Person Page 1,224

Dr. John Woodson

Parents

Biography

Residence		Dr. John Woodson lived in Oxford, Oxfordshire, EnglandBGO.1
Person Source		He had person sources.2
Anecdote		The following is the best article I have found on John Woodson and his family. It comes from Roots and all - A Genealogy Blog. Dr. John Woodson is my 9th great-grandfather and is my wife Carol's 10th great-grandfather. Both of us being directly related to Dr. John Woodson has allowed us both to be members of the Jamestowne Society. Dr. John Woodson was my 10th great-grandfather. He was born in 1586 in Devonshire, England.  He matriculated at St. John's College at Oxford on March 1, 1604.  He lived in Dorsetshire until 1619, when he and his wife Sarah decided to join an expedition to the new colony of Jamestown.The Jamestown Colony    On January 29th, 1619, the ship George sailed from England and landed the following April at Jamestown, Virginia.  The ship carried Sir George Yeardley and a company of his men to the Virginia colony, where Sir George had been appointed the new governor.  Among the passengers on the George was Dr. John Woodson, attached to Sir George's company as surgeon. His wife Sarah accompanied him, and was one of only a handful of women to voyage to the colony before 1620.   At the time of their arrival the Jamestown colony was just over a dozen years old and numbered no more than 600 residents. Drought, disease, starvation, and war with the local tribe of Powhatan Indians meant that only about half the colonists who arrived between 1607 and 1624 survived.     Dr. John Woodson settled on Governor Yeardley's plantation, known as Flowerdew Hundred, which was about 15 miles up the James river from Jamestown.  Dr. Woodson lived in a small, fortified compound on the plantation with about 10 other families.    Dr. Woodson and his wife arrived at the start of the second major wave of colonists to Jamestown.  Between 1619 and 1622, the number of colonists grew to about 1000 in the New World colony.  This tide of newcomers upset Chief Opechancanough of the Powhatan Confederacy of Indian tribes, who saw the influx as proof that the English planned to expand in to Powhatan lands.  The Massacre of 1622    On March 22, 1621/22, Chief Opechancanough launched a series of coordinated attacks on all the English plantations and towns developing around Jamestown.  Powhatan Confederacy braves entered each settlement with trade goods, looking as if they wished to barter.  When the colonists approached them, the braves grabbed any weapons or tools that were at hand and attacked the unprepared colonists.  347 people were killed, a quarter of the colony's total population.  Only the most fortified positions survived.  The fotifications at Flowerdew Hundred held and the Woodson family survived the attack.    The settlement at Flowerdew Hundred plantation was one of the few that was allowed to remain outside the walls of Jamestown after the 1622 attack.  The next ten years involved attacks of retribution by the colonists. The time passed relatively peacefully for the Woodsons.  Two sons were born to them, John in 1632 and Robert in 1634.    In 1634 the colonists built a pallisade defense wall across a six-mile wide strip of land between the James River and York River estuaries.  This structure may have lulled the colonists in to a false sense of security.  The Powhatan tribes were in no state to attack, having been nearly wiped out by English reprisal attacks. Emboldened, the colonists started building plantations outside the pallisade around 1640.  Chief Opechancanough was once again outraged by the English encroachment on his lands.  Gathering his forces, on April 18, 1644 he made a second surprise attack on the colony.The Indian Massacre of 1644    An account of the Woodson family's ordeal during this attack was handed down through the Woodson family and first printed by a Woodson family genealogist in the early 19th century.    On the morning of April 18, 1644, Thomas Ligon, a soldier in the Governor's employ, stopped by the Woodson's house seeking Dr. Woodson's services.  Sarah Woodson informed him that her husband was out on his rounds through the nearby plantations, and Ligon elected to wait for the doctor to return.  When Ligon saw the Indians approaching, he raised an alarm and told Sarah to hide inside with her two sons.  Ligon grabbed his eight-foot muzzle-loaded rifle, and bracing his gun in the fork of a tree, fired on the approaching Indians.   Meanwhile, Sarah gathered her boys together and desperately searched for a place to hid her 10 and 12 year old sons.  She spied the root cellar where the family kept potatoes during the winter.  She put Robert in the pit and covered it.  Then she upturned a washtub and had John hide beneath it.  With the boys hidden, she grabbed her husband's rifle and proceeded to load and fire upon the Indians from the window of the cabin.   Before she could get off a second shot, the Indians had made their way around the back of the cabin and out of her sight.  Then she heard sounds on the side of the cabin and on the roof.  The Indians climbed atop the cabin an two of them attempted to come down the chimney.  The fire had gone out, but she still had a pot of hot water sitting in the hearth.  Thinking quickly, she upended the pot in to the fireplace just as the first Indian descended in to view, scalding his face.  His companion then climbed out over his wounded fellow and came towards her.  Sarah grabbed an iron roasting spit hanging next to the hearth and swung it at her attacker, knocking him senseless.    Sarah grabbed her children from their hiding places and fled the house.  She ran towards Ligon, who was still firing upon the Indians, who were now in retreat.  