Woody Family Roots
The History and Genealogy of Henry and William Woody and their Descendants
(including Wooddy, Woodie, Woddy, Woodey, de Woody, etc.)

Dedicated to the Memory of our Honored Pioneer Ancestors

 Created: 1998
Hosted by Dave Woody

 

(A link to the Woody database and pedigree is located at the end of the historical section below.) 
 

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The Virginia Tidewater

 

        One of the earliest chronicles of the Woody name in Virginia can be found in court records of Lower Norfolk County which was situated in the heart of the famous Tidewater region. On August 15, 1653, a Robert Wooddy, age about thirty-two, testified about an incident that occurred on a ship anchored in the Elizabeth River on December 15, 1651. This Robert Woody may have been the person that claimed head right awards for two people in 1653. To encourage settlement of America, the English government provided parcels of land to ship captains and others who were responsible for the transportation of immigrants from Europe. These rewards were termed "head rights". Several very early head right claims were made for transporting the following Woodys to the Colonies: John 1644, Anthony in 1648, Symon in 1652, Robert in 1656, John in 1664, John in 1674 and Henry in 1681.
       
        From 1682-1786, the "processioning" records found in the Vestry Books of St. Peter's Parish and St. Paul's Parish mention a succession of Woody landowners in New Kent and Hanover Counties. Property lines where determined by an ancient and time honored surveying procedure called "metes and bounds". The system of metes and bounds used physical features, such as trees, creeks, rocks, roadways, etc. to describe property boundaries. Because these features tended to change over time, it was necessary for adjoining landowners to meet regularly to resurvey and agree on new defining features. This process was termed processioning and was an important event in the lives of Colonial landowners. Typically, processioning was preformed every four years under the direction of the Parish officials. In addition to processioning records, a very few Hanover and New Kent County property deeds and grants have survived from this period. Images of most of the grants can be viewed at the Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grants and Surveysfound on the Library of Virginia web site.

        The Colonial Quakers were prodigious record keepers and some of their records have survived and have been transcribed by William Hinshaw and others. Very few Woodys were noted as Quakers, but the 1739-1759 minutes of the Henrico Monthly Meeting relate the tribulations of the family of Micajah Woody. Some of this branch also left wills, so this families lineage can be determined for several generations. Although it is possible that his ancestors may have been Quakers, there is no evidence at all to suggest that Henry Woody, of Goochland and Franklin Counties, was a Quaker. The name Henry Woody does not occur at all in the Quaker records. Also, the Quakers were strict pacifists and Henry was a Revolutionary War veteran.

        In the records described above and in the court records of Goochland, Henrico, Hanover and New Kent Counties, the given names of John, Martha, Micajah, Simon, James, Anthony, Henry, Robert, and Samuel appear quite frequently; however, only three Woody wills/probates have been discovered in this time frame. Birth records are virtually non-existent for this period, so it is left to the family historian to first obtain and then subjectively interpret the meaning of the existing documents.

        A little knowledge of Virginia history and geography is necessary to reach any reasonable conclusions based on the meager evidence available:

            Henrico County, an original Virginia shire created in 1634, remained intact for over one hundred years until Goochland County was created from western Henrico in 1728. Conversely, Hanover County was formed from western New Kent County in 1721. New Kent was formed from York County in 1654 and, in 1642, York was formed from Charles River County, an original shire. So Goochland/Henrico were never part of Hanover/New Kent or visa versa; however, Woody families with the same given names seemed to have lived in both places at the same time.

            In contrast to the complete geographic separation of Goochland/Henrico and Hanover/New Kent described above, later Virginia county formation and boundary changes resulted in locations that were in two or three different counties in the space of a few years. A very accurate depiction of of Virginia county formation is available at the Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries website. In the early 1740s, John Woody lived in western Goochland on Byrd Creek, a tributary of the James River. In 1744, the Byrd Creek location became part of Albemarle County when it was formed from western Goochland and thus some post-1744 records for this location are found in Albemarle. A further complication occurred in 1778 when Fluvanna County was formed from eastern Albemarle and the Byrd Creek location became part of Fluvanna. So in about thirty-five years, the Woody property was in three different counties and the records (if any) associated with this location and its residents are spread over these three counties. Although the records of the Woodys are found in many Virginia counties, the families did not always move from one county to another. As new counties were formed, the boundary changes give the impression of migration when none occurred.

            More than any other state, Virginia has suffered the destructive effects of war in America. Burning court houses was one of the favorite pastimes of invading armies in the American Revolution, the War or 1812 and the Civil War. However, in every sense, the Civil War created the most destruction to life and property and since many of the fiercest battles occurred in the area surrounding Richmond, the counties of Henrico, Hanover, New Kent, and Goochland were especially effected.

            The statutes of primogeniture that existed in Colonial America dictated that, after the widow's one-third dower, the estate of a intestate deceased went to his oldest surviving son. Of course, a will could be used to distribute an estate, but many people of moderate means did not execute a will. The Woodys were people of moderate means and the bulk of their estates consisted of real property (land). Deeds and court records relating to land transfers form the major portion of the records that have survived and are available to the researcher. A few tithe records have survived, but these are very few and far between. Thus, our knowledge of the Woodys in Colonial America is mainly based on those eldest sons that inherited land. Their brothers and sisters can be virtually invisible.

            The Woodys were not wealthy or famous and, except for John and Henry, they did not seem to be land owners. Fortunately, they did associate with several relatively well known people of the time. The family histories of most of these people have been documented and some of the evidence presented below comes from this documentation. This evidence is complex and, at times, difficult to follow. 

            I have seen a lengthy mostly undocumented lineage published and recopied may times on the internet that extends the Henry Woody line back to the 1600s. This lineage treats the Woody given names found in Goochland/Henrico as if they were the same people that are found in Hanover/New Kent. Since Goochland/Henrico and New Kent/Hanover were adjacent, it is possible that one big family existed and they moved from one county to the other. Perhaps this is true, but I have seen no compelling evidence that supports this assumption. In fact, head right records show that several Woodys came to Virginia at different times during the 17th century and, in addition, comparison of recent yDNA submissions prove that there were several unrelated Woody lines in Colonial America. These facts should encourage diligence and care when extending proven lineages. Our ancestors deserve our respect, so every scrap of available information should be examined and documented, not just one or two isolated events that are separated by half a century. As always, I welcome any evidence related to this/these lineage/lineages.

            I have extracted some of the more significant names and dates from the records described above and included them as a "Chronology of  Early Virginia Woodys".

 

 

Reverend William Douglas

 

            The Reverend William Douglas became pastor of Dover Church, St. James Northam Parish in Goochland on October 12, 1750. As many ministers were, Rev. Douglas was also a tutor and when Thomas Jefferson was nine he began five years of schooling at Dover Church under Douglas. The Douglas Register, the record of Rev. Douglas' ministry, is one of the few documents that have survived in Virginia's "Black Hole" of genealogy. Many of the records of this area were destroyed by invading armies in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

            The Reverend William Douglas married Henry Woody and Susannah Martin in Dover Church, St. James Northam Parish, Goochland County, Virginia on January 13, 1761. Reverend Douglas also recorded the baptism of Henry and Susannah's child, John Woodie, on August 28, 1765 and, on the very same day, Biddy Woodie, the daughter of William and Lucy Barnet Woodie, was baptized. I have known about this connection for fifteen years but, until recently, I have not been able to connect the dots.

Other Woodys that were recorded in the Douglas Register as being married or baptized:

    Mourning Woody, "a young woman", bap. Apr 8, 1772

    Mourning Woody married Alexr. Ross, Nov 6, 1772.

    Eliz. Woody married Will. Nichols, Mar 6, 1774.

    Edward Johnson, son of Jean Woodie & Townell (Daniel?) Johnson; b. Jan 28, 1760, bap. Sep 8,1761.

    Martha Woody, daughter of Ursley Woody, born Mar 28, 1757, baptized Apr 26, 1761. (On Jun 15, 1761, Martha was indentured to to Nicholas & Sisley Owen until she was 18.)

 

 

 

In the Branches of Byrd Creek

 

            On September 16, 1740, John Woody received a land grant for 375 acres among the branches of the Byrd Creek in Goochland County. His neighbors were James Johnson and Francis Baker, but John was already owned adjacent land, since the grant description mentions his existing property line. His previous ownership is also confirmed since, on February 20, 1738, he and William Martin were mentioned as surveyors for the Mountain Road. The Mountain Road stretched from Richmond west across the Blue Ridge and was the main east-west thoroughfare of the period. The road was also know as the Three Notch'd Road and the Chopped Road since the bordering trees were blazed with three hatchet marks. Small sections of this road can still be found on modern road maps. Research done by the the staff of the Virginia Transportation Research Council has resulted in the roadway route depicted on a current Virginia county map. On this map, the upper branches of Byrd Creek are in the north-east corner of Fluvanna County very near the Louisa and Goochland borders.  

            John added to his property on December 15, 1741 when he purchased 200 acres on both sides of a large branch of Byrd Creek from Abraham Venable. This tract was part of a 2000 acre parcel that Abraham patented on June 20 1733. Abraham Venable owned over 10,000 acres in Virginia and most of the residents of the Byrd Creek area purchased their land from him. On August 8, 1748 and May 13, 1751, John sold these two plots which were by then in Albemarle County. Arthur Hopkins was one of the witnesses on the 1751 deed. The deeds do not mention John's wife, so I assume that she had died by then. 

            The first mention of William Woody that I have found was June 13, 1759 when he, William Venable and Hugh Lewis Venable witnessed  the deed for a Byrd Creek, Albemarle County property sale. Hugh Lewis Venable was the son of the above mentioned  Abraham Venable and the husband of Mary Martin. An even more interesting event occurred on May 2, 1761, when Guy Smith sold land on the Rivanna River, Albemarle County to William Banks. William Wooddy and John Robertson witnessed the deed for this sale. A John Robertson was the father of three children that married three of Henry Woody's children in Franklin County. 

            The probate of the estate of William Banks occurred on July 26, 1762. His widow and executrix was Elizabeth Martin Banks and among the creditors and debtors mentioned were Thomas Woody, John Woody, Henry Woody, William Martin and Henry Martin.

            John Woody was mentioned again as a creditor in the probate of the estate of Arthur Hopkins on May 31, 1765. Dr. Arthur Hopkins was a resident of the Byrd Creek community, a very well know physician, a high sheriff and a justice of the peace. He was also a witness to the sale of John Woody's property on Byrd Creek in 1751.

 

 

Revolutionary War Soldiers

 

            On November 1, 1776, Peter Martain, Geo Martain, Chas Martain, Henry Woody, Martain Woody, John Woody and David Woody, along with many other Revolutionary War soldiers and concerned citizens, signed an Albemarle and Amherst County petition that demanded disestablishment of the Church of England and religious equality as part of the revolutionary government policy. This copy of a small section of the petition shows their names as they appear. An exact image of the petition, as well as, several hundred other petitions of the period can be viewed at Early Virginia Religious Petitions. On October 27, 1785, Henry Woody's son, Martain, joined others from Bedford and Henry Counties to sign a petition encouraging the formation of Franklin County. Henry's son Randolph was married in Bedford on November 19, 1792. Henry Sr. and Martin have been recognized as patriots by the Daughters of the American Revolution. At one time, Martin's tombstone was marked, "A Revolutionary Soldier". Congress authorized pensions for Revolutionary War veterans in acts of 1832 and 1844. Henry Sr. was dead by this time, but the pension record of Martin survives. In it, Martin states that he served in the Virginia Militia on three separate occasions. He was with "his excellency, General George Washington", at the siege of Yorktown. His widow was awarded a $25 per year pension.

 

 

Davis Creek, Scottsville and the Three Notch'd Road

 

            On February 23, 1770, two separate 53 acre plots were surveyed for Henry Woody and William Martin in the branches of Davis Creek, Amherst County. Henry obtained a land grant for this property on August 1, 1772 and William's grant is dated June 20, 1772. Henry Woody's grant mentions Angus Forbus as a neighbor. Davis Creek is a tributary of the Rockfish River and is now in Nelson County, about five miles north of the county seat of Lovingston. Lovingston was named for James Loving, another Woody neighbor. Twenty miles to the east is Scottsville, the county seat of Albemarle County before 1761. Davis Creek, Lovingston and Scottsville were near the Rockfish Gap and the Three Notch'd Road which connected Staunton and Richmond. Scottsville was also was the final home of and burial place of Dr. Arthur Hopkins, mentioned above. In August 1782, a suit initiated by the above mentioned Angus Forbus against Henry Woody was abated because Angus had died. Another neighbor of the Woodys and Martins was William Wright Sr. and his large extended family. By 1782, Henry Woody had moved to Bedford County where he paid  personal property taxes through 1792 but, on June 7, 1784, the estate Thomas Woody was probated in Amherst and Mary Woody and Wm Wright Jr. were bonded as administrators. The next year, George and Mary Woody were taxed in Amherst and Col. John Hopkins (husband of Mary Martin Hopkins), a son of Dr. Arthur, was listed next to Mary. This was probably the George Woody those estate was taxed in 1798 in Amherst County. Nelson County was formed from the northern portion of Amherst in 1807 and it was here that two of the grand daughters of William Wright  married George and Robert Woody. Both of these Woody families moved to Madison County, Alabama by 1840. These events demonstrate the close association that existed between the Woodys, Martins, Hopkins, and Wrights. The Woody and Hopkins connection continued until at least 1850 when Thomas and Mary Woody were enumerated in Nelson County living beside Dr. Arthur Hopkins, the grandson of Dr. James and Ann Sparks Martin Hopkins and the great grandson of the above mention Dr. Arthur Hopkins. This Thomas Woody was born about 1775 and in 1801 he married Molly Loving Bradshaw, the sister of the James Loving mentioned above and the widow of John Bradshaw. Thomas lived to be at least eighty-six and was likely the son of the Thomas Woody that died in 1784. However, the relationship between Thomas, George and Henry and William Woody is still a mystery. Ninety-seven Woodys were enumerated in the 1930 Nelson County, Virginia census. In addition, some 130 other Woodys were enumerated in Albemarle, Amherst, Bedford, Fluvanna, Franklin, Goochland and Henry counties. Many of these folks were undoubtedly the descendants of the Woodys that migrated from Goochland, via Albemarle and Amherst. To my knowledge, the connections and relationships of these Woodys have not been proven. Male descendants of these 1930 western Virginia Woodys should seriously consider participating in the Woody DNA Project discussed below. This participation could help extend this Woody line and add to the Woody heritage.

 

 

Camp Branch, Doe Run & Beyond

 

            In 1784 and 1785, Henry Woody purchased a total 233 acres on Camp Branch in Bedford County from the 16,000 acre inheritance of Robert and Thomas Pleasants. Henry and Susanna sold this property to Benjamin Bird  in 1791 and, on June 20, 1792, Henry paid £200 to Edward Choat, Sr. for the Franklin County property that would be his final home. This 517 acre farm was in the branches of Doe Run and on, January 9, 1797, Henry added to his holdings with a 127 acre land grant. Henry Woody was enumerated in the Franklin County Personal Tax Lists from 1793 through 1807. Henry's sons, Martin and John, preceded Henry to Franklin since they were first taxed there in 1787.
        This small section of the 1786-1886 Franklin County settlement map shows the farm of  Henry Woody, which was located about two miles southeast of Rocky Mount. The map was created by cartographer J. R. Hildebrand for the Franklin County Historical Society in conjunction with the Roanoke Valley Historical Society. Historical researchers for the map were Gertrude C. Mann and George A. Keglay. Copies of the settlement map may still be available from the Franklin County Historical Society. The graves of Henry, Susannah and Martin are maintained by the present owners of the property.

The will of Henry Woody was dated November 11, 1807 and proved on December 7, 1807. His estate was inventoried on December 28, 1807. In his will, Henry names his wife Susannah and the following children:

Martin Woody, b. Mar 31, 1762, Goochland Co., Virginia, d. Dec 6, 1846, Franklin Co., Virginia, m. Oct 27, 1785, Henry Co., Virginia, Susannah Robertson, b. ca. 1771, Virginia, d. Jul 15, 1852, Franklin Co., Virginia,

John Woody, b. Mar 12, 1764, Goochland Co., Virginia, d. 1844, Gasconade Co, Missouri, m. ca. 1793, Prudence ?,

Randolph Woody, b. ca. 1770, Goochland or Amherst Co., Virginia, d. Nov 23, 1845, Franklin Co., Virginia,  m. Nov 23, 1792, Bedford Co., Virginia, Patience Morgan, b. ca. 1775, Bedford Co., Virginia, d. Aug 2, 1854,

Wyatt Woody, b. 1774, Virginia, d. ca. 1850, Yancey Co., North Carolina, m. Aug 22, 1799, Franklin Co., Virginia, Mary Emily Roberson, b. 1780, Virginia, d. 1850, North Carolina,

Judy (Judith) Davis, b. ?, Virginia, d.  ?,   m. Dec 19, 1796, Franklin Co., Virginia, William Davis,

Susannah Robertson, b. 1780, Virginia d. 1867, Yancey Co., North Carolina, m. Nov, 1798, Franklin Co., Virginia, George Robertson, b. 1776, Jamestown, Virginia, d. July 7, 1856, Yancey Co., North Carolina,

Rebecca Whitworth, b. ca. 1782 Virginia, d. ?,  m. Feb 4, 1801, Franklin Co., Virginia, Philmer/Philemon Whitworth, b. Feb 17, 1778, d.

Polly (Mary) Bozzel), b. ca. 1782 Virginia, d. ca. 1860, Appanoose Co., Iowa,  m. Dec 10, 1803, Stokes Co., NC, Thomas Bozzel, b. ca. 1785, d. 1843, Mason Co., Virginia  

Henry Woody, b. ca. 1784, Bedford Co., Virginia, d. Apr, 1876 Franklin Co., Virginia, m. Nov 6, 1806, Franklin Co., Virginia, Judith Webb, b. ca. 1786, d. a. 1860.

 

 About 1805, Wyatt Woody and Susannah Woody Robertson moved to western North Carolina with their father-in-law John Robertson. Unfortunately, the will of Wyatt names only his wife. John Woody and his large family moved to Gasconade County, Missouri about 1830. In 1849, Dr. Sparrell Woody, the grandson of John, was probably the first descendant of Henry Sr. to reach the West Coast. Martin, Randolph and Henry Jr. remained in Franklin County as did many of their descendants, but as family farming became increasing unprofitable, some migrated to the coal fields of western Virginia and West Virginia. About the time of the Civil War, Texas attracted Woodys from Virginia and Missouri. The Woody name is still common in Franklin and Henry Counties in Virginia and very common in Yancey and Mitchell Counties in North Carolina.

 

 

 

 

Henry County and the Fayettevilles

 

 

Adjacent to Franklin County, the home of Henry Woody, is Henry County and it is here that William Woody was enumerated on the Personal Property Tax Lists from 1782 through 1789. Since Patrick County was formed from part of Henry in 1790, it is very possible that William lived the new county for a few years after 1789. On December 16, 1783, William married Jane Small in Henry and, in 1786, two of William and Lucy Barnet Woody's daughters were also married in Henry: Biddy Woody to James Huff and Sarah Woody to Edward Hilton. Before these marriages, on March 7, 1761, Matthew Small, the father of Jane purchased land in the branches of the Rockfish River, the location Henry Woody's property in 1770. I have long thought that William and Biddy were the same people found in Goochland County in 1765 but, until recently, I was never able to locate them again. Volume IV of the 1981 Boone County (Arkansas) Historian contains an extensive article, authored by Roger V. Logan, Jr., entitled "John Wooddy, Veteran, Battle of New Orleans". This well written article relates that John was the son of William and Jane Wooddy of Virginia and Lincoln Co., Tennessee. Roger acknowledged the assistance of T. J. White, Marilyn Metz, Joyce Lindsey, William C. Capps, Jewell Patrick, Ron Patrick, Ottis Green, Vernon Jones and Lee Flood Jones. In his research, Roger found the July 16, 1814 will of William Woody and included a transcription in his article; however, if Tara Painter had not included this transcription on her website, I might never have found it. The work of Roger and Tara lead me to Jeri Davis Lipov's excellent and well documented history and genealogy of some of William Woody's descendants. Many of the source documents that Jeri used were provided by Marilyn Rose, Norene Woody Burden, Lena Woody Hampton, J. T. Davis and Anna Bull.
           William Woody and his family appear to have moved first to Kentucky about 1794, then continued on to the area near Fayetteville,  Lincoln County, Tennessee about 1803. The State of Tennessee was created in 1796 from the "Territory of the U.S. South of the River Ohio", a vast area ceded by North Carolina to the United States government at the end of the Revolutionary War. Beginning in 1783,  Bounty Land Warrants were issued by North Carolina and Congress as compensation for military service and other reasons. These warrants were transferable and this attribute attracted land speculators and created land frauds on a enormous scale. Bounty land also fueled a mass migration to Tennessee. Fayetteville and Lincoln County were formally founded in 1809 in an area that had been the "Cherokee Indian Lands". The murky events and bribery that lead to this land grab are related in "How the Cherokee Lost the Elk River" on the outstanding Tennessee GenWeb site. Located on the Alabama border, Lincoln County was named in honor of General Benjamin Lincoln, the officer that accepted General Cornwallis' sword of surrender at Yorktown.

