Thomas Woodbury

Thomas was probably a son of Deacon Humphrey Woodbury and a grandson of John Woodbury the Old Planter. On 2 Dec 1661 he married Hannah, daughter of William Dodge and widow of Samuel Porter, a mariner who had died in 1660 after making his will "being Bound to the Berbadus" (source). "They lived on the Capt. Thomas Lowthrop farm" (source), and he was "of Beverly, where he owned large estates" (Porter Pedigree). He was of Salem when the petition of 1668 was presented (source).

Their nine children, as the Porter Pedigree lists them, were William (1662-1725, m. Joanna Wheeler), probably the William Woodbury of the family's line; Samuel (1666-1689); Thomas (1667-1698); Israel (1670); Hannah (1672, m. John Ober); Elizabeth (1676-1748, m. Joseph Herrick); a daughter born 1679 who died young; Susanna (1680-1716); and Jonathan (1682-1774), who married "Eliner Elinwood" in 1708.

King Philip's War. The war took his brother and, probably, his wife's. Capt. Thomas Lathrop's Essex company, escorting the Deerfield harvest carts, was ambushed at Muddy Brook (Bloody Brook) on 18 Sept 1675, and the list "At Muddy-Brook bridge ye 18 Sept. 71 men slane" has both his brother Peter Woodbury and Josiah Dodge, probably Hannah's brother. Treasurer John Hull credited their wages to their estates, "Peter Woodbury 01 18 06" on 30 Nov 1675 and "Josiah Dodge 01 18 06" on 25 Jan 1675/6 (Soldiers in King Philip's War, pp. 136-138). Hannah's brother Capt. William Dodge rode in Capt. Thomas Prentice's troop, which fought at the Narragansett fort that December, and was probably Hubbard's "one W. Dodge of Salem" who on 21 Jan 1675/6 "saved the Life of one Friend, and slew two of his Enemies" (Bodge pp. 82-83; Hubbard, 1:163). His own brother William (b. 1651) was perhaps the "William Woodbury" credited in the Salem town assignments of 24 Aug 1676, and the "William Woodbery" paid for service at sea on 24 June 1676 (Bodge pp. 197, 371).

He was made freeman in 1683, of Beverly (Savage). Hannah died on 2 Jan 1688/9, and on 28 Apr 1690 Thomas married Elizabeth Curtis, a widow (record). That year his brother Richard died on the way home from Quebec; his will named his "brs. Thomas and William." Thomas died before 20 Apr 1719.

Open questions

• His birth, probably about 1638-40.
• His probate (Essex docket 30516, 1719), which should name his son William.

Research: Woodbury, Rand–Cheever–Ivory and Slater lines behind the Ellingwoods.