Ligon struck another Indian as they fled.  In total, he and Sarah killed seven of their attackers. As she watched the Indians flee back in to the woods, Sarah noticed a familiar horse wandering riderless through the field from which the Indians had attacked.  It was her husband's horse.  Running to it, she found her husband lying beside the road to their house, an arrow in his chest.  He had evidently returned just as the Indians attacked, and having forgot his musket at home, was defenseless against them. The Woodson Musket    Dr. John Woodson was one of 500 colonists who died that fateful day in 1644.  Although the number was even greater than that killed in the 1622 attack, it represented less than 10% of the colony's population in 1644.  Nevertheless, the retribution by the colonists was severe.  A counterattack on all the nearby Powhatan-allied tribes nearly wiped them out.  In 1646 Chief Opechancanough was captured and brought to Jamestown.  He was nearly 100 years old at the time.  While being held at the stockade awaiting trial, he was killed by one of his guards in revenge for a family member killed in the 1644 attack.  After the death of their leader, the Powhatan Confederacy fell apart, and the individual tribes were either confined to reservations or left the area.    Sarah Woodson remarried twice and outlived all her husbands.  She died in 1660.  Her sons both married and had large families.  Their descendants passed on the story of Sarah saving her sons from the Indian massacre, and referred to themselves as being either "potato hole" or "washtub" Woodsons. The Woodson musktet was also passed down from generation to generation, until in 1925 it was donated to the Virginia Historical Society, where it is on display in Richmond.3 Jamestown in 1620 Woodson Musket
Anecdote		The origin of the surname Woodson is a subject of controversy, various etymological authorities suggesting different derivations It is either a corruption of the patronymics, Woodson-signifying a wood–cutters son; or of the family name, Widowson, from the son of Guido or Widow, a Norman personal name. At the time of the Great Survey, William Filius Widonis, literally, "William Wide's—son", was chief of the Counties of Wilts, Gloucester and Somerset. In the register of the University of Oxford in 1565, appears the name Alex Woodson, and in 1604-05, John Woodsonne. As reference: C. W. Bardsley, "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames"; M. A. Lower, "Patronymicas Britannica"; Harrison's "Surnames of the United Kingdom".2
Anecdote		Dr. John Woodson, immigrant ancestor, was born in Devonshire, England, in 1586. He died at Fleur de Hundred, Virginia, some thirty miles above Jamestown on the south side of the James River in what is now Prince George County, on April 19, 1634. He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, March 1, 1604, his name being entered as John Woodsonne, Bristol, Gentelman, On January 19, 1619, the ship "George" sailed from England, and the following April landed at Jamestown, Virginia. This ship brought the new Governor, Sir George Yeardley, and about one hundred passengers, among whom were Dr. John Woodson of Dorsetshire, his wife SARAH WINSTON, and her brother, Anthony Winston. Dr. Woodson and Sarah Winston were married in Devonshire, England. (Adventurers of Purse and Person) Dr. Woodson came as a surgeon to a company of soldiers sent over for the better protection of the colonists from the Indians. In 1620, a vessel landed at Jamestown having on board about twenty negro captives, who had been kidnapped along the African coast by the Dutch skipper. Dr. Woodson bought six of them, who were registered in 1623 as part of his household at Fleur de Hundred. In 1622, Dr. John Woodson located at Fleur de Hundred or, as it is sometimes called, Piersey's Hundred, some thirty miles above Jamestown on the south side of the James River in what is now Prince George County. He and his wife Sarah and their six slaves were registered at Fleur de Huhdred in February 1623. It was at this place their two sons were born, John and Robert. On the 18th of April, 1634, the Indians made a sudden attack upon the settlements and killed about 300 of the colonists. At this time, Dr. Woodson's two sons John and Robert were 12 and 10 years of age, respectfully. This is a cherished family tradition that on the day of the second massacre Dr. John Woodson, while returning from visiting a patient, was killed by the Indians in sight of his home. The Indians then attacked the house which was barred against them and defended by his wife, Sarah, and a man named Ligon, a shoemaker, who happened to be there at the moment. The only weapon they had was an old time gun which Ligon handled with deadly effect. At the first fire, he killed three, and two at the second shot. In the meantime, two Indians essayed to come down through the chimney; but the brave Sarah scalded one of them to death with a pot of boiling water which stood on the fire; then seizing the iron roasting spit with both hands, she brained the other Indian, killing him instantly. The howling mob on the outside took fright and fled, but Ligon fired the third time and killed two more. At the first alarm, Mrs. Woodson had hidden her two boys; one under a large washtub and the other in a hole where they had kept potatoes during the winter. From this circumstance, for several generations the descendants of these boys were called "Tub Woodson" and "Potato Hole Woodson". The old gun which rendered such valuable service on that dreadful lath day of April, 16349 was in the possession of the descendants of the late Charles Woodson of Prince Edward Co., Va. Mr, C. W. Venable, late of