Joseph Embree Woods Family History by Ruby Lucile Woods nee Parsons Some years ago Ruby Lucile {Woods} Parsons “Daughter of John Cleveland Woods and Esther Olna Hearn, started writing a Woods family history, some of which I have used as a reference in our Descendants of Joseph Woods; At this time Ruby at age 88 still has intentions of completing this history, so I am recording here what she has written “in her words” only to preserve it for our Woods family history. [ELA] When the family name is Woods, what is more natural than to search for the missing branches of that family tree? After many years of following the clues left by our ancestors, we still have many questions about them without the answers. We plan to continue our search, and will share what we learn about our Joseph Embree Woods—Nancy Keren Wilkinson tree. We know that about 1818, one Joshua Embree Woods was born in Indiana. He was educated to be a lawyer. Some of his grandchildren related the story as told to them that he refused to take the oath that required him to “defend his client, right or wrong”, so he did not receive his degree of law. We also know that he married a Miss Eliza Jane STEWART who was born about 1821 in Wabash County, Illinois. She came from a “family of means”. From the book “History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois” is this account of her family—“The first settlers were a few French families, who located on the Wabash River, near the point known as Rochester, in the Coffee precinct. This was about 1800. Prominent among these was the family of Tougas, also named Lavulette. This occurred from Mrs. Tougas marrying a man by the name of Lavulette, and some of the children of Mrs. Tougas, assumed the name of their step-father, Mr. Lavulette. There were four brothers, Augustus, William, Joseph, and Francis. They were all well formed, athletic men, and possessed of such material as to brave the wilds of the frontier. The former [known as August] is said to have been six and one half feet in stature. During the Indian troubles, they remained and trafficked with them. The Indians both feared and respected them. “August” had demonstrated to their picked warriors, that he was their superior, by friendly hand to hand athletic sports with them. It was through this means that they stood in such awe and fear of him. While others were massacred and pillaged, he was never disturbed. His wife’s maiden name was Eleanore DESLORIERS. His first child, Eleanore , now Mrs. Stewart of Texas, was according to the best recollection born in Vincennes in 1803. August sold his possessions at Rochester in 1838 and moved to Mt. Carmel, where he engaged in the hotel business for several years. He later returned to Coffee precinct where he died in 1849. Another quote from the history gives this; First deed recorded. The following is a synopsis of the first deed placed on record in Edwards County; It is dated the 7th day of January 1815, the conveyors being Thomas Pulliam and Nancy his wife, for and in consideration of the sum of four hundred dollars, do convey to August Lavulette “dit” Tougas, all that tract of land lying in the county of Edwards, Illinois Territory, it being the southeast quarter of section 24, township one north, range twelve west which the said Thomas Pulliman is entitled to by patent from the United States, bearing the date the 30th day of July, 1812. This deed was signed and sealed in the presence of Robert and Joseph Baird. The history has many references to the Tougas and Lavulette {Lovelette} family, and especially August or Augustus as was his true name. One last item says “Augustus not only traded with the Indians, but purchased produce from the white settlers, and boated it to New Orleans, some-times walking all the way back; A quick look at a map will show that on the southern end of Illinois the Ohio River joins the Mississippi River, which becomes the boundary line between the states down to the Gulf of Mexico – that was quite a walk! We know very little about the lives of Eleanore Tougas and her husband Mr. Stewart, except that they became the parents of Eliza Jane Stewart who married our Joshua Embree Woods mentioned earlier. The Stewarts were also the parents of Frank Stewart who married Eliza Jane Rippy, Roxie Stewart who married Ben Baccus, Julia Stewart who married Mart Williams, and Victoria and Louise Stewart. We know that these families were all living in Texas in the late 1800’s. According to the family stories handed down to us, the family of Joshua and Eliza Woods traded their place in Indiana to Elisha Woods, a brother of Joshua’s for land Elisha had gone to Texas and claimed. When Joshua and family arrived by covered wagon, they could not locate any land belonging to Elisha, but they did establish a home in Hunt County, Texas, where they lived the remainder of their lives, the only date we have for their move is taken from the 1860 U.S. Census of Hunt County, Texas, it gives the family as: Joshua E. Woods 42 {M} Farmer, Real Estate Value $1600. Personal Property $1000. Birthplace Indiana Eliza Jane 39 {F} Birthplace, Illinois Theadore P. 19 {M} “ Indiana George C. 16 {M} “ “ Helen 10 {F} “ Texas J. Embree 6 {M} “ “ Robert