Joseph Woodworth

Joseph was probably a son of Walter Woodworth of Scituate. He married Sarah Stockbridge in 1669, and Deane's note on the marriage calls him "a shop-keeper" (source).

King Philip's War. The Stockbridge garrison at the mill, kept by his wife's half-brother Charles Stockbridge, was the one the attackers of 20 May 1676 fought at for several hours (Deane pp. 126-127). His brother Benjamin served, and probably came home. In 1676 land was assigned to Charles Stockbridge "for the use of Benjamin Woodworth's family": the colony's list of 21 July 1676 has "Charlse Stockbridge, for Benjamine Woodworth, 07:09:00" among Scituate's soldiers to be paid in land (Records of the Colony of New Plymouth 5:206), and from that grant grew the story, in Deane and the Woodworth Records, that Benjamin was killed in the war. But "JOSEPH WOODWORTH" and "BENJAMINE WOODWORTH" sat together on the jury whose verdict on "one Robbinson," killed by a falling tree near Edward Wanton's land in Scituate, was entered at the court of 6 Mar 1676/7 (PCR 5:227); see Walter Woodworth.

Joseph and Sarah's children were born at Scituate: Joseph, 19 March 1670, probably the Joseph who went to Little Compton and then Lebanon, Connecticut; Mary (or Margaret), 1673, who married Stephen Vinal Jr. in 1704; Benjamin, 1676; Sarah, 1678; Elizabeth, 1680; Eunice, 1682/3; Abigail, 1685; and Ruth, 1687/8. "This family had lands also in Little Compton, and some of them may have removed thither" (Deane); Joseph was still at Scituate in 1689, when the Plymouth records name him a freeman (source).

Research: Notable connections of Frances Fairchild Holbrook: the Fairchild branch and the families that married in.

Open questions

• His birth and death; the Scituate vital records may give his marriage and his children's births in full.