The Woody Family of Old
Virginia
The History and Genealogy
of the Woody & Wooddy Family Branches
with Roots in Colonial Virginia
Dedicated to the Memory of our Honored Pioneer Ancestors
Created:
2008
Hosted by Dave Woody
(A link to the Woody database and pedigrees is located at
the end of the historical section below.)
The server for this site is generously supplied by:
Contents
Introduction
In
the Beginning - Robert Woody in the Virginia Tidewater
James, John,
Samuel & Simon Woody of New Kent & Hanover, Virginia
John, Micajah & Samuel Woody
of Hanover, Virginia
John Woody of Goochland, Virginia
Henry & Thomas Woody of
Amherst, Virginia
William & Henry Woody of Bedford,
Virginia
Henry
Woody
of Henrico, Virginia
James,
John & Thomas Woody of Pittsylvania, Virginia
David Woody of Person, North
Carolina
William
& Samuel Woody of Loudoun, Virginia
Robert
Woody of Lancaster, Middlesex & Richmond, Virginia
John W. Wooddy of
Hanover, Virginia & Jefferson, Kentucky
Samuel W. & William L.
Woody of Richmond City & Chesterfield, Virginia
Henry
Talley Woody of Wilkes & Oglethorpe, Georgia
Henry W. Woody
of Richmond City, Virginia
Woody One-Name Study
Project Progress
Using primary sources
and direct evidence, a number of Woody descendants have traced their lineages
back to Virginia in the late 18th or early 19th century. Because of
several factors, the extension of these lineages by traditional research is
almost impossible; however, results from the
Woody DNA Project prove that
nearly all participants with such lineages share a common ancestor. These results
have encouraged us to extend our research beyond our direct ancestor, Henry
Woody, to all the Woodys of old Virginia. Our goal is to use this research, in
conjunction with the Woody DNA Project, to sort out the different branches of
the Virginia Woody family tree and to extend these lineages back in time. Since
many of these proven Woody lineages can be traced to the Blue Ridge region of Virginia, we used
this area as a starting point for our research; however, our area of interest
has been expanded to the Piedmont of central Virginia, the Virginia Northern
Neck and the several of northernmost counties
of North Carolina.
We now think it is highly likely that most of the Woody branches listed below,
as well as, the
Henry and William Woody branches, have their American ancestral roots in New
Kent and Hanover Counties, Virginia. Their single common ancestor may have also
been from Virginia, but he was more likely from the British Isles.
yDNA has proven that some of these
branches are closely related; however, yDNA volunteers are needed from the other
branches.
Click
here to
continue the Introduction section.
The
following sections describe most of the early Virginia Woody branches, as well
as, several branches with proven roots in Virginia.
These
sections only provide an overview of these families: the family details and
evidence citations are provided in the
Database.
Some of the overviews and evidence are complex and,
at times, difficult to follow.
In
the Beginning - Robert in 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 headright awards for two people in 1653.
To encourage settlement of America, the
English government provided land grants to ship captains and others who
were responsible for the transportation of immigrants from Europe. These
rewards were termed "headrights". A Robert Woody owned lands in
Lower Norfolk and Norfolk County until 1704, but the name seems to disappear
after that time. Since the given name
"Robert" was used very infrequently by latter Woodys, we assume that the
Robert Woody line probably did not produce any surviving male descendants.
However, this assumption may be revised in light of
recent yDNA results.
We think it is much more probable that one or more of the other 17th
century Woody immigrants was/were the patriarch/patriarchs of the Woodys of
Virginia. Some candidates for this distinction are found in the transcribed records of
Virginia land grants that were based on headright claims: Anthony in 1648, Symon in 1652, Robert in 1656, John in 1674
and Henry in 1681. The images of the original documents are viewable for no
fee at the Library of Virginia
Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grants and
Surveys. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, we
can confirm only two of the names: Robert and John. Anthony was Waddy.
Symon was Wady and
Henry was
most likely Moody. This minor research again demonstrates the enormous value
of original document images, as compared to transcriptions.
James, John,
Samuel & Simon of New Kent & Hanover Co., Virginia
(St. Paul's
Parish, near Richmond on the James River)
The October 21, 1684, New Kent County, Virginia land grant of John Baughan
provides the first undeniable reference to a Woody in this area. James Woody
was named as an adjacent landowner in the
branches of Black and Mattedequin Creeks, both tributaries of the Pamunkey
River. As did the Woodys, the upper branches of Black Creek ended up in
Hanover County when that county was created from New Kent in 1721. So the
location of the Woody property can be determined to within a few miles. On May 4, 1689,
James was recorded as a processioner in the The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish,
New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia. The quit rent rolls of 1704 New Kent County list
three Woodys: Symon, 50 acres; John, 100 acres and James, 130 acres.