E. 4 {M} “ “ This was the son called” Lish” If George was born in Indiana about 1844 and Helen in Texas about 1850, the move was sometime during those 6 years. Six more children were born to them after the 1860 census. We know them only as, Belle, Mildred, Fredd, Mary Eleanore and two more girls. The Historical Society of Greenville, the county seat of Hunt County, has the records showing that Joshua E. Woods was elected Justice of the peace for precinct 2 on August 2, 1852, and was commissioned September 20 1852; he was elected again for the same office on August 4, 1856 for another two years with no mention of him in the election of 1854. His grandchildren said that he served as a peace officer for many years – but we have no record of any other office he held. The grandchildren who were the source of our information were the children of his son Joshua Embree, who remembered taking meals to the prisoners in the jail where his father was in charge. Joshua’s Civil War records show that he enlisted October 18 1861 and was discharged on March 25 1862 “disability” We have no details about the nature of his disability. He farmed as well as raised livestock to support his large family. Joshua E. did not believe that children should be forced to attend school , and his grandchildren often remarked about the strangeness of that, as he was quite well educated himself. Though some of the children enjoyed school, Joseph did not, so he received only basic education in the schoolroom. His love and understanding of animals gave him a keen sense of their value, so he like his father, raising, buying and selling livestock as well as farming became his life’s work. Joseph was known as “Joe” most of his life, and in later years he was “Uncle Joe Woods” to all who knew him. He was a lean six foot two inch tall, dark haired, blue- eyed man with a happy disposition, and the most infectious laugh. He enjoyed visiting with family and friends, and especially enjoyed hearing or telling a good joke. Joseph’s brother Robert Elishe, known as “Lish” to the family and friends, was two years younger than Joseph and keeping company with a young lady, “Nancy Wilkinson” when she met Joseph; We don’t know any more details except we do know that it was Joseph and Nancy who exchanged marriage vows January 13, 1878 in Hunt County, Texas. We have the tintype pictures they exchanged some time before their wedding. After having his picture made for Nancy, Joe was to shy to present it to her, until he had carried it in his pocket so long that it was a bit damaged. Nancy treasured that little tintype the rest of her life. After their marriage, Joe gave her the picture she had given him, and the two little tintype pictures were wrapped in white tissue for safe keeping. That’s the way they were found over 61 years later. Nancy Keren Wilkinson was a very feminine, not quite five feet tall lady with very dark brown hair and beautiful dark brown eyes. Though she was an optimist, she was also a quite person. Her family and friends called her “Pink”, in her younger years, she was born August 17, 1855 in Upshur County, Texas to John Wilkinson and Keren Happuch Olive. John Wilkinson born February 25, 1815 [this is one of those blanks in our research as we do not know positively where he was born] Keren H. Olive was born July 1, 1815 in Georgia, and married John Wilkinson February, 9, 1836. They had eight children, and Nancy was their youngest. Since we do have the bible of that family available, we will five them later. We also have had a copy made from the one known picture of Keren Happuch Olive. Nancy and Joseph began their married life in Hunt County, Texas, after their marriage in the home of one of Nancy’s older sister’s, Louise and her husband, William Harlow, Nancy had been living with them sense the death of her mother May 10, 1872. Nancy did much of the work as Lou and William had several small children and Lou was not strong. One of these small niece’s, also named Louise, had become so fond of her, “Auntie Pink”, that she never quite forgave “Uncle Joe” for marrying and taking Nancy away to a new home. Nancy had inherited a sizeable herd of cattle and horses with her own registered brand, “Joe did not have his own brand” so they used her “circle 11” – a small circle with the 11 inside it which was placed on the animals left hip. Each of the six children born to Nancy and Joseph had wonderful stories to tell of their growing up years , and we hope that some of these will eventually become a part of this rambling” saga” of our Woods family. But for now we will try to make this a brief history of the family before they become six more separate families. Ada was their first child born October 22 1878, Eliza Jane August 10, 1880, Joshua Embree September 30, 1882, these all in Hunt County, Texas. We do not know why the family moved, or how long they lived in Franklin County, Texas, but they were living there when John Cleveland was born, August 20, 1885, By June 1, 1888 when Ira Irvin was born, they were again living on their old home place in Hunt County, they were there also when their sixth child, Virgie was born, September 29, 1890. Joseph’s parents Joshua Embree and Eliza Jane lived