Tilly Woodward

Biography

Tilly Woodward married Marinda Wight on February 4, 1816. The Wight genealogy identifies him with Sturbridge, in southern Massachusetts near the Connecticut border, and records a large family whose children were born from 1816 through 1845.

Their children included Caroline, Harriet, Julia, Harding, Calvin, Marinda, Alfred, Dwight, Samuel, Emily, and Lorenzo. The repeated names conceal losses that matter to the family’s story: a first Calvin died in 1824, and a later child received the same name in 1826. A son Samuel died in 1838; another Samuel was born in 1841.

As adults, the children’s households spread beyond Sturbridge to Worcester, Webster, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Boston, according to the genealogy. Tilly’s memorial at North Cemetery, Sturbridge, gives his life as 1794–1869.

The family reconstruction names his parents as James Woodward and Sarah Atwood. Tilley is another spelling of his name; Marinda also appears as Merenda or Marindia.