Early Virginia quit rents were paid by owners or renters of land that had been acquired by government
grant (patent). The typical rent for
patent (grant) land was one shilling for every fifty acres. (£1= 20 shillings). However, if Symon,
John and James did acquire grant land, no record of these grants has been
found. In New Kent
County, St. Paul's Parish was formed from the western portion of St. Peter's
Parish in 1704 and, in 1721, Hanover County was formed from the western
portion of New Kent County. In fact, Mattedequin Creek was the dividing line
between the two Parish's after 1704. Today, both of these creeks are located
along the eastern edge of present day Hanover County, very close to the
county lines of King William and New Kent.
The "processioning"
records found in The Vestry Book of
St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia 1706 - 1786
mention a succession of Woody landowners in New Kent and Hanover Counties. It
is important to remember Hanover County was formed from New Kent County in
1721, so the pre-1721 events described in the vestry book occurred in New
Kent County. The
Woody name is mentioned over one hundred times in this book. James Woody was
last mentioned in processioning records in 1720 and in the Quaker records in
1722, so we assume he died before the next intact processioning record in
1731. As detailed below, Simon Woody died in 1734. John Woody was last
mentioned in the 1744 processioning records and, in 1747, Samuel Woody was
appointed a processioner "instead of John Woody". So we assume that John
died about this time.
The introductory
remarks of the compiler, Churchill Gibson Chamberlayne, are very useful in
understanding composition, importance and validity of this document. As
Chamberlayne points out, all of the pre-1754 record is "merely a transcript
of an older and long since disappeared, manuscript volume". In fact, we have
found several contradictions and transcription errors. Similarly, Chamberlayne's explanation of the appointment of processioning, processioning
orders and
processioning returns is very informative and useful.
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, the Virginia Legislature created an act to
address the problem in 1662. This act required 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. The act also stipulated that processioning was to be preformed every four years under
the direction of the parish officials. In stark contrast,
The Vestry Book of Henrico Parish, Virginia
1730 - 1773 and The St. James Northam Parish Vestry Book,
Goochland County, Virginia 1744 - 1850 do not mention the Woody name one
time. In an effort aimed at understanding this anomaly, the
records of all three books were analyzed and compared with other available
records of that time period. This examination revealed some very large
differences in the processioning procedures used
by the three
parishes. These differences may account for the absence of the Woody name in
the Henrico and St. James Northam Vestry Books. Henry & John Woody: An
Analysis of the Vestry Books of St. Paul's, Henrico and St. James Northam
Parishes
is a report on this research. Also, it
cannot be over emphasized that the records found in vestry books relate
almost entirely to freeholders (land owners). Because records found in
vestry books, land deeds and land grants provide form the bulk of surviving
evidence, non-landowners are virtually invisible. There must have been many
of these landless Woodys and, in fact, later records provide substantial
evidence that this was indeed the case.
In addition to processioning records,
a number of Hanover and New Kent County land grants have
survived from this period. Images of most of the grants can be viewed in the
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grants
and Surveys
archive found on the Library of Virginia web site. The wills of two Woodys from this
period have survived: Simon and his only son Moor; however, Moor Woody left
no descendants.
The Colonial Quakers
(Society of Friends) were
prodigious record keepers and many of their records have survived and have
been transcribed by William Wade Hinshaw and others.
The minutes of the Henrico Monthly Meeting record the only male Woody Quakers
mentioned in Virginia: James, Micajah and William. The Henrico Monthly
Meeting was a regional business meeting that included most of the local Quaker meetings in
the surrounding counties. In 1722, James Woody provided funds to help build a
meeting house. Micajah Woody, of Hanover County, his wife Cecilia, their only known son William and several of
their daughters
are noted in Quaker records from 1739 to 1789. John Woody was a witness to the marriage of one
of Micajah's daughters; however, this is the only reference to John in the
Quaker records. Since the Quaker's allowed non-Quakers to attend their
meetings and witness marriages, it is very doubtful that John was a Quaker. Although Micajah's only son William lived until about
1826, we have not discovered the names of his children, if any. Also, we have not
uncovered any significant research on the of this branch of
Virginia Woodys and very few lineages have been developed. If you know of such research, we would
appreciate hearing from you.
In the records
described above and in other records of Goochland, Henrico, Hanover and
New Kent Counties, the given names of John, Martha, Micajah, Simon, James,
Henry, and Samuel appear quite frequently; however,
determining the relationships of these people can be extremely difficult.
