Matthew Woodruff, Immigrant

Matthew Woodruff's beginnings are a mystery.  There are at least three candidates for his parents.  I am almost positive his parents are NOT Sir David Woodruffe and Lettice Dunscombe, which means I have a lot of deleting to do on my tree.  There are, however, two additional candidates.  One is David Woodruffe and Anne Rogerson, but I've not found anything to back that up.  The other is Matthew Woodruff and Margaret Sanders. 

Another problem is that we don't know his birth date.  He died in 1682 and is termed then "a very old man".  If that is true, the dates we have for his birth of 1612-1616 may not be correct.  He may be older than that.  The other possibility with the description of "a very old man" is that his health was poor and he appeared to be aged beyond his years.  However, he didn't write his will until shortly before his death, which seems to indicate that he was reasonably healthy up to his final illness. So definitely, more research needs to be done about Matthew's origins.

The first we really know about Matthew is that he was generally in the area of Hartford, Connecticut in 1643, when he was a defendant in a law suit, the plaintiff being John Robinson.  He was made a freeman at Hartford in 1657, but neither of these items prove that he actually lived in Hartford.  He purchased land in Farmington in 1653, but he could have been there practically the whole time he was in America.  Although I didn't find an official list of first founders of Farmington, it does appear that Matthew would have been considered one of the earliest settlers, if not a first founder.

Another puzzle about Matthew is the name of his wife.  Her first name was Hannah, but her surname is variously given as Flagg, Baldwin, and Lambert.  Baldwin seems to have the longest tradition about it, but I've not found evidence of that.  Matthew and Hannah were married about 1642, and had six children together.  I have conflicting information about Hannah.  One source says she died in 1664, but Matthew's will, written in 1682, mentions his loving wife.  If he remarried, perhaps that is one possible reason why there are varying names for his wife.   Hannah joined the church in November of 1654 but Matthew didn't join until 1672.  Presumably he had attended all along, but was not technically a part of the communion of believers until 1672. 

Matthew wrote his will in September of 1682 and it was proven December 14, 1682, so he died sometime between those two dates.  From his inventory, we can tell that Matthew was a farmer.  His tools are described as tools for husbandry, so perhaps his status was that of husbandman.  From coming to America as an unknown, perhaps as an indentured servant, he left an estate of about 250 pounds.  He had not a lot of land, but his livestock carried a relatively high value, so he may have done more intensive livestock farming than some did.  (Incidentally, the spelling used in the inventory is some of the most creative I have seen.)  There were no books mentioned in his inventory. Son Samuel got the lion's share of the moveable goods, as well as some land, on the condition that he care for his mother. 

Naturally I am not happy with this post.  I'm writing it because half a loaf is better than none, but I would really like to determine Matthew's parentage, his age, and his hometown in England.  He deserves that much.

The line of descent is:

Matthew Woodruff-Hannah possibly Baldwin
Hannah Woodruff-Richard Seymour
Hannah Seymour-Josepoh Pomeroy
Medad Pomeroy-Hannah Trumbull
Medad Pomeroy-Eunice Southwell
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants