Slaves of Joseph Woodruff, Georgia

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Liberty, Georgia, United States
Surnames/tags: Woodruff Slavery Black_Heritage

The purpose of this page is to record the slaves of Col. Joseph Woodruff (1735-1799) and to connect them to their families.

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Land Acquisition 1.2 Legatees 2 Slaves 3 Research Notes 4 Sources

Introduction

Tradition holds that Joseph Woodruff “was a seafaring man and that he left London for the West Indies in early manhood. There he is believed to have met and married Mary Forrester in Jamaica, West Indies, about 1764.

Land Acquisition

Joseph Woodruff came to Charleston, SC and with his wife and two children appeared in the Province of Georgia in the month of August 1768.^[1]

In July 1769, a petition was read in the Governor’s council from a Joseph Woodruffe, “setting forth that he had been eleven Months in the Province had had no Land granted him and was desirous to obtain Land for Cultivation having a Wife two Children and a Negro Therefore praying for 300 Acres in St. Phillip’s Parish the Main Branch of Black Creek near or to adjoin Land this Day petitioned for by John Parkinson.”^[2]

On Tuesday the 4th of December 1770, another petition from Joseph Woodruff was read in the Governor's Council. It stated he “had had Land granted him but was possessed of a Family Right for five hundred Acres of land having a Wife three Children and four Negroes Therefore praying for 500 acres in St. Andrew’s Parish formerly ordered William Barns who was out of the Province.”^[3]

On 12 April 1775 Joseph Woodruff purchased approximately 700 acres of land on the south side of the North Branch of the Sapelo River at a place called Black Bluff from Samuel Elbert and Elizabeth his wife.^[4]

It is presumed that if any plantation existed that Joseph Woodruff owned, it would have been on or around this property.

On 16th of June 1789, Joseph Woodruff and his wife Mary sold the 700 acre tract called Black Bluff to Thomas Houstoun.

McIntosh County was erected from Liberty County in 1793. Subsequent records indicate that Joseph Woodruff's residence fell into the part of Liberty County that became McIntosh County.

Legatees

After Col Joseph Woodruff's death, his wife, Mary, inherited the property. Following her death in 1819, their 4 children inherited property

1. Mary Ann (Woodruff) O'Neal

Mary Ann Woodruff married Capt. Ferdinand O'Neal. When Capt. O'Neal died, he devised property including slaves to their children.

2. Major Joseph Woodruff (1787-1828)

Major Joseph Woodruff married Jane Campbell Harris. After resigning his commission from the Army, he purchased 2,020 acres in Florida to establish a plantation called "Spring Garden." Major Woodruff died in 1828 and his wife, Jane, died in 1836. Only two of his eight children survived into adulthood.

• Christiana Carolina (Woodruff) Heriot
• Julian Smith Woodruff

3. George Woodruff

George Woodruff married 2nd, Lucy Monger. After her death in Wilkes County, Georgia, George followed his brother, Major Joseph Woodruff, purchasing land in Florida to establish a plantation he called "Volusia". George and Lucy had two surviving children.

• Joseph Woodruff of Volusia

Joseph Woodruff was the last legatee to inherit slaves prior to the end of the Civil War.

• Henry Woodruff (1817-1836)

Although Henry inherited slaves from Volusia with his brother, he did not survive to have any progeny. His inheritance reverted to his brother, Joseph of Volusia.

4. James Woodruff

James Woodruff graduated from the University of Georgia in 1808 and became a lawyer. He married Agatha Medlock in Jasper County, Georgia. His wife had inherited slaves from her father's estate, and James devised some of those slaves to his children.

Slaves

JULY 1769 As stated above, by July 1769, Joseph Woodruff owned one slave. We have no confirmed name for this slave. We do not know if this slave was acquired after his arrival in the colonies, or if Joseph brought him with his family from the West Indies. I have used the male pronoun for this slave based on the idea that If Joseph was desiring land for cultivation, it is more likely his slave would have been male. He may or may not have been one of the slaves listed in the Liberty County GA 1790 Deed of Trust.

DECEMBER 1770 In the 17 months following his first petition for land, Joseph acquired three more slaves. Like the first it is unknown if they are or are not identified in the Liberty County GA Deed of Trust.

APRIL 1788 Joseph Woodruff is sued by Job Pray for an alleged unpaid debt which included a negro wench named Betty.

FEBRUARY 1790 Joseph Woodruff made a Deed of Trust on 20 February 1790 in Liberty County, Georgia for his sons George, Joseph, James Woodruff. In this deed of trust he names twenty-seven negroes as follows:^[5]

DECEMBER 1790 Deed of Gift (Woodruff/Garven) County Superior Court on December 20, 1790.