Pre-Civil War birth, marriage and land transaction records are very rare for this
period, especially in Hanover County. So it is left to the family historian to first obtain and then
subjectively interpret the meaning of the existing documents. Hopefully,
yDNA comparisons and analysis will aid these interpretations. Many more details
about this branch are in the
Database.
John, Micajah & Samuel
of Hanover Co., Virginia
(Near Matadequin & Totopotomoy Creeks)
Because Hanover County, Virginia is one of the most difficult Virginia counties
in which to do research, we have avoided this prospect for over fifteen years.
The Library of Virginia Lost Record's Guide states that "most county records,
particularly deeds, wills, and marriage records were destroyed by fire in
Richmond on 3 April 1865". However, since nearly all of our research on the Woodys of western Virginia suggests that their ancestors came from Hanover, we
are going to try to correlate the scant information that is available.
The processioning records found in The
Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish 1706-1786 mention Mattedequin and
Totopotomoy Creeks many times, along with over one hundred references to the
Woodys/Wooddys/etc. that owned land and lived in New Kent and Hanover. The 1763 Hanover
tithe records include John Woody, 80 acres; Micajah Woody, 200 acres; and Samuel
Woody, 120 acres. The post Revolution land and
personal property tax records for Hanover are extant and start in 1782. The
earliest of these tax records list Samuel, Micajah, Cisley, John, Hartwell,
Obediah, Lucy and William
Woody. The 1782 land tax acreages for John and Samuel are identical to the 1763
records. The 1782 land tax acreage for Sisley Woody, the wife of Micajah, was
190 acres. So we are very confident that the John, Micaja
h and Samuel of 1763
where the same individuals that lived in 1782 Hanover. In addition, John, Samuel, Micajah and Lucy Woody were enumerated in the 1782 Hanover
County census. Since there are surviving records of the wills of John and
Micajah, we know the names of their children. William (c. 1750 - c. 1826) was almost surely the son of
Micajah, but he probably did not have surviving male children. John Wooddy died c. 1786, Samuel died c. 1788 and Micajah
died c. 1800. These records illustrate how landless individuals can be
virtually invisible in this time frame. Lucy, Hartwell (born c. 1777) and Obediah
(born c. 1761) were noted in
the personal property tax records only and they were probably among those in the households of
Samuel and Lucy in 1782, but neither Samuel or Lucy left surviving wills. Obediah
is especially interesting because, in 1784, he was charged with a tax on two named
slaves that had been charged to Samuel Sr. in 1782. So Obediah appears to have
been the son of Samuel Sr.; however, he seems to have
to have died about 1794. Lucy, the apparent widow, died about 1796 and Hartwell about 1802. Obediah and Hartwell were
never taxed as
landowners and they left no surviving wills. It is possible that Lucy was a
landowner, but was exempt from land tax as a widow. This is just about all we know about Samuel, Lucy, Obediah, Hartwell and the
several other unknown
individuals enumerated in the Samuel and Lucy Woody households of 1782 Hanover
County, Virginia.
However, there
are other pieces of interesting and very complex information concerning the estates of
John and Samuel Woody. John's tax records were noted as "John Woody estate"
from 1786 until 1800, when the property was conveyed to his widow Ruth as his
will directed. Samuel's tax records are noted as "Samuel Woody estate from 1788
until 1797; however, in 1801, the property of Samuel Woody was
transferred to Micajah Woody. Since Micajah was married in 1739 (born c. 1719),
it seems almost impossible that he could have been the Samuel's son. He was most
likely a brother or 1st cousin to Samuel; however, the only way that he could
have inherited the property was if all of Samuel's descendants were deceased. We know that some
of the children of Samuel's daughter, Ann Wooddy Talley, were alive, so this was not
the case. The law of entail was abolished in 1776 and the law of primogeniture
was repealed in 1786, so if Samuel died in 1788, these laws would not have been
applicable to his estate. However, the years 1800 and 1801 coincide with some
other important events.
