By Janet M. Conner, Historian, Avon Land Trust

Romanta Woodruff was among Northington’s (early Avon in 1750) most affluent and notable citizens.  He achieved a high level of social and economic status. Several factors enabled Woodruff to prosper. He inherited a share of his father’s estate, married well, and engaged in trade.  He was a large landowner, with orchards of apples and butternut trees.  He operated a cider brandy distillery and exported these commodities to the West Indies. 

Romanta Woodruff was born in Farmington in 1787, the son of John Woodruff and Lucy Wells.  John Woodruff was deeded land in 1773 from Joseph Roods [Rhodes] in this location.  In addition, John purchased additional land from Elizur Steele and deeded land from the Highway Commission in 1780.  John Woodruff died in 1793 and willed his land to Romanta and his siblings.  A marker of Woodford’s early prosperity was his journal entry on December 4, 1811.  “Went to Wethersfield with a load of apples and cider…sent off by sea…12 barrels of apples and butternuts…to sell them in the West Indies.”  This confirms that Woodford’s distillery went into operation when he moved into his Northington home.  In 1814, Woodruff records he sold 341 gallons of [cider] brandy for $383.67 @ $3.50 per barrel.  This is an impressive output for a small distillery operation!   Butternuts, also known as white walnuts, were a profitable export not only for consumption, but the yellow or orange dye from their husks, and its bark was used medicinally.

The first wife of Romanta, Esther Hinman, died in 1809, after only a year of marriage.  By the age of twenty-four, Woodruff married again to Hannah Fairchild Robbins in 1811, of the well-to-do Robbins family of Wethersfield.  She was the daughter of [Ben]jamin and Hannah Fairchild Robbins.  The West Wethersfield Society, before 1754, was part of New Britain that bordered Northington.  Woodruff’s meteoric rise to prominence at a youthful age was due in part to his marriage to Hannah, a woman of social standing.  His elevated standing is evidenced by Woodruff’s diary entry of October 2, 1811, in which he states he rented a chaise from Governor John Treadwell for four days for his marriage to Hannah in Wethersfield.  Hannah would bear nine children: four sons, three of whom moved out of state, and five daughters. 

Woodruff also employed at least one bound laborer.  According to researcher Sherra Palmer, Woodruff “was given” a “young Mulatto child,” the son of the “Mulatto Sume,” purportedly because she was unable to care for him.  The indenture made on June 7, 1810 indentured Henry Fairchild, as the child was known, to be an apprentice to learn the trade of husbandry until the age of 21.  Henry was about three years old at that time, as his contract expired on August 10, 1828.  

Henry Fairchild, whose surname came from the middle name of Woodruff’s wife Hannah, left a trail in the historical record.  Woodruff advertised in the Hartford Courant in July of 1826, that Henry had runaway at age 19, before the expiration of his contractual obligation.  It is unclear if he was recovered by Woodruff.  ..  Lisa Johnson, the former executive director of Stanley Whitman House, located Henry on the 1850 and 1870 federal census records in New Milford, Connecticut. A farmer, he was married with six children and owned property valued at $7,000.  Henry Fairchild is yet another example of the contribution of the millions of formerly bound individuals who contributed to the economic success of our early republic.

Woodruff continued to prosper and the couple were immortalized by Samuel Broadbent in oil paintings in 1819 that denote their social standing.  The Reverend Rufus Hawley of early Avon, remarked of them in his journal thusly: “Residing in the western section of Northington and representative of its growing power, were the fashionably dressed Romanta Woodruff and his wife Hannah.”  Mary-Frances L. Mackie suggests in Avon, Connecticut: An Historical Story, that the Woodruffs were the town’s early social elites, where dances were held in the barn-like structure that was appended to their home.  This house is extant, located today at 45 Edwards Road.  Woodruff’s granddaughter Carrie married Jerome L. Edwards (hence the naming of the road).  

An interesting side note is that when Romanta’s home was under renovation, a letter was found secluded in the staircase.  The letter, written by daughter Abigail Barnes Woodruff in 1852 to her sister Mary Ann, is a remarkable piece of local history documenting what was happening in their locale.  It speaks of births, gossip, family, politics, and an outbreak of spotted fever.  The letter mentions the famed furniture maker, Lambert Hitchcock, who succumbed to this scourge.  According to a Woodruff genealogy, son Daniel Richardson married Susan P. Hitchcock. 

Romanta Woodruff died in 1837 and is interred in Greenwood Cemetery, in Avon.  His probated estate inventory lists a military uniform including a pair of cowhide boots, military sword, military coat, epaulettes, and hat with feathers.  In a diary entry of July of 1813, he noted, “The drafted militia are mustering to go to New London to keep the British from landing.”  These entries confirm he served in the War of 1812 with England.  According to the papers of John Cotton Smith, Woodruff was listed as Captain of the Tenth Company, Second Regiment in New London, Connecticut on October 2^nd, 1813.  His son, Daniel, is listed as a Second Lieutenant in Matross Company. 

The estate inventory is notably extensive, which is not surprising, given his affluence.  His monument is not ostentatious but does bespeak of a man of means.  The inventory lists a plethora of household items and farm-related items.  However, his land holdings were impressive including well over a hundred acres, his dwelling house, and outbuildings including a cider mill house, mill, and a still house, used in the distilling process.  At the time of his death, the probate listed 6 large cider tubs, one still and worm, 800 gallons of cider brandy, with another 812 gallons of brandy sold!  The distillery was located on the bank of a waterway that was later used as a reservoir for the Unionville Water Company.  Woodruff’s eldest son Daniel Richardson Woodruff inherited the distillery business.

Today this location is part of Countryside Park, in the Huckleberry Hill section, formerly Whortleberry Hill, in Woodruff’s time.  This waterway Long Swamp Brook, later Hawley Brook, was fed by the nearby Farmington River.  The mill building was located just below the dam, and all that remains are scattered large stones of the foundation.  Noted State Archaeologist Emeritus, Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, members of the Avon Historical Society, the Avon Land Trust, and a local resident who pinpointed the site from a historical map, visited the ruins in 2019.  Dr. Bellantoni was able to see into the past where the headrace and tailrace of this mill were located.  

Sources:

Diary of Romanta Woodruff, The Museum of Culture and History Archives. Hartford, Connecticut.

Farmington Probate District, Town of Avon, #3145, Woodruff, Romanta, 1837.

Mary-Frances L. MacKie, Avon, Connecticut: An Historical Story, Avon, Conn. Avon Historical Society, 1922.

Susan Woodruff Abbot, Woodruff Genealogy: Descendants of Mathew Woodruff of Farmington, Connecticut. Milford, Conn. 1963.

William N. Hosley, The Great River: Art & Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820. Hartford, Conn. Wadsworth Atheneum, 1985.