On March 2, 1789, Joseph Woodruff, Liberty County, turned over to Susannah Garven, widow, and Ferdinand Oneal, both also of Liberty County, for 250 pounds “all those twenty seven negroe Slaves, namely, Jacob, Romeo, Nero, Mingo, June, Caesar, Brutus, Tom, Morris, July, James, Old Joe, Smart, Sharp, Venus, Peggy, Camba, Sylvia, Daphina, Celia, Flora, Pender [alt: Penda], Dianna, Bella, Phebea, Nancy and Boatswain (a child),” along with assorted furniture, cattle, horses, hogs, canoes. Woodruff noted that they were to hold this property in trust for his sons, George Woodruff, Joseph Woodruff and James Woodruff, who were to share it equally. If the sons were to die as minors, then the property was to pass to Mary Woodruff and her daughter Mary Ann Oneal, and then to their heirs. Witnessed by Charles Abernethey, Thomas Houstoun. Recorded in Liberty

Enslaved Persons Named: Jacob, Romeo, Nero, Mingo, June, Caesar, Brutus, Tom, Morris, July, James, Old Joe, Smart, Sharp, Venus, Peggy, Camba, Sylvia, Daphina, Celia, Flora, Pender [alt: Penda], Dianna, Bella, Phebea, Nancy, Boatswain (same 27 as listed in Feb 1790 Deed of Trust)^[6]

The table below lists the slaves mentioned in the Deed of Trust and any known transfer information to one of Joseph's children: (Mary Ann (Woodruff) O'Neal, George Woodruff, Major Joseph Woodruff, James Woodruff) or some other source.

	Name	Link	Mary Ann	George	Joseph	James	Other
1	Boatswain (A child)	Botswain
2	Daphina	Daphina
3	June	June
4	Peggy	Peggy	1834 Will
5	Sylvia	Sylvia			1817 Petition
6	Betta	Betty					1788 Petition
7	Dina	Dina
8	Mingo	Mingo
9	Pendar	Pendar
10	Tom	Tom
11	Brutus	Brutus				1812 Church Minutes
12	Flora	Flora
13	Morris	Morris
14	Phebia	Phoebe			1817 Petition
15	Venus	Venus
16	Caesar	Caesar
17	Jacob	Jacob	1834 Will
18	Nancy	Nancy
19	Romeo	Romeo	1834 Will
20	Celie	Celie
21	James	James
22	Nero	Nero			1817 Petition
23	Sharp	Sharp			1817 Petition
24	Comba	Comba
25	July	July
26	Old Joe	Old Joe
27	Smart	Smart			1817 Petition	1815 Church Minutes

Research Notes

• This research is incomplete and more details will be added as information is uncovered.
• Joseph Woodruff came to South Carolina and ultimately Liberty/McIntosh County, Georgia via the West Indies (various sources state at Jamaica but are unconfirmed)

Sources

1. ↑ Woodruff, Julian S., Dr written statement, 1852. Transcript submitted by Caldwell Woodruff to the Woodruff Vertical Files of the Georgia Department of Archives and History. The July 1769 petition referenced below states Joseph had been eleven Months in the Province would place his arrival as August 1768.
2. ↑ Book: "The Colonial records of the State of Georgia; v. 10"
   https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/499604-the-colonial-records-of-the-state-of-georgia-v-10?offset= (accessed 22 February 2023)
   Title No: 2052310_10; Creator: Candler, Allen Daniel, 1834-1910; Language: English; Subject: United States, Georgia - History - Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Page Count: 1034; Owning Institution: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Publisher Digital: FamilySearch International; Access Level: Public. Page 793 (www.familysearch.org/library/books/idviewer/499604/793). Accessed 22 Feb 2023.
3. ↑ Book: "The Colonial records of the State of Georgia; v. 11"
   https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/105780-redirection (accessed 22 February 2023)
   Title No: 2052310_11; Creator: Candler, Allen Daniel, 1834-1910; Language: English; Subject: United States, Georgia - History - Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Page Count: 461; Owning Institution: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Publisher Digital: FamilySearch International; Access Level: Public. Page 193
4. ↑ Deed Book A, page 229, Liberty County, GA, contains a land deed executed on the 16th of June 1789, in which Joseph Woodruff and his wife Mary sold an approximately 700 acre tract of land on the South side of the North Branch of the Sapelo River at a place called Black Bluff to Thomas Houstoun. The deed states the land had been originally purchased on 12 Apr 1775 from Samuel Elbert and Elizabeth, his wife.
5. ↑ Woodruff, Caldwell, Sketch of Col. Joseph Woodruff, Revolutionary Soldier, of Broro Neck, McIntosh County, Georgia, with list of his descendants, Hyattsville, MD, 1917. page 11-12.
6. ↑ Family Search.org. Liberty County Superior Court “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. A-B 1777-1793,” Record Book B, 1787-1793, p. 329-31. Image #444-5 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLZ-FGH4?i=443&cat=292358)