The youngest child of John and Ruth Wooddy became age twenty-one about 1800 and another Samuel Wooddy was
first taxed in 1801. We posit that Micajah purchased the land from the
inheritors of Samuel Wooddy's estate and
that the Samuel Wooddy, first taxed in 1801, was a son or grandson of Samuel Sr. and one
was one of
the sellers. This assumption is supported by the fact that, in 1802, Samuel Jr. seems to have
moved to Chesterfield County, near Richmond and made significant land
purchases there in 1805 and 1806 (See Samuel W. Wooddy below). We do not have a
verifiable birth date for Samuel Sr., but based on what we know, he would have
been 55-65 years old when Samuel W. was born. We have estimated Obediah's birth
date from his first taxation in 1784 and he would have been 15-18 when Samuel W.
was born. So we have a choice between a rather old father and a rather young
one. From our experience with this line, we posit that Samuel Sr. was the father
of Samuel W. Wooddy. We also posit that the children of Samuel Sr. all inherited
equally; however, his younger children had to reach age twenty-one before the
they could gain control their share. When all of the inheritors reached age
twenty-one in 1801, they sold the property to Micajah Woody. Since virtually all of
the records of Hanover County were
destroyed in the Civil War, it seems impossible to prove this assumption;
however, the alignment of these facts forms a body of significant circumstantial evidence.
The events in the life of Henry Talley Wooddy (see below) are nearly identical
to those of Samuel W. Wooddy. Based on these events, as well as, evidence
showing
Henry T. and Samuel Wooddy were living in
close proximity in Wilkes County, Georgia and Chesterfield County, Virginia and
the close association of Henry T. with Obadiah Talley, the son of Ann
Woody Talley, the daughter of Samuel Wooddy Sr., we
have concluded that Henry Talley Woody was another son of Samuel Woody Sr.
Although we are quite certain that the funds for the land purchases of Samuel W.
and Henry T. Wooddy came from the sale of the land of Samuel Sr., there is the
possibility of an intervening generation in the person of Obediah Wooddy (c.
1761-c. 1794). Except for the age of Samuel Sr., there is no evidence at all to
support this scenario. If Obediah did inherit the property of Samuel Sr., this
event was never recorded in twelve years of tax records. The evidence points to
a significant event occurring in 1801 and both Samuel W. and Henry T. reached
the age of twenty-one about this time; however, this event would apply to an
inheritance from either Samuel Sr. or Obediah.
Micajah and Cecilia
Johnson Woody were Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) and they were married
in the Hanover Friend's Meeting House on September 4, 1739. Micajah, Cecilia and
most of their children are mentioned in the Friend's meeting records and later,
in the Hanover tax lists. Micajah's will was dated September 23,
1771 and he died in 1800/1801. Although Micajah's actual will is not extant, he,
his wife and his
children were recorded in a 1819 law suit that included a synopsis of Micajah's
will. A little known transcription of John's September 16,
1784 will is also extant and names his wife Ruth and ten children. Micajah Woody was a witness to the original
document. John Sr. died in 1786.
Samuel Sr. died between 1782 & 1787. William Woody was very likely the son of Micajah and
Cecilia Woody and is probably the William Woody that, on December 29, 1789, bought 126
acres on Totopotomoy Creek in Hanover from Thomas and Susan Tinsley. By 1850, as
family farming was becoming less and less profitable, a migration to the nearby
city of Richmond was well underway.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of genealogies,
lineages and GEDCOMs on the internet that flatly state that Micajah, Mary,
Martha and Judith were the children of James and Martha Woody. We have never
found any proof that James had a wife named Martha. In fact, The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish,
New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia shows that James' wife was
probably Elizabeth (Elisheba) and that their son James was baptized April 16,
1699. We have not found any other direct evidence concerning the children of
James. The evidence seems to indicate that James
was older than Micajah and that both were Quakers. As is usual, we do not know the original
proponent of this story, but some very important, easy to find,
primary evidence has been overlooked. In 1734, Simon Woody died testate in
Hanover County and his
will was probated the same year. He named his wife Martha, son Moore and
daughters Mary, Martha, Judith and Rebecca. Unfortunately, his only son
Moore died testate later the same year. Moore's will named his mother Martha and
sisters Mary, Martha, Judith and Susanna. Simon's widow, Martha, lived until
about 1769, when her son-in-law, Nathan Johnson, contested her will (not
extant).
The Mary, Martha and Judith Woody that married David, Ashley and
Nathan Johnson were the daughters of Simon Woody, not James Woody. The complete transcripts (not abstracts) of the
original Quaker marriage records can be found online.
Micajah was probably the son of James Woody but, to our knowledge, there is
no proof of that relationship.
However, it
is interesting to note that neither Micajah or his son William were ever
appointed processioners by the Anglican church officials and this was
undoubtedly because Micajah and William were Quakers. Likewise, neither James or
Simon were ever appointed processioners, so it would seem that James and Simon
were also Quakers.
