Rev. Thomas Woolsey, born 1719 Westchester Co., NY, buried 1794 Riverbend Cemetery, Smyth Co., VA, married 1746 Elizabeth Waters, second wife was Sarah Pierce. Elizabeth was the mother of all his children. Thomas first Baptist minister in the Washington County Virginia region.

see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~woolsey/resources/descends...

REVEREND THOMAS WOOLSEY & SARAH PIERCE

Kentucky was created from original Virginia land. Washington County Virginia was a boundary line for Lincoln County Kentucky! Washington County, Virginia was created on 7 December 1776 from Fincastle & Washington County’s; “In the fall of 1776 the General Assembly of Virginia, acting on a petition of the inhabitants of Fincastle County, voted to divide that enormous county into three separate new counties. These three, Montgomery, Washington, and Kentucky Counties occupied a part of the special place in American history we call the frontier. For many years thereafter, hundreds of thousands of settlers moved down the Valley of Virginia, through Washington County headed west. Some stayed in Washington county.”

Thomas Woolsey was a Minister of the Baptist Church ; It is of interest to me that he named his first son Zephaniah after one of the prophets of the old testament who prophesied to the people of Jerusalem about the coming destruction of Jerusalem because of the wickedness of the people in about 600 BC; The people in general would not believe that their great city could be destroyed because they chose to listen to the false prophets of that day who told them all was well. Of Course, Lehi of the Book of Mormon did listen to Zephaniah & the other true prophets of that time and took his family and fled into the wilderness as the Lord commanded him to do; They crossed the “great Waters” and were lead to the Promised Land of America.

My grandfather must have been familiar with the Bible account of that time period to have named his first son Zephaniah; My prayer is that he now understands the gospel more fully and has embraced its truths. I hope that his son, Zephaniah realized the significance of the great name that he had the privilidge to bear;

Prior to 1761, (Rev) Thomas Woolsey & family removed to Ulster Co. New York where their children Priscilla, George & our Richard & Nancy Plumstead were married. A Joseph Plumsted family, probably Nancy Plumstead's family, are documented as being in Ulster County in the time fram of Richard Woolsey & Nancy Plumsted’s marriage;

From Ulster County New York, our Reverend Thomas Woolsey family removed to Virginia; Reverend Thomas Woolsey is documented as being in Washington County (then called Betotourt) by 1771 when he had land surveyed on the South Fork of The Holston River;

(Rev) Thomas Woolsey died in 1794 in Maiden Springs, Washington Co. Virginia and is burried in River Bend, Smyth, Virginia.

“Reverend Thomas Wolsey or Woolsey as it is spelled in the marriage registers and elsewhere, is the earliest known minister in the Washington County area. He came to Sinclair Bottom, now called St. Clair Bottom, present Smyth County, in 1771 and settled on a tract of land where later the original meeting house would be built.

One legend that is told about Reverend Woolsey is that Wooley was the leader of a group of settlers from the New York-New England region. The people would of course have looked to their pastor for leadership but this does not prove that he enticed them to leave their homes in the Northeast and move to the Virginia frontier. (Although he may have;)

“Woolsey was born in 1719 in Bedford, Westchester County, New York the son of Richard Woolsey (1697-1782) and Sarah Fowler (1698-1799). He may have been married Twice. In his will his wife is “Sary” for Sarah but this may be his second wife Sarah who is somewhat tentatively identified as Sarah Perce. His first wife also seems to have been named Sarah, maiden name not known, and she was the mother of his nine children.” Whether this assumption is correct or not correct, I do not know at this writing.

“It is very likely that after he arrived and established at least a temporary home, one of Woolsey’s first priorities would have been to build the meeting house. This building was established and important enough to be mentioned in 1775 in a description of the 612 acre tract that Woolsey acquired from the Loyal Land company.

“Another legend told about Woolsey is that he was a zealous Patriot and that his son Zephahiah had Tory sympathies. This, if it is true, or something else was the cause of estrangement between Thomas and Zephania, for when Thomas was too feeble even to sign his name he made his will seemingly to make sure that Zehaniah would receive none of his estate. In the will, Zephaniah or Sevenior as it is spelled, was to get only five shillings, a token amount.

It has been suggested that Woolsey accompanied the troops on their way to the Battle Kings Mountain (Battle against the Tory’s) in the fall of 1780. Reverend Thomas Woolsey would have been about sixty-one years old at that time and nothing has been found that would show whether the Thomas on this march was Reverent Thomas Woolsey or his son Thomas.”

In the book “Smyth County History & Traditions” Book: 975.5123 H2w; I find the following:

“Their preachers (of Washington County, Virginia) were not so much noted for learning as for fervent zeal, and were men who preached with power, sparing neither effort nor sacrifice to carry the gospel to the remotest settler. Many a rude arbor, shaded grove, and private dwelling, unlicensed by the general court as places of worship as the law required, were bravely used as such by these Baptist preachers. Tradition, or maybe a chance associational minute record, has preserved the names of a few of these noble men and pioneer preachers who were here before church work had taken organized shape, and we yet hear called the names and you may yet hear the name of Thomas W. Woolsey, whose remains lie buried in the Maiden burying ground near the home of Mrs. Wm. Britton; and a few years ago a monument was erected at his grave bearing his name and date of death, 1794, and the simple inscription:

“A Pioneer Baptist Preacher.”