that county, writing of it says: "This gun is, by exact measurement, seven feet and six inches in length and the bore is so large that I can easily put my whole thumb into it. When first made it was eight feet long, but on account of some injury it was sent to England to be repaired and the gunsmith cut off six inches of the barrel." As if to commemorate his bravery on this historic occasion, the name Ligon was rudely carved upon the stock. The gun in 1915 was in possession of Mr. Wm. V. Wilson, a prominent lawyer of Lynchburg, Va. When I, Cleo Meador Scott, was a small child, I Asked-my grandmother, Mary Frances McMurry Pennington Meador, to tell me Indian stories that happened to some of her ancestors. The above is one she told me. When our daughter, Cleo Scott, was a Student at Sweet-Briar College, Va., in 1931, I read this same story in the Detroit, Michigan Library. You can imagine what a thrill it was for me. ("Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections", by H. M. Woodson, pg. 23.)2
Anecdote		JOHN WOODSON of FLOWERDEW PLANTATION, VIRGINIA r. John WOODSON "The Immigrant" (1586-1644) was among the early settlers of the Jamestowne, Virginia Colony and is a Jamestowne Society qualifying ancestor. He came to Virginia in the ship GEORGE on 19 Apr 1619, as surgeon to a company of British soldiers. A native of Dorsetshire, England, he was an Oxford Student in 1608. He brought with him his wife Sarah from Devonshire, England and they settled at now called Flowerdew Hundred‡, some 30 miles above Jamestown on the south side of James River in what is now Prince George County. It was, no doubt, at this place that their two sons, John (b.1632) and Robert (b.1634), were born. John and Sarah escaped unharmed during the Indian uprising in 1622. Flowerdew had very few casualties primarily because it was a palisaded settlement. Dr. John WOODSON was killed in the 1644 Indian uprising led by Chief Opechancano, son of Powhatan, at settlements along the James River. Flowerdew Hundred, located on the west/south side of the James River about twenty (20) miles upriver from Jamestowne and variously referred to as Flourdieu Hundred or Peirsey's Hundred, is probably named after Temperance FLOWERDIEU wife of Sir George YEARDLEY, VA's first Governor, who came to Virginia in January 1619 on the same ship with John and Sarah WOODSON. This about the time of the first legislative assembly in Jamestown - July 30, 1619-August 4, 1619. Flowerdieu was represented in the assembly, the first House of Burgesses, by Ensigne Roffingham and Mr. Jefferson. The YEARDLEY'S owned the plantation and in 1624 sold it to Abraham PEIRSEY and it became Peirsey's Hundred. When counties were established in 1634 Flowerdew Hundred was part of Charles City County and in 1702 was included in the new Prince George County. Presently, Flowerdew Hundred Foundation (1716 Flowerdew Road, Hopewell, VA 23860) owns and maintains the plantation as a Public Trust. The Flowerdieu Hundred post windmill, erected in 1621 was recontructed in 1978, stands on a ridge overlooking the James River. Flowerdew Hundred, one of the earliest original land grants in Virginia, has had abundant natural resources at this strategic bend in the James River that have attracted people since prehistoric times. Archaeological excavations at Flowerdew Hundred during the last three decades have uncovered over 200,000 artifacts. Sarah WOODSON was a brave pioneer woman. In the absence of her husband during the Indian Uprising of April 18, 1644, aided by Robert LIGON, she resisted an attack by the Indians, killing nine. She loaded the gun while LIGON fired, and hearing a noise up the chimney she threw the bed upon the coals, the stifling smoke bringing two Indians down, whom she dispatched. Her sons, Robert in the potato hole and John under the tub, were saved. For many years they were called "Potato Hole" and "Tub." Over the years this story has been passed on from one WOODSON generation to the next and as passed among the various families has varied a bit in details but not in Sarah's bravery in defending her children. John WOODSON, caught in the open on his way home from visiting a patient, was killed. The old Woodson muzzle loading matchlock musket rifle, originally eight feet long and later modified to seven feet six inches, was preserved and now owned by The Virginia Historical Society and is on permanent exhibit in the Virginia Museum in Richmond. Woodson Rifle photo shown with permission of Kathy Hudson. Most researchers believe that the WOODSONS were living at Flowerdew Hundred at the time of the 1644 massacre; although, there is apparently no record of whether they were living at Flowerdew Hundred or whether they had already settled on the north side of the James at "Curles". Robert and John WOODSON, were among Tythables at Curles Plantation in 1679. Curles Plantation was on the North side of the James River near Flowerdew Hundred. This plantation was once owned by Robert WOODSON's father-in-law Richard FERRIS, father of his wife Elizabeth FERRIS. After John WOODSON'S death his Sarah married a DUNWELL and then a JOHNSON. On her death she left a combination inventory and nuncupative will which was recorded January 17, 1660/1. Bequests included John WOODSON, Robert WOODSON and Deborah WOODSON and Elizabeth DUNWELL. Henry Morton WOODSON in Historical Genealogy of the WOODSONS And Their Connections (published Memphis 1915) states that 20 of the 25 charter members of The First Families of Virginia are descendants of John WOODSON. Dr. John Woodson is the progenitor of the WOODSON Family in America. Among his descendants are Dolley Todd Madison, wife of President James Madison and the famous outlaw, Jesse Woodson James.