Some of the
authors of the abovementioned lineages also assert that this same Micajah Woody
married Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, widow of Littleberry Allen, on Aug 15, 1796. While
it is true that such a marriage was originally transcribed and published,
Micajah Woody was married to Cecilia when he died; therefore, if a Micajah Woody was
married in 1796, it was not the husband of Cecilia. However, the abovementioned
1819 law suit begins with the phrase; "Micajah Woody, Senr., of the County of
Hanover, by his Will, dated Sept. 23d, 1771...". So a second Micajah seems to
have existed in 1771, but we have never found even one additional reference to
this second Micajah Woody. It should be remembered that the term "junior" and
"senior" were commonly used to differentiate between two men with the same name
and did not necessarily imply a father and son relationship. Micajah Woody, Jr. is not mentioned in the wills of John or Micajah,
Sr., nor was he ever enumerated in the personal property tax records of Hanover
and Henrico Counties which are extant from 1782. In fact, we have never found
even one additional reference to another Micajah Woody anywhere in America.
Recent
primary research has shed some light on this puzzle. The minutes of the Henrico
County Boar Swamp Baptist Church contain this short note: "Dec 1, 1787,
Elizabeth Allen, now Woody - removed". Apparently, at least part of the
Woody-Allen marriage transcription seems to be incorrect. In addition, the will
of Rev. Littleberry Allen, a Baptist preacher, was dated August 20, 1783 and
recorded June 6, 1786 in Henrico. His widow was Elizabeth Allen and the will
names some seven children; however, we have not seen the probate record of the
Allen estate. The Boar Swamp Baptist Church was located very near the border of
Hanover and Henrico Counties and close to the Woody homesteads east of Richmond
in Hanover.
In 1789 and 1790, an Elizabeth Woody was listed on the Hanover County tax lists.
From the above data, we conclude that a Micajah Woody did marry the widow,
Elizabeth Allen, before 1787 and probably in 1786, instead of 1796. He was not the son of
Micajah Sr. and probably not the son of John. He was most likely the son of
Samuel Woody, who did not leave a record of his children; however, Micajah Jr. could have been a contemporary of
John, Micajah Sr. and Samuel. Since Elizabeth Allen had seven children, Micajah
was probably middle aged or older when he
was married about 1786 and he only lived for a couple of years until about 1788.
The Battle of
Cold Harbor, in Hanover County, was
one of the Civil W
ar's bloodiest, most lopsided battles. Between
May
26, 1864 and June 3, 1864, thousands of Union soldiers were slaughtered in a
hopeless frontal assault against the heavily fortified Confederate troops of
Gen. Robert E. Lee. For a time, the farmhouse of David Wooddy, about three miles
south of Mattedequin Creek, was the headquarters of Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose E.
Burnside. The Wooddy farmhouse still stands and the
adjoining property is home
to a modern subdivision called Wooddy's Hundred. The
nearby Cold Harbor National Cemetery contains the remains of Union soldiers that were
originally interred on "Woody's Farm". This
1861 map of Hanover and surrounding counties shows the Cold Harbor area. This
June 3, 1864 map of the battle clearly shows
the "Woody house".
Many of the
descendants of the Hanover Woodys used the Wooddy variation, so it is relatively
easy to locate more recent records. For instance, six Wooddys are buried in the
Perrin (a.k.a: Snead, Wooddy) Family Cemetery in Hanover. This cemetery is about
two miles north of Totopotomoy Creek. Also, there are Wooddys listed in current
area telephone directories. So, Wooddys have lived in this area for at least 320
years.
Mark W. Wooddy, the grandson of William Samuel Wooddy, has kindly provided us
with the full names and exact birth dates of the nine children of James P.
Wooddy (1772-1839), one of the sons of John and Ruth Wooddy mentioned above.
Many of the Wooddys living in present day Hanover seem to be the descendents of
James and his wife Mary Q. Jones Wooddy, who were married in 1795. This data
confirms and considerably enhances the research that we have done. William
Samuel received this data from his older cousin, Harriet Wooddy Wright.
We have been
able to find only a very few published lineages or discussions of this line.
This seems a little odd to us, but if the reader knows of such information, we
will greatly appreciate your assistance. Also, it would be very helpful to
have a Woody DNA Project participant from this branch.
Many more details about this branch are in the
Database.
John of Goochland Co., Virginia
(Near 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 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 northeast 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. In 1744, Arthur Hopkins, Gentleman, was charged
with the duty of listing the tithables on the north side of the James
River from Ballenger's Creek to Lickinghole Creek. (the upper branches
of Byrd Creek are a few miles east of Ballenger Creek in present day
Fluvanna). Included in his list of some four hundred residents were the
consecutive names of Jn Woodey, [torn] Bankes, Wm Martin and Jn Curby.