            In addition to his wife Jane, William Woody's will named the following children:

            William Banks Woody, b. ca. 1799, Kentucky, d. aft 1860, mc. 1820, Elizabeth Orick, bc. 1799, South Carolina, d. aft 1850.

            Jane  Woody, b. ?, d.?

            Sarah Hilton, b. ca. 1766, Virginia, d. ? m. 1786, Henry Co., Virginia, Edward Hilton/Helton, b. May 14, 1761, Albemarle Co., VA, d. Aug 1849, White Co., TN.

            Biddy Huff, b. Jan 21, 1765, Goochland Co., Virginia, d. ?, m. 1786, Henry Co., Virginia, James Huff, b. ca. 1765, d. ?

            Betsey (Elizabeth) Buchanan, b. Oct 21, 1784, Virginia, d. Dec 2, 1861, Washington Co., Arkansas, m. May 25, 1805, Logan Co., Kentucky, James Buchanan, b. Oct 15, 1779, Washington Co., Virginia, d. Dec 4, 1848, Washington Co., Arkansas.

            John Woody, August 29, 1792, Virginia, d. Aug 21, 1881, Boone Co., Arkansas, m. Jun 22, 1810, Massy Beaver, b. Jan 16, 1791, North Carolina, d. Mar 11, 1870, Arkansas.

            Nancy Fulington (Fullerton), b. Oct 28, 1785, Virginia, d. 21 Dec 1865, Monroe Co., Indiana, m. Thomas Humphrey Fullerton, b. May 31, 1785, Chester Co., South Carolina, d. Apr 17, 1865, Monroe Co., Indiana.

 

  The will of William Woody was probated May 5, 1817 and some of his children soon moved to Indiana and Arkansas. In 1819, the children of Thomas and Nancy Woody Fullerton were baptized in the Hephzibah Presbyterian Church, near Fayetteville, Lincoln County and, by 1820, this family had moved to Indiana which had achieved statehood in 1816. The Fullertons named two of their children William Banks Fullerton and Robert Small Fullerton. I believe that these names eliminate the possibility that William Woody of Tennessee was the son of William Woody of Goochland or that Jane Small was the widow of a Banks. The Fullertons were accompanied to Indiana by William Banks Woody Jr. and, probably, John Woody and James and Elizabeth Woody Buchanan; however, by about 1825, the Woodys and Buchanans had moved on to that part of the Louisiana Purchase that had become Arkansas Territory in 1819. They are considered to be among the founders of Fayetteville, Arkansas which was named for Fayetteville, Tennessee. Another link to Tennessee was the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Cane Hill, Arkansas which was founded in 1827 and James Buchanan has been mentioned as one of the first members. Also, Reuben Burrow Woody, the son of John, was very likely the namesake of Reuben Burrow (1798-1868), an early circuit and camp meeting preacher in Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. Reuben became the first of this family branch to reach the West Coast when he moved to Oregon in 1852.

 

 

 

John Wooddy, Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans

 

 

Although the War of 1812 was officially ended by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, news of this event did not reach the combatants in America until well after the Battle of New Orleans had ended on January 8, 1815. By then the British had suffered some 4000 casualties and the Americans 333. This belated victory was one of the very few American successes in the War of 1812

and somewhat mollified the public humiliation associated with the August 24, 1814 burning of the Congress buildings, the White House and the Library of Congress. Andrew Jackson, the little known commander of the American forces, was later propelled to the Presidency by his new found fame.

