The Woods Family

The Woods Family

Gathered from "Samuel Woods and his family" by Ruth Woods Dayton 1939

It is thought the Woods family originally came from Scotland

to the north of I reland . A John Woods, who was born in Scotland

in 1654, and his wife, Elizabeth Warsop, of Ireland, were

marri ed about 168 1. Six children of this marriage emigrated to

America in 1724,-Elizabeth Woods Wallace (a widow herself with

six children), Michael (who was born in 1684 in Scotland and

died in 1762, was the founder of Blair Park, in Virginia, and

married Lady Mary Campbell), William, James and Andrew, all

of whom had attained their majorities. T his group settled fi rst

in Pennsylvania, the f1rst three named removing later to Albemarle

County, Virginia, in 1734. It is known that there are descendants

of John Woods and Elizabeth Warsop still in Ireland, so it is to

be inferred there were one or more sons who did not emigrate in

1724. Accordingly, there is perhaps a probability that the ancestors

of Samuel Woods may be included among the latter, although

nothing definite has been found upon which to base this supposition

other than the prevalence through succeeding generations of

such names as "Michael", "John", "James", and others, appearing

among those of the uncles and brothers of Samuel Woods.

Adam Woods, the father of Samuel Woods, was the first of the

immediate family to come to America, reaching Canada in 1818.

In a_ family sketch, Samuel Woods states that his father has no

doubt mentioned at one time or another, each of the latter's

brothers and sisters, but that he only r~ ca ll s the names of six, and

hi s only knowledge of them was from conversation with Adam

Woods. This statement. inferentially, but clearly, indicates that

none was in this country, as it is reasonably certain that if any

others had emigrated, they, especially, would have been known

to Samuel Woods and his family. With the strong sense of family

ties, everywhere evident in the early papers, there would naturally

have been letters, visits, or other mention of communication,

all of which are absent. Some confusion has arisen in the family

(doubtless due to "The Woods McAfee Memorial") in the ·supposition

that five brothers of Adam Woods settled in as many

different states. T his error no doubt arises from the similarity of

names of the family of Adam Woods with those of the Woods Wallace

group, but the dates completely refute any possibility

of such identification.

T~e first one of the immediate Woods family of whom definite

knowledge is available is-

JAMES WOODS-who died at the age of 74,. sometime between

the years 1803-1810, as Samuel Woods expressed it, "before his

son Adam was out of his apprenticeship", which was for a period

of seven years ending in 1810. It follows that his birth was between

the years 1729-1732 . He was born and reared on a farm

of 45 acres at the Falls of Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland, referred

to as the home of his father before him, just ,four miles from the

City of Belfast. James Woods had fourteen children-thirteen

sons and one daughter.