Clark Woodruff (1791 - 1851)

Born 23 Aug 1791 in Litchfield, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Matilda (Bradford) Woodruff — married 19 Nov 1817 in St Francisville, West Feliciana Parish., Louisiana, United States

Died 25 Nov 1851 at age 60 in Oaklawn Plantation, Carrollton, Louisiana, USA

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Biography

Clark Woodruff is Notable.

Father James Woodruff 1749 – 1813

Mother Sarah Sally Bartholomew 1769 – 1855

Clark Woodruff owned what is considered to be one of the most haunted homes in America.^[1]

The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1794 by General David Bradford and was called Laurel Grove at the time. General Bradford lived there alone for several years, until being pardoned for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1799.

He then moved his wife Elizabeth and their five children to the plantation from Pennsylvania. One of Bradford's law students, Clark Woodruff married Bradford's daughter, Sara Mathilda, in 1817.

After the death of David Bradford in 1808, Clark and Sara Woodruff managed the plantation for Elizabeth Bradford. They had three children: Cornelia Gale, James and Mary Octavia.

In July 1823, Sara Woodruff died from yellow fever. Clark Woodruff continued to manage the plantation with his mother-in-law.

In July 1824, James died of yellow fever as well, and his sister Cornelia Gale succumbed to the disease in August of that year.

When Elizabeth Bradford died in 1830, Clark Woodruff and his daughter Mary Octavia moved to Covington, Louisiana, and left a caretaker to manage the plantation.

In 1834, Woodruff sold the plantation, the land and its slaves to Ruffin Gray Stirling.

Woodruff died in New Orleans in 1851.^[2]

Family

• Sarah Matilda Bradford 1798 – 1824

Children

• Cornelia Gail Woodruff 1812 – 1824
• James Woodruff 1812 – 1824
• Mary Octavia Woodruff 1818 – 1889

Notes

From American Hauntings:

While living in Bayou Sarah, Bradford occasionally took in students who wanted to study the law. One of them, Clark Woodrooff, not only earned a law degree but he also married his teacher's daughter, Sarah Mathilda, and soon earned his degree.

Clark Woodrooff was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut in August 1791. Having no desire to follow in his father's footsteps as a farmer, he left Connecticut at the age of 19 and sought his fortune on the Mississippi River, ending up in Bayou Sarah. He arrived in 1810, the same year that citizens of the Feliciana parish rose up in revolt against the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge. They overthrew the Spanish and then set up a new territory with its capital being St. Francisville. The territory extended from the Mississippi River to as far east as the Perdido River near Mobile.

Still seeking to make his fortune, Woodrooff placed an advertisement in the new St. Francisville newspaper, the Time Piece , in the summer of 1811. He informed the public that "an academy would be opening on the first Monday in September for the reception of students." He planned to offer English, grammar, astronomy, geography, elocution, composition, penmanship and Greek and Latin languages. The academy was apparently short-lived for in 1814, he joined Colonel Hide's cavalry regiment from the Feliciana parish to fight alongside Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. When the smoke cleared and the War of 1812 had ended, Woodrooff returned to St. Francisville with the intention of studying law.

He began his studies with Judge David Bradford and soon earned his degree. He also succumbed to the charms of the Bradford daughter, the lovely Sarah Mathilda. Their romance blossomed under the shade of the crape myrtles that reportedly gave the home its lasting name. The young couple was married on November 19, 1817 and for their honeymoon, Woodrooff took his new bride to the Hermitage, the Tennessee home of his friend, Andrew Jackson.

After the death of David Bradford, Woodrooff managed Laurel Grove for his mother-in-law, Elizabeth. He expanded the holdings of the plantation and planted about 650 acres of indigo and cotton. Together, he and Sarah Mathilda had three children, Cornelia Gale, James, and Mary Octavia. Tragically though, their happiness would not last.

On July 21, 1823, Sarah Mathilda died after contacting yellow fever. The disease was spread through a number of epidemics that swept through Louisiana in those days. Hardly a family in the region went untouched by tragedy and despair. Although heartbroken, Woodrooff continued to manage the plantation and to care for his children with help from Elizabeth. But the dark days were not yet over… On July 15, 1824, his only son James, also died from yellow fever and two months later, in September, Cornelia Gale was also felled by the dreaded disease.

Woodrooff's life would never be the same but he managed to purchase the farm outright from his mother-in-law. She was quite elderly by this time and was happy to see the place in good hands. She continued to live at Laurel Grove with her son-in-law and granddaughter Octavia until her death in 1830.

After Elizabeth died, Woodrooff turned his attentions away from farming to the practice of law. He and Octavia moved away from Laurel Grove and he left the plantation under the management of a caretaker. He was appointed to a judge's position over District D in Covington, Louisiana and he served in this capacity until April 1835. On January 1, 1834, he sold Laurel Grove to Ruffin Grey Stirling.

By this time, Woodrooff was living on Rampart Street in New Orleans and had changed the spelling of his last name to "Woodruff". He had also been elected as the president of public works for the city. During this period, Octavia was sent to a finishing school in New Haven, Connecticut but she returned home to live with her father in 1836. Two years later, she married Colonel Lorenzo Augustus Besancon and moved to his plantation, Oaklawn, five miles north of New Orleans.

In 1840, the Louisiana governor, Isaac Johnson, appointed Woodruff to the newly created office of Auditor of Public Works and he served for one term. Then, at 60 years of age, he retired and moved to Oaklawn to live with Octavia and her husband. He devoted the remainder of his life to the study of chemistry and physics and died on November 25, 1851. He was buried in the Girod Street Cemetery in New Orleans.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia
2. ↑ http://www.visitbatonrouge.com/visitorslocals/Plantations/myrtlesplantation/index.cfm
3. ↑ American Hauntings, "The Myrtles Plantation: Legends, Lore and Lies", by Troy Taylor (c. 2002-2017), viewed 25 Sep 2019; sources not given. Formerly located at prairieghosts.com.

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Residence:

• 1800 United States Federal Census

  Name: Clark Woodruff

  Home in 1800 (City, County, State): Watertown, Litchfield, Connecticut

  Free White Persons - Males - Under 10: 1

  Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15: 1

  Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25: 1

  Free White Persons - Females - Under 10: 1

  Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 1

  Number of Household Members Under 16: 3

  Number of Household Members: 5

  Source Citation

  Year: 1800; Census Place: Watertown, Litchfield, Connecticut; Series: M32; Roll: 2; Page: 836; Image: 123; Family History Library Film: 205619

  Source Information

  Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

  Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800. NARA microfilm publication M32 (52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

  Second Census of the United States, 1800: Population Schedules, Washington County, Territory Northwest of the River Ohio; and Population Census, 1803: Washington County, Ohio. NARA microfilm publication M1804 (1 roll).

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Residence:

• 1820 United States Federal Census

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Residence:

• 1830 United States Federal Census

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Birth:

• Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection)

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Death, Birth:

• Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Death:

• Connecticut, Hale Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Marriage:

• Louisiana Marriages to 1850

  Name: Clark Woodroff

  Spouse: Matilda Bradford

  Marriage Date: 19 Nov 1817

  Marriage County: West Feliciana

  Source Information

  Ancestry.com. Louisiana Marriages to 1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997.

  Original data: Dodd, Jordan R, et. al.. Early American Marriages: Louisiana to 1850. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers, 19xx.

2 citations provide evidence for Name, Residence:

• Louisiana, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1791-1890

1 citation provides evidence for Name, Marriage:

• Louisiana, Marriages, 1718-1925