with the family until their death, Joshua [the Grandfather] gave their first child the name Ada, he died a few years later, and his wife died soon after. They were buried in the Stewart Cemetery a few miles from their home, between Commerce and Cumby, Texas. Nancy and Joseph were proud of their children, and worked at instilling in them a sense of right and wrong. One of Joseph’s favorite sayings and beliefs was “If a man will lie, he’ll steal or do almost anything wrong”, he didn’t believe anything signed on paper should be anymore binding than an agreement sealed with a shake of hands. He was not a religious man, and didn’t enjoy attending church, but he respected Nancy’s strong religious faith. When it was at all possible, he arranged to take her, or see that she got to attend services. Nancy insisted that their children learn to read, write and be able to” do sums” as their math lessons were called. Joseph agreed with her, and the children all knew they had to agree. Before each of their children were old enough to enroll in public school, Nancy had taught them to read, do simple arithmetic, and to write reasonable well. Her bible was used for many reading sessions. She also wrote many poems, which she called “rhymes”. The children memorized som of them. Most of her poems were lessons teaching respect for natures beauty, and some were of a religious nature. “Remember that was before the radio and television came to entertain us”, Virgie remarked when telling of those early years, “Mother and my older sisters, Ada and Eliza were usually busy with hand sewing while they joined us in one of our favorite evening past times – singing. While our father led us with his rich clear voice, we sang for hours at a time. We sang a lot of old ballads. Some were just plain funny some were sad or silly tongue twisters. Of course we each had our favorites. The church hymns were mothers favorites, and we sang many of them also. The family seemed to have a normal life style for their time and location, until they made the decision in 1899 to move to “greener pastures” to the north. When that decision was made, it started weeks of much activity. The entire family had part in the work of getting ready to leave Texas. Ada had married Oscar Winfield Alexander September 26, 1897. The remaining five children sorted out what belongings they would not have room to take with them. This became one of the hardest parts of preparing for the move. Nancy “my grandmother” told me how she had gone alone with her keepsakes that they would not have room to take with them, and she buried them in a favorite place in their orchard. I was quite young when she told me, but for a few moments we were sad together. She said it was things that would mean nothing to any one else, but she couldn’t just throw them out, she was a very sensitive and sentimental person. In 1972 I asked Virgie, the youngest child of Joe and Nancy to write her memories of their young days for us. Her reply is a collection of letters I treasure. Some were just notes of facts she thought I would like to know, and some were long letters written in the late night hours when she had trouble sleeping. One favorite began, In the fall of 1899 just after my 9th birthday, father, Mother, my sister Eliza, brothers Embree, John, Ira and I, began our covered wagon journeys through what was then The Indian Nations, called Indian Territory. We had been months preparing our home on wheels and we were as comfortable in our covered wagons as people are in their motor homes now 72 years later, when we compare our homes of 1900 with those of 1972. At the front of the wagon was a spring seat with a comfortable high back. The seat accommodated 3 people, with room for cushions and feather pillows. A coal burning “topsy stove” was installed behind the spring seat. You are wondering how we could use a coal burning stove in a covered wagon? Well you see the big trucks rolling down the highway pouring smoke from a metal pipe we had a sturdy zinc stovepipe fitting manufactured in that day, which could be attached to wagon bows set close together. Yes our mechanic had to know just how to fix it so the wagon sheet would fit around the stovepipe fitting to keep the rain out. Yes the heavy canvas covering for the wooden bows was called a wagon sheet. Virgie remembers that her father’s spinster sister Helen spent days at her treadle sewing machine making the fitted wagon sheets as well as two tents for them to take with them. Helen was a expert seamstress and tailor, so they were well made and added to the comfort of the travelers. Helen had been making her home with Joe and Nancy but did not make the move with them. Instead she remained in Texas and lived with her niece Ada and family. When finally every thing was in place in the wagons, the last of the family and friends had been told good-bye it was already dark. The Woods family would be leaving early the next day. Virgie notes Eliza and her boy friend Elmer Alexander [a brother of Ada’s husband] fried mountains of chicken and prepared other camp food all night long that last night in the old home. Just before daylight the horses and mules were hitched to the three wagons , ready to