At the moment the family tree starts at Andrew WOODAGE (c1764-1848) who, like many others in this family tree, was a shoe-maker (cordwainer). He married Mary WARD in 1794 at Shoreditch. There was a daughter, Sarah, born in 1796 who was Christened at the Endell Street "Lying-in" hospital 2 days after her birth and a son, Andrew (1804-1865), who wasn’t Christened until 1811. Andrew WOODAGE senior, having been widowed married Elizabeth EAGLETHRIFT IN 1822. In the 1851 census she was shown as a pauper and when she died aged 87 in 1857 it was a neighbour (another pauper) rather than a stepson who registered the death.

Andrew WOODAGE (1804-1865) married Charlotte COX in 1825 and appears to have had a son, Andrew, in 1827 (who presumable did not survive until 1838 when another Andrew was born – see below). Charlotte died in 1827 and he married Mary Ann COLLEY (c1808-c1876) at Hackney in 1830.

Andrew WOODAGE (1804-1865) was also a shoe-maker and had five children by his second wife:

Mary Ann died aged 4 from Scarlet Fever.

Andrew apparently never married and was still living with his widowed mother in 1871 (5 years before she died). Although he died in 1889 there is no trace of him in the 1881 Census. One of the brothers is reputed to have gone to America to work on Railway construction so perhaps that is why he is missing. However, he does not show up in the 1880 US Census.

Thomas (a shoe-maker) appears to have left his wife, Mary, between the 1881 and 1891 censuses. In 1891 he is a boarder with the NORTHFIELD family at Stratford while his wife and 3 of her children have moved in with Jane WALKER, widow, and her 4 sons (see separate note).

In 1870 George WOODAGE married Emily EVANS (1851-1912), whose father and both grandfathers were shoe-makers. George ran an Oil & Colour shop. They had the following children:

George Frederick WOODAGE was a postman. He married Emeline Jane HARDY in 1892 and they had 3 children. However, Emeline died in 1900 and 1901 found George and 2 of the children, Florence & Elsie, living with Emeline’s sister, Fanny, and her husband, James BAKER. The third daughter, Nellie, was a 'visitor' elsewhere. In 1906, George, Florence and Nellie all emigrated to Canada on separate crossings. The two girls both married in Canada some years later. There is a record that George crossed into the US later in 1906 at Niagara Falls and was going to his uncle, Arthur Evans, at Forest Port, NY, and his occupation was given as bricklayer.

In 1895 William WOODAGE married Beatrice Sarah BOND (1869-1951) who was born in Kentish Town although both her parents came from small villages in the Maldon area of Essex. They had 3 children:

Emily was a machinist and didn’t marry.

Ernest married Selina HALE in 1906 and had a son Leonard (born 1912 in the West Ham area) who emigrated to Australia with his wife and children in 1949.

Percy married Agnes WILES in 1915 and had a son Percy (born in 1916 in the West Ham area). Percy senior enlisted shortly after the birth of his son into the Duke of Cornwall's Light infantry Labour Corps. During World War II Percy junior was a sergeant in the Royal Berkshire Regiment and was mentioned in dispatches.

Albert married Emily SILLITOE in 1918 but I have yet to trace any children.

Ethel married Frederick BARTON and they lived for many years at Woodford Green. Their younger son, Angus, was a prisoner-of-war during the Second World War.

The fifth child of Andrew was John WOODAGE who was a house decorator and lived most of his married life at Bethnal Green. He married Eliza READ in 1869 and they had 9 children.