Hi
I rechecked Peter's possible origins, not a lot has changed, indications from the 1851 census suggest that he was born in Shropshire, possibly about 1819 and possibly lived in Staffordshire, hence Anita's mention of Wolverhampton. It is looking likely that a visit to the SRO to check the Market Drayton register is required. This thread is 9 months old now and Anita may have made further progress.
I suspect Woodnoth is a variant of Woodnutt and possibly even Woodnouth as I mentioned in my earlier post, but not necessarily for the right reasons... I wonder how often enumeration errors impact on names, notwithstanding dialect, phonetic and spelling ability of individuals. It does however, make the subject extremely fascinating and bordering on addictive for some of us.
Regards
Geoff