| Name | "Doctor" John WOODSON Sr. |
| Birth | 1586, Dorsetshire, ENGLAND |
| Death | 18 Apr 1644, Fleur de Hundred, Prince George County, Virginia Age: 58 |
| Education | 1604 graduate St. John's College, Oxford, ENGLAND |
| Occupation | Medical Doctor/Ship's Surgeon |
| Cause of death | Indian Attack |
| Father | Alexander WOODESON |
| 1 | Sarah WINSTON |
| Birth | 1595, Devonshire, ENGLAND |
| Death | 17 Jan 1669/70, Prince George County, Virginia Age: 74 |
| Father | Isaac WINSTON (1570-1589) |
| Mother | Mary DABNEY |
| Marriage | 1619, Dorsetshire, ENGLAND |
| Children | John "Tub" (1632-1700) |
| Robert "Potato Hole" (1634-1707) | |
| UNNAMED (1636-) | |
| Deborah (1640-1660) |
1619 John signed on to be the ship's surgeon for the George, a british sailing ship. The ship brought over to America a group of 100 passengers. Most of the passengers were soldiers, sent over for better protection of the colonists from the Indians who were resisting further encroachment by the settlers. Governor George Yeardley and his wife, Temperance, were fellow passengers. This ship also brought the first "negroes" to America.
29 January 1619 The George sets sail and leaves England for America. According to ship's muster, Dr. John brought with him four bushels of corn, a pound of powder, three pounds of lead, a sword, a gun and one "Peace fixt." John also owned six of the negroes. [NOTE] This would make Dr. John one of the original "first" slave owners in America.
16 April 1619 The George arrived at Jamestown, Virginia.
Dr. John Woodson was the emigrant ancestor of this large and influential family which has produced so many worthy citizens. He came over to Virginia in the ship George in 1619, as surgeon to a company of British soldiers, and became one of the founders of the Virginia Colony.
This progenitor of a distinguished family was of English origin, the name in Old England being spelled Woodeson, possibly a corruption of the Saxon name of Wodeson. The arms, as preserved in the family, indicate they belonged to the Woodesons seated in Devonshire.
Dr. John Woodson was a native of Dorsetshire. He brought his wife with him to America. Her name is not known. They settled at "Fleur de Hundred," where probably their two sons, John and Robert, were born. She was a typical woman of the frontier, of heroic mold. Thrilling battles in the wilderness are related wherein she played the stellar role. One day, during an absence of her husband, assisted by one Robert Ligon (probably an ancestor of the Ligons of Lincoln county, Missouri, and Pike county, Illinois), she resisted an attack by Indians, killing nine. She loaded the gun while Ligon fired. Hearing a noise up the chimney of her cabin, she threw her bed upon the coals in the fireplace. The stifling smoke brought down two Indians. She killed both of them. Her sons, hidden in the potato hole, were saved. The two sons, John and Robert, whose lives were thus preserved, married early, and their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren married into the families of the leading colonists of the day, the Lewises, Porters, Tuckers, Cannons, Randolphs, Jeffersons, Cabells, Turpins, Venables and others. - [1]
John Woodson (1586-1633) and his wife Sarah Winston were the immigrants of this family, arriving in Jamestown in 1619 on the ship George. Aboard was the new governor, Sir George Yeardley, about one hundred young Englishmen who would become settlers, and Woodson, a "surgeon" for the company of English soldiers protecting the new colony. He located on land owned by the governor, Flowerdew Hundred (named for his wife Temperance Flowerdew), thirty miles above Jamestown on the south side of the James River.
According to Woodson family tradition, the two Woodson sons, John and Robert, were twelve and ten years old in 1644 when the Indian chief, Opechacanogh, led an uprising against the settlement.
John Woodson, returning home after visiting a patient, was killed in sight of his house. The Indians then began attacking the cabin which was barred against them.It was defended by Sarah and Ligon, a friend who was visiting at the time. Using an old musket, Ligon managed to kill nine of the Indians.
Two others attempted to enter the house by the chimney, but Sarah scalded one to death with boiling water then seized the iron roasting spit with both hands and brained the other. The boys had been hidden away: one under a wash tub and the other in a pit used for storing potatoes. For several generations descendants of these boys were called either Tub Woodsons or Potato Hole Woodsons. - [2]
The GEORGE arrived at Jamestown, Va., April 16, 1691. In 1620 the first negros were brought to America. John "bought 6 negros".
In 1623 he was on the register of settlers at Fleur De Hundred. It was 30 miles above Jamestown on the south side of the James River. This section is now in Prince George Co. Governor Thomas Dale had established in 1612 little towns, extended out and beyond already explored areas near the James. They were called "Hundreds". Sir George Yeardley had originally come to Virginia in 1609 with Sir Thomas Gates and Yeardley received a grant of 1000 acres of land on the James River and named the place Flowerdew (or Fleur de) Hundred in honor of his wife, the former Temperance Flowerdew. He built the first windmill in America and this point bears the name of Windmill Point to this day. In 1635 Abraham Piersy bought Flowerdew from Yeardley, and in that year the patent was entered for "Floer deue Hundred". This was the first deed for land recorded in America. (Old Virginia Houses Along the James - Farrar). This land was often referred to as Piersey's Hundred. Governor Yeardley must have persuaded the Woodsons to live at Flowerdew Hundred and was probably pleased to have him there as a doctor.
In 1644, Opechanako, the Indian chief, led a sudden attack on the Virginia settlements killing 300 settlers. On the second day of the massacre Dr. John, who was returning home from a visit to a patient, was killed within sight of his house. Mr. Ligon, a showmaker who happened to be at the home, and Sara Woodson defended the house with great courage. They hid the Woodson's two little boys at the first alarm. John was hidden under a tub and Robert in a potato hole. Ligon grabbed the old family gun and killed seven Indians at the first fire and two at the seventh. Two Indians came down the chimney into the rude log cabin. Brave Sara scalded one with a pot of boiling water and, seizing the roasting pit, she brained the other. The howling mob took flight. The sons were thereafter called "Potato Hole" and "Tub" Woodson. The gun which was enormous, seven feet long, is at the Virginia Historical Society. It seems a shame that nothing more is known of the brave Sara. - [3]
[1] - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~glendasubyak/ch176.html
[2] - http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aihbt/profiles/woodson.html
[3] - http://www.vmb-collection.com/A&DPages/AandDP24.html