Anecdote		1. DR. JOHN2 WOODSON (WOODSON1) was born 1586 in Bristol England then Jamestown, VA, and died April 18, 1644 in Fleur de Hundred Prince George, Co. VA.. He married SARAH WINSTON 1619 in Dorsetshire, England, daughter of ISAAC WINSTON. Notes for DR. JOHN WOODSON:Woodson: The following is quoted from the Magna Charta books: " Dr. John Woodson, born in Devon, England, in 1586, was a graduate of Oxford University in 1604 and came to Virginia as a surgeon to a company of soldiers with Gov. Sir George Yeardley on the ship 'the George' landing in April 1619, at Jamestown, Virginia. He resided at Fleur de Hundred. On April 18, 1644, the Indians attacked the settlement and killed Dr. John Woodson as he was returning from visiting a patient. His wife, Sarah, and sons Robert and John survived the attack." (Vol. 8 ch. 293, p. 2778) (Dr. John Woodson has a direct line back to these people: King Edward the I. Knights of the Garter, and from 16 surities for the Magna Charta of A.D. 1215) "Saire de Quincey, the Surety, the Earl of Winchester, a record of whose achievements appear at page 112, born before 1154, died Nov. 3, 1219, a Crusader on the way to Jerusalem. His wife, Belmont was descended as follows: Charlemagne, p. 178, King of Franks and Emperor of the West, married Hildegarde, dau. of the Duke of Swabia." (Vol. 8, p. 1386) The background of the Woodson in this account was taken largely from two sources: Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections by Woodson, and from the Edward Pleasants Valentine Papers. In the Woodson book there are several references to the Woodsons in England. Dr. John Woodson, our ancestor, was said to have matriculated at Oxford, 1604-5, age 18, the son of Mr. Woodson, gentleman, of Bristol. John also was claimed to be related Reginald Woodson of Hampshire and to be entitled to Reginald's coat of arms. The name, Woodson, was spelled variously Wydowsonne, Wodison, Woodison, Wodeson, Woadsone, and Woodeson, finally evolving to Woodson. As a matter of record, Johns Woodson and his wife, Sarah, arrived in Jamestown, VA., on THE GEORGE, he to serve as a surgeon to a company of soldiers. They settled at Fleur de Hundred, 30 miles above Jamestown on the south side of the James River in what is now Prince George County. A tradition of the Woodson family says that on April 18, 1644, Dr. Woodson was killed by Indians as he returned from attending a patient. Then the indians attacked the Woodson home. Present in the home were Mrs. Woodson , the two young sons, John and Robert, and Mr. Ligon, a shoemaker. When two intruders came down the chimney, Mrs. Woodson threw scalding water on one and brained the other with the iron roasting spit. Then Mr. Ligon, the shoemaker, fired on those outside killing seven and driving off the others. Whenthe Woodson book was written, the gun used by Mr. Ligon was still in existence. Tradition also says that during the attack their mother hid John under a tub and Robert in a potato hole under the floor. For generations, descendents of the boys were designated as "Tub Woodsons" and "Potato-Hole Woodsons". We, descendants of Robert, are "Potato-Hole Woodsons". John Woodson, Jr., was born 1632. He was enumerated among the "tithables" at Curles, a plantation on the north side of the James, above Fleur de Hundred. He was married about 1654 and had two sons John and Robert. Robert had two children, Jane and Samuel. John died in September, 1684. Robert was born in 1634 at Fleur de Hundred. About 1656, he married Elizabeth (or Sarah) Ferris, daughter of Richard Ferris of Curles. The Ferrises were descended from and ancient Norman family, Henri de Ferriers of Gascony, according to AMERICAN ANCESTORY: "the Ferris family was originally from Leicestershire, England, (and was) descended from Henri de Ferriers, son of Gwalchelme de Ferriers, master of horse to the Duke of Normandy". (Ref. also from Americans of Gentle Birth, Vol. 1. p. 358) In 1687, there was recorded a grant of 1,785 acres of land to Mr. Robert Woodson, Mr. Richard Ferris, Mr. Giles Carter, William Ferris, and roger Comins at White Oak Swamp. Robert was frequently spoken of as Col. Robert Woodson. More About DR. JOHN WOODSON:Fact 1: 1619-Came to Jamestown, VA as a surgeonFact 2: 18 Apr 1644 MurderedFact 3: Settled in Fleur de Hundred, Prince George      Children of DR. WOODSON and SARAH WINSTON are: 2.i. COL. ROBERT3 WOODSON, b. 1634, Fleur de Hundred Prince George, Co. VA.; d. 1716, Curles, Henrico, Co. VA.. ii. JOHN WOODSON, b. 1632.
