John James Woodhurst


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Brief biography

John James Woodhurst was born at Milton near Sittingbourne in Kent in 1852 to parents William (4) Woodhurst and his wife Ann (nee Page). The GRO reference is [Birth Index: Milton 2a 576, 1852 (June)].

He emigrated to America with his parents later in the 1850s.

The US 1860 Census finds him living at age 7 with his parents at South Fork township, Jackson County in Iowa.

The US 1880 Census finds him living at Judith and Arrow Creek, Meagher County in Montana, aged 27, unmarried and occupied as a farmer. The record confirms that he and his parents were born in England.

Around 1880-81 he first married to a woman named Flora (surname unknown) and by her produced at least five children.

During the 1880s he was occupied in silver mining on Woodhurst Mountain as described on this page.

He was apparently working away from home in 1885 because a census taken in that year for Ward 1 of Council Bluffs, Mills County in Iowa shows Flora living there at 415, Franklin Street with just her first two children:


    Flora Woodhurst : 25 : mar : [no occupation cited] : [no birthplace cited]  
    Jennie Woodhurst : 4 : unm : --- : Montana  
    Florence Woodhurst : 2 : unm : --- : Montana   

He subsequently remarried around 1894 to a woman named Carrie Lee whose maiden name is currently unknown. She had been previously married to a man having surname Wall, by whom she produced the two sons listed below. These details of their marriages and progeny are implied by the US 1900 Census.

By 1897 he and Carrie Lee were in Judith Basin, Montana, for on May 19th of that year he patented land there, as shown in the records of the Bureau of Land Management Database. These records also show that Carrie Lee patented land there on April 22nd 1901.

The US 1900 Census finds him living with Carrie Lee, his four daughters and two step-sons at 29, Stanford Precincts, Fergus County in Montana and occupied as a farmer. His birthdate is cited (incorrectly) as April 1854, and Carrie Lee's as November 1864. She was born in Iowa. The record also states that he had immigrated in 1856 and was naturalized.

He died in 1912 and was buried in the Mount Baker Cemetery on Orcas Island, San Juan County in Washington State. His gravestone there states that he died on March 17th 1912 and gives his birthdate as (inaccurately) April 6th 1853.

Carrie Lee died in Cascade County, Montana around 1949-50 according to a listing of Woodhurst graves in Cascade County, Montana. This listing has two burial entries for "Carrie Lee Woodhurst", one for the Old Highland Cemetery in 1949 and the other for the New Highland Cemetery in 1950. It may be that the old cemetery was reclaimed for some other use in 1950 and that Carrie Lee was re-interred in the new one. Less probably she may have had an unmarried daughter, also named Carrie Lee, who was the person buried in 1950.

His children by Flora ... (?)

  1. Jennie (1) Woodhurst - born August 14th 1880/81 in Montana
  2. Florence (1) Woodhurst - born November 1882 in Montana
  3. Ada (1) Woodhurst - born December 1885 in Montana
  4. Ella (1) Woodhurst - born November 1887 in Montana
  5. Bessie (2) Woodhurst - born February 1890 in Montana
  6. and possibly others ...

An unattributed IGI patron-submission record states that Jennie (1) was born on August 14th "1881" at Stanford, Judith Basin in Montana, that she married Fred F. Fair on September 16th 1900 at Council Bluffs, Mills County in Iowa, that he was born at Glenwood in Mills County on February 19th 1878 and died on March 20th 1966, and that she died on February 28th 1977. She does not appear in her parents' household in the 1900 Census even though this record implies that she was still single when the census was taken.

On July 16th 1903 The Mills County Tribune published an announcement of the birth five days earlier, on Saturday July 11th, of a daughter (unnamed) to "Mr. and Mrs. Fair".

The American Social Security Death Index states that Jennie (1) was born on August 14th "1880" and died in February 1977. Her SSN (issued in California) was 555-21-3865 and she had been residing at 91504 Burbank in Los Angeles, California. It also states that Fred Fair was born on Feburary 19th 1878 and died in March 1966. His SSN (issued in Wyoming) was 520-07-3267 and he too had been residing at 91504 Burbank in Los Angeles.

Florence (1) evidently married into the Small surname. She died in 1910 and was buried as "Florence Woodhurst Small" in the same cemetery on Orcas Island as her father would be two years later. Her gravestone there states that she died on February 22nd 1910 and gives her birthdate as November 22nd 1882.

At the time of the 1910 Census Bessie (2) was residing on Orcas Island aged "20". The full details have not yet been extracted.

His children by Carrie Lee ... (?)

  1. perhaps, but improbably ... a daughter also named Carrie Lee Woodhurst
  2. perhaps ... Ralph L. Woodhurst - born 1908
  3. and possibly others ...

Carrie Lee's children by ... (?) Wall

  1. Jarrett Wall - born November 1884 in Montana
  2. Thomas Wall - born May 1890 in Montana