Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Christina Marie Wise Brown

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Ancestors of Christina Marie Wise Brown

Generation No. 10

      512. William Wise, born Abt. 1684 in St. Mary's Co., Maryland; died 1745 in St. Mary's Co., Maryland. He was the son of 1024. Richard Wise. He married 513. Grace Abt. 1707 in St. Mary's Co., Maryland.

      513. Grace

Children of William Wise and Grace are:

256	i.	Richard Wise, born 1708; died Bet. June 21, 1778 - October 06, 1779 in St. Mary's Co., Maryland; married (1) Mary Milburn..
	ii.	William Wise, born 1719.
	iii.	Ignatius Wise, born 1720.
	iv.	Thomas Wise
	v.	Susannah Wise, born 1722.

514. Stephen Milburn

Child of Stephen Milburn is:

257

Mary Milburn, born 1710; died 1769; married Richard Wise.

      536. Martin French, born 1671; died April 04, 1716 in St. Mary's Co., Maryland. He was the son of 1072. James French and 1073. Elizabeth Meeken. He married 537. Mary Browne.

      537. Mary Browne, born 1671.

Children of Martin French and Mary Browne are:

	i.	Susannah French, born Bet. 1694 - 1717.
	ii.	James French, born Bet. 1695 - 1717.
	iii.	Mary French, born 1700.
	iv.	William French, born Bet. 1700 - 1709.
	v.	John French, born 1702.
268	vi.	Ignatius French, born 1705 in Maryland; died March 20, 1772 in St. Mary's Co., Maryland; married Susanna.
	vii.	Elizabeth French, born Bet. 1710 - 1717.

      560. William Kendall, born Abt. 1715 in Richmond Co., Virginia; died Abt. 1777 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia. He was the son of 1120. William Kendall and 1121. Elizabeth Coomes. He married 561. Jemima Kirk May 10, 1738 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co., Virginia.

      561. Jemima Kirk, born Abt. 1720 in Stafford Co., Virginia.

Children of William Kendall and Jemima Kirk are:

	i.	Jesse Kendall, born November 04, 1740 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; died November 18, 1740 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia.
	ii.	George Kendall, born January 13, 1743/44 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; died Aft. 1830; married Catherine.
	iii.	Thomas Kendall, born March 27, 1744 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; died 1814 in Franklin Co., Kentucky; married Nancy Davis.
	iv.	Ann Kendall, born December 16, 1746 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; married Thomas Edrington.
	v.	John Kendall, born March 21, 1747/48 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; married Phillips.
280	vi.	Samuel Kendall, born August 30, 1749 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; died 1823; married Mary Susanna Smith.
	vii.	William Kendall, born August 30, 1749 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; died September 26, 1829 in Meade Co, Kentucky; married Cece Brown Aft. 1770 in Stafford Co., Virginia; born January 18, 1756 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia.
	viii.	Mary Ann Kendall, born April 09, 1752 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia.
	ix.	Lizzy Kendall, born April 01, 1754 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; married William Philips.
	x.	Jeremiah Kendall, born February 06, 1758 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia; died January 22, 1843 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania; married Rhoda McIntyre.
	xi.	Reuben Kendall, born Bef. 1765 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia.

      576. John Wooldridge, born 1678 in Midlothian Region, Scotland; died Bet. June - October 1757. He married 577. Martha Osborne Abt. 1704.

