The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
He was buried in the Woods family cemetery at Mountain Plains/Blair Park plantation. The house and cemetery were in existence in 1905, but disappeared by 2000. His gravestone inscription is reported in W.H. Miller, Families of Miller, Woods, Harris, etc. at 213-215.
Burial location not identified in Find-A-Grave in Sep 2024
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
no Find-a-Grave GPS Coordinates provided for this cemetery
Author: Peter Edwin Broadbent Jr
John Woods was born on 19 February 1712 in Dunshaughlin, County Meath, Ireland, the son of Michael and Mary (Campbell) Woods. By 1724 the family emigrated to the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania area. In 1734 they came down the Shenandoah Valley, crossing over the Blue Ridge Mountains through Woods Gap (named after Michael but now known as Jarman’s Gap). Michael was the first settler in western Albemarle County, where he owned 3,000 acres by Woods Gap known as Mountain Plains (later Blair Park).
He periodically returned to the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania area where he married Susannah Anderson, the daughter of Rev. James Anderson of Donegal Church, Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, and his wife Soetje “Suit” Garland (Gurlandt). James was the first Presbyterian minister for the Scots-Irish settlers in the Shenandoah Valley, founding several Presbyterian churches there. Michael built Mountain Plains Presbyterian Church on his land in Albemarle County.
John and Susannah married in about 1740 and had eight known children:
James was born on 21 January 1743 and married Mary Garland.
Mary “Polly” was born o 2 December 1746 and married John Reid.
Michael was born in 1748 and married Esther Carruthers.
Suity was born on 29 February 1752 and married Samuel Reid.
Sarah was born in 1757 and died young.
Anna was born in 1760 and married Jonathan Reid.
John was born in 1763 and died young.
Susannah was born on 21 September 1768 and married Daniel Miller.
He was active both in the church and the military. In 1745, he was sent to Donegal Presbytery in Pennsylvania to seek a minister for Presbyterian churches in Virginia. He had an active role in the French and Indian War as Lieutenant of the Albemarle County militia and was later named Lieutenant Colonel of the County militia, with Thomas Jefferson as Colonel. By the time of the Revolution, Woods was too old for active military service. However, his name appears on what is known as the Albemarle Declaration of Independence (a list by Justice George Gilmer of those Albemarle County residents who took the oath of allegiance to Virginia before him in 1777-1779).
The Patriot died on 14 October 1791 in Albemarle County and was survived by his six adult children.
Sources:
Miller, William Harris, History and genealogies of the families of Miller, Woods, Harris, Wallace, Maupin, Oldham, Kavanaugh, and Brown: with interspersions of notes of the families of Dadney, Reid, Martin, Broaddus, Gentry, Jarman, Jameson, Ballard, Mullins, Michie, Kentucky. Richmond: W. H. Miller, 1906/1907, pages 185-187 and 213-215
Woods, Edgar, History of Albemarle County in Virginia, Virginia. Charlotte: Michie Company, 1909, pages 351-356, 362-367, 379
Albemarle County, Virginia Will Book 3, pages 147-149, 151, 160
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