Zephaniah Woolsey (1740 - 1807)

Born 1 Jun 1740 in Huntington, Suffolk. New York

Ancestors

Died 14 May 1807 at age 66 in Greene, Tennessee, United States

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Special NOTE: Do Not Merge with Woolsey-143. Born same time, but has different parents than Woolsey-810.

Biography

The second child and first born son of Rev. Thomas Woolsey and Elizabeth Waters . Christening: June 01, 1740, NY - Huntington, Long Island - Presbyterian Church.

Known as the "wicked" Zephaniah. Just how Zephaniah was "wicked" is certainly not clear, but he was in disfavor with his stern father, as is shown by the Rev. Thomas' will. In that remarkable document, he was given five shillings--in other words, cut off with a dollar--while not one of the other children are mentioned. From the little we know of this very early and energetic family, it would seem Zephaniah had Tory leanings-- which must have been gall and wormwood to his father who was a militant apostle of liberty. In the early county records in Abington, there is an entry in which Zephaniah supported Francis Hopkins and his brother William.

The Hopkins brothers were noted Tories. Francis promised flashy clothes and high position to all willing to back him. He was captured, put in prison in the old fort of William Cocks, about the present location of the Spring Creek Church on U.S. 11. Hopkins escaped from there and, later, was summarily hanged by General William Campbell. Zephaniah lost his money put up for the good conduct of the Hopkins boys. Old Thomas' Patriotism was such that there is evidence to lean one to believe that he went with the troops to King's Mountain in 1780. When Col. Arthur Campbell, fired up with the seemly success of the so-called "State of Franklin," tried to get the Commonwealth of Virginia to cede territory for a new mountain state, Rev. Thomas was one of his warmest supporters. This project had about the same fate as Zephaniah's Tories. For the new state was summarily dispatched with, figuratively, a rope around its neck.

Military: Revolutionary War

Sources

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~woolsey/resources/descends/woolgen/wlthomas1719_1794.html