What are the roots of the name ‘Penngrove’?

Penngrove is a small community a few miles northeast of Petaluma. The name, originally “Penn’s Grove,” first appears in newspapers around 1870 and as a railroad station on an 1877 map.

One story holds that it was named after the Penn brothers who settled there in the 1860s. “Grove” may refer to a copse of oaks or an olive orchard. Another speculation is that its namesake was the town of Penn’s Grove, New Jersey. Yet another version is that the Woodward family, who came from Pennsylvania, named their property “Penn’s Grove” in honor of their home state.

Sifting through the possibilities requires some digging. The census didn’t record any Penns in the vicinity between 1860 and 1880. Nor does “Penn” appear as a landowner on maps of that era. The Penn’s Grove, New Jersey connection is also tenuous; none of the local settlers in those days was from New Jersey.

While the first two versions could be true, only the third provides a thread to follow. Sure enough, a landowner named William Woodward is on that 1877 map and Penn’s Grove railroad station was on his property. A native Pennsylvanian, Woodward followed his friend, Frederick MacCrellish, to San Francisco in the 1850s. Both men were journalists and MacCrellish had convinced Woodward to partner with him in publishing the state’s first daily newspaper, the Alta California.

Woodward eventually became an investor in the San Francisco & North Pacific Railroad. In 1868, he bought property along the yet-to-be completed tracks that would connect a ferry landing on the Petaluma River with Santa Rosa in 1870. He named his ranch “Penn’s Grove.”

Woodward developed his country property while continuing to live in San Francisco. Census data suggests that the Todd family, also Pennsylvanians, were working his ranch. The Todds included James and Jane, their five grown sons, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. They raised wheat, barley, hay, eggs, milk, apples and grapes, but no olives - at least according to the census.

A community’s memory gets fuzzy with age, so it could be that all three stories carry a kernel of truth. If there were no Penn brothers, there were the Todd brothers from Pennsylvania. There was an East Coast connection, though not specifically to New Jersey.

Woodward retired from the Alta California in 1883 and moved to Penn’s Grove. Like all writers, he must have enjoyed word play. His ranch’s name may have been a riff on “Pennsylvania,” which means “Penn’s Forest” after its founder, William Penn. Just as a grove is a small forest, “Penn’s Grove” was a miniature of Woodward’s home state; a place populated by Pennsylvanians.