      577. Martha Osborne, born 1688; died 1757. She was the daughter of 1154. Edward Osborne and 1155. Tabitha Platt.

Notes for John Wooldridge:
John Wooldridge (Sr.), Immigrant Blacksmith and Planter (c.1678-1757)

Though not documented, family legend has it that the Wooldridges are from Scotland. Laurence B. Gardiner found in the Memphis genealogy library a paper on old homes of Shelby County, Tennessee, which says John Wooldridge Elam named his home East Lothian after the county of the settler's ancestors south of the Firth of Forth in Scotland, and that his brothers named their homes West Lothian and South Lothian. In 1982 L. Gardiner and William C. Wooldridge engaged Mrs. Kathleen B. Cory to search births in the surviving parish registers of Midlothian, Scotland, for the period 1660-1680, but she found no Wooldridges either there or in her survey of available printed indices to Scottish records of the 17th century, with the exception of a family in Edinburgh (Constantine Wooldridge married Margaret Akinstall, Oct. 24, 1644; Constantine Wooldridge painter married Marjory dt. of Patrick Copland mariner, Dec. 18, 1696; George Wooldridge or Woolredge joiner md. Isobel Hart, Nov. 20, 1668.)

In the early 1600's, at the same time that Jamestown, Virginia, was being settled, Ulster, Ireland, fianally capitulated to England, and England brought in colonists from Scotland and England to coloniize and subjugate Ulster. Presbyterian Scots immigrated to Ireland to take advantage of the opportunities there. However, after a brief period of time, the Scotch colonists began to suffer the same discrimination as the native Irish. Presbyterian, they still had to pay taxes to the Church of England (in Scotland they paid taxes to the Church of Scotland, their on Presbyterian Church), which was Anglican. They could not hold political office, have certain jobs, paid extra taxes, and suffered other discriminations. So, in the late 1600's, these Presbyterian Scots-Irish began to immigrate to the New World.

A blacksmith in Ireland did quite well. He would have done the smithing work for about 200 families, covering about an 1800-acre area. All hardware needs would have been supplied by him--he would have been the local Walmart, making all metal kitchen utensils, nails, hinges, wheel hubs, keys, locks, farming tools, and so on. As an ecconomic example, if a housewife needed a spatula, it would have cost her about a month's egg and butter money -- the money she used to run her house. Smithing was a full-time job -- 12 to 16 hours a day, 6 days a week. A blacksmith had no time for nor financial need for farming.

John Wooldridge (Sr.) was born about 1678 and immigrated from Scotland, Irelnad, or England (probably from Scotland) to Virginia in the New World probably in the 1690's as an indentured servant to Richard Kennon in Henrico County. In March 1699 he petitioned against his mistress, Mrs. Elizabeth Kennon, "for wages according to Indenture." The petition was held through three subsequent sessions. The 1699 petition suggests an artisan's contract for passage -- John was a blacksmith -- as wages were more characteristic of artisans than agricultural indentures.

In 1717, William Kennon patented land in Henrico for the importation of John Brown, David Camell, John Whorly, Mary Brown, Cha. Gibson, Fran. Merryman, David Maybank, John Wooldredg, James Pentha, and Matthew Ford. Other Wooldridges were in Northumberland County from the 1670's. An Edward Wooldridge came to Maryland in 1622. Land was patented in York County in the 1640's for the transportation of Thomas Wooldridge, John Wooldridge (another by that name), and Timothy Wooldridge.

The Kennon establishment, Conjurer's Neck, stood on the Appomattox River about five miles from present-day Petersburg. Richard Kennon was among the newer class of merchants settling in Chesterfield County and was a factor for one of the large British firms. Kennon, however, did not confine his activities to trade, but was an ardent sportsman, raced horses at Bermuda 100, and became a large landowner. His dwelling, known as "Brick House," erected at Conjurors Neck, where he started to build in 1685, is believed to be the oldest house still standing in Chesterfield.

The house is two rooms over two rooms, with a central hall will double doors front and back, end chimneys and firelplaces on each floor, and porches on the front and back. The house also has a basement. A housing development of half-million dollar homes was put on the land in the late 1990's, but the Kennon house has been preserved with a good bit of land. The river view from the house is incredible.

Conjuror's Neck is a peninsula formed by the junction of Swift Creek and the Appomattox River. Tradition says the name was given the area because it was the dwelling place of a famous Appomatucks Indian medicine man when the first white man came to Chesterfield. Kennon became a member of the House of Burgesses and active in other colonial affairs. Kennon and John Pleasants, in 1682, were consignees for shipments of Negroes for sale. Richard Kennon died in 1696, and his widow, Elizabeth Bolling Kennon, then prevailed over the estate.

