Walter Woodworth (1612 – February 25, 1686) was among the original colonial settlers of America and ancestor of many prominent Americans.

Plymouth Colony

Walter settled in the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

, coming from

Kent, England Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

in 1633. He first appeared in the tax records of the Plymouth Colony in 1633.New England Historic Genealogical Society"
Retrieved 25 dec 2008. Woodworth settled in 1635 amongst the "Men of Kent" in

Scituate, Massachusetts Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. History The Wampanoag and their neighbors have inhabited ...

, which included Nathaniel Tilden, Edward Foster, Humphrey Turner, Isaac Chittenden, and William Hatch, who were influential in the building the settlement."History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts"
p.408, Retrieved 25 dec 2008. Walter took up residence at the third lot on Kent Street along the oceanfront at the corner of Meeting House Lane, where he built a home. He would acquire more property throughout his life in Plymouth Colony including a tract on the Herring Brook, a tract on Walnut Tree Hill, which in colonial times was referred to as Walter Woodworth Hill, and in Weymouth."Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire."
p. 1134, Retrieved 25 dec 2008. He would serve as surveyor of highways (1645–1646, 1656) and arbiter (1645, 1662–1663). He was a member of the First Church and had 10 children, who were Thomas, Sarah, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Martha, Isaac, Mehitable, and Abigail."Descendants of Walter Woodworth"
p. 9, Retrieved 25 dec 2008.

Descendants

There would be over 60 descendants of Walter Woodworth who served in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. Notable descendants of Walter include William Woodworth,

Samuel Woodworth Samuel Woodworth (January 13, 1784 – December 9, 1842) was an American author, literary journalist, playwright, librettist, and poet. Life Woodworth was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, to Revolutionary War veteran Benjamin Woodworth and hi ...

Charles W. Woodworth Charles William Woodworth (April 28, 1865 – November 19, 1940) was an American entomologist. He published extensively in entomology and founded the Entomology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first person to breed ...

, Robert S. Woodworth, Mary Fish Noyes Silliman,

Benjamin Silliman Benjamin Silliman (August 8, 1779 – November 24, 1864) was an early American chemist and science educator. He was one of the first American professors of science, at Yale College, the first person to use the process of fractional distillat ...

Benjamin Silliman, Jr. Benjamin Silliman Jr. (December 4, 1816 – January 14, 1885) was a professor of chemistry at Yale University and instrumental in developing the oil industry. His father Benjamin Silliman Sr., also a famous Yale chemist, developed the process of ...

William Richardson Belknap William Richardson Belknap (March 28, 1849 – June 2, 1914), for 28 years was president of the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company''The Cincinnati Enquirer'', June 2, 1914, p. 2. based in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the largest hardware Am ...

, Morris B. Belknap,

William Burke Belknap William Burke Belknap the younger (1885–1965) was the son of William Richardson Belknap and Alice Trumbull Silliman. He was an entrepreneur in the family of W. B. Belknap, William Burke Belknap, the elder (1811–1884), son of Morris Burke Be ...

and

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

. Walter was also the progenitor of the

Woodworth political family The Woodworth political family is a collection of American and Canadian politicians who descend directly from colonial settler Walter Woodworth. They rose to prominence in the 19th century, serving in several states, in the United States House of Re ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodworth, Walter 1612 births 1686 deaths

Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

People from colonial Massachusetts