Great-great-grandmother Martha Woodruff

My dad's mother (and my grandmother) - Caroline Orme Wheal - was born in London, as were her ancestors before her. We have traced her family back to the Woodruff family - which included Nell (this name will appear again in other generations!), Carrie (this one, too!), Kitty, Alfred, and Sarah, who was my great-grandmother. Their mother was this woman pictured here:Identification of this elderly lady is a little shaky but my dad wrote on the back of this photo "Great-great-grandmother Woodruff (I think)." That's good enough for me! Family legend has it that Martha Woodruff and her husband (his name has been lost to history) had a shoemaking business in London and that they obtained one of the first Singer sewing machines, which were first mass-produced in the mid-1800s. Martha was probably born around 1825.

Martha's son and Sarah's brother: Alfred Woodruff

This gentleman is identified as Alfred Woodruff, my great-grandmother Sarah's brother. The photo was dated 1916. Could he have been a policeman? We don't know. UPDATE: After contact with a number of London-based police-affiliated sources, we have discovered that Alfred may have been a Special Constable for the London Metropolitan Police. The armband on his left arm signifies that he is "on duty" and the right armband signifies his rank or divisional area. We are still looking for more info.

This photo is identified as Lulu Woodruff, we assume that she is Alfred's daughter (photo dated 1918), signed by her mother Lucy(?).

Great-grandmother Sarah Woodruff Orme

Sarah Woodruff was born in England in 1856 (according to immigration records at Ellis Island) and was married to Joseph Orme Jr.

Great-grandfather Joseph Orme Jr.

Joseph Orme Jr. (parents: Joseph Sr. and Eliza Orme) was born in 1861 (according to immigration records at Ellis Island) in England, and married Sarah Woodruff (date unknown). They had six children: Joseph Orme III, Emily, May, Mary, Nellie Ellen (Nell), and Caroline (Carrie) - my paternal grandmother. Joseph Jr. came from London through Ellis Island on March 31, 1906 with $150 in his pocket and settled in at 87 Smith Street, Perth Amboy, NJ. He found work as a terra cotta laborer where he is pictured in the two group shots. In the above photo, taken outside, he can be found in the second row, fifth man from the right - with the large dark moustache, wearing a white hat.
In this photo taken inside the factory, Joseph is the second man from the right, again sporting the large dark moustache, wearing a dark cap.
In this portrait, Joseph is shown during his later years, probably around 1920. Around that time, Joseph and his wife Sarah returned to England where they lived the remainder of their years with their son Joseph III and his wife May. Joseph died around 1926 and Sarah died around 1925. Both are buried in London.

What is terra cotta?

Terra cotta was introduced in the United States by immigrant artisans from England in the mid-19th century. Steel-framed skyscrapers needed decorative, inexpensive and lightweight fire-resistant materials for decoration and protection from the elements. America's terra cotta industry began in Chicago, and the first East Coast facility opened in Perth Amboy in 1879. New Jersey clay was famous for its perfect texture for making terra cotta. During the first quarter of the 20th century the Atlantic Terra Cotta Co. was the largest producer of architectural terra cotta in the world. National production of terra cotta quadrupled from 1900 to 1912. Terra cotta provided the ideal facade for the high rise, metal skeletal, constructed buildings. Craftsmen prepared scale models from architects' drawings. From these they made full scale clay models from which they pulled plaster molds. Then they pressed one and a half inch clay slabs into the plaster molds, separating the clay elements from the molds after they dried. Finally the craftsmen glazed and fired the clay elements to achieve the final product.

Children of Joe and Sarah Orme

Joe Orme III with his wife, May Moon. They were married October 13, 1909, and had one son, Dennis. Identification of the children in this photo is unknown.
Joe and May Orme with unknown child.
Wedding of Mary Orme and Walter Farthing (center) with Joe Orme (back right), Emily (left), and "cousin Gracie" (front). Man in back left and woman on right are unknown.
Mary and Walter Farthing
Mary and Walter Farthing with their children, Eric Orme Farthing and Roland Farthing.
Nellie Ellen (Nell) Orme was born February 3, 1885.
Nell Orme and her husband Frank Rule (born July 25, 1882). Frank was a dentist who served the Prince Nizam of Hyderabad, India during the early 1900s. The family lived in India for a time. They moved to Canada and are buried in Duncan, British Columbia after their deaths in 1959 (Nell) and 1973 (Frank). They had three children: John in 1914, Carl in 1916 and Grace in 1922 or 23.

Carrie's sister: Nell

Nellie Ellen (Nell) Orme was my grandmother's sister. She was born in London on Feb. 3, 1885, and married (date unknown) Frank Rule - who we are told was from Ohio but we aren't sure how they met, etc. Frank was born July 25, 1882. According to the bits and pieces of family history that we have at this time, Nell and Frank had three children, John Franklin, Carl Calvin and Grace Margaret Ellen. The family lived in India when the children were young when Frank was a dentist to Prinze Nizam of Hyderabad. The dates of residence are unknown but I am piecing together a timeline from the postcards Nell sent to her family from India - here are a few samples of the cards sent in 1907.

We have several undated photos of Nell on a boat...
Here is Nell and Frank's first boy, John Franklin, who was born Sept. 5, 1914 (at 10 months old)
John with his mother Nell on his first birthday.
One-year-old John
John at 19 months
John "helping to garden" (as written on back of photo)

The Rules 1918 +

Carl and John Rule - around 1918

Frank Rule (1st on left), Nell Rule (1st on right), Carl and John in front. Others in photo unknown.
John Rule (1st on left) and Carl Rule (2nd from right) - both wearing T-strap shoes)
John Rule (graduation from Sonestown High School, PA 1932)
John Rule
John Rule - photo dated Feb 23, 1943
Nell, (son) Carl, and Frank Rule

Young Nell Orme (date unknown)

Nell Rule with daughter Grace Margaret - 1925.
Young Grace Margaret Rule
Nell Rule with salmon in Vancouver, British Columbia (date unknown)

Grandma Caroline Orme Wheal

According to the ships' manifests recorded at Ellis Island, my paternal grandmother, Caroline Orme entered the United States when she was 21 years old with her mother, 50 year-old Sarah on October 28, 1906 on the Celtic after departing Liverpool, England. They were joining their father and husband, Joseph Orme, who had come to New Jersey earlier that year (March 31, 1906) on the Etruria to settle in Perth Amboy and find work in his trade as a terra cotta worker.

Clarence Woodruff Joseph Wheal ~ age 2

One of my favorite pictures...when my grandparents were young, married less than 5 years and the proud parents of a baby son.

My dad's elementary school years

This is my dad when he was a young boy in Perth Amboy. Pictured below is my dad (on left) with a friend from the neighborhood.
My dad attended the Perth Amboy Public Schools. Here he is pictured in the front row, fifth from the left.
...and again fifth from the left in the second row.

My dad's middle school years

Report card from school year 1920-21

Woodbridge Township Middlesex County (NJ) Public School

Fourth Grade

1923 Christmas ~ postcard to my dad from his scoutmaster (notice the very brief address!)

1924 - Eighth grade - Metuchen (NJ) Public School