When you think of the explorers of America, men like Jacques Cartier, Louis Joliet, Lewis and Clark, or the Reverend Marcus Whitman come to mind. Yet, the majority of the exploration, of the settlement, of America came far less dramatically. My family's story is quite typical of the type of exploration and settlement which shaped our country.
My family's history in America traces back to 1721, with the birth of Joesph Woods. The records indicate that he was born in the area later to be known as Christ Church Parish, Georgia, some twelve years before the official chartering of the Georgia colony. It is likely, therefore, that Joesph's family was among the wealthy landowners from South Carolina who settled on cheap land in Georgia and who established there, with North Carolinians and Virginians, the plantation system and slavery. A note in Book D of "Colonial Records" in the State Library in Atlanta, Georgia describes Joesph as "Having wife, five children, eight negros," and 300 acres of Black Creek land. We know from parish records that Joesph Woods married Mary Sterling in 1746 in Christ Church Parish, Georgia. Their children were John, Nathaniel, William, Joesph Jr., and one other child (probably a daughter) whose name has been lost to us.
Records in the Atlanta Georgia State House say that Joesph acted as deputy to his son, Captain John Woods, in the position as paymaster to the First Georgia Regiment of Continental troops from the summer of 1776 until October 1777. In addition to his duties as regimental paymaster, Captain Woods served as a scout and a courier between General Washington and General Francis Marion, the hero of the South Carolinas who was popularly known as the Swamp Fox due to the guerrilla tactics which Marion and his irregulars used against the British. It was during this period of Captain Woods' attachment to Marion's irregulars that Joesph Woods acted as his son's deputy. We know from loose leaf records in the Secretary of State's office in Atlanta that Captain John Woods held the post of paymaster to the regiment for at least three years. Records of John Woods are established with the National DAR as #25164.
Yet, John and Joesph were not the only members of the Woods' family to serve with the First Georgia Regiment. William, Nathaniel, and Joesph, Jr., all served with equal distinction in our struggle for independence from Britain.
By the time that John was appointed by the legislature to the post of regimental paymaster, he had married Leanah Melton who was from Greenville District, South Carolina. They were parents of Michael, Robert, William, Mason, Sarah, Minerva, and Betty.
As a reward for his wartime service, John Woods was granted 250 acres of land in Washington County, Georgia. Incidentally, neither John nor his descendents have ever claimed that parcel of land.
We don't know how the family fared at the end of the war. We do know that sometime prior to 1800, John Woods and his wife, Leanah, settled in what's now Simpson County, Kentucky. That is a county which sets on the southernmost edge of Kentucky, and borders with Tennessee. The city of Franklin, Kentucky, the county seat of Simpson County, grew up around their original settlement there. We know that they were in Kentucky by then because Leanah died in 1800 and she is buried in Franklin, Kentucky.
John's son, William Woods, fought honorably in the War of 1812. Distinguishing himself in the Battle of New Orleans, he was granted a tract of land in the then wilderness of Nebraska. This land was later sold by one of William Woods' grandsons.
John's son, Michael, married Martha Patsy Ingram in 1809 in Logan County, Kentucky. They were the parents of Mason Franklin, Giles W., Michael Jefferson, Samuel Carroll, Marina Melvina, Martha E., America A., James H., John S., and at least one other daughter.
The family remained in Kentucky until about 1827. Then John Woods, and his sons Michael, Robert, and William with their wives and children settled in the area of Morgan County, Illinois, now known as Franklin, Illinois. Their journey to Morgan County was difficult. They travelled by river whenever they could, and travelled either by horseback or by foot when they had to.
In 1832, William Woods, John Wyatt, and Walter Butler founded a village around the original Woods settlement in Morgan County, naming the village after the county in Kentucky where they had previously lived. Then they learned that there was already another village in Illinois named Simpson, so they changed the name of the village to Franklin. And so it remains today.
John Woods is buried in Franklin, Illinois. His grave marker, although worn by the weather, still proclaims that he was a Revolutionary soldier. I've always found it interesting that John and Leanah were both buried in Franklin; he in Illinois, she in Kentucky.
Mason Franklin Woods, a son of Michael Woods, cleared farmland north of what is now Waverly, Illinois. He worked that ground for four years, then sold the farm. He then moved several miles distant where he opened a store about which a village grew up. This village was known as Appolania. Mason Franklin worked that store with the assistance of his brother, Samuel Carroll Woods. While Appolania no longer exists, a large creek meandering through that area still bears the Woods name.
Mason Franklin Woods later sold the store, and bought a thousand acres of farm land outside of Waverly. This farm has remained in the family since that time. My grandmother still lives there, although now on a quarter section instead of on a thousand acres. Time, and many brothers in a family, do tend to erode family holdings. The farm was recognized by the state as a Centennial Farm during Governor Walker's administration.
While my family's history of exploration and settlement is not as dramatic as some, it does speak of the impact of one family on the development of our country.
A big green binder containing 15 years of research (1951-1966) by my great grandmother, Leone Woods, who was a member of the DAR. This was the first time that many of the families documented within those pages had been researched. Photographs of tombstones, pages from family Bibles, original letters written by family members during the 1800's, certified copies of birth, marriage, military, and land ownership records, are contained there, as are copies of articles from the following sources:
In addition, I made reference to:
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Last updated 12 May 1997
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