The Woodruff family are candidates for PGM and Beyond projects

Question

John Woodruff https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Woodruff-334 arrived as a child with his family before 1640 and went to New Jersey. I will be working on this and related profiles, which need some work, including Gosmer. 

Do you agree this profile should be in the Puritan Great Migration Project?

Comments

Looks like you struck gold, Ellen Gustafson...  two profiles identified as PGM & PGM Beyond New England!  You dug deep and found them!  Thank you.

I'm hopeful that Halsey will help out with these profiles now that you've found them.

Answer 1

This John Woodruff does not appear in the Great Migration Directory, nor does his father John Woodruff-335.  His father's profile cites two sources for his 1640 arrival, Filby's Passengers and Immigration List Index and Virkus's Immigrant Ancestors. More evidence than that might be required to classify him PGM.

Comments

Thank you for your answer, Halsey.  I've done some further research on this question, and updated the profile of John Gosmer, John Woodruff's step-father.  

I'll add updated information in an answer. (wait a few minutes, please)

I hope you will analyze the profiles and give your position on the Gosmer/Woodruff families.  Thank you

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Well, my quick note on John Woodruff-334 (1637-1691) was correct as far as it went, but it didn't go nearly far enough, I now see.  The real story is in the profile of his father John Woodruff-335's step-father (and possibly also father-in-law) John Gosmer-7.  The elder John Woodruff was baptized (and presumably born) in 1604;  his father died in 1611, his mother then married John Gosmer, and John Woodruff became--and remained for decades--part of the household of John Gosmer even though by 1639 he had married Anne ___, possibly his step-sister, and they had a son John.  The household left England (surreptitiously, hence not recorded) by 1639, arrived at Lynn, and soon joined the group that removed from Lynn to found Southampton.

As part of his step-father's household, John Woodruff did not get the recognition in the records usually seen for a married man with a child.  That may be why he was not listed by Anderson in the Great Migration Directory.  However, it appears from the sources cited in the listing for John Gosmer that, yes, John Woodruff-335 merits inclusion in both the PGM and PGM Beyond projects.  Whether his son John Woodruff-334, just 2 years of age on arrival in 1639 but later of significance in Elizabethtown, New Jersey also merits inclusion is a project policy issue.

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Thank you for your analysis, Halsey.  I'm really grateful you're in the *Puritan Great Migration Beyond New England* subproject group, and that you have taken an interest in this profile.

I concur with your comment above, although I hadn't noticed that John Woodruff had married by 1639.  I'll add Woodruff-334 to PGM project, PGM Beyond subproject.

Would you have the time to update John Woodruff-334, with inline citations to the research you've done?  That would be very helpful to Ellen Gustafson, to me, and to the PGM project, Halsey.

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Thanks for your input, Halsey. I think others probably fell between the cracks, their names not recorded.

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Thanks Cheryl, I’m glad they worked out.

Answer 2

I am from New Jersey (born, raised and still live). I also descend from Woodruffs, my 2nd and 3rd great grandmothers, but they were born in Connecticut and moved to western New York. I did not even know that there was “New Jersey Woodruffs.” I am still related to this Woodruff, however. We are distant cousins.

Thank you for bringing this to everyone’s attention.

Missy 

Comments

Hey there Missy...  since you've got Woodruffs in your lineage, perhaps you would like to lend a hand with these profiles?  Contack Halsey or Ellen G. if you're able to help.  Thank you.

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I am looking into them now. I am currently working on John Woodruff (1574-1611). I found a burial date for him in St. Mary-Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, England.

Answer 3

John Gosmer is in The Great Migration Directory, p. 136 where it says he migrated in 1639; so I have added him to PGM project. 

Gosmer was John Woodruff's step father, married to Elizabeth Woodruff.  According to "The Woodruffs of New Jersey" and ''Southampton Town Records" John Woodruff, as a child, migrated with his step-father and mother.  

See: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gosmer-7

Both of these profiles need updates (Gosmer-7 & Woodruff-334, but I have worked on them enough so analysis can be made as to whether John Woodruff-334 should be in PGM project.

Ellen Gustafson would appreciate any insight into these profiles to determine whether PGM project profile or not.  Thank you.

edit:  taking a 2nd look at John Woodruff-334, I think it is inaccurate.  I sincerely do-not-have-the-time to work on -334.  So please only review Gosmer-7 for analysis on child John Woodruff as 1639 immigrant.  I apologize for any confusion. Thank you.