I am a descendant of Edith Woodbury. She was the daughter of John Woodbury. I am wondering if her mother was Joanna Humphrey or Agnes Napper. I would also like to know if she was born in England or Massachusetts.

Hi Cheryl,

Would you please post the years when your Edith lived ! And, where did she live ?

And, have you already checked census information?

Betty (near Lowell, MA)


Board Administrator

I believe that Edith Woodbury was born in 1603.

If she was born in 1603 it was not in Massachusetts. The first settlement in what became Massachusetts was started in 1620.

When did John Woodbury and his family come to New England, and where did he settle?

There was a John Woodbury who came to Cape Ann in 1624 and removed to Salem in 1626. The name of his first wife is unknown, but she could not have been the Joanna Humphrey who married a John Woodbury 21-Jun-1596 at Burlescombe, Devonshire (see the discussion at 3:2056-2057 in the citation below). The given name of his second wife was Agnes, but her surname is unknown (the one given in Tingley's "Some Ancestral Lines" is unsupported and no proof is found for it). This John did not have a daughter named Edith. See 3:2054-2057 of Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants To New England 1620-1633," 3 Volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

Dale H. Cook, Member, NEHGS and MA Society of Mayflower Descendants;
Plymouth Co. MA Coordinator for the USGenWeb Project
Administrator of http://plymouthcolony.net