Newton McDaniel WOODRUFF

     Newton McDaniel WOODRUFF was born on 2 December 1816 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, the son of Nathaniel Woodruff and Mary McDaniel. He was the grandson of Thomas and Eunice Woodruff.²

Newton reached the legal age of 21 days after his father died. As soon as he reached legal age for guardianship he sold his families home place along with 38 acres that went with the place, and settled all other business interests his father had, including a cotton gin business. His sisters were forced to vacant and move elsewhere. Newton then married his childhood sweetheart, Frances Abney.³

Newton married Frances Maria ABNEY, daughter of Thomas Hamilton ABNEY and Mary Ann Holmes, on 18 December 1837 in Bibb (now Chilton) County, Alabama.^4,5

It appears that Newton went into business with his brother-in-law, Horace Ware. Horace, came with his parents from Lynn, Massachuetts, to Bibb county where they went into the iron business. He married Newton's younger sister, Martha Ann Woodruff, in 1841. About that time he began buying brown hematite ore beds and timber lands in Shelby county and began construction of cold-blast iron furnace at a site six miles south of Columbiana. The Shelby Iron Works produced ingots in various shapes, including slabs, bars, or finished products such as rails, beams or plates. It became one of the most important ironworks in the Confederacy before being destroyed by Wilson's Raiders. It was rebuilt following the war. Newton invested heavily in the early stages of this project before he was killed in a mining accident in 1846.³

In 1846 Newton died in Shelby County, Alabama, at age 30 leaving Frances a widow.⁶ He was buried in Community Baptist Cemetery, Brierfield, Bibb County, Alabama.^1,7