On August 8, 1748 and May 13, 1751, John sold his two plots which were
by then in Albemarle County. One
of the buyers was John Howard of Hanover County. Arthur Hopkins was one
of the witnesses on the 1751 deed. The deeds do not mention that John's
wife relinquished her dower, so we assume that she had died by then. In
1755, a detailed map of this
area was published. This map was based on the surveys of Joshua Fry
and Peter Jefferson, the father of President Thomas Jefferson.
Will
Banks and Elizabeth Martin were married September 15, 1753 in Dover
Church. William,
the neighbor of John Woody, died in Albemarle County sometime before
July 26, 1762, when his widow Elizabeth Martin Banks Wilkerson and her
new husband Jarrott Wilkerson were appointed administrators of his
estate. Among others mentioned in the accounting were John, Henry and
Thomas Woody. Thomas was paid for "one years hire".
John Woody was mentioned again as a creditor in the probate
of the estate of Arthur Hopkins on May 31, 1765. Dr. Arthur Hopkins,
Gentleman, 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.
Because of their
close association with John Woody and the Banks family, we have
concluded that the abovementioned Henry and William Banks Woody were John's
sons. Another of John's sons was probably the abovementioned Thomas
Woody, but we are not yet ready to make this conclusion. Perhaps yDNA
will convince us. The story of Henry and Thomas Woody in Amherst County
continues in the next section. Many
more details about the Thomas branch are in the
Database. The details concerning the Henry and William Woody branch
are in
Woody Family Roots.
Henry & Thomas of
Amherst Co., Virginia
(Near Davis
Creek)
On
February 23, 1770, two separate 53 acre tracts 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.
On March 23, 1772, Thomas Woody was a witness to the sale
of land from Samuel Shannon to Rev. Wm Irvin. This property was in the
branches of the Rockfish River, near the Blue Mountains in Amherst
County. 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. Thomas Woody was enumerated
as the head of a household containing five people in the 1783 Amherst
census; however, 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 enumerated in the Amherst census and Col.
John Hopkins (husband of Mary Martin Hopkins), a son of Dr. Arthur, was
listed next to Mary. However,
we
have not found out how Henry Woody disposed of his property and, much
more importantly, the land tax records of Amherst County do not record
any Woodys in Amherst County between 1782 and 1805.
This evidence supports our assumption that Henry was the heir-at-law of
the estate of John Woody. In 1790, George Wooddy provided part of the
Amherst County bond for the marriage of Claiborne Howard and Salley
Martin, daughter of James. Will Loving Jr. was a witness to this bond.
This was almost surely 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 Sr., Hannah and Matilda, married George and Robert Woody.
When Hannah's father, Andrew Wright, died in 1816, she and her husband,
George Woody, inherited and sold 260 acres on Davis Creek. Along with
William W. Woody, both of these families moved to Madison County,
Alabama by 1840 and William W. later moved on to Mississippi. These
events demonstrate the close association that existed between the
Woodys, Martins, Lovings, Hopkins, Howards and Wrights. The Woody and
Hopkins' connection continued until at least 1850 when Thomas and Mary
Woody were enumerated without real estate 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, Thomas
Jr.
did not seem to have any male children that survived childhood.
yDNA
results from a descendant of the George Woody that moved to Alabama
prove that George Woody was very closely related to Henry and
William Woody of Franklin and Henry Counties, Virginia. Assuming that Thomas
Sr. was at least 20 years old when he
was mentioned in the the 1762 will of William Banks, he would have been
the right age to be a younger brother of Henry Woody. We think this relationship
is very likely and that the George Woody that died in 1798 was likely
the son of Thomas. Many more
details about the Thomas branch are in the
Database. The story of Henry Woody of Bedford County continues in
the next section. The details concerning the Henry Woody branch are in
Woody Family Roots.
William & Henry of
Bedford Co., Virginia
William Woody was taxed for personal property in Bedford Co., Virginia
for the years 1782 - 1814. In 1778, he purchased 89 acres on Little
Otter Creek and in 1780, he added another 106 acres to his holdings in
this area. In 1781, he helped inventory the estate of Lynah Brown and in
1789, he witnessed the will of James Brown, the father of William's wife
Margaret Brown. William is one of the only Woodys in this area to own
land and leave a will. The will of March 30, 1812 names his wife and his
daughter Betsey, who confusingly, had married James Brown, the son of
the abovementioned Lynah, in 1794. Betsey and James Brown moved to
Kanawha County, along with several other Woodys families from the
surrounding counties. Many more details
about this branch are in the
Database.
