2013 Woodworth Family Reunion

June 9-12, 2013Wolfville, Nova Scotia

     Over ninety (90) descendants of Walter Woodworth (1608 – 1686), who settled in Scituate, MA in 1631, celebrated their New England Planters lives at the 2013 Woodworth Family Reunion in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, June 9 – 12, 2013.

     Entriced by a grant of free land, six Woodworth settlers, Thomas (1), Thomas (2), William, Amasa, Silas,  and Joseph Woodworth, left New England to settle  in Cornwallis Township, Nova Scotia in 1760.  Concerned about the French threat hovering behind them at Louisbourg, Cape Breton,  British officials bestowed land upon  the settlers, which had been vacated by the French Arcadians, whom the British had expelled after their century and a half of living there.

      During the reunion, the attendees, of whom thirty – nine (39) were direct descendants of the six Woodworth New England Planters (with ten (10) tracing their roots to William Woodworth, two (2) to Amasa Woodworth, two (2) to Thomas Woodworth (2), and the high majority, twenty –five (25), to Silas Woodworth), toured Thomas, William, Amasa, and Silas Woodworth’s original royal land grants,  went to the Planters’ Plymouth Rock, where the Woodworths came ashore in 1760, walked the Grand Bre National Park, where the Arcadians had to pull up their roots, and for a day and a half with our informed tour guide, Ken, visited Wolfville, Kentville, and other towns, homes, museums, and sights near and dear to our  first Woodworth settlers in Nova Scotia.

     Our family’s lineral New England Planter ancestor is William Woodworth

(1731 – 1827), who with his young wife, Sarah Blackmore (1736 – 1767) and four children, Elizabeth Betty (1753 -   ), William (1755-1839), Timothy (1758 – 1839), and Alexander (1760 - ) left Lebanon, Connecticut in 1760 to settle in Nova Scotia.  Sons Leonard, Branch, and Lemuel Woodworth were born after the family’s settlement in Cornwallis Township.

     William Woodworth’s brother-in-law (wife Sarah’s brother) Branch Blackmore (1732 -  ), a signatory on the original royal land grant, settled on  a homestead nearby to  William Woodworth.

     William Woodworth’s father, Jedediah Woodworth (1699 – 1777),  and oldest brother Jedediah Woodworth (1739 -1853) were also as petitioners for royal land grants but there is no evidence of their subsequent settlement there.

     Our family Woodworth line is Walter Woodworth (1608 – 1686), Joseph Woodworth (1645 – 1718), Joseph Woodworth (1671 – 1745), Jedediah Woodworth (1699 – 1777),  WILLIAM WOODWORTH (1731 – 1827), Timothy Woodworth (1758 – 1839), Eunice Woodworth (1785 – 1822), William Bills (1820 – 1900), Sarah Eunice Bills (1857 – 1937), and Fred Fidele Herr (1881 – 1943).

 You can view the 267 photos of the reunion activities, including four family portraits, at this link.

If interested in purchasing two photo cd containing the 267 2013 Woodworth Family Reunion photos for $25.95 (US funds only), including postage and handling, please leave a reply to this article.