John E. Woodson is a perfect example of why an ancestor’s FAN club is so important. Sometimes, there just aren’t enough extant records to prove a point or even theorize about an ancestor’s life.

Now that I’ve untangled the conflated John Woodson, it’s time to concentrate on facts found about John E. Woodson.

John E. Woodson was born c1781, probably in Cumberland County, Virginia. He probably died after 1840, likely in Campbell County, Virginia where I believe he was living with his nephew, William W. Williams and his sister, Elizabeth Williams. More on that in a bit.

Anderson Woodson and John first appear in Campbell County, Virginia tax lists in 1802. Where they lived before that time is uncertain as they aren’t taxed in Cumberland or Bedford Counties, Virginia, where I might expect to find them.

John married Sarah Woodson, daughter of Jacob Woodson, 14 December 1812, Campbell County, Virginia. He is NOT the same John Woodson found in Albemarle County, who married Susannah Wheeler in 1805.

John is consistently found in Campbell County personal property tax lists through 1812 when he is first called John E. Woodson. I believe that is because a John Woodson Jr. started to appear in the preceding years. I don’t know what his middle initial stood for, if anything.

I believe John E. Woodson is the key to unlocking the Williams children mystery. Taxes were collected in late winter and early spring and Thomas Williams appeared on the 1820 list. However, census day in 1820 was on 7 August and there is no Thomas to be found.

John E. Woodson, so identified, is enumerated that year.

The 1820 census shows John living in Lynchburg. At home were one male (John), aged 26-44, a second male 26-44 (perhaps a brother of John?), one female (wife Sarah or perhaps sister Elizabeth Williams), aged 26-44, two males, aged 10-15 and one male, aged under 10 and Elizabeth might not yet have given birth to her last child. One son, probably the eldest, was living with Roger Williams in Bedford County, Virginia.

The 1820 census doesn’t tell us whether the adult female at home was John’s wife Sarah or his sister Elizabeth, but I tend to think at this point that John’s wife had died and he took in his pregnant sister Elizabeth and perhaps her youngest son.

I believe these three boys are three of the children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Woodson) Williams and that Thomas died between March, when he paid his personal property tax, and 7 August 1820. Thomas isn’t found on the 1821 tax list.

The reason for my thinking is that, in 1823, Roger Williams, father of Thomas, filed a lawsuit to recover costs from John E. Woodson, administrator of Thomas Williams’ estate.

In his court response, John stated that it was agreed after Thomas’s death that his estate couldn’t support and educate his widow and sons and that Roger Williams would care for one son, Anderson Woodson, father of John and Elizabeth Williams, would care for two sons and John would care for one of them. Further, there was a son born a few months after Thomas died, so by 1821, there were five children.

The 1821 personal property tax list for John E. Woodson is more than interesting. He went from one white male over 16 in 1820 to EIGHT white males over 16 in 1821.

In 1822, there were still 8 white males over 16, but that dropped to 6 white males over 16 in 1823.

He isn’t found in 1824 and in 1825, there were only two white males over 16.

In 1826, there were three white males over 16 and in 1827, he was taxed for NO white males over 16. Why John E. wasn’t tithed, I don’t know, although he was taxed for three enslaved people and one horse. He did serve as Justice of the Peace for several years and he was called “Esquire” in 1818, 1819 and 1821. Perhaps government service caused his tithe tax to be waived.

However, Anderson Woodson died in 1826 and the Williams children were mostly still minors. Where did they, and widow Elizabeth Williams live after Anderson’s death?

In 1828, John E. was taxed for five white males over 16 – himself and four Williams children or was he still exempt and all five boys lived with him?

John isn’t found on the 1829 personal property tax list.

In the Campbell County 1830 census, there was one male, John, aged 40-49, one female, aged 40-49, three males, aged 20-29, one male, aged 15-19 and one female, aged under 5.

Things get even more interesting in the 1830 and 1831 tax lists.

Who finally appears in 1830 but Elizabeth Williams, taxed 2 whites +16, 2 blacks +12, 1 black +16 and one horse! Right after her name is Samuel A. (error?) Williams, 1001, Thomas [identified as the son of Elizabeth!] and John E. Woodson, 1000.

The 1831 tax list is even more intriguing with Samuel B. Williams, 1001, William W. Williams, 1322 followed by 1832 with Elizabeth Williams, 0111, Estate of Thomas Williams, 3111 and John E. Woodson, 1000, all listed together on 11 February 1832. On 13 February, William W. Williams is taxed at 1000 and on 12 March, Samuel B. Williams is taxed as 1001.

The sheriff was the court reporter for Thomas’s estate, first entered at the February 1831 session of Campbell County Court. Samuel Williams received a payment from the estate for some type of costs. The estate was divided, but the probate file doesn’t say who the legatees were, and its value was just over $100.00. Thomas was likely in his very early 20s when he died and was apparently unmarried so has no descendants.

