Author: Woodworth, John
Biography:
WOODWORTH, John (1768-1858: ancestry.com)
His literary work is something of a mystery because it hardly enters the public record, although he was a prominent man in his community. The son of Robert and Rachel (Fitch) Woodworth, he was born in Schodack NY. He studied law in Albany and was admitted to the New York bar in 1791. He began his legal practice in Troy NY but in 1806 returned to Albany, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was a captain in the Albany county militia and was elected to the state Senate for 1804-7. He served as the state's Attorney-General 1804-8 and as a judge of the state's Supreme Court in 1819-28. He married Catherine Westerlo (1778-1846) in 1810 in the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany; they had two children. He died in Albany and is buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands NY. His main publications appeared under New York state imprints and were professional or historical in nature, but under the pseudonym "an American Youth" he published a political satire, The Spunkiad, in Newburgh NY in 1798. The same pseudonym appears on the title-page of The Battle of Plattsburgh (1819), published in Montpelier VT, with copyright assigned to "John Woodworth" as a resident of the district; according to the Preface, however, the author was still a minor in 1814 when his father fought in that battle. (It is sometimes attributed to a Samuel Woodworth, d 1819, of whom nothing else is known.) Also published in Montpelier in 1819 and with the author's name appearing as "John Woodworth" in the text, An Address to Youth: by a Young Man in a Declining State of Health, which includes "A Song of Praise for the Redeemed of the Lord" seems out of keeping with the lawyer Woodworth's other work as well as with his residence in New York State. The persona--if that is what it is--is a puzzle. It seems quite possible that other Woodworths, resident in Vermont but of whom no trace has been found, were responsible for the two titles of 1819. (ancestry.com 8 Mar. 2021; S&W; Appleton) HJ