Researching William Woodbridge

Woodbridge, fourth child of James R and Mary (Bull) Woodbridge, of Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Hartford, August 8, 1819.

He graduated from Yale College in 1840 and received his medical degree from Yale Medical School in 1844, and settling for practice in Manchester, Connecticut, whence he removed two or three years later to Brooklyn, Connecticut, where he continued until his death, on August 6, 1888, at the age of 69 years. During his long career in Brooklyn as a physician he was a leader in religious and civil affairs. He represented the town in the Connecticut State Legislature in 1869. He married, April 26, 1847, Mary Ann Bidwell, who died July 6, 1872, leaving two children. He next married, Sept 13, 1878, Abby B. Ensworth, of Canterbury, Connecticut, who survived him.

William Woodbridge was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut to British immigrants on September 14, 1755. He worked on his father's farm until he resolved to join the ministry at the age of 21, and entering school which he paid for by working and teaching in his spare time. During his senior year in college, he taught a young ladies school for three months in New Haven County, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale College in 1780, he went on to make a living as a teacher, though he was also qualified to be a minister. In 1783, he was chosen to be the first preceptor of the newly created Phillips Exeter Academy. In 1789 he opened and became principal of a female academy in Medford, Massachusetts which was the first Female Seminary in New England, where he worked for seven years. In 1799 he was president of an association for the improvement of common schools in Middletown, Connecticut. In November 1835, he took charge of a school for girls in Franklin, Connecticut.

Over his lifetime, he authored textbooks on grammar and writing, and following his time at Exeter, contributed to the Annals of Education, a journal owned by his son. He also contributed to the Juvenile Rambler, a children's paper published in Boston, and wrote a book for children entitled The Dead Bird.

He married first in 1784 to Elizabeth Brooks, with whom he had twin daughters. Elizabeth died at age 27 in December 1787. He then married Ann Channing with whom he had a son, William Channing Woodbridge, a geographer, educational reformer, and textbook author. He then married Sarah Stiles, and finally Abigail (Wolcott) Butler. He died February 27, 1836, in Franklin, Connecticut of apoplexy.