Henry of Henrico Co., Virginia
On September 21, 1745, Henry Woody
of Hanover paid Nicolas Pryer of Henrico County £40 for 170 acres at the head of
Drinking Hole Branch of Tuckahoe Creek in the County and Parish of Henrico. The
witnesses were Benjamin Johnson, William Street and Sarah Johnson. The deed for
this sale is a very important document since it connects Henry Woody of Hanover
to Henrico County. A later deed mentions that Henry lived on this property, so
the transaction was not simply land speculation. Since Henry was never recorded
in the processioning records of Hanover County, it is assumed that he was a
relatively young man when he made the move. Also, there is some evidence that he
lived in Henrico before he purchased the land. In 1752,
freeholder Henry Woody voted for William Randolph and Bowler Cocke as Burgesses
of Henrico County. Another voter was Richard Contrell. Henry Woody and his wife,
Webby, sold property, "being the land said Woody now lives"
to William Henley on
March 3, 1755. Their neighbors were Benjamin Johnson,
Leonard Henley and John Martin. On September 6, 1762, William Henley and his wife
Mary sold 50 acres to Austin Woody for
£7. This land was adjacent to the property
that Henry Woody had sold Henley a few years earlier.
After
moving from Amherst County, Henry
Woody was taxed for personal property in Bedford every year between 1782
and 1792.
In 1784 and 1785, Henry Woody purchased 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 then purchased a farm in Franklin County in
1792. Henry's son, Randolph, was married in Bedford in 1790.
Interestingly, a William Wooddie
was also noted in 1758 as a Private in the the Bedford militia. This
William was most likely the husband of Sarah Percel and the progenitor
of a completely different line of Woodys that supposedly emigrated from
England a rather short time earlier.
This family soon moved to northern North Carolina and later to South
Carolina. Even more interestingly to us is the 1758 record of a Henry
Wooddy in Bedford. Henry was mentioned in
a letter to George Washington describing a deadly skirmish with
Native Americans in southern Bedford County. At this time, Washington was
commander of the British forces in Virginia.
The full account of both
references is here.
Since we have
not been able to ascertain an approximate birth date for William, the
husband of Margaret Brown Woody, it is very difficult to even posit his
relationship to the other Woodys in area surrounding Bedford. It is
possible that
William and Henry Woody might have been brothers; however, the William Banks Woody
that was recorded in the Douglas Register with Henry
seems to be a much better candidate. Henry and William B. both had a
child baptized on March 12, 1764 in Dover Church, Goochland County.
Henry and William B. later moved to the adjacent counties of Franklin
and Henry.
The details concerning the Henry
and William Banks Woody branches are in
Woody Family Roots.
So we are
assuming
that the later William Woody of Bedford was probably the brother of Henry Woody of
Henrico County, described in the next section. A William Woody is
mentioned
in the 1766
estate settlement of of Henry of Henrico, but that is the only reference
to William Woody that we have found in Henrico in that time frame. This
probably indicates that William did not own land in Henrico at the time of Henry's
death and may have not lived in that county.
(Near Drinking Hole Branch)
Henry Woody died shortly before November, 1766 when his will was
proved in Henrico by his widow, Webby* Woody. Security was provided by William Woody and
Stephen Spurlock. The court ordered Thomas Ellis, Samuel Shepherd and Richard
Cottrell to appraise the estate. Very unfortunately, the will has not survived.
Although several other Woodys are mentioned in the Henrico records, William
Woody is not one of them. Because of this absence, we think it is probable that
this William is the William Woody
of Bedford County, described above. This William did not seem to leave any male
descendants.
The Cottrell surname was
almost as rare as Woody
in Colonial Virginia. Although none of the Woodys are mentioned in the The Vestry Book of
Henrico Parish, Virginia 1730 - 1773, Richard Cottrell was noted as a processioner
several times. Richard Cottrell, Henry Woody and Austin Woody are the links between
the Woodys of Henrico County
and the Woodys of the Blue Ridge region of Virginia. On September 7, 1785, Samuel Woody married
Mrs. Elizabeth Denis in Henrico. Consent for Elizabeth was provided by Mr. and
Mrs. Rich'd Cottrell and Henry Woody provided security. Richard Cottrell was the
father of Elizabeth and Henry Woody was son of either Henry Woody Sr. or Austin/Augustine. In 1843, Elizabeth Cottrell Dennis Woody, then a widow of 87, deposed
for the widow, Martha Kirby Woody, on her pension application based on the
Revolutionary War service of her husband Benjamin Woody. Elizabeth stated that
"She was well acquainted with Benjamin Woody who was the
brother of her deceased husband Samuel Woody...".