“He owned land, probably that now is owned by the Dutton family, and was a worthy man. The county surveyor says this land is one of the oldest surveys in that section. There appears strong reason to think Reverend Woolsey helped to start, if not to organize, St. Clair’s Bottom church;”

Thomas Woolsey, “The pioneer minister”, died in 1794 and is buried in River Bend Cemetery, Smyth County, Virginia (or at least there is a Tombstone there for him in the River Bend Cemetery;) The date of his wife’s death is not known but since he names her in his will, she must have been living at the time of his death.”

From the Book: “Family of George Wood Woolsey & Sarah Nelson” by Hester Woolsey Brewer (Book: 929.273 W887), I find the Following Historical account:

“Rev. Thomas Woolsey was born at Bedford, a town of quaint old buildings and cemeteries, located in Westchester County, New York, where it was thought he married his wife, Sarah, as she is designated in her husbands will. The supposition has been made that the surnanme was Pierce, the only reason for this supposition being that John Pierce & wife Sarah were associated with Rev. Thomas in buying and selling various tracts of land.

From Bedford Rev. Thomas removed to ulster County, New York, and lived at Marlborough, New Paltz, or perhaps both for a short time each. About 1770 he removed to the beautiful valley of the Holston River in Washington County, Virginia, and settled in that region twenty-eight years before Henry Clay looked over the territory for a home before going on into Kentucky for settlement.

Rev. Thomas Woolsey must have been endowed with the spirit of adventure, or the great religious zeal which had brought his forefathers to America, to forsake his comfortable home in New York for one in the dangerour wilds of southwest Virginia. About this time, the Baptists were coming across the mountains and they might have influenced himn to make the move, or perhaps as in more recent treks, the change was favored as a means to acquire lands rich from primeval days. We would rather think it was a frontier-born experiment in uniting religious sentiment and political freedom, as a base from which this new nation could rise to the stars. It has been said it was not on the Mayflower, or the ship that brought Capt. John Smith to Virginia, that the American republic was born, but the new order came from these hills and mountains of Virginia.

If Rev. Thomas was a lover of beauty he was in need of no other incenitive for his entrance into the valley of the Holston, wehre buffalo, bear, wolf, elk and other smaller animals roamed the wilderness. Few white men had viewed the majestic beauty of its hills. Slasking the sky above the fertile valleys, ridges criss-crossed from east to west and through these ridges sparkling mountain streams dashed through deep, dark gorges on their entrance to the valleys where they gave sustenance to the blue grass that swayed knee-deep in the breeze.

In 1774, Rev. Thomas owned 300 acres on the Middle Fork on the Holston River and from Washington County surveys (we have copies of other land acquired from him);

In Revolutionary War days, in some parts of Virginia, persons were performing the ceremony of marriage without the proper credentials, finally a license was required and Rev. Thomas Woolsey’s nae was on the list of those to whom a license was given. The History of Washing County Virginia, lists eight-one couples married by him.

Some of the land he acquired was up the river from Abingdon and he was ordained for the ministry at a little church at Linville Creek, near Chillowie, Sept 1773. His record there states, “He came froma church in New york Government.”

Up to the time of Rev. Thomas Woolsey’s arrival in Washington County, Va., very few white men had penetrated thus far for settlement with their families. A few hunters and trappers has passed through and several years after his arrival that courageous hunter, Daniel Boone, blazed the trail called the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and gave to the pioneer a permanent route into the wilderness later to become Kentucky. Indians had a few trails known to them across the mountains in that territory, the most secluded running across powell Mountain, but it would have been foolhardy for the white settlers to use these trails as they were the liars of Indians who did not approve of the encroachment of the white men upon their domain.

The savages were dangerour and became very troublesome to the settlers who were seeking new homes in this beautiful country, which today surrounds the cultural city of Abingdon, then the southwest post, and one of the oldest towns in Virginia. At one time Abingdon was called Wolf Hills, as the locality was a headquarters for these animals which made their homes in caves nearby.

One of the churches in which our Rev. Thomas preached was in maiden Springs, and he is buried at Maiden Burying Ground in that part of Washington County which became known as Smyth County. Radford, on the New River north of Abingdon, was an early location selected by the Woolseys for their homes.

At the grave of Rev. Thomas Woolsey, at Maiden Burying ground, is a monument which bears the simple inscription “A Pioneer Baptist Preacher.” He lies under the spreading branch of a large tree, enclosed by a picket fence, whose roots have been nurtured by his dust for these many years. I have no knowledge of any member of his family remaining in the southwest Virginia, yet some one has cared for his graqve for the past one hundred and fifty years. His burial lot is upon the land of Mr. Rritton, doubtless once owned by Rev. Thomas, and I have been told it was he who erected the monument, which today marks the last resting place of the pioneer preacher. For this kindness in perpetuating the memory of our ancestor, Rev. Thomas Woolsey, and shielding his grave from sesecration, we tender our most hearty appreciation. Rev. Thomas Woolsey owned other land in this region, probably that now owned by the Dutton family.

