Elizabeth (Woodruff) Potter - Origins

Thank you for fixing her parents and birthdate.

I found some interesting history of our Woodruff family. There's a Suffolk County, NY will dated 1703 for John Woodruff, who had a lot of kids including a daughter, Elizabeth. And his wife was Hannah. His father (John Woodruff, Sr.) had TWO sons by the same name, "John". The older son John was adopted by his maternal grandfather (Gosmer) who migrated with him to Elizabethtown, NJ, where he became the Woodruff patriarch near Westfield, NJ. The younger son John (testator of the 1703 will, I believe) remained in Southhampton NY. Below is the footnote to the will:

[Testator] John Woodruff was the youngest son of John Woodruff, Sr., who was one of the earliest settlers in Southampton. John Woodruff, Sr., married a daughter of John Gosmer, one of the original Founders, and his oldest son, named John, was adopted by his maternal grandfather and went with him to Elizabethtown, N. J., and was the ancestor of the families of the name of Woodruff in that State. John Woodruff, Sr., had another son also called John, who remained in Southampton, being a curious instance of a man’s having two sons of the same name living at the same time. John Woodruff, Sr., died in May, 1670. The homestead of John Woodruff, left to son Samuel, was sold by him to Francis Pelletreau, April 12, 1728. The ancient house, which stood till within a few years, was the last house on Long Island that retained the old-fashioned rhomboidal panes of window glass once in general use, and for this reason it was known as the “House with Diamond Windows.” The place is now the homestead of Josiah Foster.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924067742175&view=...

So with all the back and forth between NY and NJ, and with the blood kinship involved, it is possible our Elizabeth was the daughter of the younger brother of the same name (John) who remained in Suffolk Co., NY.

So I suspect this may be our Elizabeth Woodruff who married Joseph Potter. Her birthdate is just a guess, but it's in the ballpark.

Elizabeth Woodruff

If true, she would have been the very young niece of John "The Elder" Woodruff (whose name is in need of correction to clear up the confusion).

However, John the Elder Woodruff brother also had a daughter, Elizabeth. So it was more likely the latter, although there again we find the "ca. 1680" birthdate.

Elizabeth Woodruff

I don't have a will for John the Elder brother Woodruff, who apparently died in 1691 according to Geni. Maybe I can find it. He at least lived closer to the relevant location, near the Potter families.

This source has the Elder John Woodruff d. 1670, much earlier than shown on Geni.

But I should have realized before my last post that since she must have born later (around 1700), it's far more likely she was the daughter of the Younger John Woodruff from Southhampton.

https://archive.org/details/branchofwoodruff00wood_0/page/n7/mode/2...

Correction: The John Woodruff [Sr. father, not 'elder' brother] who d. 1670 in Southampton is the father of the two sons named John. The source I linked in my last post only covers the Suffolk County, NY, Woodruffs.

There are a lot of wives here whose parentage is unknown. That's why I didn't include hers, and it's the reason I asked to have the merge reversed once I realized it was no good.

You've brought in a website source with claims that conflict with my source published by the state of New York (Pelletreau).

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924067742175&view=...

I kind of figured this is where it was heading, when I couldn't get help with a simple merge reversal.

I had 36+ tabs open when I got stuck with that bad merge, and I'm done now, I closed all of it.

I'm sorry, I didn't know you couldn't open it. I'll be happy to copy it and attach it somewhere for you (can't do it on our discussion, as I don't know how to post images here). Where should I attach it? I would assume on John Woodruff the Younger's, since it's his will?

He died in 1703, so she would have been a baby at the time.

I stated in my OP on the first discussion where I asked for help, that "1680" can't be right for the wife of a man Joseph Potter (son of Samuel Potter, Sr.), who was born in 1702.

The will begins here on page 261 (image 270) and includes the footnote I referenced.

https://archive.org/details/earlylongislandw00pell/page/n269/mode/2up

The Hathitrust copy is much better quality.

I made no reference to the son of John "the Elder" of Elizabethtown Woodruff's children other than that he had a daughter named Elizabeth according to one reliable source which I mentioned above.

However, I also stated that the Elder died long before our Elizabeth (Woodruff) Potter's likely birth and I do not believe they are the same Elizabeth.

I don't know, I would just leave it blank until something solid turns up. But if we must find parents for her I think the baby daughter of John "the Younger" is the best documented fit that I'm aware of.

I see that you have already disconnected Joseph's wife's parents, which I think is the best thing to do at this point. And I feel comfortable with the ca. "1704" birthdate for her.