Anecdote		On May 23, 1609, the London Company was granted a new charter which gave them all the land two hundred miles north and south of Point Comfort and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, the distance being entirely unknown to the King or any of the Company.During the year 1609, the London Company fitted out nine ships with five hundred emigrants and a great quantity of supplies of all kinds needed by the Colonists in Jamestown, Virginia.  Within the next year a great many of these people died, so that at the close of 1610 there were less than one hundred white persons alive at Jamestown. The council at London had appointed Lord De la War, governor of South Virginia, and he arrived at Jamestown in the summer of 1610 with a considerable number of emigrants and a large cargo of supplies.  He immediately assumed charge of colonial affairs.  The charter was amended from time to time and new governors frequently appointed, as the terms of service were usually of short duration, owing to resignation, death or other causes of removal.Emigrants were constantly being sent over from England to Virginia until the white population increased to about one thousand in 1617.  The office of governor had changed hands often, sometimes being occupied by men of no talent for leadership; at other times by men of marked executive ability. When Governor Dale returned to England in 1618, Sir George Yeardley was appointed to succeed him.  The colony at that time numbered nearly two thousand men of high character. Many of these men, owing to the law of primogeniture, lived at home under a great disadvantage, and could accomplish something for themselves, only by going to some part of the world where that law was not operative in its strictest construction.  On the 29th day of January, 1619, the ship George sailed from England and landed the following April at Jamestown, Virginia, nearly a year before the more famous ship, the Mayflower, came to Plymouth's shore. This vessel brought the new governor, Sir George Yeardley and about one hundred passengers; among whom were Dr. John Woodson, of Dorsetshire, and his wife Sarah, whom he had married in Devonshire.  Tradition has it that her maiden name was Winston, but no documentation has been found to prove this.  Dr. Woodson came in the capacity of surgeon to a company of soldiers who were sent over for the protection of the colonist against the Indians. It was during the administration of Governor Yeardley that the settlements were divided into eleven burroughs, each of which was allowed two representatives.  These representatives were called burgesses, and when assembled, constituted the house of burgess’s, which, with the governor and council, formed the general assembly or colonial government.  This general assembly convened at Jamestown, June 19, 1619, and was the first legislative assembly to perform its functions in Virginia. Dr. John Woodson was a man of high character and of great value to the colony.  He was born about 1586, in Devonshire, England, matriculated at St. Johns' College, March 1, 1604, at the age of eighteen. Like other gentlemen of his time, he, no doubt had a desire to see the new country in which the Virginia Company of London had planted their colony a dozen years previously, so at the age of thirty-three he, with his wife, Sarah, embarked on the ship George. Sometime in 1620 a vessel landed at Jamestown, having on board about twenty negro captives whom the Dutch skipper had kidnapped somewhere on the coast of Africa. These were sold to the colonist as slaves and found to be quite profitable in the cultivation of tobacco which was the staple crop at that time. Dr. John Woodson, at this time or shortly afterwards, bought six of these Africans who were registered in 1623 as part of his household, but no names were given. It was also during this year, 1620, that the London Company sent over about one hundred maids, respectable young women possessed of no wealth but of irreproachable character, who desired to seek their fortunes in the new world.  The young men of the colony eagerly sought their hands in marriage. Dr. John Woodson located at Fleur de Hundred, or, as it was sometimes called, Piersey's Hundred, some thirty miles above Jamestown on the south side of the James River in what is now Prince George County.  He and his wife, Sarah, and their six negro slaves were registered at Fleur de Hundred in February 1623   Their two sons John and Robert were probably born at Fleur De Hundred.  John was born in 1632 and Robert in 1634.  There was also a daughter named Deborah. The colonist lived in constant dread of an Indian uprising against them.  There had never been any real peace or confidence between the two races since the great massacre of 1622. On 18, April 1644, the Indians made a sudden attack upon the settlements and killed about three hundred of the colonists.  The following account is family tradition and has been passed down through many generations.  When the Indians attacked in April of 1644, Dr. Woodson was among those killed.  He was returning home from seeing a patient and he was massacred by the Indians within sight of his home.  Sarah managed to hold off the Indians along with a man named Col. Thomas Ligon, b. 1586 Madresfield, England, the cousin of Sir William Berkeley, Royal Governor of Virginia.  He served in the House of Burgesses 1644-1645, was  a Justice for Charles City County 1657 and was Lt. Col. Militia, Henrico County during the Indian wars. Sarah gave Col. Ligon her husband's gun and set about to find a weapon for herself.  Looking for a place to hide the children, she spied a tub nearby; it was the only thing large enough to conceal a boy of ten.  She placed John under the tub, and then managed to securely hide Robert in the potato pit. While Col. Ligon found a tree notch to brace the eight-foot muzzle-loading gun, Sarah was back in the house.  Two Indians who were in the process of descending inside the chimney met her.  She disabled the first with a pot of boiling water and felled the second with a roasting pit. (The reader must accept this account as given, no explanation has been offered as to why the Indians would risk a smoking chimney with a hot fire at the bottom.  There has been no account of where little Deborah was hidden during the attack).  Col. Ligon had, in the meantime, killed seven Indians as they approached the house. It was not until after the Indians had fled that Sarah and Col. Ligon found that her husband had been killed. Mrs. Venable, of Chicago, gave the eight-foot muzzle-loading gun to the Virginia Historical Society in 1927.  She was a direct descendant of the Virginia Woodson’s and felt that the prized relic should be back home in Virginia.  The gun bears the name "Collicot" and is said to predate 1625.  It is protected carefully from moisture and scarring by the use of a protective blanket.  Whether the details of the massacre are exactly as related, the gun stands as a stark testimony of the event and the times. There is apparently no record of whether John and Sarah Woodson were then living at Peircey's Hundred or whether they had already settled on the north side of the James at "Curles".  The Indians under the Powhatan Confederation attacked the English settlements on the outlying plantations, under the leadership of Chief Opechancanough.  Under the new governor, Sir William Berkeley, the colonist retaliated decisively and captured the chief.  Berkeley also imposed a treaty that brought a guarded peace for a generation. Due to the loss of a great many of the ancient records of Virginia, there is no further record of Sarah and her children.  The presence of John and Robert Woodson in "Curles" in 1679 is certainly compatible with the time frame of the preceding events.  Robert gave a deposition in June 1680 in which he described himself as being "aged about 46 years".  He would have then been born in 1634.  It is believed that his brother, John, was the eldest.  The surname of Woodson is uncommon enough to believe that they were the same family. There is additional information about the lives of John and Sarah that has been handed down for generations.  The Woodson genealogy written by Charles Woodson (II), the son of Charles and Mary Plesants Woodson was given to Sarah Bates, the daughter of Thomas Fleming Bates while she was visiting her Uncle Charles.  It is thought that Charles (I) the son of Tarleton wrote a part of the genealogy.  It was this information that Dr. R.A. Brock used to write his booklet "Descendants of John Woodson of Dorcetshire, England", in 1888.  The book originally sold for fifty cents a copy.  It was this booklet that has been used as a source material frequently since.  Charles Woodson (I) was born about 1711; his father, Tarleton Woodson, born in the 1680's, died in 1763; Tarleton's father died in 1715, but a short time after the death of his father, Robert.  It would seem that Charles Woodson (I) would have had an excellent opportunity to learn from his ancestors. His account not only supplied details of the lives of John and Sarah, but the link between them and John and Robert, who were living at "Curles" in 1679.Later information seems to indicate that Sarah married again, which would surely have been reasonable.  There may have been other children, which also seems logical, given the fact that John and Sarah were married before 1620.  There is also supposition that there were two Sarah Woodson’s, the first one that came over from England with John, and possibly died here, and then another marriage to a Sarah who was the mother of John and Robert.  A volume of Henrico County miscellaneous court records, 1650-1807, has been assembled from loose papers from the county records.  An inventory for the estate of Sarah Johnson was recorded. It was, in effect, both a nuncupative will and an inventory of her possessions.  She was identified as Sarah Johnson, widow, deceased and the date it was recorded was 17, January 1660. The inventory leaves little doubt that Sarah Woodson married a second time to a Mr. Dunwell, and a third time to a Mr. Johnson.  Her three husbands all dying before her.  It seems unlikely that both John and Robert would have been involved in her affairs, and thus the disposition of her estate, had they not been her sons.  Deborah may have been still under twenty-one at the time of her mother's death since Sarah was concerned about providing for her maintenance.  Even though the daughter Sarah was not mentioned as being one of the children that Sarah hid during the fight with the Indians; she could have been pregnant at the time, delivering the child after her husband's death. Children of John Woodson and Sarah Winston Woodson: 1.    John Woodson2 b. 1632 m. 2nd Sarah Browne, d. 1684.2.    Robert Woodson b. 1634 m. Elizabeth Ferris, d. ca. 1707.  Last known to be living in 1707, Henrico Co., VA. when he made a deed to his grandson, William and Joseph Lewis.  He married Elizabeth Ferris, daughter of Richard Ferris, of Henrico, with whom, among others, received a patent, 21, October 1687, for 1785 acres at White Oak Swamp in Varina Parish, in that county.  This man was the direct ancestor of Jesse Woodson James, and his brother, Alexander Franklin "Frank" James, the famous James Boys.  Robert2 Woodson married Elizabeth Ferris: son Benjamin3 Woodson, married Sarah Porter; their son Robert4 Woodson (d. 1748/50) married Rebecca Pryor.  Their daughter Elizabeth married Shadrach Mims (1734-1777) and became the mother of Elizabeth Mims (b. 1769) who married Robert Poor (1763-1801), a cornet in the American Revolutionary War.  Their daughter in turn, Mary Poor, (died 1825) married John James (1775-1827), son of William and Mary (Hinds) James of Goochland County, Virginia.  Their son Robert Sallee James, who died in the Gold Rush area of California, married Zerelda Cole and they had sons Frank James and Jesse James. (See: Background of a Bandit, by Joan M. Beamis and William E. Pullen (1971). Jesse Woodson James, the bandit, married his cousin Zerelda "Zee" Amanda Mims.  She was also a descendant of Elizabeth Woodson Mims, who married Robert Poor.