In 1685 a great pow-wow with the Eastern Indian tribes had been held in Albany, New York. Two of the few remaining local Appomatucks were included among the Virginia delegates to confirm the articles of peace. There were frequent acts of violence in later years, but the old fear of Indians had subsided.

Law enforcement, however, was a major concern. The pillory and whipping post were used for petty offenders and a ducking stool was available at Varina. For hog stealing in 1690, the penalty was to stand in the pillory for two hours with ears fastened to the beam by nails and then cut loose with a knife, the resulting mutilation being a sort of "Beware" notice. Branding in the hand for theft was a common punishment. Death was the penalty for horse stealing. John Stower was appointed constable for the large area from Falling Creek upwards to the present Powhatan line, taking in all of Midlothian.

John Wooldridge (Sr.) worked as a blacksmith after his emancipation, staying in the Conjuror's neck area. He married Martha (probably Martha Osborne, daughter of Edward Osborne) about 1704 or 1705 of the more established Osborne family, and began to raise a family. Captain Thomas Osborne came to Virginia in 1616 and took over the Coxendale tract abandoned after the 1622 Indian massacre there, and patented additional land on Proctors Creek where years later a town bearing his name was started. The Captain was a burgess beginning in 1629 and two years later took on the added responsibilities of commissioner, or justice. John (Jr.) was born about 1705, named after his father. Thomas (Sr.) was born about 1707, named after his maternal great-grandfather. William (Sr.) was born about 1709. Edward (Sr.) was born about 1711, named after his maternal grandfather. Despite his growing family, John was able to save money -- blacksmiths were scarce and were able to demand high wages for their work.

The winter of 1709-1710 was a hard one -- the whole colony was swept by disease. And in 1711 tension arose when there were rumors of an impending invasion by a French fleet. William Byrd, II, as county lieutenant, made plans for defense, double called for after a planned Indian raid was also reported to him. The following spring the governor of North Carolina issued a call for 200 volunteers from Virginia for help against a planned Indian uprising. Twenty-six young men from Chesterfield County responded, but by the time they reached Nottoway, word came that everything was okay.

On March 1, 1712, John bought his first land, 100 acres on the South side of the James River, from Bartholomew Stovall for five shillings. The land was bounded by Hugh Ligon and Edward Stratton.

His family continued to grow, and in 1715 his daughter Mary was born. Robert was born in 1719.

In 1725, John Sr. patented two 400-acre tracts, close to the boundaries of the Huguenot settlement that had been established in Manikin in 1700 near the present Chesterfield-Powhatan border. The first tract lay on the South side of the James River adjoining the lands of Gilbert Gee and Mrs. Hannah Tullet. The second tract lay on the South side of Swift Creek on the Henrico Beaver Ponds. These patents began the Wooldridge coal interests. He gave the second tract to John Jr., who came of age about that time, as his own plantation.

In September 1729, John Sr. elevated his station, being thereafter called Mr. Wooldridge, dropping the assignation, blacksmith. He sold his old 100-acre tract, where he had lived, to Joseph Goode for 25 pounds and moved west to his Manikin land, bringing him closer to the Huguenot settlement than he was then ready to deal with. He was very unhappy when his daughter Mary later married a Huguenot. Four of his six children married Huguenots.

Up to the opening of the eighteenth century the imaginary boundary between the English settlements and the Indian lands was a line from the falls of the Appomattox River to the Manakin village on the James at the mouth of Bernards Creek. But on the far frontier of Virginia aggressive French forces with bloodthirsty Indian allies posed such a threat that a buffer was deemed desirable. Consequently a large tract of the wilderness was set aside for a new type of immigrant -- the peaceful religious refugees from France known as Huguenots. Approximately 100,000 acres of land in the old haunts of the Manakins were made available for the placement of families exiled from their French homes by religious persecution.

By the end of 1700, 800 Huguenots had settled in Virginia. While the Huguenots were Protestants and nominally under control of the Church of England, even their religious thought was alien to that of their neighbors in many respects. Radically different farming methods were brought by them, and they showed no inclination to adopt the pattern set by the affluent planters below the falls or to slip into the habits of the small inland farmers. English homes of the period were often one and a half story homes (to avod the tax on two-story homes) with a central hall and door. The Huguenot homes omitted the cental hall (to save heat?) and used "double doors" -- an outside door to each room. Yet the adaptability of the Huguenots is evidenced as they left no dialect or accent as a heritage, contrary to the French in Canada or Louisiana, neither did they leave any distinctly French architecture. Soon there were intermarriages and in a remarkably short time little differences in nationalities was seen.

Each of the refugee families was assigned 133 acres, and to encourage them in becoming permanently settled they were exempted by the Burgesses from all taxation for seven years, later extended another year. Upon application in person to a distributing station at Bermuda Hundred, each of the French families was eligible to receive a bushel of Indian meal monthly to tide it over until crops could be made. The necessary monthly travel between the French settlement and Bermuda Hundred converted the old Indian trails into something resembling roads and even encouraged settlers to move into the no longer isolated interior. The Manakins had been reduced to about 30 bowman and apparently were willing to leave their old hunting grounds peacefully. In 1711 Abraham Salle was one of those who moved south and received a large grant in Chesterfield. Salle's eldest daughter, Magdalene, later married John's youngest son.

Although the move brought with it many good things, wolves during this period were a constant menace to the scattered residents of Chesterfield County. Bounties were being paid at each term of the court for wolf heads and many young Chesterfield men became especially proficient in hunting down and slaying the wild beasts as a partial livelihood.

About 1731, his eldest son, John, Jr., married Elizabeth Branch. Like his father, John married into one of the older and more prominent Virginia families. Christopher Branch had settled in Chesterfield County in the 1620's, and in 1624 his son was listed as the only Virginia born child in Chesterfield County. John Sr. soon became a grandfather with the birth of Richard Wooldridge.

About 1732 his daughter Mary married Jacob Trabue, another at least occasional blacksmith who became interested in coal, but one of the strange thinking and acting Huguenots. John Sr. objected, declaring to the couple that he would give them no help or inheritance. In 1732, sons Thomas and Edward patented land in Goochland.

On January 4, 1733, grandson Joseph Trabue was born to daughter Mary Wooldridge Trabue. About 1733, another grandson, John Wooldridge, III, was born to his son John, Jr.

The area increased in importance at this time. In 1733, William Byrd, II, recorded in his diary plans to lay out two new cities, one north of the James River at Shaccos to become Richmond, and the other south of the Appomattox River near Blanford, to become Petersburg. He considered these points natural places for trade. In 1737 Major William Mayo finally surveyed the Richmond site.

In 1734, John Jr. bought 300 acres of the Beaver Ponds land on Swift Creek, between the two proposed cities.

About 1735, a granddaughter, Mary Wooldridge, was born to his son John Jr., and about this time son Thomas married and gave him another John Wooldridge grandson. Again, the Wooldridges married into an older and more prominent family, although it is not certain that it is the Hatcher girl he married. William Hatcher had received a grant of 1050 acres between Swift Creek and the Appomattox River around 1635. On Aug. 28, 1735, son Jean/John Trabue was born to daughter Mary Wooldridge Trabue.

In 1736, John Sr. bought 650 acres on the Buckingham road from Henry Cary for 32 pounds 10 shillings. The land seemingly adjoins his 1725 patent. In 1736 John Sr. had two or three hands and John Jr. one, but sons William and Thomas had none. In 1736, when John Sr. was about 58 years old, he owed quit rents on 800 acres. His son William paid on an additional 100 acres owned by John Roberts, and John Jr. paid on 300 acres just purchased from Samuel Burton. About this time his son William started farming on his own on 100 acres of John Roberts. William married his first wife in the late 30's.

