Biographical Sketch of

Mrs. Ruth Stevens Woodworth

Transcribed by Joan Benner for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 773 - 774


Mrs. Ruth Stevens Woodworth, widow of Rowland Woodworth, enjoys the distinction of being one hundred and one 
years old and retains her faculties to a remarkable degree. She was born in the town of Winslow, Kennebec County, 
Maine, on the 17th of November, 1788, or a year before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States and 
the election of Washington to the presidency. She distinctly remembers reading the news of Washington's death to 
her mother in December, 1797. Mrs. Woodworth's parents were Grant and Hannah (Crosby) Stevens of Maine, worthy New 
England people. Her father was drowned while Ruth was an infant, but her mother, an intelligent and thrifty woman, 
saw that her daughter had the best educational advantages the times afforded and that she was trained to habits of 
industry and economy. She was taught while a girl to spin and weave, and could take the raw wool from the sheep's 
back or the flax from the field and with he rown hands and such rude machinery as was in use in those days, would 
turn out a tasty and durable piece of cloth and from it make a garment that would look well and outwear anything 
of the kind in modern times. At the age of nineteen, she was courted and won by a young physician, named Lyman 
Miller, to whom she was married in 1807. Four children were born to them, three sons and one daughter, but none 
are now living.

Dr. Miller moved with his wife to the seashore and settled at a place called Sullivan, in Hancock County, Maine, 
whence he emigrated to Eastern Illinois. The location in which he settled proved peculiarly unhealthful and his 
entire family was stricken with the ague and other malarial diseases. The doctor fell a  victim to the climate 
in 1818, after which Mrs. Miller removed to Unionville, Ohio, and in 1820, became the wife of Rowland Woodworth, 
who was ten years her junior. Nine children were born to them, five sons and four daughters, but of that family 
only four are now living: Maria, widow of Ceylon Lincoln, of Tomahawk, Wis.; Elisha G., with whom Mrs. Woodworth 
resides; Sidney who is married and lives in New London, Wis.; and Emily, of Berlin.

Mr. and Mrs. Woodworth resided in Cleveland, Ohio, for several years and in 1866 settled in the town of Manchester, 
Green Lake Co., Wis., but in 1872, removed to Berlin, where the death of the husband occurred on the 9th of August, 
1881, at the age of eighty-two years. He was a mason by occupation but owned several farms. Mrs. Woodworth was reared 
in the faith of the Congregational Church but after her marriage to Dr. Miller joined the Baptist Church with him, and 
since her last marriage has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She attended her first picnic in the summer 
of 1889, at the age of one hundred years. She was the life of the party and occupied the seat of honor at the head of 
the table where she recited two quite lengthy poems that were composed by relatives on the subject of her father's death 
by drowning and which she had memorized in her girlhood, some ninety years ago.

Mrs. Woodworth enjoys good health and moves about with ease and only the assistance of a light cane. She still helps 
about the household work and has recently woven some very tasty rugs. Her voice is strong and clear; her eyes, while 
not strong, still serve her to read large print and her faculties seem acute and normal. She has never had a serious 
illness except while in the malarial district of Eastern Illinois when she suffered from the fever and ague. In her 
recitations, she speaks in a strong clear voice and with such inflections and regard for expression as might do credit 
to a trained elocutionist. [A portrait of this remarkable woman appears in this work.]
 





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