Although some
of our research is based on circumstantial evidence, we are reasonably sure that
two of the sons of Henry Woody moved to Buckingham and Fluvanna counties about
1776. These sons were Austin/Augustine and Henry Woody and their sons were:
Benjamin (2), Augustine/Austin, Henry, Samuel and William Woody. These men were the forefathers of most of
the Woodys found in Albemarle, Amherst, Buckingham, Fluvanna and Nelson Counties, Virginia from the late 18th century until the present time. By about 1830, a small number of Woodys had
moved west into Kanawha and Putnam Counties which became part of West Virginia
when that state was formed in 1863; however, the vast majority remained in the
same general area that their forefathers had settled starting about 1776.
Many more details about this
branch are in the
Database.
*Webby Woody was transcribed and published as Westly Woody by a very good transcriber.
This error threw us off the track for a while since we tried to find the
non-existent Westly. This is a good example of the value of seeing an image
of the original
document.
1767
and many land records have survived from the early days of Pittsylvania.
However, it was not until 1780 that John Woody (over 21, thus born before 1759), "son of James Woody of the County
of Pittsylvania", bought 235 acres along Sandy and Cane Creeks from the estate of
Nathaniel Ayers. 
cessful printer in Baltimore,
Maryland. The advertisement on the
right is from the February 15, 1822 edition of the Baltimore Sun. The will of
William Sr. names his 2nd wife Elizabeth, sons William Jr., John, David and
James and daughters Mary Jane Wooddy, Ruth Jones Wooddy, Sally Hamerly and Kitty
Rose. The sons
names duplicate those found in the will of John Woody of Hanover County and
John's wife was Ruth. John was the likely brother of Micajah Wooddy, who was a
Quaker. Although Loudoun County had one of the largest concentrations of
Quakers in Virginia, we have found no evidence that any of this branch were
members of the Society of Friends. In fact, James the son of William Sr., was a
Methodist Episcopal minister in Florida. However, William
Jr. was associated with the Baltimore Friends and he printed several
Quaker books. Ruth, the wife of William Jr., is recorded as a witness to two
Quaker marriages in Baltimore. Most of the children of William Jr. and Ruth
Wooddy are buried in the
New Elkridge Meeting House Cemetery
(Ellicott Graveyard) on "Quaker Hill" in
Ellicott City, Maryland. Since the tombstones are engraved, it is not likely
that these Wooddys were Quakers. The names of the children of William Sr.
and the Quaker connection of William Jr. leads us to conclude that William Sr.
was the son of John Woody of Hanover. The will of John of Hanover named two of his sons, John Jr. and William,
to be his estate executors, but neither seemed to have stayed long in Hanover after
he died in 1786. John and William were likely the eldest sons of John Sr. John Jr. was
born c. 1760, so the age of William of Loudoun is a very good fit with the known
data.
er of Frederick Wooddy, who died in in his late thirties in 1804. John and
Frederick Wooddy lived in King William County in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Frederick's children are not proven, but it is reasonable to assume that his
brother John became their guardian. On the left is an image of an 1806 Richmond
Enquirer advertisement that explains the reason that the King William Wooddys were in
tidewater Virginia. John Woody of
King William was the proprietor of the stage coach business that provided
service between
Richmond and Tappahannock, the county seat of Essex County. Essex and Middlesex
are on the south side of the Rappahannock River and Lancaster and Richmond
Counties are on the north side. The Rappahannock is a tributary of the
Chesapeake Bay and most of the larger waterfro
nt towns, such as Tappahannock,
supported extensive maritime activities in the Colonial period. Additionally, several
of the Wooddys from King William and the surrounding counties were engaged in
transporting mail. 
nicle
shows. Augusta is in Wilkes County, Georgia, the parent county of Oglethorpe
County, the home of Henry Talley Woody, discussed below. Henry also used the
Augusta post office to receive mail. For a more detailed description of the
Mail Contracting business and other 
Capt.
Haley Cole's Tavern in the coal fields area of northern Chesterfield County,
Virginia, some ten miles west of Richmond. At that time, the above mentioned
Samuel W. Wooddy was the only other recorded Wooddy/Woody in this area. In 1803,
Samuel Woody and Haley Cole had both testified for Obediah Hatcher in his suit
against John Salle, so the two men were also acquainted. This was probably the
Samuel Wooddy that was mentioned in a May 11, 1799 Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle
advertisement concerning unclaimed mail at the Washington (Wilkes Co., Georgia)
post office. Additionally, in 1809, John Wooddy Jr. and William Wooddy Jr. were
mentioned in similar advisements as mail contractors. See 
