THE WOODY FAMILY RECORD

The Woody Family Record was compiled originally by William Hampton Woody in 1915. It was brought up to date in 1946 by Mark Woody and Etta Ross. It traces the family back to one Joseph Woody who is said to have emigrated from Scotland via Ireland "before the Revolutionary War" with his wife (name unknown) and three sons, James, John and William.

It is possible that our branch of the Woodys is connected to other Woody families, and various connections have been suggested, none of them proven. These connections have generally tried to link our branch to Richard Woody who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1638. The family is said to have lived in Massachusetts for several generations, then moved south to Maryland and North Carolina in the 18^{th century. John III in this family line would have been a contemporary of Joseph I of the Woody Family Record. The relationship of John III with John II of the Richard Woody line is the weak link in the connection of our line with the Richard Woody line. Michael A. Woody connects the two lines by equating our Joseph I with John III of the putative Richard Woody line and Joseph I’s son John with John IV of the Richard Woody line. Clyde Woody makes what is to me a more plausible connection to John III through a Joseph Woody B 1748 in Baltimore and equates our Joseph II with Joseph, Jr., B 1780 in Orange County NC. There is evidence of a Joseph Woody Sr. and a Joseph Woody Jr., both of whom married a Sarah Thompson. Since the Woody Family Record is certainly reliable back to the Joseph Woody born in 1780 and married to Sarah Thompson, this would support Clyde Woody’s proposal. He does not accept the connection between John III and John II of the Richard Woody line, however. Finally, there is another line of Woodys who trace their ancestry to a William Woody who settled in Virginia then in NC in the 1730’s. Could this William be the same as the third son of our Joseph I?}

The document given below is a transcription of the Woody Family Record that preserves the format of the original as closely as possible. Only a few minor changes have been made. The original was remarkably free of typographical errors, but a few clear typos have been corrected. In a few cases, minor inconsistencies are retained but marked by sic. The one substantial correction was in the case of 635-A who was given as Florence. However, this person was my third cousin whom I knew personally and his name was Lawrence.

My share in this project is dedicated to my Woody ancestors and to
William Hampton Woody, Etta Ross and Mark Woody, who undertook the great
effort of assembling, arranging and publishing the data in this Woody
Family Record for the benefit of future generations of Woodys.