        John Wooddy, the son of William and Jane Small Wooddy, first joined the army of General Andrew Jackson in the fall of 1812 for three months. On September 28, 1814, he reenlisted in Fayetteville, Tennessee and was assigned as a 3rd Lieutenant in Captain John Doke's Company of the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Gunman. This outfit of frontiersmen made their way to New Orleans and were positioned on the left flank of Jackson's line of defense for the city. A series of mostly futile British attacks began on December 14, 1814 and lasted until the death of General Edward Pakenham, the British commander. John Wooddy stayed in New Orleans until March 1, 1815 but, by April 27, 1815, he had made his way home to Fayetteville where he was discharged. In 1851 and 1855, after moving to Arkansas, John filled documents to obtain bounty land warrants granted by the September 28, 1850 Act of Congress as partial compensation for military service in the War of 1812.

The Chair Makers of North Carolina and Arkansas

       Some of the descendants of Wyatt Woody of western North Carolina have been well known chair makers for at least five generations (See the two links below). This craft was surely brought to the region by Wyatt himself when he moved from Franklin County, Virginia. I have no evidence that his father, Henry, was a chair maker, but the there is a chair making connection between the Woodys of western North Carolina and the Woodys of north west Arkansas. Silas Claiborne Turnbo (1844-1925) spent most of his life collecting and recording the stories of the old timers of the Ozarks. One of of these stories came from William A. Eoff and is entitled "A Few Names of the Pioneer Settlers on the Left Prong of Crooked Creek and Vicinity". Mr. Eoff mentioned that among the earliest residents of the Crooked Creek, Boone County, Arkansas area were "Henry Woody and Katie, his wife" and "John Woody who was a chair maker. This man had a son named John whose wife was named Katie". This chair maker was John Woody, veteran of the War of 1812 and son of William Banks Woody of Henry County, Virginia and Lincoln County, Tennessee. His son, John, married Catherine Eoff. The two chair makers, John and Wyatt Woody, were most likely 1st cousins.

 

Some descendants of William Woody/Wooddy use the Wooddy surname variation; however, I have used Woody exclusively in the database to ease searching.

 

 

Conclusions

 

Recent yDNA analysis has established that Henry and William Woody were close relatives. I have concluded that William Woody was very likely the younger brother of Henry Woody and that their father was probably John Woody of Goochland and Albemarle Counties. Henry had the means to purchase several tracts of property which leads me to assume that he was the oldest living son at his father's death. All of the evidence is indirect and circumstantial, but it is based on many primary and secondary records. The close association of the Woodys with the Martins, Hopkins, Wrights and Banks makes a compelling argument to me. I also surmise that the wife of John Woody was a Banks, probably the sister of William Banks. However, the sparse records of Albemarle and Amherst also infer that Thomas Woody was another relative of John, William and Henry. Like William, Thomas does not appear to have owned property and references to Thomas are even rarer than those to William. I have not found much to estimate the birth date of Thomas, but the records suggest that he was at least as old as Henry. So he could have been Henry's brother or a younger brother of John. One descendant of William Banks Woody has suggested that Thomas was the father of William, but that descendant did not seem to know about the Woody connection in Goochland. Also, the name Thomas was hardly ever used by the descendants of William Banks Woody. There were other Henry and William Woodys that lived in the same general area as the subjects of this page, but I believe I have accounted for them. 

 

To be continued

Bibliography

Beck, Sara. Franklin County Deeds, Franklin County, Virginia Bicentennial, Rocky Mount, Virginia
Bedford County, Virginia General Indexes to Real Estate Conveyances, Grantees, Surnames U-Z, 1754-1929, LDS Family History Library, Film #1941016
Bedford County, Virginia General Indexes to Real Estate Conveyances, Grantors, Surnames T-Z, 1754-1929, LDS Family History Library, Film #1941021
Bedford County, Virginia Personal Property Tax Lists 1782-1805, LDS Family History Library, Film #2024472
Chamberlayne, Churchill Gibson. The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish, New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia, 1684-1786: Richmond, The Library Board, 1937
Chamberlayne, Churchill Gibson. The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia, 1706-1786: Richmond, The Library Board, 1940
DARPatriot Index, Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington DC, 1994
Davis Rev., Bailey Fulton. The Deeds of Amherst Co., Virginia 1761- 1807 and Albemarle Co., Virginia 1748-1763, Southern Historical Press, Easley, South Carolina, 1985
Davis Rev., Bailey Fulton. The Wills of Amherst Co., Virginia 1761-1865, Southern Historical Press, Easly, South Carolina, 1985
Douglas Rev., William. The Douglas Register, transcribed & edited by W. Mac. Jones, Genealogy Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1977
"Early Virginia Religious Petitions", American Memory Collection, The Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Fleet, Beverley, "Lower Norfolk County 1651-1654", Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. III, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1988
FranklinCounty, Virginia Personal Property Tax Lists 1786-1803, LDS Family History Library, Film #2024540
FranklinCounty, Virginia Personal Property Tax Lists 1804-1821, LDS Family History Library, Film #2024541