By 1832, Woodson still hasn’t popped up in any records, which fits with my theory that he was the eldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth and was the child sent to live with his grandfather, Roger Williams. Also, by this year, Thomas (estate), Samuel B. and William W. Williams have all appeared more than once in the personal property tax records.

In 1833, Elizabeth Williams, taxed 3223, and John E. Woodson, taxed 1000, are listed on 8 February. Also in the district, but not together, are Samuel B. Williams, taxed 1000, and TWO William W. Williams, one taxed 1000 and the other William taxed 1001.

By 1834, Elizabeth and her brother John are both gone from the tax lists, as is Samuel B. Williams and William W. Williams.

Neither Elizabeth Williams nor John E. Woodson are enumerated in Campbell County, Virginia in 1840.

No probate has been found for any of them, which makes me believe they may have left Virginia.

There are two William W. Williams found in 1840 in Campbell County. However, the name was so common that Thomas and Elizabeth’s son was the THIRD William W. Williams. Luckily, the other two men are way older and left more of a paper trail.

The brick wall has finally shown a few cracks and next we will look at an updated family sketch for Thomas and Elizabeth (Woodson) Williams’ young family.

I’ve begun to understand why there have been so many twists and turns in figuring out what happened to the five sons of Thomas and Elizabeth (Woodson) Williams of Bedford County, Virginia in the 1800s.

It’s been necessary to develop a FAN club for widow Elizabeth and that, in turn, brought more details to sort out.

One of those details is the conflation of two men, both named John Woodson. I’m not sure how these men came to be considered one person, except for the fact that they have the same name.

The Woodson family, even in the 1800s, was large and lived in many different Virginia counties.

These two John Woodsons were very close in age – both apparently born in the early 1780s, BUT lived over sixty mils away from each other in two different counties.

Think about it. Today, we might consider 60 miles away almost next door. In 1805, when John of Albemarle married, sixty miles was not a quick journey.

In addition to the distance, the fact that the men regularly appear in census records in both Campbell County and Albemarle County should have been enough for any serious researcher to determine that what we have is two men of the same name.

Tomorrow’s post will continue the saga of John E. Woodson and his connection to the orphaned Williams boys, but today, I’ll share the story of John Woodson of Albemarle County, Virginia.

John Woodson was born c1781, per his age in the 1850 census of Albemarle County, Virginia. I don’t know who his parents were, but for any descendants, I’d suggest a dig into Albemarle County records.

John Woodson married Susannah Wheeler on 15 January 1805 in Albemarle County.

Albemarle County records tell us:

c1810 – Only child, daughter Elizabeth, born c1807, per her death certificate and censuses.

1810 – Male, 26-44, Female 26-44, Female under 10

John Woodson married (2) Frances Garland, 1 December 1817, Albemarle County, Virginia.

1820 – Male, 26-44, Female 26-44, Female 10-15 [Note that John E. Woodson is found in the Campbell County census.]

John and Susannah Woodson’s only daughter, Elizabeth, married Robert Wheeler on 17 December 1827, Albemarle County, Virginia. Her death certificate states her parents were John and Susan Woodson.

1830 – Male, 40-49, Female 40-49, Female 10-15 [Note that John E. Woodson is found in the Campbell County census.] [Unknown who this female, 10-15, is. Perhaps a servant.]

1840 – Male, 50-59, Female, 50-59, Female, 20-29 [Unknown who this female is since Elizabeth had married. Perhaps a servant.]

1850 – John Woodson, 70, Francis (sic) Woodson, 60, Susan Wheeler, 17

1860 – John Woodson, 80, living with the family of Robert (60) and Elizabeth (Woodson) Wheeler (50) and their seven daughters still at home.

1870 – John Woodson, 89, living with the family of Robert (69) and Elizabeth (Woodson) Wheeler (59) and their four daughters still at home.

1880 – Robert and Elizabeth Wheeler are living in Albemarle County, Virginia with one servant plus the family of daughter Lucilla.

John Woodson isn’t found in the 1880 census or the mortality index so he died between 1870 and 1879, likely in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he lived most, if not all, of his life.

However, because his daughter Elizabeth had at least seven children, and likely eight if 17 year old Susan [named for her grandmother] living with John Woodson in 1850 is his granddaughter, John has descendants today.

This family sketch is very different than that of John E. Woodson, who we will look at tomorrow, and there is no way that John Woodson of Albemarle County is the same man.

The Woodsons are a large early Virginia family related to my husband’s Williams clan, but he is connected only by marriages in another branch.

However, in taking a new deep dive into the five sons of Thomas Williams, written about a few days ago, I’ve found that there isn’t much documentation about the family of Anderson Woodson, the father-in-law of Thomas Williams. Anderson’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas in 1805.

Therefore, as part of my new research into Thomas Williams, I’ve compiled Anderson’s family, as named in the probate of his 1826 estate in Campbell County, Virginia.

Anderson Woodson was born c1755, probably in Cumberland County, Virginia, the son of John Woodson and Elizabeth Anderson. He is mentioned on page 55 of Volume 1 of Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections, by Henry Morton Woodson and found on FamilySearch. However, aside from naming his wife and four siblings, Mr. Woodson is silent on this branch of the Woodson family.

