52 Ancestors: #12 Margaret Woodley

My 9th-great-grandmother Margaret Woodley was a Quaker from Widdington, Essex County, England. She is mentioned in several documents which are described on the Seax - Essex Archives Online Web site. Constables' presentment for Widdington, created on 27 March 1671 (part of Calendar of Essex Assize File [ASS 35/112/3], Assizes held at Brentwood 26 July 1671), states that Margaret, wife of Benjamin Scott junior, was absent from church. (Because she was a Quaker, she did not attend the Church of England.) Deed to declare the uses of a fine, created on 19 June 1671, mentions Benjamin Scott junior of Widdington and his wife Margaret and Bridget Bingham of Newport, widow, and states that they were both daughters of John Woodley, late of Widdington, yeoman, deceased. Another document, included in Calendar of Essex Assize File [ASS 35/113/3], Assizes held at Chelmsford 15 July 1672, mentions Margaret, w. of Benjamin Scott, and many other people who did not go to church.

The England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837 database on Ancestry.com includes records from the Monthly Meeting of Thaxted. These records contain information about children of Benjamin and Margaret:

John, born on the 27th day of the 7th month 1668
William, born on the 22nd day of the 8th month 1671, buried on the 1st day of the 8th month 1676
Margret, born on the 17th day of the 7th month 1673
Martonn, born on the 4th day of the 7th month 1676
Bridget (my 8th-great-grandmother), born on the 16th day of the 4th month 1679

In 1681, Benjamin and Margaret, their children, and Margaret's sister Bridget left England and settled in Burlington, West Jersey, Province of New Jersey. Birth records from the Burlington Monthly Meeting, found in Early Church Records of Burlington County, New Jersey, Vol. 1 by Charlotte D. Meldrum (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2007), contain information about one more child of Benjamin and Margaret: daughter Elizabeth, born on the 7th day of the 5th month 1681, on board the ship Henry and Ann at Gravesend.

Sadly, Margaret did not live long after coming to New Jersey. Early Church Records of Burlington County, New Jersey, Vol. 1 also includes death records from the Burlington Monthly Meeting. Margaret died on the 26th day of the 10th month 1682.