Agnes Bessie Robert and Brinton Webb Woodward

Agnes Bessie Robert was born on February 15, 1910 to John Ernest and Bessie Ethyl (Adams) Robert at Maple Hill, Kansas. She was the first grandchild of Horace Greeley and Mabel Gertrude (Warren) Adams.

Agnes spent much of her early life on the XI Ranch, jointly owned by the Robert and Adams Family. She is shown living there on both the 1910 and 1915 US Census Reports. The Robert Family left the ranch and on the 1920 Census, they are shown living in Los Angeles, California where Bessies fathers occupation is reported as Motion Picture Theater Owner. The family lived at 7032 Hawthorne Ave., Los Angeles, and included in the household were two live-in servants.

In the mid-1920s, the Robert Family returned to Maple Hill, Kansas where Mr. Robert purchased the lumber, coal and hardware business on Main Street. It was a prosperous time in the little farming and ranching community and Mr. Robert was good at marketing through newspaper advertising and developing different kinds of contests such as giving prizes for the best painted home, and the best decorated home at Christmas. He also gave away premiums of various kinds for repeat customer business. Maple Hill was also headquarters for the Adams Ranch, owned by John E. Roberts in-laws.

According to the Topeka Daily Capital, Agnes B. Robert was married to Brinton Webb Woodward on October 14, 1933. Brinton Webb Woodward was the second son of Chester and Frederica D. (Bullene) Woodward. He attended Topeka High School and was a graduate of Kansas University.

The Woodwards lived in Topeka for several years. Their first home was at 104 Woodlawn Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. Mr. Woodward was first involved in banking and insurance and continued on that career track. The 1962 Topeka City Directory lists his occupation as: Insurance Executive, Hussey Insurance Agency, Topeka, Kansas. The Woodwards were living at 2911 Central Park, Topeka.

Webb, as he preferred being called and Agnes B. (Robert) Woodward are the parents of three children: Joan R., born in 1933, Thomas Bullene Woodward born in 1938 and Brinton Webb Woodard, Jr. born in 1940.

Webb and Agnes Woodward moved to Arizona, where Webb passed away January 20, 1974. Agnes B. Woodward died on September 9, 1995 at La Jolla, San Diego County, California. Both the Woodwards are buried in the Grace Episcopal Columbarium, Topeka, Kansas.

Joan R. (Woodward) Rennick lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Thomas Bullene Woodward is an Episcopal Priest, a lecturer, author and more recently a collaborator on the lyrics for an opera. The following is from Wikipedia:

Thomas B. Woodward is an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of the Rio Grande, Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with his wife Ann. Woodward was a steering committee member of “The Episcopal Majority”, an organization within the Episcopal Church created to counter the attacks upon the church from various self-styled orthodox groups. In 2006, Woodward was appointed to the Executive Councils Committee on the Status of Women and then elected as Secretary.. He is currently the Priest in charge of St. Paul’s Peace Church, a joint Episcopal and Lutheran church in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Woodward served The Episcopal Church over two decades as university chaplain at several campuses, including the University of Kansas, the University of Rochester, the University of North Carolina and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He served as rector of Christ Church, Warrensburg and of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salinas, California, which was John Steinbeck’s parish church. While serving in Salinas, he was awarded The Ben Heller Award for Courage and Leadership in Service to the Farmworker Community and The Bishop’s Cross from the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real.
For the past 35 years Tom has had a parallel career as a street performer, presenting his one man show, “Uncle Billy’s Pocket Circus,” consisting of fire eating, juggling, magic and mime in nearly every State of the U.S. as well as overseas and in South America. As an extension of that vocation, while in Madison, Wisconsin he organized “The Care Fools,” a clown troupe of disabled men and women who entertained in hospitals, nursing homes, parades, and university campuses.
He has written two books for Seabury Press, “Turning Things Upside Down” and “To Celebrate”, and more recently “The Undermining of the Episcopal Church,” published by The Episcopal Majority. His articles have appeared in Modern Liturgy, The Witness Magazine, Red Rubber Noses and The London Times on-line edition. His “The Parables of Jesus from the Inside,” first published by The Sewanee Theological Review, is currently being expanded into a book.
In the past several years, seven of his fifteen-minute plays have been produced by The Santa Fe Playhouse in their annual Benchwarmer series. One of those plays, “Body and Soul,” served as the Keynote Event at a recent national convention of psychotherapists.
Recently, Woodward collaborated as librettist with Daniel Steven Crafts, the originator of a new genre of opera called “Gonzo Opera,” in the creation of two operas in that genre, “And the Winner Is. .” and “All the Right Moves.” The characteristics of Gonzo Opera include music that is both melodious and memorable, a libretto that is comic and often satirical, and production values that make it possible to produce the operas simply and inexpensively — all in the service of appealing to young people from the ages of 25 to 45 years old who normally do not attend traditional operas. “And the Winner Is . . ” debuted at the Abiquiu Chamber Music Festival in 2012 and will be sung in part in San Francisco in November, 2013
Tom and his wife, Ann, have five childrenThomas B. Woodward, Jr., Jennifer R. Gibson, Joy P. Woodward, Thomas F. Cunningham and David C. Cunningham as well as six grandchildren.
Brinton Webb Woodward, Jr. is also an Episcopal Priest and has had a distinguished career. He was born on January 16, 1940 in Topeka, Kansas. He graduated from Topeka High School with high honors in 1958 and was an outstanding tennis and basketball player. He continued to play basketball at Kansas University, and where he graduated in 1962. He was also highly ranked in national collegiate tennis.
Pete Woodward, as he prefers to be called, went on to General Theological Seminary where he was awarded a Masters of Divinity in 1965. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church by the Diocese of Kansas on December 12, 1965.
He first served as a part-time chaplain at Washburn University of Topeka, and was chaplain to several other family and youth organizations. He was Chaplain and Chairman of the Theology Department at Kent School, Kent, Connecticut from 1967-1977 and also coached the basketball and football teams. He was then Headmaster at Holderness School, Plymouth, New Hampshire from 1977 to 2001. Rev. Woodward has a long list of accomplishments in addition to those listed. He has also been involved in civic organizations where he has lived.
Pete Woodward has two sons: Brinton Webb Woodward, III born April 23, 1971 and Peter Kendall Woodward born December 9, 1974. He and his wife Kathleen C (Roberts) Woodward live in Holderness, NH where Pete is retired. His hobbies include rare book collection (a hobby shared with his grandfather Chester Woodward) gardening, squash, hiking and bicycling.
With this posting, I will end information about the first child of Horace and Mable Adams, and her descendants. In the next posting, we will learn about Mable Rae (Adams) Tod, the Adams second child.

Photo One: Bessie Agnes (Adams) Robert
Photo Two: Bessie Robert and daughter Agnes Robert
Photo Three: John and Bessie (Adams) Robert family
Photo Four: Wedding portrait of Agnes B. (Robert) Woodward
Photo Five: Agnes B. (Robert) Woodward
Photo Six: Brinton W. and Agnes B. Woodward
Photo Seven: Brinton Webb Woodward
Photo Eight: “Webb” and Agnes Woodward in Arizona.
Photo Nine: Brinton Webb “Pete” Woodward playing basketball at Kansas University
Photo Ten: Rev. Pete Woodward collecting maple sap in New Hampshire
Photo Eleven: Rev. Tom Woodward, Santa Fe, New Mexico