Henry County, Virginia Personal Property Tax Lists 1782-1830, LDS Family History Library, Film #2024587

Hinshaw, William Wade. Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy - Virginia, Vol. VI, GPC, Baltimore, 1993
Hopkins, Walter Lee. Hopkins of Virginia and  Related Families, J. W. Fergusson & Sons, Richmond, Virginia, 1931
Lipov, Jeri Davis. Chips from the Woody Block - The Woody Family Descending from William Woody (1760-1817), Columbia, Maryland, November, 1996
Logan, Roger V. Jr. "John Woody - Veteran, Battle of New Orleans" Boone County Historian, Vol., IV, No. IV, 1981
"Martin Woody Pension Record", National Archives, Chicago Branch
McDonnold, B. W., D.D., LL.D. History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Board of Publication of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1899
Morgan, Ruth. "Hephzibah Reform Presbyterian Church of America", Lincoln County Tennessee Pioneers, March 1978
Painter, T. K. Capps Family Page
Pawlett, Nathaniel Mason & Newlon, Howard H. The Route of the Three Notch'd Road: A Preliminary Report, Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council, 1976
Pawlett, Nathanial Mason. Goochland County Virginia Road Orders 1728-1744, Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council, 1975
Pawlett, Nathaniel Mason. Albemarle County Roads 1725-1816, Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council, 1981
"Presbyterian Church Migration from Fayetteville, Tennessee to Fayette County, Indiana in 1832" The Hoosier Genealogist, Vol. 40, No. 2, June 2000
Smith, Eldon Coles.  New Dictionary of American Family Names, Harper Row, N.Y., c1973
Sparacio, Ruth & Sam. Albemarle County Virginia Deed Book 2, 9 Feb 1759 - 12 Mar 1761, The Antient Press, McLean, Virginia, 1988
Sparacio, Ruth & Sam. Albemarle County Virginia Deed Book 3, 12 Mar 1761 - 9 Aug 1764, The Antient Press, McLean, Virginia, 1988
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Sparacio, Ruth & Sam. Albemarle County Virginia Wills & Deeds 1752-1785, The Antient Press, McLean, Virginia, 2000
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Update  Woody DNA Project  

 

         The Woody DNA Project was initiated in May of 2007 and is open to all male Woody descendants of any Woody (Woodie, Woodey, Wooddy, de Woody, etc.) line. Some of the project goals are:
            To determine if the early Woody lines were related.
            To help determine the common ancestors of separate, but related, Woody lines.
            To help extend Woody lines that have reached a "dead end" utilizing conventional research.
         The project progress has been better than many DNA project start-ups. To date, we have posted the results of thirteen participants at the Woody DNA Project. Comparison of this limited number of yDNA submissions has already extended two dead-end lineages, proved the close relationship of two early Virginia Woodys and shown that there were at least three completely unrelated Woody lines in Colonial America. The genealogical benefits of DNA testing are explained in detail at World Families Network; however, I have included an overview of DNA testing/benefits/results/concerns here.

        Please browse the Woody DNA Project to view the current yDNA results and the Woody lineages that have been posted. For much more information about DNA testing, visit World Families Network, where you may also view some extremely successful surname DNA projects. These projects are successful because lots of people were willing to invest in their heritage. We are totally committed to this project, but we need your help in making the Woody DNA Project as successful as other surname DNA projects. If you are a female, please strongly encourage a male relative to join the project.
        I understand that the expense involved may be a problem for some folks, so here is a suggestion that may work for you. Treat the testing fees like the group expenses of a family reunion. Divide the testing fees between all the relatives of one male. Make it a family project. In addition, the testing fees are substantially discounted when they are ordered at the project home page.   

        If successful DNA projects can be developed for other surnames, the Woody's can do no less.