Richard "Dick" Woodward was an American tavern keeper. He was a patriot and soldier in the American Revolution, played host to the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves, and a leader of Dedham, Massachusetts.
Woodward was a member of a prominent family from Dedham, Massachusetts. [1] He married his first wife, Susannah ( née Luce), on April 2, 1747, by Rev. Samuel Dexter. [2] [a] The couple had several sons, [1] [5] including Richard Jr., a teacher in Dedham [3] and soldier in the Revolutionary War. [6]
On February 23, 1772, Woodward married Deborah Ames. [7] [1] [8] When they sued a relative over an estate, their lawyer was John Adams. [1] [9] It was an unhappy marriage, however, and the couple divorced. [10] [1] Before the American Revolution was over, Woodward moved to New Haven. [11]
Woodward was also disliked by Deborah's children. [5] Fisher Ames accused him of only marrying his mother for her money and of stealing nearly $1,000. [5] Fisher's brother, Nathaniel, once got into an altercation whereby Woodward struck him with a saw. [12] [1] [13] Nathaniel had Woodward arrested and bound to good behavior. [12] [1] [13] Nathaniel also accused Woodward of theft. [13]
Deborah ran the Ames Tavern for several years with the help of several of her sons after the death of her first husband. [14] [10] In 1772, she married Woodward and it became known as the Woodward Tavern. [10] [14] [15]
His name is listed among those who led the town of Dedham in its second century. [16]
In 1768, Woodward was one of Dedham's delegates to the Massachusetts Convention of Towns, an extralegal assembly held in Boston in response to the news that British troops would soon be arriving to crack down on anti-British rioting. [17] [18] [b]
When Town Meeting voted in 1770 to prohibit the drinking of foreign tea in protest of the Townshend Acts, Woodward was elected to a committee to enforce the ban. [19]
A general convention of delegates from every town in Suffolk County was called for August 16, 1774, at Doty's Tavern in Stoughton (today Canton). [20] The group agreed on the need to take a united stand against the Intolerable Acts but, since not every community was represented, it was decided to adjourn and try again with full representation. [20] Woodward, a member of the Committee of Correspondence, offered to host the next gathering on September 6, 1774. [20]
Before Woodward and Deborah divorced, the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves met in the tavern and began their work. [21] [22] Woodward himself was elected a delegate to the convention from Dedham. [23] [24]
Woodward was also elected by the convention, along with Joseph Warren and 13 others, to meet the governor and inform him that the residents of Suffolk County were alarmed by the fortifications the British Army was making at Boston Neck. [25] [16] They asked him to intervene and protest the fortifications, as well as the abuses soldiers committed against civilians in the county. [25] [22]
When word of the battles at battles at Lexington and Concord reached Dedham, Woodward was among those who responded. [16] [6] His was the second company to leave, probably from Dedham Island, and he served as lieutenant under Captain George Gould. [16]
Fisher Ames was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He was an important leader of the Federalist Party in the House, and was noted for his oratorical skill.
Joshua Bates was an American educator and clergyman. He was the third president of Middlebury College.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.
Nathaniel Ames was a colonial American physician who published a popular series of annual almanacs. He was the son of Nathaniel Ames first (1677–1736) and the father of Nathaniel and Fisher Ames. The family was descended from William Ames of Bruton, Somerset, England, whose son William emigrated to Massachusetts and settled at Braintree as early as 1640.
The Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780 was the second constitutional convention held in Massachusetts to draft a new state constitution following the state's declaration of independence in 1776. The convention that drafted the proposed constitution was composed of delegates specifically elected for the purpose, unlike the previous year's convention, which had been composed of legislators. The convention's proposal was principally drafted by John Adams, and was published in early March 1780. After an extended process of ratification debates involving town meetings, the convention approved a modified version of the March proposal on June 15, 1780, although the vote to do so was not without some controversy. The new Massachusetts State Constitution then went into effect, and the convention on June 16 issued a call to elect a governor and General Court under its terms before it finally adjourned.
Deborah Fisher, later Deborah Ames and Deborah Woodward, was a tavern owner in Dedham, Massachusetts.
The Old Village Cemetery is an historic cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Nathaniel Sumner represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court.
Nathaniel Ames was an American medical doctor, politician, and teacher. He represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Massachusetts Great and General Court.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1700 to 1799 saw the town become one of the largest and most influential country towns in Massachusetts. As the population grew and residents moved to outlying areas of the town, battles for political power took place. Similar battles were taking place within the churches, as liberal and conservative factions bristled at paying for ministers with whom they had differences of theological opinion. New parishes and preciencts were formed, and eventually several new towns broke away.
The Ames Tavern was a tavern in Dedham, Massachusetts. Founded as Fisher's Tavern in 1649 by Joshua Fisher, it eventually passed into the hands of Nathaniel Ames through a complicated lawsuit based on colonial laws of inheritance. It was eventually owned by Richard Woodward, who renamed it the Woodward Tavern by the time the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves met there.
Rev. William Clark was an Anglican priest from Massachusetts.
The Norfolk County Courthouse served Norfolk County, Massachusetts from soon after its establishment in 1792 until 1827. It was replaced by a new Norfolk County Courthouse. In later years, the building was known as Temperance Hall.
Samuel Haven was an American judge.
The Dedham Bank was a bank in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was located on the corner of High and Pearl Streets.
St. Mary's School and Asylum was a Catholic girls' school and orphanage in Dedham, Massachusetts.
This is a timeline of the history of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.
The Pillar of Liberty is a monument in Dedham, Massachusetts commemorating the repeal of the Stamp Act. Erected by the Sons of Liberty, it originally had a pillar with a bust of William Pitt on top.
The town of Dedham, Massachusetts, participated in the American Revolutionary War and the protests and actions that led up to it in a number of ways. The town protested the Stamp Act and then celebrated its repeal by erecting the Pillar of Liberty. Townsmen joined in the boycott of British goods following the Townshend Acts, and they supported the Boston Tea Party. Dedham's Woodward Tavern was the site where the Suffolk Resolves gathering was first convened.
Gay's Tavern was a tavern in Dedham, Massachusetts. The original location was a political hotspot and the host of a political convention in 1780, while the second location would become known by many names, including the Phoenix Hotel.