General Notes

Religion: Quaker

BIOGRAPHY: Nothing is known of Sarah after 1644 and the death of Dr. John Woodson per "The Woodsons and Their Connections". When John was killed, Sarah remarried a Mr. Johnson and the inventory of her estate was recorded in January 1660 in Henrico COunty

BIOGRAPHY: America's First Families: Ancestor Roll Of Honor (internet)

BIOGRAPHY: DR.JOHN WOODSON
VIRGINIA
(1586-1644)

Dr. John Woodson, the emigrant ancestor of this family was among the founders of the Virginia Colony. He came to Virginia in the ship GEORGE in 1619 as a surgeon to a company of British soldiers. a native of Dorsetshire. An Oxford student in 1608. He brought with him his wife Sarah. They settled at Fleur de Hundred where their sons John and Robert were probably born.

Fleur de Hundred, now known as Flowerdew Hundred, is probably named after Temperance FLOWERDEW, wife if Sir George YEARDLEY, Virginia's first Governor, who came to Virginia in 1619 on the same ship with the WOODSONS.

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, an 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 in the potato hole were saved.

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, was killed.

The old time muzzle loading gun, eight feet long, was preserved and now owned  by the Virginia Historical Society and on exhibit in the Virginia Museum in Richmond.

After John WOODSON'S death, his Sarah maaried......DUNWELL and then......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 "Historical Genealogy of the WOODSON'S And Their Connections" pub.Memphis 1915. states that the 20 of the 25 charter members of the First Families Of Virginia are descendants of John WOODSON.

A family account written about 1785 by charles WOODSON (711-1795) son of Tarleton WOODSON survives and provides details on John WOODSON, his sons Robert and John and their descendants.

Robert and John WOODSON were among tythables at Curles Plantation at Curles Plantation in 1679. Curles 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.

Several generations of the WOODSON'S were born at Curles, including Robert's son, Benjamin and his grandson, John, who married Mary MILLER. Many members of the WOODSON family were Revolutionary War Veterans. I have found three John WOODSON'S including the John WOODSON that married Mary MILLER, serving as County Lietenant in the Virginia Militia, all Colonels.

Virginia formed Committee's of Safety to take control of County Government at the start of the Rev, War. The Committee of Safety in Goochland County in 1775 included John WOODSON, Joseph WOODSON and Matthew WOODSON. in 1776 they were joined by Miller WOODSON and his son-in-law, Frederick HATCHER
submitted by Leola Copp O'Hara of Vallejo, CA.

The children of John WOODSON and Sarah WINSTON were:
1. Robert b. 1634;d. 1707-1711 Jamestown, VA;m Elizabeth FERRIS
2. John b. 1632;d. 1684;m (1) Mary PLEASANTS;m abt 1677 (2) Sarah BROWNEd. 1702-1704
3. Deborah b. (c)1641;d.(c) 1660

*****sources***
1.Virginia Genealogist, Vol 20, 1976
2.Historical Genealogy Of the Woodsons and Their Connections, compiled by Henry Morton Woodson of Memphis, TN, Published in 1915.
3. Louise Goode Shannon, The House of Goode (Dogwood Pr