Anderson Woodson married Anna Lacklin about 3 July 1780 in Charlotte County, Virginia, the date on their marriage bond:

Little else is know about Anderson’s and Ann’s life as Anderson remained in Cumberland County for many years. By 1798, he apparently had removed to Buckingham County, Virginia, which is a severely burned county with few surviving records from that era.

However, by 1810, Anderson Woodson was enumerated in the Campbell County, Virginia census and he remained there for the rest of his life.

There is a female over 45 in both the 1810 and 1820 censuses, so Ann may have died not long before her husband.

When Anderson Woodson died intestate in 1826, his estate administration dragged on until 1832 and court files name his heirs, both in the estate settlement (Campbell County, VA Will Book 7:125) and in a diagram of his divided real estate (Campbell County, Va Will Book 6:498-499).

Below is an enlargement of part of the right side of the pages above:

Diagram of the divided real estate of Anderson Woodson (right side of the page:

Anderson’s wife, Ann, appears to have predeceased him, as she is not mentioned anywhere in the records. In fact, Ann may have died by 18 January 1798 (Cumberland County, VA Deed Book 8:135-136) when Anderson Woodson of Buckingham county, Virginia sold property in Cumberland County to Daniel Guerant. The sale was witnessed by Anderson’s son, John E. Woodson.

Children (All likely born in Cumberland county, Virginia):

1. John E., born c1781; died after 1833, when he last appears on the Personal Property Tax List in Campbell County, Virginia; married Sarah Woodson, daughter of Jacob, 14 December 1812, Campbell County, Virginia. John E. is not the same man (John Woodson) who married Susannah Wheeler in 1805 in Albemarle County. Both men are listed in the 1820 and 1830 censuses with two very different households! It appears that John E. Woodson had no surviving children.
2. Elizabeth, born c1784; died after 1833, when she is last found in a Personal property Tax List in Campbell County, Virginia; married Thomas Williams, 13 December 1805, Campbell County, Virginia
3. Anderson, born c1786; last found 19 January 1831 selling his portion of his father’s land to his brother Elijah; married Elizabeth Clarkson, daughter of Nelson, 30 January 1815, Campbell County, Virginia. Anderson may have died before 17 November 1836 when A.F. Beggars paid off a debt from the firm of Anderson Woodson & Beggars, but no mention made of Anderson. He is not found in the 1840 census.
4. Martha (Patsy), born c1788; unmarried in 1841 when named in sister Rhoda’s will
5. Sarah (Sally), born c1790; died before 21 February 1831 when her heir, Anderson Hundley, received her portion of her father’s real estate; married Mr. Hundley [perhaps in the time period when her family lived in Buckingham County] Anderson Hundley is not found in later records.
6. Thomas A., born c1792; died after 1840 census of Campbell County, Virginia; married Lucy B. Anderson, 11 December 1815, Campbell County, Virginia. The 1830 and 1840 Campbell County censuses both indicate that Lucy was a few years older than Thomas.
7. Elijah, born c1798; died before 28 December 1832, when his estate appraisal was recorded in Campbell County, Virginia; married Mahala (MNU), c1820. [Daughter Mary E. Hood’s 8 September 1861 death certificate names her parents as Elijah and Mahala Woodson.] Mahala was 64 years old in 1870, living next door to Nathaniel and Mary Hood in Appomattox County, Virginia. She was the administratrix of her husband’s 1833 estate.
8. David M., born c1800; died between 5 September 1838 and 21 October 1839, the dates he wrote his will and when it was proved, Portsmouth, Virginia; married (1) Harriet E. Martin, 9 April 1822, Portsmouth, Virginia (2) Mary Ann Rawls [stated in his will] by 1 September 1838. Campbell County, Virginia Deed Book 19:37-38 records the sale of David and Harriet’s portion of his father’s land to his brother Elijah in 1831. There is a marriage announcement for Rev. David Woodson and wife Harriet published in the Columbian Centinel in Massachusetts.
9. Nancy, born c1803; died 15 November 1872, Amherst County, Virginia; married Jonathan C. Hatcher, 15 February 1826, Campbell County, Virginia. In 1834, the Hatchers sold their land in Campbell County and moved to Rockbridge County, Virginia.
10. Rhoda, born c1805; died between 18 April and 13 September 1841, the date she wrote her will and date it was proved in court, Campbell County, Virginia. She left her estate to her sister Martha and brother Thomas A. Woodson.

Anderson Woodson was a wealthy man when he died in his 70s. However, of his ten children, only Nancy has been found in 1850. [Martha hasn’t been found after mention in sister Rhoda’s 1841 will.]

I hope this information helps other Woodson researchers in the future, but for now, it places Elizabeth Woodson, wife and young widow of Thomas Williams, in a FAN club.

Next up, I’ll do a deep dive into the life of Elizabeth (Woddson) Williams’ brother, John E. Woodson. He might hold the key to unlocking some of the mystery surrounding his nephews’ lives.