The Wheal Family

In tribute to the small but thriving family of Wheals who entered the U.S. through Ellis Island a hundred years ago, this blog has been created to display a collection of photos and memories of my past. NOTE: Please click on the Archives links to view more entries.

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Author of "Around Hughesville", "Around Montgomery" and "Around Montgomery Borough 1940-1990" - local history books from Arcadia Publishing.

Monday, July 24, 2006

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.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

My name is Cathryn Ellen Rule Varney. I'm the younger daughter of John Franklin Rule and the "Ellen" is from my grandmother.
roncathvarney@aol.com

11:42 PM  

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