On Oct. 10, 1737, daughter Mary presented him with another grandson, David Trabue.

In 1738, grandson Richard Wooldridge by son William, was born, and about 1740 grandson William Jr. was born. On March 223, 1739, grandson William Trabue was born to daughter Mary W. Trabue.

About 1740 son Thomas gave him another grandchild, Frances Wooldridge. On March 24, 1742, granddaughter Elizabeth Trabue was born to daughter Mary W. Trabue. In 1743 Mary Wooldridge was also born to son Thomas, and on June 11, 1744, Thomas presented him with granddaughter Elizabeth Wooldridge. About 1743 son Edward gave him another granddaughter. And on Oct. 29, 1744, daughter Mary W. Trabue gave him granddaughter Marie Trabue. Before 1744, perhaps about 1738, son Robert, about 18, married Magdalene Salle, said to an old girl. About 1740, son Robert gave him grandson Colonel Thomas Wooldridge. Another son, Abraham? was born to son Robert in the 1740s.

About 1745 the Wooldridge family built the first section of the family home, Midlothian, alongside an old Indian trail, then called Buckingham Road, now known as Midlothian Turnpike. This part of the house, now known as the East Wing, was a one-and-a-half story house with a central hall, outside chimneys, and had steep winding stairs leading to two small loft rooms lit by dormers. A porch stretched across the length of the front of the house. In the latter part of the century, soon after the Revolution, the West Wing was added. This part of the house was also built as a two-over-two but the second story had a gambrel roof, the only-such such roof in the village, allowing more headroom upstairs. Midlothian has a long history of hospitality to travelers, continuing in some fashion even today as Crab Louis Restaurant, where the owners proudly point out its Wooldridge origins. Midlothian was renamed "The Sycamores" in the late 1800's by the then-owners John J. Jewett and his wife Nancy Jones, who purchased it in 1875.

About 1745 granddaughter Frances Wooldridge was born to son John, Jr., and grandson Edward Wooldridge, Jr. was born to son Edward.

John Sr. continued to add to his estate, purchasing in 1747 314 acres "on the French line," South side of the James beginning at John Tillets on the north side of Falling Creek thence on Wooldridge's old line to John Roberts and Richard Dean, thence to Dean's old line to oak cornered on French parish thence to French road. John Sr. made his first will in 1747 at about the age of 69, when his holdings peaked at 1,764 acres, including 400 acres long in the possession of his son, John. Jr. Also about 1747, grandson Simon Wooldridge was born to son Edward. On Sept. 4, 1747, daughter Mary W. Trabue gave him grandson Joshua Trabue.

John Sr. had finally become reconciled to his French Huguenot children-in-law and Mary's marriage. According to William Lacy, "About the year �46, John Wooldridge Sr. sent for me to write his will and told me then, when Jacob Trabue married his daughter, he was much dissatisfied with the match, and he then made a resolve never to make Jacob Trabue the better for anything he was worth, but after he found Trabue to be a good husband, he was sorry for his rash promise and had concluded to let his daughter have the use of a Negro girl named Hannah and her increase during his daughter's life and after her death to her son Joseph Trabue. [He said] �I will make my grandson equal to my other sons in everything except land,' and so I wrote his will." The will is dated April 20, 1747, and was rewritten in 1757.

From this period, if not earlier, John Sr. and his sons were directing their energies to growing tobacco, working their holdings personally with the help of some slave labor. Together, the family mastered the demands of growing tobacco. Virgin fields had to be cleared before cultivation. The trunks of trees were girdled, forcing the trees to die. Ropes were then attached to the branches of the dead trees to pull them down. On rainy days, when the danger of fire spreading out of control was at a minimum, the fields would be burned. Plows had to then break through rooty topsoil, and the fields kept cultivated. After harvesting, the leaf had to be processed, and long sheds for drying the leaf had to be built. Oaken hogsheads had to be built or bought. When the crop was harvested and cured, it had to be transported for sale. Ten pounds of tobacco was worth about one shilling.

