Background

Paul Woodward was baptised in Morton Bagot, Warwickshire on 26 January 1706 (below). He was the fourth child of Robert Woodward (b.1668) and Ann from Morton Bagot, Warwickshire. Paul married Elizabeth Moor at Salford Priors, Warwickshire on 5 September 1731 and later married his second wife, Elizabeth Shouel, at Morton Bagot on 26 October 1769.

History

Despite its biblical roots, Paul was not a common name in the 1700s. There are only half-a-dozen Paul Woodwards on Ancestry.com in England in the 1700s and only one in Warwickshire. The records for his parents are scant with no obvious sign of any marriage record. His father, Robert Woodward, was the eldest of Walter Woodward's eight children born between 1668 and 1684 at Morton Bagot.

Paul had four siblings:

• John Woodward, the eldest brother, (b.1697 at Morton Bagot) married an Elizabeth (possibly Eliz James at Inkberrow, Worcestershire), and they had a son John in 1721 at Morton Bagot.
• Richard Woodward (b. 1700 at Morton Bagot) died in 1701. His death is not in the parish records but it is in the Bishop's Transcript, shown as 'son of Robert and Ann'.
• Robert Woodward (b. 1704 at Morton Bagot) died in 1729 having never married.
• Mary Woodward (b.1710 in Morton Bagot) died aged 2 years.

Paul was a master butcher who had a shop in Studley, Warwickshire, just over two miles from Morton Bagot. His youngest son, William, was also a butcher working with him at Studley. The UK Register of Duty Paid for Apprentice's Indentures, 1778, shows William as a qualified apprentice to his father. Paul also worked with William Smith, the father of Sarah Smith (b.1745), who married William Woodward in 1776 at Studley. This explains how William met his wife.

Paul's mother, Ann, had links to Studley through her second marriage after Paul's father, Robert, died on 5 July 1720. In 1722 she married her second husband, William Raybold at Morton Bagot. He came from Studley. Ann Woodward/Raybold died in 1737 and was buried at Morton Bagot.

Family

Paul and Elizabeth Moor had seven children:

• John Woodward (b.1732) married Eleanor Chesier in Morton Bagot in 1752 and had six children.
• Richard Woodward (b.1737) married Sarah Leighton in Morton Bagot in 1772 and had eleven children. Sarah lived to be 100 years old (d.1843).
• Elizabeth Woodward (b.1741) had two illegitimate children from 1762-1773.
• Ann Woodward (b.1743) died aged 8 years old.
• Betty Woodward (b.1750) married a Thomas Chester in Morton Bagot in 1771 and had eight children.
• Robert Woodward (b.1750) a twin to William, married Alice Rickman at Feckenham, Worcestershire and had ten children.
• William Woodward (b.1750), twin to Robert, married Sarah Smith at Studley and had only one child before Sarah died soon after childbirth. He never remarried. On 21 June 1798 at Studley, William's only daughter, Mary Woodward, married John Green, a widower. The Land Tax Records for Studley in 1790 show William Woodward living in Studley, the tenant of Richard Harrice. William is living next door to a John Green and is also next door to a William Woodbine, a farmer and property owner who may well have been related to Sophia Woodbine who married William's nephew, Joseph Woodward, in Alcester in 1801. The 1805 Land Tax Record shows William living in Studley next door to a Robert Woodward, almost certainly his twin brother who married in Studley, and next door to John Green, his son in law.

Death

Paul's first wife, Elizabeth Woodward (nee Moor) died on 11 June 1769 at Morton Bagot. His second wife was Elizabeth Shouel or Showel (nee Watts), a widow whose first husband, Samuel Showel, died in 1765 in Yardley, Worcestershire. They (Eliz and Samuel) had six children from 1742-1761 at Studley, but she did not have any more children after marrying Paul Woodward. Her death has not yet been found.

Paul Woodward died on 16 May 1782 and was buried at Morton Bagot.

Compiled by Graham Woodward, Nottingham, England (UK).