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The Family of Zachariah Woods

Privacy Level: Public (Green)
Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Nicholas, Virginia, United Statesmap
Surnames/tags: Woods Wood
Profile manager: Tara Bentley private message [send private message]
This page has been accessed 410 times.

My name is Tara Bentley. I began this WikiTree project after extensive research into the paternal line of my 2nd g-grandfather, Andrew Cool Woods (1858-1926). Andrew Cool Woods was born in Nichols County, Virginia to Sarah “Sallie” Woods (abt.1832-1870), the youngest daughter of Zachariah and Mary McCourt Woods. Birth and death records do not include his father's name.

In looking for the father of Andrew Cool Woods, the amount of conflicting information online was abundant in regards to not only his potential father but also the clear identity of his mother. This project will be housed on WikiTree in order to make the recent research available to all family members and to separate it from the amount of misinformation being replicated on Ancestry and FamilySearch.

The primary goals of this four-generation project are:

1. To clearly identify the children of Zachariah Woods and his wife, Mary McCourt. (Generation Two and Three)
2. To clear up the myths and misinformation surrounding the father of Sarah "Sallie" Woods's children. (Generation Three and Four)
3. To identify the family of origin of Zachariah Woods. (Generation One)

Contents

THE FAMILY

Generation One
Zachariah Woods family of origin is UNKNOWN.

Zachariah/Zechariah Woods is said to have been born in 1793, in Albemarle County, Virginia. He arrived in Nichols County, Virginia in 1812. [This area would later become Webster County, West Virginia.]

Generation Two
Zachariah Woods married Mary McCourt in Bath County, Virginia. (1813)[1]

Generation Three
Together they had six known children.

Generation Four
For this project, the focus of the fourth generation is on the children of Sarah "Sallie" Woods.

THE FAMILY MYTHOLOGY

Excerpts are listed in chronological order as published.

(1967) Heritage of a Pioneer[2]
Charles Tunis Doddril, author

“MARY DYER GIVEN (b Dec 4, 1865, d 1963), daughter of Isabelle Dodrill and Mathew Given, was born on Gulley River, near Bolaire in Webster County, West Virginia. She married Andrew Cool Woods (b March 28, 1860, d Jan 1, 1926), son of Watt Cool and Sallie Woods in 1883.”

[emphasis added]

- page 697

(1994) Heritage of Webster County, Webster County Historical Society, Inc.[3]
Mr. Ronald Hardway, author

BIO OF ZECHARIAH WOODS
Zechariah Woods was born in 1793 in Albemarle County, Virginia. He died in Webster County, Virginia, in 1861. On 4 March 1813, Zechariah married Mary McCourt, daughter of James M. McCourt and Mary Burns of Bath County, Virginia.

Zechariah Woods left Bath County in 1820 and moved to Harrison County, Ohio. He remained in Ohio for a short time, then returned to Virginia.

In 1823, he took up residence on Elk River, living for nearly ten years on the land of his wife 's uncle, John Miller. In 1834, Zechariah received a land grant from the Virginia Land Office for eighty acres on Elk River below Webster Springs. This land became Zechariah's home until his death during the first year of the Civil War.

Zechariah Woods and Mary McCourt were the parents of six known children.

1. James F. C. Woods, born 1816, Bath County, married three times. His first wife was Sarah Miller, daughter of Francis Miller, who died in childbirth around 1843. The second wife of James Woods was Margaret Coulter whom he married 27 July 1846. Margaret died in 1851, and on 3 January 1857, James married Juda S. Prltt, daughter of Isaac Pritt. They lived on the north side of Back Fork River opposite Millers Valley.
2. Matilda Woods, born 1817, Bath County, married Samuel C. Tharp, 29 September 1842. They lived on Elk River below Webster Springs.
3. Margaret Woods, born 1820, Harrison County, Ohio, married Lewis Tharp,_ brother to Samuel Tharp. They lived on Elk River where Margaret died 23 February 1896.
4. Cynthia Woods, born 1824, Nicholas County, married John Phares, 17 October 1839. They moved to Upshur County during the Civil War and never returned to Webster County.
5. Sarah Woods, born 1826, Nicholas County, never married but raised several children on Elk River.
6. Andrew Woods, born 1828, Nicholas County, never married.


BIO OF CONDRA ELIAS WOODS

My dad was Andrew Cool Woods and his mother was Sarah (Sallie) Woods, a daughter of Zachariah and Mary McCourt Woods, early settlers. Dad told people that his mother said his dad was Sheriff Walter Cool. Earl Cool agreed that it could be true although he had never heard of it within his family. And, it could have been her fantasy.

- page 227

(2001) The Webster Independent: Catching Up With the McCourts[4]
Fall issue
Mr. Ronald Hardway, author

This article from the Fall 2001 issue of The Webster Independent has been uploaded to Ancestry.com[5] and is frequently used to indicate that the youngest two children of Zachariah and Mary Woods were not brother and sister, but a married couple.