Small amounts of cotton and wool were also produced in Chesterfield for domestic use, although spinning and weaving were technically forbidden in Virginia by British law -- the colonies were meant to consume to enrich the mother country, and all raw goods were by law to be shipped to England for manufacture. The finished products were then to be shipped back to the colonies for purchase. The women took the cleaned cotton or wool, perhaps dyed it, carded it, then spun it. It would then be woven on looms, or the wool knitted or felted. One sheep could produce enough wool for about four knitted sweaters a year. Flax could also be grown to produce linen, but the process of preparing the flax for spinning into linen was arduous, time consuming, and rough on the skin.

About 1748, grandson Edmond Wooldridge was born to son John Jr, and grandson Thomas Wooldridge Jr. born to son Thomas Wooldridge. Sometime in the late �40's, son Edward married French Huguenot Mary Flournoy.

In 1748 his son John was licensed to keep ordinary in Goochland "at his dwelling house in this county" with Henry Wood as his security. The license to operate an ordinary was not granted to every applicant as the cautious �squires had to be satisfied that the applicant was a man of good character and that he would keep an orderly house, for which he was required to furnish bond, and that he would keep "sufficient and proper lodging, meat and drink for travelers and their beasts" at rates to be fixed periodically by the court. The tavern or ordinary was the only place where liquor to be drunk on the premises could be sold legally. Ordinaries usually had a long porch along the front where the country people met to hear the news, to catch a "dram," to talk politics, and to sell or exchange farm supplies. John's son William also kept an ordinary for a while in the 1940's at Jordan's.

The prominence of John Wooldridge's connections is demonstrated when in 1749 Chesterfield County was established from Henrico County. The "Proclamation of the Peace" putting Chesterfield in motion, is addressed to, among others, the sons of his former master and his brother-in-law:

Virginia

Sir William Gooch Baronet his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and Commander in chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia To William Kennon, John Bolling, William Gay, Richard Royall, William Kennon Jun. John Archer, Richard Eppes, Seth Ward, John Royall, William Eppes, Robert Goode, Henry Randolph, Edward Osborne, Jun. and Richard Kennon of the County of Chesterfield, Gen. Greeting -----

The Wooldridges were later to marry into many of these families.

About 1750 granddaughters Elizabeth Wooldridge and Virlinche Wooldridge were born to son John Jr, and in 1751 grandson Henry Wooldridge, named after someone on the Hatcher side of the family, was born to son Thomas. Also about 1750, son William married his second wife, Sarah Flournoy of the noted Huguenot family and continued to live on land adjoining his father and brothers in Chesterfield County. Also about 1750 grandson Major Gibson Wooldridge was born to son William Wooldridge. About 1750, grandson William Wooldridge was born to son Edward.

In 1751 a calendar change occurred. Under the old calendar, the new year had started on March 25. When the reformed calendar became effective eleven days were inserted to compensate for earlier miscalculations and the year started on January 1, as at present. Thus, we now celebrate February 22 as the birthday of George Washington who was born February 11, old style. Under the old calendar the year of his birth was 1731 instead of 1732 as we now designate it. This difference confuses old records and explains partly why some ripe fruits and berries were found at such an early date by the newcomers to Virginia.

About 1752, granddaughter Phebe Wooldridge was born to son John Jr, and grandson Thomas Wooldridge was born to son William Wooldridge. On May 10, 1752, daughter Mary W. Trabue gave him grandson Thomas Trabue. On July 16, 1752, son Robert gave him grandson Elisha Wooldridge.

In 1753 John Sr. gave his son Edward 400 acres of the 650 acres purchased in 1736. On August 14, 1753, daughter Mary W. Trabue gave him the last of her children as a grandson, Daniel "River Daniel" Trabue.

