Woodward, John B., (John Blackburne), 1835-1896

John Blackburne Woodward was born at 84 Sands Street in Brooklyn, N.Y. on May 31, 1835 to Thomas Woodward, who emigrated with his father and brothers from England in 1819, and Mary Barrow Woodward (nee Blackburne). The family had four daughters and four sons, of whom John was the eldest son.

Woodward was at school from the ages of 8 to 15, when he entered the importing business of his uncle George Woodward. In 1859 he moved to the exporting business of Edward Haynes, which traded largely with Brazil and South America. He became sole proprietor in 1881, and remained at this firm until his death.

In 1854, Woodward entered the Brooklyn City Guard, 13th Regiment, as a Private. He steadily rose in rank throughout the ensuing decade, and was elected Colonel of the 13th Regiment in March of 1863. After resigning as Colonel in June of 1966 Woodward was appointed Major General of the Second Division of the New York State National Guard in March of 1869. He became Inspector General of New York State in January of 1875, and Adjutant General in April of 1879.

Acknowledged as an able businessman and conscientious citizen, Woodward also served on the Boards of numerous Brooklyn institutions and committees, many of which were public service oriented. Woodward's many positions included:

Woodward briefly entered the Brooklyn political stage when, in 1885, he made a bid for Mayor. He ran as an independent, and had the backing of Seth Low. During the race, a case was brought against the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and others for "preventing the election of John B. Woodward as Mayor." 13,641 ballots were cast for Woodward, but he lost to Whitney's 48,774 and Catlin's 37,945, though he did beat the 879 ballots cast for Funk.

Woodward resided at 259 Henry Street in Brooklyn with his wife, Elizabeth Cook Blackburne, whom he had married on May 31, 1870, and four children. Two of Woodward's children, Arthur Harris and an unknown daughter, died in 1890 and 1893, respectively, and two, Robbins Blackburne and Mary ("Mae" or "May") Blackburne, lived to adulthood. Robbins went on to have at least one daughter, Mary, named, presumably, for her aunt Mary, who died in the mid 1940s. Woodward remained at his Henry Street residence until his death in 1896, after a brief decline due to pneumonia.

From the guide to the John B. Woodward papers, 1820-1924, (Brooklyn Historical Society)

The Blackburne and Woodward and Blackburne family’s Brooklyn origins date to the arrival in the United States of John Blackburne in 1819 [or 1821?]. Several of his eight children (not all of whom survived to adulthood) remained in England; the Brooklyn family lines stem from his daughter Mary Barrow Blackburne (1807-1850), who married Thomas Woodward in 1828; and his son Robins Cook Blackburne (1812-1850), who married Sophia Ward in 1836. After she became a widow, Sophia married James Littlejohn, continuing to reside at one of several properties the family owned in a parcel on Sands Street in Brooklyn. John Blackburne Woodward (1835-1896) was the oldest son of Thomas and Mary; he was a Civil War general, a successful businessman in the import-export trade, and an active participant in Brooklyn political and civil life. (For a biographical note emphasizing his public life, see the finding aid to a previous accession, the John B. Woodward papers [ARC.275].) In 1870 he married the youngest daughter of Robins and Sophia Blackburne, his first cousin Elizabeth Cook Blackburne (1849-1923), a linking of the family lines that created strong bonds in succeeding generations Elizabeth, later with her unmarried daughter Mary, would eventually raise orphaned members of two generations of her sister’s family in addition to her own children.

John B. and Elizabeth Woodward resided at 259 Henry Street in Brooklyn. They had four children: the younger two, Elsie (1877-1893) and Arthur (1881-1890), did not live to adulthood; the second child, Robins Blackburne Woodward (1875-1904), died before age 30. Only the oldest, Mary Blackburne Woodward (May or Mae; 1871-1943), lived a full lifespan. Mary graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute in 1890. Although she never married, she helped raise her younger cousins Mary and Ruth Hart.

Elizabeth Cook (Blackburne) Woodward’s older sister Sophia Ward Blackburne (1843-1868) married William Henry Condit (Harry; 1839-1873) in 1864. When Sophia died just four years later, she left two daughters, Sophia Ward Condit (1865-1952) and Elizabeth Blackburne Condit (Lizzie; 1868-1915). The two girls were raised by their Aunt Elizabeth at 259 Henry Street; their father, Harry Condit, died in Florence, Italy, in 1873. Sophia Condit married Edward Haynes (1860-1905), whose father, also Edward Haynes, was the business partner of John Woodward; they had four children, Edward, Elizabeth, Mabel, and Henry, and lived at 54 Remsen Street.

Elizabeth Condit married William Edgar Hart in 1905; they had two daughters, Mary Woodward Hart (1907-1992?; married A. Dexter Best, 1935) and Ruth Blackburne Hart (1910-2011). When Elizabeth Condit Hart died in 1915, the history of the previous generation repeated itself: Elizabeth Woodward, their great-aunt, once again stepped in to give them a home. After her death in 1923, Mary and Ruth were raised by Mary Woodward. Ruth also attended Packer Collegiate Institute as a member of the Class of 1931; from there she continued her education at Rollins College, graduating in 1933. A year later, she married her classmate James H. Ottaway, with whom she had worked on the Rollins school newspaper. In 1936 Ottaway, whose father owned a newspaper in Port Huron, Michigan, purchased a local newspaper in Endicott, New York; Ottaway Newspapers grew to own more than 20 newspapers and merged with the Dow Jones & Company as its community newspapers subsidiary. The business continued under family leadership when James H. Ottaway, Jr. succeeded his father as head of the company in 1984; he retired in 2006 after serving in various positions with Dow Jones. The Words without Borders James H. Ottaway Jr. Award for the Promotion of International Literature, established in 2013, is named in his honor.

From the guide to the Blackburne, Woodward, and Ottaway family papers, Bulk, 1870-1930, 1807-2011, (Brooklyn Historical Society)