The online version of the article contains no sources and claims:

Andrew Woods, the youngest son, married Sarah Cool, a daughter of Holly River pioneer Walter Cool, Webster County’s first sheriff and the leader of a notorious band of Confederate partisans during the Civil War.

The article also includes a story of Andrew Woods being shot during an attempted ambush on the Yankees in the summer of 1763.

He managed to make his escape, but he never recovered his health following his injury, and he died from its complications two years after the end of the war leaving his wife and five young children to the charity of relatives and neighbors.

(2022 COMMENTS)
In comparing the information contained in Catching Up With the McCourts with both the traditional family narrative and the bios included in Heritage of Webster County, there is a clear contradiction in the relationship between Andrew and Sarah Woods. I was able to track down the author of each piece, Mr. Ronald Hardway, and shared my questions with him. Mr. Hardway is the founder of the Webster Historical Society and he spent decades chronicling the history of families that settled in the area.

June 15, 2022 - email from Mr. Ronald Hardway

A lot of genealogy that I acquired in Webster County came from personal interviews with elderly people, most of whom went back to the beginnings of the 20th century and whose memories extended to well before the Civil War because they had heard their grandparents telling stories. My own great-great-grandmother (b. 1842) remembered having to hide their cow and two horses in the woods in Calhoun County to keep Yankee patrols from finding them. She loved telling that story to my great-grandmother (b. 1882) who passed it along to me sometime in the 1970s. All of those old people (and I do mean all) have died along with their vast knowledge.

Mr. Hardway's research has long been passed along to other researchers, libraries, and historical societies and was not readily accessible for review to address the different accounts of the family relationships inside Zachariah Woods' household. However, there is NO OTHER SOURCE that indicates that Andrew Woods, son of Zachariah and Mary Woods, was ever married and had children.

And, Sarah Jane (Cool) Cutlip (1833-1891) actually married William Cutlip (1844-1917).

Thankfully, Mr. Hardway still held a copy of the 2006 Webster Independent that provided additional information. I am grateful that he mailed me his personal copy of the issue referenced below.

(2006) The Webster Independent: The McCourt Family, Descendents of James McCourt [6]
Volume XVI, No. 1 & 2
Mr. Ronald Hardway, author
Content used with the permission of Ronald Hardway, June 2022.

{Introduction}

The material included herein has been transcribed from the original writings of Mr. Ronald V. Hardway, by Marie Mollohan at the request of, and for the benefit of, The Webster County Historical Society.
During the progress of his study, Mr. Hardway discovered he had made some mistakes in placing the right children with the right parents...

{Page 25} TRANSCRIPTIONIST'S NOTE:

Mr. Hardway completed a large volume of research on another Woods family. He attributed this family to Andrew Woods, the youngest child of Zechariah and Mary McCourt Woods, and Sarah Cool, the daughter of Walter and Hannah Clifton Cool. At some point in his search, he appears to have discovered that Andrew Woods, son of Zechariah and Marcy McCourt Woods, born in 1828 in Nicholas County, Virginia never married."
Mr. Hardway attributed the following family to Sarah Woods, the sister of Andrew Woods, and therefore the daughter of Zechariah and Mary McCourt Woods. No child named Sarah is listed in Mr. Hardway's original list of the children of Zechariah and Mary McCourt Woods. There is only the "unnamed child born in 1826 in Nichols County, Virginia.
On page 227 of Heritage of Webster County 1994, Mr. Hardway does equate this unnamed child with Sarah Woods, sister of Andrew Woods. Therefore the following family the descendants of the child born in 1826. The family is listed here as that of Sarah Woods with the notation that she should be considered a sibling [of Andrew]...

Family Lore
Numerous descendants of Sarah Woods have indicated that the family narrative passed down was that she had been the victim of rape by an Indian. This history is most commonly attached to online profiles for Sarah's first-born son, John C. "Saunee" WOODS.

Through family stories, Sarah was raped by Indians (hence the name Saunee for her son). Sau-nee or more complete, Ho-de'-no-sau-nee is Iroquois.

As one descendent of Saunee Woods shared with me on 27 Jun 2022, "My Great Grandmother was Juda Woods (Alkire), daughter of Saunee (Sonny) Woods. My 2nd cousins Denzil Alkire (Chub) and Helen Alkire were children of Juda. Juda always told them that her father (Saunee) was Indian, a product of rape. Helen is still alive, and Chub just passed a year ago at age 92. They have both told me personally that Juda told them that Sarah was raped by an Indian; it was widely known in the family."

THE IMPACT OF REPLICATING ERRORS

In an era where family trees are easily replicated through the click of a green leaf, mistakes are copied and carried forward from user to user. The abundance of family trees that identify Andrew And Sarah Woods as husband and wife does NOT indicate its accuracy.

Also, many online users have used Dodrill's 1967 book to list the father of Sarah's children as Watt Cool or Watt Cool Woods, although no one has been found with either name.

Searches for the mysterious "Watt Cool" have often led family members to look at local legend Sheriff Walter Grier Cool (abt.1802-aft.1862). As Andrew Cool Woods's son Condra shared in 1994, even Sarah tossed out the Sheriff's name when asked about the father of Andrew. Walter Cool did not return home after the Civil War, so it's possible that Sarah used his name in an effort to discourage further inquiries.

AUTOSOMAL DNA LIMITATIONS

While autosomal DNA (at-DNA) results provide a fairly large number of matches in the Zachariah Woods family line, the fact is that the geographic isolation of what would become Webster County, West Virginia, led to endogamy. Many of the pioneers in this community came from the same area of Virginia, so distant DNA matches can come from multiple family lines.

Even within my own family tree, I have two of Zachariah Woods's children as my ancestors. Sarah “Sallie” Woods's oldest sister, Margaret Woods (married Lewis Tharp) is also my 3rd g-grandmother.

GEN3: FOLLOWING THE Y-DNA (MAY 2022)

While researching the potential fathers of Sarah “Sallie” Woods’s children, I found that I had an at-DNA match with a direct-line male descendent of Walter Cool, Rodger Cool. (Shared DNA: 8 cM across 1 segment) Rodger had also heard the claim that Sheriff Walter Cool was the "father," although there was no story within his own family that Walter had ever strayed from his marriage.

In an effort to determine the validity of the Cool family connection, a direct-line male descendent of Andrew Cool Woods, Larry Huling Woods, was asked to take a Y-DNA test with FamilyDNA. Larry is the great-grandson of Andrew Cool Woods.

As it is unknown if all five of Sarah's children had the same father, the results can only be used to evaluate the paternal line for her youngest son Andrew Cool Woods.

In May of 2022, Y-DNA37 test results revealed that there was no Y-DNA match from the descendent of Andrew Cool Woods to the Cool family.

Instead, the Y-DNA indicates his paternal line is linked to the WOOD/WOODS family in Albemarle County, Virginia. The same point of origin for his MATERNAL grandfather, Zachariah Wood.

Larry's Y-DNA test results provide a surprising new framework for evaluating the parentage of Sallie's children.

What we can conclude about Andrew Cool Woods's father: 1. Based on the family story of Andrew questioning who his father was, Sallie was not married, and Andrew's father was not acknowledged or in the picture. 2. There is no genetic link to the Cool family. 3. The information in Dodrill's book about "Watt Cool" was inaccurate.

"Unanswered questions remain."

With the Y-DNA results linking to the WOOD/WOODS family from Albemarle, VA, the same location as Sallie's father, was the father of Sallie's children a relative? And, if so... how close of a relative? If Sallie's first child was a product of rape, what was Sallie's position in the family and/or community?

GEN1: IDENTIFYING ZACHARIAH'S FAMILY OF ORIGIN (JUNE 2022)

  • Work with WOOD/WOODS family researchers - update to follow
  • Y-DNA test upgrade to BIG-Y700 - update to follow

COUSINS

It is with much gratitude that I acknowledge the following people that have helped assist me along the way on this project. DNA may label you each as "Distant Cousins," but through our shared love of genealogy research, we are truly family.

WHAT CAN YOU DO

Do you have an interest in the Zachariah/Zechariah Woods family? Let me know how you can help.

  • Volunteers are needed to add WikiTree profiles with sources for each generation.
  • Direct-line male descendants are encouraged to take a Y-DNA test.
  • Y-DNA test takers are encouraged to upload also to create a WikiTree profile and upload their test results.
  • Add the project for The Family of Zachariah Woods to profiles.

Sources

  1. ↑ * Marriage: "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940"
    citing FHL microfilm: 30620; Record number: 17;
    FamilySearch Record: XRCD-GZQ (accessed 5 July 2022)
    Zachariah Woods marriage to Mary McQuort on 4 Mar 1813 in Bath, Virginia, United States.
  2. ↑ [https://dodrillgrossfamilyhistory.com/?page_id=12 Heritage of a Pioneer
  3. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/heritage-of-webster-county-west-virginia-1994/oclc/957364503&referer=brief_results
  4. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/webster-independent-the-journal-of-the-webster-county-historical-society/oclc/866070973?referer=di&ht=edition
  5. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/879158/person/-2034022662/media/c1d21e9b-b486-4771-b5ab-d36838039350?_phsrc=dqC8974&usePUBJs=true&galleryindex=1&sort=-created
  6. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/webster-independent-the-journal-of-the-webster-county-historical-society/oclc/866070973?referer=di&ht=edition




Images: 2
Webster County, circa 1860
Webster County, circa 1860
The Webster Independent
The Webster Independent
Collaboration


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Categories: Descendant Studies