WOODBRIDGE, John, clergyman, born in Stun-ton, Wiltshire, England, in 1614; died in Newbury, Massachusetts, 1 July, 1691. He was the son of the Reverend John Woodbridge, rector of the parish of Stanton, Wiltshire, whose earliest known ancestor was John Woodbridge, born about 1492, and was sent to Oxford, where he remained "until the oath of conformity came to be required of him, which neither his father nor his conscience approving, he removed thence into a course of more private studies." In 1634 he came to New England in the ship "Mary and John" with his uncle, the Reverend Thomas Parker, and settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, of which he was town-clerk in 1634-'8, and surveyor of arms in 1637. In 1639 he married Mercy, the daughter of Governor Thorn-as Dudley, and in 1643 taught in Boston. With others he negotiated the purchase from the Indians of the land on which the town of Andover was built ; he was chosen the first minister of the place, his ordination, on 24 October, 1645, being one of the earliest in New England. In 1647 he returned to England, became chaplain to the parliamentary commissioners who made a treaty with the king at the Isle of Wight, and was afterward minister at Andover, Hants, and at Barford-St. Martin's, Wiltshire, until he was ejected after the Restoration. In 1663 he was driven from a school that he had established in Newbury, England, and returned to New England. He then served as assistant to the Reverend Thomas Parker until 30 November, 1670, when he was dismissed in consequence of dissensions in the church. Subsequently he held other local offices, and was an assistant of Massachusetts colony in 1683-'4. Cotton Mather, in his "Magnalia," speaks of his excellence and piety. His memory is preserved in the name of Woodbridge island, near the mouth of Merrimac river. He is the progenitor of all the American Woodbridges.--His brother, Benjamin, clergyman, born in Stanton, Wiltshire, England, in 1622; died in Inglefield, Berks, England, 1 November, 1684, was graduated at Oxford in 1638, came to New England in 1639, an(], entering Harvard, was the first graduate of that, university. After his return to England with his brother in 1647 he became minister at Newbury, Berks, but was ejected in 1662. Being a favorite of the king, he was permitted to preach privately. He was a member of the Savoy conference and for a time was chaplain to Charles II. He received episcopal ordination after the Restoration, but subsequently became a non-conformist. He was called "the first fruits of the college of New England," and left the reputation of being a " universally accomplished person, of a clear and strong reason, and of an exact and profound judgment." He published several sermons, including " Justification by Faith" (London, 1652);" The Method of Grace in the Justification of Sinners" (1656); and "Church Members set in Joynt" (1656). --John's son, Timothy, clergyman, born in Barford-St. Martin's, Wilts, England, 13 January, 1656; died in Hartford, Connecticut, 30 April, 1732, was graduated at Harvard in 1675, and became minister of the 1st church in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1683, but was not ordained until 1685. He introduced infant baptism into Connecticut in 1696, and was one of the ten principal ministers of Connecticut colony that were named as trustees and authorized by the general assembly of Connecticut to found Yale college in 1699, and was a fellow of that college in 1700-'32. He was an active member of the Say-brook convention in 1708, and served the colony in many important political affairs. He published an election sermon (1727) and occasional poems.-Another son, Benjamin, clergyman, born in Medford, Massachusetts, 15 January, 1710, was minister of Bristol and of Kittery, Maine, in 1638. He wrote the ingenious lines for the tomb of Cotton Mather. His son John was minister of Wethersfield, Massachusetts, and died in 1790; and for eight generations one of his descendants always bore the name of John and followed the same profession.--The second Benjamin's grandson, Benjamin, merchant, born in 1609; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 3 July, 1728, was the son of Governor Dudley Woodbridge, of Barbadoes. He received a good education in Boston and became a partner of Jonathan Sewall, son of the chief justice. On 3 July, 1728, he fought a duel with swords with Henry Phillips, without seconds and at night, on Boston common, and was killed. Phillips escaped to France. The motive for the duel is not known. It caused great sensation, and severe laws against duelling were enacted. The "Overland Monthly" for October, 1874, gives an account of it.--John's descendant in the fifth generation, Timothy, clergyman, born in Stock-bridge, Massachusetts, 23 November, 1784; died in Spencertown, Columbia County, New York, 7 December, 1862, was the son of Jahleel (1738-'96), who was graduated at Princeton in 1761, and served in the state senate and as judge of probate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, from 1789 till 1795, and of Lucy, daughter of John-than Edwards. The son entered Williams college in 1799, but during his sophomore year lost his eyesight, and passed the remainder of his life in total blindness. After graduation in 1803 he studied law, but abandoned this to enter Andover theological seminary in 1810, and was graduated there in ]811. In 1816 he became pastor of the Presbyterian church in Green River, Columbia County, New York, remaining there until 1842, when he was called to the Presbyterian church in Spencertown, and held this charge until 1851. In 1852-'3 he served as pastor of a Congregational church in Alford, Massachusetts, and be then returned to Spencer-town, where he devoted his life to charity, preaching only occasionally. He was known as the "blind minister"" but, notwithstanding his infirmity, he was very active and cheerful, a hard student, and an interesting preacher. In his method of con ducting religious worship there was nothing to indicate his blindness" the hymns and parts-of the scripture, though really repeated, were apparently read. In the vigor of his logic and the clearness of his descriptions he strongly resembled his distinguished ancestor. Williams gave him the degree of D. D. in 1846. See "The Autobiography of a Blind Minister, including Sketches of the Men and Events of his Time" (Boston, 1856), and a "Discourse at the Funeral of the Reverend Timothy Wood-bridge," by William B. Sprague, D. D. (Albany, 1863).--John's descendant in the fifth generation, William, governor of Michigan, born in Norwich Conn., 20 August, 1780; died in Detroit, Michigan, 20 October, 1861, removed with his father, Dudley (1747-1823), one of the earliest emigrants, to the Northwest territory, to Marietta, Ohio, in 1791. but was sent to Connecticut to receive his education. After studying at the Litchfield law-school, he was admitted to the bar of Ohio in 1806, and in 1807 was elected to the assembly. From 1808 till 1814 he was prosecuting attorney for New London county, Ohio, and he was also a member of the state senate. In 1814 he received from President Madison the appointment of secretary of the territory of Michigan, and removed to Detroit. For a long time he was legal adviser of John Jacob Astor's northwest fur company, and was counsel in important Canadian cases against the Hudson bay company. He was elected the first delegate to congress from Michigan, serving from 1819 till 1820, when he resigned. He was instrumental in procuring government aid toward constructing a road through the "Black Swamp" to connect Detroit with Ohio, and also toward exploration of the Northwest territory. From 1828 till 1832 he was judge of the superior court of Michigan territory, and in 1835 he was a delegate to the State constitutional convention. He was elected to the state senate in 1837, was governor of Michigan in 1840-'1, and. being chosen to the United States senate, served from 31 May, 1841, till 3 March, 1847. Daniel Webster, in a note to his speech in defence of the Ashburton treaty, attributed to Mr. Woodbridge the first suggestion that was ever made to him for inserting in that treaty a provision for the surrender of fugitives under certain circumstances, upon the demand of foreign governments. For many years before his death he lived at his country-seat near Detroit, and devoted himself to his books and to horticulture. He married Juliana, daughter of John Trumbull, author of "McFingal." See his "Life," by Charles Lanman (Washington, 1867).--The first Timothy's great-grandson, William Channing, educator born in Medford, Massachusetts, 18 December, 1794; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 9 November, 1845, was graduated at Yale in 1811, and studied medicine and theology, but was never ordained. In 1812-'14 he was principal of the Burlington academy, New Jersey, and in 1817 he became an instructor in the institution for the deaf and dumb in Hartford, Connecticut, remaining there for three years, and being licensed to preach by the Congregational association of that city. He then visited Europe three times, and on his return devoted himself to elevating the condition of the common schools, and introduced the Pestalozzian system of instruction as modified by Philip Emanuel yon Fellen-berg, and by his own observations. In August, 1831, he purchased the "American Journal of Education," changed its name to " The Annals of Education," and published it until 1838, serving also as one of its editors. In this appeared a series of "Letters from Hofwyl," in which he gave an account of Fellenberg's system of instruction. He published " Universal Geography, Ancient and Modern," with Mrs. Emma Willard (Hartford, 1824), and was the author of "Rudiments of Geography', (Hartford, 1833); " Modern School Geography"; and other text-books for schools.--John's descendant in the seventh generation, Samuel Merrill, clergyman, born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, 5 April, 1819, was graduated at the University of the city of New York in 1838 and at the theological seminary at New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1842, and became pastor of the Dutch Reformed churches in South Brooklyn in 1841, in Coxsackie, New York, in 1850, and in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in. 1852. From 1857 till 1864 he was professor of ecclesiastical history and church government, and dean of the theological seminary of the Reformed church in New Brunswick, and also professor of church history there after 1856. He received the degrees of D. D. from Rutgers in 1857 and Union in 1858, and LB. D. from Rutgers in 1883. Besides addresses and sermons, he has published an "Analysis of Theology" (New York, 1872).--John's descendant in the eighth generation, Frederick Enoch, lawyer, born in Vergennes, Vermont, 29 August, 1819; died there, 26 April, 1888, after graduation at the University of Vermont in 1840, studied law under his father, Enoch D. Woodbridge, was admitted to the bar in 1842, and practised in his native town. He was long a member of the legislature, state auditor in 1850-'2, prosecuting attorney in 1854-'8, and many times mayor of his native city. In 1860-'2 he served in the state senate, of which he was president pro tempore in 1861. He was then elected to congress as a Republican, served from 7 December, 1863, till 3 March, 1869, and was a member of the committees on the judiciary and private land-claims, and chairman of that on the pay of officials of congress. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia loyalists' convention of 1866. Mr. Woodbridge engaged in railroad enterprises, and for several years was vice-president and active manager of the Rutland and Washington railroad.--John's descendant, in the 7th generation, Abby Dwight, born in Jackson, Maine, 27 Sept:, 1808; died 23 February, 1866, taught for many years in Albany and Brooklyn, and was the author of numerous poems.