Benjamin H. Woodworth, Jr., Abolitionist

This information is from: http://orbitist.com/ugrr/

 By Douglas H. Shepard

This location is Private property.

Benjamin (Benja) Hutchinson Woodworth, Jr. (1792 – 1869) appears in the 1843 Liberty Friends list in the Anti-Slavery Collection of the Foote papers. Judge Foote listed Woodworth as located in Randolph NY in Cattaraugus County. Woodworth was born in Fenner, NY in Madison County to Benjamin Hutchinson Woodworth, Sr. and Zerviah (Allen) Woodworth.

On 30 January 1821 Woodworth married Minerva Sperry in Henrietta NY. Children on record for the couple are Morilla Sperry Woodworth (born in 1822), Clarissa M. Woodworth (1823 – 1888), Jerome Deleviere Woodworth(born in 1826), Minerva Cornelia Woodworth (born in 1829), and Samuel Ryland Woodworth (1830 – 1914).

Benjamin Woodworth and Minerva were residing in Randolph at the time of the 1850 census and the 1855 census. According to the History of Cattaraugus County NY (1879), “Zebedee [Zebidee or Zebedie] Woodworth located in the same locality [Lot 60 in the Town of Randolph] about the same time; and a few years later his brother, Benjamin, settled on lot 52.”

For the 1855 census, Benjamin Woodworth indicated that he had been a resident in Randolph 28 years. He died there on 19 November 1869 and is buried in the Randolph Rural Cemetery. The 1856 map of Cattaraugus County showed the Zebidee Woodworth home at the east end of village, and the 1855 census put Benjamin Woodworth in the center of the village, possibly at or near the home of his daughter Minerva Woodworth Larkin (Mrs. F. Larkin).

Source: the Foote papers

Tags: Tag Municipality: