Holbrook line: John Woodland, Immigrant

John Woodland is apparently one of the less famed of our ancestors, as I am not able to find a lot of information about him, and some of what I have found, I can't verify.  One source (Geni) gives his birth as February 21, 1621 at Husborne Crawley, Bedfordshire, England.  His parents are listed as Johannis Woodland and Grace, whom I have seen noted as Grace Thomson. 

The village of Husborne Crawley is very small although there is a church there that dates back to the 13th century.  It's size may indicate the village, which now has a population of less than 250 people, may have been larger at one time.  It was largely agricultural at the time, so we will assume until we find other information that John had a farming background of some kind. 

John married Martha, whose last name is not known, probably about 1645 since their first known child was born in 1646.  This is the same year that he is believed to have come to Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he settled in Dorchester and by 1651 was in Braintree.  I have not been able to locate any thing that says he ever was granted freeman status, but his son John was apparently christened in the church in Braintree, in 1651, so the possibility exists.  I've also seen that his daughters Thankful was born in Dorchester in 1646 and Martha about 1648, but again, where are the records?  There may have been a second son John born in 1649, and after several years of no children, possibly a "surprise', Abigail in 1661.  The ten year gap leave us wondering whether there were other pregnancies or other children born during that time period

In 1662, a group was formed to settle a new town which became known as Mendon.  It was on the frontier, fifteen or more miles from the nearest town.  There were seven original settlers and John Woodland was one of them.  John and his wife and four children moved to Mendon by the end of July, 1663, as they were required to do under the terms of the contract allowing the new village. 

I can find little about John's life in Mendon.  He was appointed fence keeper in 1667 and surveyor of highways in 1668.  He is listed on a petition of May 19, 1669, asking for a minister for their town.  Although I did not find his name on lists when the house lots were distributed, in 1672 swamp lots of five acres were granted to those who had house lots of 30 acres, and John's name is on that list. 

Mendon has the distinction of being the first town hit in Massachusetts, in 1675 at the start of King Philip's War.  Five or six people were killed but the list is not complete.  We have no indication that any of them were of John's family, but of course they would have been his neighbors.  The Woodlands fled the town, as did many others, and returned to Braintree.  It is good that they left, because later, in early 1676, the natives returned again, and burned the town to the ground. 

I've found statements that the Woodlands returned to Mendon sometime after 1680, but there is nothing in the "Annals of the Town of Mendon, Massachusetts" to support this.  They were living in Braintree in 1687, when John and Martha sold five acres of land "before Woodland's dwelling house that he now liveth in".  John died between then and 1700, when the town of Braintree voted to pay for the widow Woodland's transportation back to Mendon, where her son in law, John Thompson, promised to care for her.  Her date of death is also uncertain. 

I haven't figured out how John supported himself and his family.  Was he "only" a farmer or did he have another trade also?  Was he a religious man?  Our only clue is the signing of the petition to bring a minister to Mendon.  Was he literate?  Apparently he could sign his name but we don't know any more than that.  What a mystery! 

Our lines of descent are:

John Woodland-Martha
Thankful Woodland-John Thompson
Martha Thompson-Ebenezer Thayer
Deborah Thayer-John Rockwood
Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Another line goes from Thankful Woodland-John Thompson to
John Thompson-Hannah Wight
Joseph Thompson-Mary Holbrook
Alice Thompson-Joseph Rockwood (2nd cousins)

And yet another line goes from Martha Thompson and Ebenezer Thayer to
Ebenezer Thayer-Mary Wheelock
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood (so they are third cousins)

Yes, we're cousins, and we're our own cousins!