The surname ‘Woodruff’ is of English origin. It is derived from the topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of land thickly overgrown with woodruff, from the Old English word ‘wudurofe’, (apparently a compound of the word ‘wudu’, meaning wood). The leaves of the plant have a sweet smell and the surname may also have been a nickname for someone who used it as a perfume, or perhaps an ironical nickname for a malodorous person. Public and Civil registry archive’s confirm that the surname ‘Woodruff’ and or it’s variant’s, date as far back as the thirteenth century were a ‘John Woderove’, from the county of Oxfordshire, England, is recorded on the Hundred Rolls in 1273. Historical archive’s have been unable to definitely determine the exact period of settlement in North America but It is believed that the forefather’s of this surname were part of the exodus of migrants that followed the Treaty of Peace signed in Paris in 1763, when great Britain obtained ownership of the whole of North America east of the Missisipi River excepting New Orleans. The chief reasons causing working class people to emigrate were, poor crop yie…
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