St-Denis, Guy, 1960- : Guy St. Denis, author.
Woodman, Elijah Crocker, 1797-1847 : Elijah Crocker Woodman was born on September 22, 1797 in Buxton Maine. In February 1819 he married Apphia Elden of Buxton, and in 1830 he moved to Upper Canada. Woodman built a sawmill near Tillsonburg, but the business failed and, in 1836, he moved to London, Upper Canada.
Perhaps as a result of his business disappointments and his interest in social reform (he was a Universalist, a religious sect that believed in equal rights for all), Woodman became interested in radical politics. He was arrested in 1838 for passing knives and files to imprisoned rebels in London and for arranging witnesses for their trials. He spent the summer in jail but was released without a trial.
After his release, he crossed into the United States and became a member of the Hunters' Lodge (an organization made up of American and Canadian Patriots dedicated to liberating Canada from British rule). He accompanied the invading Patriot forces in early December 1838, and was arrested with them on December 5 1838, on the road to Chatham. Despite his protestations, he was convicted of "piratical invasion" and sentenced to death. The death sentence was mitigated and, along with a number of other rebels, he was sentenced to be transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
In February 1840, Woodman and his fellow prisoners from Upper Canada landed in Hobart Town (the French Canadian prisoners continued on to Sydney, Australia). Life in Van Diemen's land was harsh and several of Woodman's letters home indicate the hardships he endured as a member of a road gang. After two years of penal servitude, he went to work as a carpenter and millwright for estate owner William Kermode. Kermode supported Woodman's unsuccessful application for a conditional pardon. Eventually, on July 23, 1845, Woodman received a free pardon. This meant, theoretically, that he could return to North America. Unfortunately, he did not have the means to do so, and was in poor health. Eventually, the Masonic Lodge in Hobart Town provided him with financial assistance and, on March 2nd 1847, he boarded the whaling ship Young Eagle, bound for North America.
Woodman did not live to see North America again; weakened by tuberculosis and other maladies, he died on June 13, 1847 and was buried at sea in the Southern Pacific Ocean.