go. Virgie didn’t remember how long he stayed with them but in addition to the two covered wagons the Woods family owned and outfitted for living and traveling, there was also a cousin with his wagon loaded with their belongings. He was Kelly {Calvin C. called Cally} Stewart a son of Frank Stewart who was Joe’s uncle. Anyway she says her parents were in the lead wagon, Embree and Eliza rode in the second wagon and John and Ira with cousin Kelly when they started out. Virgie remembered that she started out with her parents but was soon alternating from one vehicle to another and having a great time. Mother was in very poor health, she and father rode in the spring seat of the lead wagon and drove the team of pet mules that soon needed no driving, they learned to swerve out when a tree was near the road on the side that contained the water keg; This was a large wooden keg [small barrel] with a faucet in the side near the bottom, so we could get fresh water at all times. Two kitchen chairs with hand woven cow hide seats stood bottom side up in back of each wagon, the backs of the chairs wedged between the iron rod that held the end gate in, and the end gate itself. It made a good place for a bale of hay or a sack of corn for the stock. We also carried a light weight zinc metal stove built like a box, with it we kept the stove pipe in sections, called “ joints”, we also had a big camp oven built like a huge iron skillet with legs and a close fitting lid, the lid had a rim about an inch high that held the coals for baking. The first night out we camped near Bonham Texas, that night the stock was restless and nervous, the coyotes howled near by and there were many other wild creatures that none of us, animals or family had slept with before. John, Ira and I walked hours each day as we enjoyed the many new and interesting sites with our big buckskin colored bulldog “Buck” he had been our playmate from his very young puppy days. The boys finally had to rig up a hammock like swing of heavy duck material for Buck, they attached it to the underside of the wagon frame so Buck could jump in or out even when the wagon was traveling. His feet sometimes became sore and tender from running to investigate the new wonders we encountered, he was a very efficient camp watchdog and truly one of the family. Since the saddle horses for Joe and Embree were kept saddled and tied to the last wagon, sometimes the younger children would take turns riding them. The family moved on to Durant, their first place to stop and work. When we decided to stay in one area for a few months, we set up the tents. A bale or two of prairie hay spread evenly over the floor was covered with burlap stretched very tight and smooth and fastened to the ground below with wooden pegs or railroad spikes driven down firmly so no head was above the carpet to be stumbled over. WE were comfortable in any kind of weather. We carried very light weight iron or copper bedsteads to use when we made this camp home. We also kept extra mattress sized sacks made of ticking so if we needed an extra mattress we just filled one of the sacks with prairie hay and this used with a goose featherbed for a cover, no one slept cold. Mother always used white sheets for the bed spread’s as they were easier to wash than comforters or quilts. She was so particular about keeping the sheets white. They were washed on the washboard of coarse then boiled with home made lye soap in the water. Yes the old black iron wash kettle had to travel along in its own special nook in the wagon bed beneath the over-jet sleeping quarters. Now what is an over-jet you wonder? Well that’s where the carpenter knowledge was used. One could buy manufactured side boards to make the wagon have A deeper bed but one needed to know how to get them together to make a solid wall for the home on wheels. With two sets of side boards added to the original foot deep wagon bed, made about a three foot wall then the carpenter built the sleeping bed frame to extend over the top side board, this made room for even a tall man [such as our father] to sleep crosswise of the wagon. The over-jet bed with springs, mattress and a couple of fat feather beds as well as many feather pillows made very comfortable riding. WE could set on the edge of the bed with packing boxes the right height to rest our feet on or if we were in the mood we had room to lie down and read. Another letter from Aunt Virgie began: Winter of 1899 in Lehigh Indian Territory Daddy took pneumonia and was down many days. John got a job as “water boy” working for a coal mining company. In a large metal bucket he carried drinking water to the many workers. There was one metal dipper for the whole crew! The men were working hard and they drank lots of water. They were stripping the topsoil from a vein of coal it was called “working on the strip pit”. The entire family of any of their employees was covered by their medical insurance, so John’s work furnished a good doctor and medicine for Daddy, even though John was only 14 and small for his age. We cared for Daddy in our tent-house as there were no hospitals. He could not have had a better nurse than Mother. We had our winter quarters set up before Daddy got sick. The smaller tent was the bedroom for the three boys and the larger tent was our kitchen, dining room and the bedroom for our parents and we two girls. The men folks of our family had built a good coal- burning fireplace in one end of the larger tent. Does that sound dangerous? It wasn’t because the men had dug down into the ground at least two feet, an area the size of the tent, thus making the tent walls higher. The fireplace was built of sheet iron from the blasting powder kegs this powder was used in the coal- mines. Our chimney was made of the round powder cans. It was all quite decent looking when finished. It really kept the place warm and sense Mother always kept snow white sheets on all the beds the place was quite cheery. Ira worked at odd jobs for people who owned homes in town; although he was only 11 years old they liked his work very much and paid him accordingly. Embree was only 16 but he had worked with his father enough that he knew what needed to be done to care for their stock. They decided he should sell one of the wagons and the team with it, after setting the over-jets off both wagons, he used the one remaining wagon and team to haul corn and hay he bought from local farmers to sell to the strip miners for their stock. So the family managed through the crisis. Yes, and Mother saw to it that the schoolbooks were not neglected, some of the 3rs had to be practiced regularly. Eliza was almost through high school so she was a good teacher also. There were random notes saying from Lehigh the family moved to Granite where according to a letter from Embree in 1955, Father and I helped to build the Rock Island railroad from Mountain View to Mangum in 1901, then we moved to Velma Indian Territory in the fall of 1901. It was memories of the long moves across Oklahoma that Virgie was recalling as she wrote, we didn’t have refrigeration to keep our food fresh but we managed just fine. Today’s traveler can stop at the large supermarkets along the way to stock up on supplies but when we were traveling there were few stores along the way. Our staple meat supply was salt cured pork but we were usually fortunate enough to have fresh meat often. The men of our family were good marksmen and wild game was plentiful, quail, young rabbits and squirrels were available most everywhere. Sometimes we bought part of a freshly butchered beef, or salt cured pork from the ranchers as we passed their places. We kept a supply of dried beans, Potatoes, onions, dried peas of various kinds. We often made hominy from dried corn. We always had syrup and “bucket Jelly” in gallon buckets. Mother helped us gather the edible native greens in spring and summer to cook for a change in menu. When we came to a nice clean running stream of water, we were all immediately in a festive mood, we knew we would spend at least a day or two there. We children swim if the weather was warm, and always we enjoyed the picnic atmosphere. Father removed the large black iron kettle from its place on the wagon and set it in a safe place to build a fire around it. We younger children managed to play as well as carry many pails of water for that old kettle, while the older children helped with the laundry. Mother insisted that our white cloths as well as the bed linens must be boiled to keep them white. The quilts and feather beds and pillows were spread out on the bushes and tall grass to get fluffy and fresh smelling. Even the animals seemed to enjoy their rest and freedom to drink from the clear pools or graze at will. When everything was clean and back in its place in the wagons and the water barrels filled with fresh drinking water we were again on our way. The modern traveler stops at a large laundry-mat and uses the automatic washers and dryers then in a few minutes he is back on the road. We have seen a lot of changes in the last 72 years. The family stayed a few years in the Velma area and made permanent camp again. The men set up feedlots for cattle, Joe bought and sold livestock and did some farming. Sometimes an Indian would come and ask Father to come on his land to farm and raise stock, they would both have a good laugh over their inability to talk to each other but their sign language was always a friendship language. Virgie wrote, there were long feeding troughs that automatically dispensed cottonseed as the cattle ate, that was the main cattle fattener then. There were also long corncribs that held a continuous supply of corn for the stock. The family used corn also, after it was shucked, shelled and washed, Mother was very particular that no bad grains went into the corn we took to the mill to have ground into cornmeal. She made such delicious corn bread from the yellow corn meal. Of coarse we roasted our own coffee beans, one of my earliest duties was to grind the coffee, it had to be ground fresh for every meal! The Arbuckle Coffee Company began roasting coffee and sacking it in one pound paper bags, adding a stick of peppermint candy to each bag, but we still had to grind the coffee beans. It was while the family was living at Arthur, near Velma Indian Territory that word came that land was available for filling in the area known as “no mans land”, it is now the Oklahoma panhandle. Joseph and his son in-law O. W. Alexander went with many other men from that area and filed on 160 acres each. None of Joe and Nancy’s sons were old enough to file, they had to be at least 21 to qualify for filing, Joseph’s filing date as written in their bible was 10 February 1904. The men returned to their families and most of them left immediately to go to their new land, the bible says Nancy, John and Virgie arrived on their claim 24 August 1905. Joseph and Ira stayed at Arthur with their livestock to get them ready for the market. In November 1904 Eliza had married Edgar Powell so they did not go to their claim in the panhandle. Embree had a job on a ranch in the area and was keeping company with a local girl, in November 1905 he and Florence Blackwell Wed. Joe and Ira went to the claim to spend Christmas with Nancy and the two children but they returned to Velma, as the cattle were not yet ready for the market. We are not sure when they did move to the claim, but other notes show that John made two crops on his parents place. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize the hardships of those first years on the claims, they had to haul water from some neighbors who had already had a well drilled and a windmill erected to pump the water. There was not one tree growing on their 160 acres, money for coal was scarce, so they had to gather the dried cow chips to use for fuel for their stove. There was no scarcity of these chips though, as there were large herds of range cattle all over the prairie. They dug a small cellar [dug-out] but also had the large over-jet for their main living quarters, until Joe and Ira came to stay. Then they built a large half-dug-out home. That is described later. Nancy and Virgie planted a garden in the spring and raised some chickens. In 1905 a small school building was erected about two and one half miles from the Woods home, it was called “Neff” after the cattle rancher of that area who donated the land. The school building became the social gathering place for the community. In addition to the regular school sessions held there, the community held church and many literary meetings, these were very popular with all ages. Many nights the entertainment was singing, both by the entire audience and by special numbers by a few of the more talented. For special occasions some gave readings they had memorized or a group would put on a play. John, Virgie and Ira were usually in attendance and took part in these entertainments, John especially enjoyed giving long humorous readings he had memorized. Another of the young entertainers was Sam Wall, Sam was one of the better singers, especially so because he had studied music and sung by note as they called singers who read music, Sam’s good tenor voice and friendly nature made him a welcome addition to the neighborhood, soon he and John were best friends and it was natural for them to drop by to visit each other. It wasn’t long though before her parents knew that Sam was also coming to see Virgie as well as John. When Sam asked for their consent, they had no objections to Virgie marrying him. On an Easter Sunday in 1907 Virgie Woods and Samuel D. Wall were married in her home, they went immediately to the home Sam had ready for them only a few miles away. It was sometime near this time that John bought a relinquishment on a claim about two miles from his parents. In fact he said he traded two old hay bailers and a small amount of cash for the right to prove up on his claim, the final papers are included in this collection of bits of Woods history. After John moved from their parents home and Virgie married, that left only Ira with their parents, he continued to farm with his Dad until 1909 when he was 21 he went to Morton County, in southern Kansas and filed on 160 acres. Some of their family was already living out there but that will have to be filled in by those families. Joshua Embree and Eliza were both in that area when Ira filed and moved to his claim. We are not sure how many more years Joe and Nancy stayed alone on their farm but finally they had a sale and sold their home and livestock. They lived with different families of their children for many years, at one time they lived with Ira on his Kansas farm, they also spent some time in the homes of Embree and Eliza near him, they were with Virgie’s and with John’s families in the Oklahoma panhandle at times also. It was during this time that Joseph began a new career. For awhile he stocked his little Ford roadster with a full store of what we called peddlers supplies. His were “Zonal” products, he enjoyed calling on all the neighbors and they in turn appreciated his good flavorings, lineaments and friendly visits. When he tired of that he had the back of his little Ford equipped with a metal box and began going to Two Buttes, Colorado to buy fresh fish, they were dressed and packed in ice and he peddled them to the neighbors in Oklahoma. Ruby tells me that some day she intends to finish this family history, I certainly hope that she does, but she has been telling me this for several years, and she is 91 years old. ~ Everett ~ |
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