he is the same as our immigrant) to have been a man of (a) considerable wealth and advantage, and (b) a man comfortable among the political elite of his day and age.
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<blockquote>A Note on Rowland Woodward, The Friend of Donne</blockquote>
 
<blockquote>A Note on Rowland Woodward, The Friend of Donne</blockquote>
  
<blockquote>The late Sir Edmund Gosse concludes the first volume of his ''Life and Letters of John Donne'' (1899, i, 318) by saying, "There is none of Donne's friends of whom we would gladly know more than of Rowland Woodward." He states that nothing is known of him but his name, the epistles that Donne wrote to him, and the gift to him by Donne of a copy of the ''Pseudo-Martyr'';</blockquote>  
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<blockquote>The late Sir Edmund Gosse concludes the first volume of his ''Life and Letters of John Donne'' (1899, i, 318) by saying, "There is none of Donne's friends of whom we would gladly know more than of Rowland Woodward." He states that nothing is known of him but his name, the epistles that Donne wrote to him, and the gift to him by Donne of a copy of the ''Pseudo-Martyr''; he concludes that the important Westmoreland MS. also was given to him by Donne.</blockquote>
  
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<blockquote>Professor Grierson (''The Poems of John Donne'', 1912, ii, lxxxi) disputes this conjecture about the Westmoreland MS.; and later, in the notes to the poems (ii, 146-47), adds some information about Woodward's life, taken from Mr. Pearsall Smith's ''Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton''.</blockquote>
  
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<blockquote>Mr. Pearsall Smith there establishes that Woodward was at Venice with Wotton in 1605; during his residence there he was imprisoned by the Inquisition. In 1607, while bringing home dispatches, he was attacked by robbers in France and left for dead. On February 2, 1608, £60 was paid to his brother Thomas for Rowland's "surgeons and diets." In 1608 he entered the service of the Bishop of London. In 1625 he petitioned for a pension. In 1630 he became Deputy Master of Ceremonies, and died in 1636-1637.</blockquote>
  
A “Rowland Woodward” (as mentioned by J. Gary Woodward) was married by 1594, and was the father of a son named “Christopher Woodward”, who was baptized on 1 May 1594, in Orwell Parish, Cambridge (30). I have no way of knowing, at present, just how many “Rowland Woodwards” there were, running around England at that time, so of course I cannot say whether or not these two Rowlands were the same person. I will confess that the evidence looks intriguing, if not compelling. This Christopher Woodward (the son of Rowland) could have easily been the same Christopher Woodward who ended up at the 1624 muster in Jamestown, Virginia. It is fascinating to speculate that he could in fact have been a nephew of the Thomas Woodward who also emigrated to Virginia.
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<blockquote>There is more, however, to be found out about him than that.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>The registers of St.Mary le Bowe [sic] (Index Library) contain a long list of christenings in what is clearly Woodward's family:</blockquote>
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<blockquote><blockquote>Aug.23 1573. Rowland Woodward s.of John.</blockquote>
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This Rowland Woodward (the friend of Donne), then, turns out to have been a son of John, not a son of Christopher (whose 1627 will, in any case, did not name a son "Rowland"), and that John Woodward--not Christopher--turns out to have been the "London vintner" of the earlier reference. That John Woodward, of course, could have been a brother or even cousin of the Christopher Woodward who died in 1627: after all, they did both apparently reside in the same district of London, St.Mary-le-Bow.
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This raises the intriguing possibility (if we assume several things) that our Thomas Woodward the immigrant to Virginia (if he was a son of that Christopher of "Lambeth Marsh, gent." and St.Mary-le-Bow, London) could have been a cousin to the brothers Rowland and Thomas Woodward who were the friends and intimates of the poet Donne. Of course, this is (again) only speculation, and due to the paucity of evidence, we will very likely never know the full truth, but these are interesting, compelling speculations all the same. 
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A “Rowland Woodward” (as mentioned by J. Gary Woodward) was married by 1594, and was the father of a son named “Christopher Woodward”, who was baptized on 1 May 1594, in Orwell Parish, Cambridge (30). I have no way of knowing, at present, just how many “Rowland Woodwards” there were, running around England at that time, so of course I cannot say whether or not these two Rowlands were the same person. I will confess that the evidence looks intriguing, if not compelling. This Christopher Woodward (the son of Rowland) could have easily been the same Christopher Woodward who ended up at the 1624 muster in Jamestown, Virginia. It is fascinating to speculate that he could in fact have been a close cousin of the Thomas Woodward who also emigrated to Virginia.
  
 
And finally, the Edward Woodward mentioned above as the son of the Thomas Woodward of Lambeth Marsh, Surrey, appears to have been the same man who married in London in February, 1662-3: “Edward Woodward, of Lambeth Marsh, Surrey, Esq., … and Elizabeth Turner of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, widow, [were married at] St. Gregory’s or St. Bartholomew the Less, London.” (31)
 
And finally, the Edward Woodward mentioned above as the son of the Thomas Woodward of Lambeth Marsh, Surrey, appears to have been the same man who married in London in February, 1662-3: “Edward Woodward, of Lambeth Marsh, Surrey, Esq., … and Elizabeth Turner of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, widow, [were married at] St. Gregory’s or St. Bartholomew the Less, London.” (31)

Revision as of 07:04, 28 May 2008

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