About 1754 grandson Robert Wooldridge was born to son John Jr. Also about 1754 son Robert gave him grandson Robert Wooldridge.

By now many of the French Huguenots had moved south, and in 1755 a petition for the establishment of a Presbyterian church near Midlothian was made, but rejected. Growth in the area also had resulted in Ordinaries to serve wayfarers along the old Indian trail.

About 1755, granddaughter Mary Wooldridge by son John Jr. married John Martin. About 1756 granddaughter Martha Wooldridge was born to son Thomas. By 1756, grandson Richard Wooldridge by son William was living with John Sr. Grandson Josiah Wooldridge was born to son Edward Nov. 5, 1755. In 1756 son Robert gave him the last of his children as a grandson, William Wooldridge.

In March of 1756 his son Edward was licensed to keep an ordinary at his house. Thus, three of the five brothers kept ordinaries at one time or another, though their main livelihood seems to always have been tobacco.

In January 1757, son Edward Wooldridge was examined for the supposed murder of Francis Brown, but the Court concluded he was not guilty and did not pass the case to General Court for trial. The stress could not have been easy on his aging father.

John Sr. died sometime between May 31 (William Lacy deposition) and October 7, 1757, when his will was offered for probate. The order for depositions and the 1759 probate order are in Chesterfield OB 2:353, 364, 525. He had become the patriarch of a large and prosperous family, living to see almost all of his grandchildren. and to even see one of them marry. William was his executor and inherited his blacksmith tools. Robert inherited Midlothian. Sixteen of his 24 grandsons, including the one who had looked after him in the last years of his life and who was rewarded with a 250 acre legacy, in one way or the other, took part on the side of the colonists during the American Revolution, the majority in active service, and at least two more were too old for active service.

Source: http://members.aol.com/DonnieRam/homepage/woolbio.htm

Crab Louis's on Midlothian Turnpike in Midlothian, Richmond, VA:

This nice restaurant is in the last house that John Wooldridge the Blacksmith, our first American ancestor, built. The part he built is the section on the right. The center section was built by one of his sons when 2 of the brothers lived there, using it as a duplex. The section on the left is a modern addition. This is the original Midlothian. Also, take a drive to Conjuror's Neck in Chesterfield County between Colonial Heights and Richmond. Brick House, the home of the Kennon family, is being restored. This is the house where John Wooldridge served his indenture to the Kennon family. Remember that a Wooldridge descendant married a Kennon descendent, uniting the families of the master and the indentured servant.

More About John Wooldridge:
Immigration: Abt. 1690, From Midlothian, Scotland to Henrico Co., Virginia as an indentured servant to Richard Kennon in Henrico Co., Virginia
Occupation: Blacksmith

Children of John Wooldridge and Martha Osborne are:

		i.		John Wooldridge, born 1705 in Henrico Co. Virginia; died 1783 in Henrico Co. Virginia; married Elizabeth Branch 1731.
		ii.		Thomas Wooldridge, born 1707 in Henrico Co. Virginia; died 1762 in Cumberland Co., Virginia.

Notes for Thomas Wooldridge:
Married a Watkins or a Hatcher?

	iii.	William Wooldridge, born 1709 in Henrico Co. Virginia; died 1798 in Elbert Co., Georgia; married (2) Sarah Flournoy 1750.
288	iv.	Edward Wooldridge, born 1711 in Henrico Co., Virginia; died 1808 in Chesterfield Co., Virginia; married Mary Flournoy 1742.
	v.	Mary Wooldridge, born 1715 in Henrico Co. Virginia; died 1789 in Chesterfield Co., Virginia; married Jacob Trabue 1732.
	vi.	Robert Wooldridge, born 1719 in Henrico Co. Virginia; died 1794 in Chesterfield Co., Virginia; married Magdalene Salle Abt. 1738.

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