Anecdote		At this time we shall review a short history of the Woodson family, not going into depth on the genealogy.       Dr. John Woodson, progenitor of the Woodson family in Campbell County, was born in Devonshire, England in 1586, and died at Fleur de Hundred, Virginia, some thirty miles above Jamestown, in what is now Prince George County, on April 19, 1644, he entered St. John's College, Oxford, on March 1, 1604.       On January 29, 1619, the ship "George" sailed from England, and the following April landed at Jamestown, Va.. This ship brought the new Governor, Sir George Yeardley, and about one hundred passengers, among whom were Dr. John Woodson of Dorsetshire, his wife Sarah Winston. Dr. Woodson and Sarah Winston were married in Devonshire, England.      Dr. Woodson came as a surgeon to a company of soldiers sent over for the better protection of the colonists from the Indians. In 1612 a vessel landed at Jamestown, having on board about 20 Negro captives, who had been kidnapped along the African coast by the Dutch Skipper. Dr. Woodson bought six of them, who were registered in 1623 as part of his household at Fleur de Hundred. We shall now relate the story of Dr. Woodson and his wife, Sarah, as they entered the harbor of Jamestown, written by Josephine Rich. It goes as such:       "It was a sunny April morning in 1619. Sarah and her husband, Dr. John Woodson, stood at the rail of the sailing ship, George, as it put into Jamestown harbor. It was the first glimpse of their new homeland.      "John's arm tightened about his wife's waist as he stood bracing them both against the stiff breeze. Sarah squeezed his hand in answer. At the moment it was the only answer she could manage, for suddenly their adventure in the New World was upon them.       "On their three month voyage across the wintry Atlantic, their days and nights had been filled with constant talk of the settlement of Jamestown. But somehow all their talk had not prepared them for the sudden shock of the smallness of it. Jamestown was only a log stockade with plumes of black smoke curling up into the sky from the huts within its protection. Although they could see only one stockade there were ten other settlements behind similar stockade walls, 600 Englishmen in all. Now, for the first time, women were arriving.      "This was the first time that the London Company had permitted women into the colony. And once they had accepted the importance of women to the new settlers they had gone to extremes about it, or so it seemed to Sarah. For the George carried some 60 women to be sold to the colonists as wives. The price was 120 pounds of tobacco, which was the cost of passage.      "John Woodson had said that these women would make a difference to the new colonists. And he told Sarah not to wrinkle up her pretty nose at them, she'd be glad enough for their company once she'd sat beside her own lonely fireplace in her prim lace cuffs for a fortnight!      "He said the women would tame the frontiersmen and put them into Sunday stiff collars and into church pews. They would want lace curtains for their windows and the best schools for their children. Trade would flourish. For profit was the reason for colonizing the new world. But Sarah thought the women looked anything but church going types!      "Suddenly everybody was on deck. The anchor chains rattled down the anchor. Sail were struck. Sailors scrambled up the yardarms.      "But it was less the rowdy frontiersmen who came out to the ship to greet their bartered brides than the Indians who rowed them out that held Sara's attention.       "They were truly red men and even more furious appearing than any drawings of Indians that had appeared in the British newspapers. Fascinated, Sarah stared down at the fierce, bared-to-the-waist savages in the canoe bobbing in the choppy water below. As if feeling her gaze on him, one of the Indians suddenly glared up at Sarah and she gave a panic-stricken gasp and buried her face in her husband's heavy overcoat. John patted her shoulder and laughed at her fears. He was later to learn that the Indians were not their friends, as he told Sarah, then, so assuringly.      "As an incentive to colonize America, men received 100 acres of free land when they came to the new world, and that year of 1619, at the first House of Burgess session, Virginia passed a law that wives, too, would receive 100 acres of free land. So Sarah and John chose their 200 acres about 30 miles from Jamestown, across the James River at a place called Fleur de Hundred, now in Prince George County. John and Sarah and their six slaves registered there in 1623.      "They had lived first in Jamestown and had come safely through the Jamestown massacre of 1622, and after that John said there would be no further Indian trouble. In fact, they did live without Indian incident for several years at Fleur de Hundred. A son was born to them there in 1632 and another son in 1634.      "The Woodson's, like all settlers, owned several guns. The doctor always carried a gun with him on his medical calls and frequently brought home game in his medical saddle bags. The gun that hung over the Woodson log cabin mantelpiece was seven feet six inches long, and had a bore large enough to admit a man's thumb. How anyone could lift it, much less fire it to kill, Sarah had no idea. But she was one day to learn!      "The Woodson boys were eight and ten years old on that fateful April 18, 1644. And the boys might have been out in the tobacco fields working that morning, except for the visit of an itinerant shoemaker named Ligon, who was there for his yearly visit to measure the entire household for their year's supply of shoes. Sarah hoped that the doctor would return from his medical call before Ligon the shoemaker had to leave, for the doctor needed a new pair of riding boots.      "The spring planting had taken the slaves into the fields so that Sarah and Ligon and the two boys were alone in the cabin when the Indians attacked.      "The blood-curdling war whoops rang out and Sarah froze as she looked through the cabin window and saw the feather headdresses come pouring out of the woods. Automatically, Sarah dropped the heavy cross-bar on the cabin door. Ligon lifted the seven-foot gun down from the mantelpiece.      "An arrow hit a window ledge. Sara bolted the inside shutters on the windows. At the half-story window above in the sleeping loft Ligon poised the giant gun on the window ledge, ready. A powder horn and extra balls lay within hand's reach, ready.      "She must hide the boys, Sarah thought. But where? The potato bin hole beneath the cabin floor! It was half-empty and tar-kettle dark! It ought to be safe! She lifted the trap door and told one frightened boy to jump, and not to utter a sound.      "There was an empty wash tub in the corner of the built-in shed. Eight-year-old Robert might be able to squeeze inside it. He wasn't very big. Sarah told him to squat on the floor. She upturned the wash tub over the boy and then hurried to the hearth to build up the fire under the cooking kettle hanging from the fireplace crane. The kettle held the family's supper soup. She added water to fill it to the top and pushed it over the hottest coals. If one of the demon Indians tried to come down the chimney she had a scalding bath ready.      "Looking through a chink in the window shutter Sarah counted nine savages in the howling mob about the cabin. Suddenly her husband appeared, riding out of the forest with his gun ready to fire. Sarah saw him before the Indians did. She let out a cry and then held her breath as she watched.       "Before the doctor could shoot, one of the Indians turned and saw him. He aimed and shot his arrow. It struck the doctor and his gunfire went astray. He fell from his horse and several of the Indians rushed at him waving their battle axes. Sarah covered her eyes.      "Ligon's rifle kept cracking. He had gotten three Indians. Sarah watched them fall. Ligon killed five Indians before Sarah heard the noise in the chimney.      "They had killed her husband. She was ready to die defending the lives of her sons!      "Sarah stood to one side of the hearth with her hand on the kettle. The water scalding, the coals red hot. the Indian came down feet first. Sarah tipped the kettle and gave it to him in full force. He screeched in agony and lay writhing on the floor.      "There was more noise up the chimney. Another one was coming down. Sarah grabbed the heavy iron roasting spit. She raised it above her head, holding it with both hands.      "As the second Indian stooped to come out of the chimney, Sarah brought her weapon down on his head. It sounded like a pumpkin splitting. He fell heavily to the floor, killed instantly.      "She looked up from the bloody bodies to see Ligon unbolting the cabin door.       "'I'm going to fetch the doctor's body,'" he told her. 'The red devils are finished.'      "Sarah counted seven dead Indians in the clearing. The heavy Woodson rifle had served them well.      "Although John Woodson had been killed by the Indians, his sons lived to carry on the Woodson name. today, some 300 years later, it is a proud family tradition among theWoodson descendants to be known as either the potato hole Woodsons or the wash tub Woodsons."
Birth	1586	He was born in 1586 at BristolBG in Dorchester, Devonshire, EnglandBG. Jamestowne Society says leave England but delete details2,4
Marriage	1619	He and Sarah Winston were married in 1619 in Devonshire, EnglandBGO.2,4
Immigration	April 1619	He immigrated in April 1619 to Jamestown, James City, Virginia, United StatesBGO. On ship George4
Residence	1624	He lived in Virginia Pioneer, Flowerdew Hundred, VABG, in 1624.5
Death	18 April 1644	He died on 18 April 1644 at age ~58 in Fleur de Hundred, Prince George, Virginia, United StatesBG. Dr. Woodson was killed by Indians within sight of his home. His wife and another man who was at their house hid their two sons and used this gun to kill 7 Indians. Mrs Woodson also threw boiling water on one who came down the chimney and took the spit from the fire and drove it through another Indian's head. Jamestowne Society says leave Virginia for death and delete place4 Fleur Du Hundred

Citations

1. [S7741] Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886
2. [S81] Cleo Meador Scott, Our Ancestors (, 1980). Hereinafter cited as Our Ancestors.
3. [S7740] Roots and all - A Genealogy Blog (http://rootsandall.blogspot.com : accessed 14 Jun 2019)
4. [S121] Bob Juch, online http://www.juch.org/woodson/pafg01.asp, (.)
5. [S1172] Ancestry.com, Virginia, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1607-1890