His deeds were of an enduring character, in the beautiful valley of the Holston, and traditional stories still carry his name as among the first who served the church in this vicinity. We do not wonder at then when we consider how he ust have captured the imagination of the descendants of his early parishioners if they related the story of his primitive days among them. The territory surrounding his church was a wilderness, which in his tine was the home of all the wild animals that stalked that part of Virginia. It also wa the battleground of hostile India tribes, and Rev. Thomas and his congregation attended services decked out with rifles and other war paraphernalia. Can we of today appreciate the comfort and beauty of our services unless we carve a mental image of Rev. Thomas trudging through the deep snows of the wilderness, clad in buckskin brushed by the dangling tail of a coon-skin cap, and ever-ready rifle held by his side? Furtive eyes searched each tree and clump of brush for the hidden lair of the enemy, as he trudged, with his loyal wife Sarah and their children, to the little church hidden in the Wilderness.

The will of Rev. Thomas Woolsey, dated Feb 26, 1794, was filed at Abingdon, Virginia and was as follows: “I leve my wife Sary Wolsey all that I have but Sevenier Wolsey five shillings.” Witness, Frederick Ickes, Richard Woolsey, Nancy Woolsey.Sevenier Wolsey named in the will is supposed to be his son Zephaniah. Apparently this will was written by one less well educated than Rev. Thomas and it may have been completed at his death bed. It is noticeably that the signatures of his son and wife Nancy contain two l’s in the Woolsey, and the name in the will but one.

In a letter, Mrs. Gc. Purdue of Kansas City, Mo, a descendant of Rev. Thomas Woolsey, states, “Evediently this will was written by another as Rev. Thomas was an educated man. I have gone over records at Abingdon, Virginia, he had written with a quill pen and they are beautifully done.”

Rev. Thomas apparently had disposed of most of his estate before his will was executed, as he had deeded land on the South Fork of the Holston River to his son Richard before and made other transfer.”

The following data on Rev. Thomas’s life is contained in a letter written 14 Sept 1981 to Patricia G. Hall of Scottsboro, Alabama; (I do not know who wrote this letter; It was sent to Carolyn Wilkerson at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/;

“Washington County, Virginia, lies in the Blue Ridge Mountain range. It is beautiful country but must have been difficult to travel in Rev. Wolsey’s day. Actually, Washington County seems to lie in the edge of the range. The hills and near mountains are not as large or as tall as those closer to the Kentucky boarder. An old Indian trail cuts east-west through those ranges and mountains, the highway travels the trail for a goodly distance on into Washington County. The name of the trail is called “Trail of the Lonesome Pine.”; Not certain why the Indians named it such, but can tell you that I did not see any pines in the area. Syth County lies to the north and east of Washington County. The hills become much more gentle in Syth. The Holston River and its forks are actually a goodly distance from Abingdon. I estimate a 20 minute drive by car, and most of the drive being on an interstate. The Maiden Burying Ground is located next to a branch of the holston River. The present name of the cemetery is the River Bend Cemetery. Maidens’ and tow or three other families are presently buried there. Thomas Wolsey’s concrete stone is the only one in that particular part or section of the cemetery. Tehre is green grass all abou, no trees remain in that particular section of the cemetery at the present time. The cemeters is well kept and the grass is neatly cut. It is likely that other Wolseys are buried there, however Thomas has the only stone-and there is no other trace or known location of graves in that section of the cemetery. There are no rocks or markers or foot stones in that particular section of the cemetery. Just his concrete block stone is all that remains. The stone is well carved and the letters are deep, the appearance of the letters, looks like stones carved by machine today. The stone says: “Rev. T.W. Wolsey, a pioneer Baptist minister, Died 1794.”

The St. Clari Bottoms Baptist Church (now a Primitive Church) is located some 2 ½ to 3 miles from the cemetery. The church is in a beautiful setting. It is in excellent condition and I am certain it has been built onto and expanded. It is well constructed. Beside the church is a picnic area with an enclosed wooden top over the many tables. Looked like the perfect place to eat wwetermelon. In front and just to the right of the church (facing the church) is a huge hard maple tree. It was in perfect condition. The trunk looked as if it could have been 10 to 11 feet wide. It is very wide at the bottom. The roots bulge from the sides of the tree on into the ground. I feel this tree may have been there when Thomas Wolsey was living. Both the cemetery and church are presently in Smyth County, Virginia;”

The following information on our Rev. Thomas Woolsey can be found in the book: “Thomas Wolsey, All But Forgotten is The Man Who Brought First Church To Holston -Clinch Valleys” by Gordon Aronhime. (The book is not found in the FHLC);

“Each Sunday morning in every hamlet and city and town along the Clinch and Holston thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children gather to go to church. The buildings they attend are built of brick, of log, of frame; some are large and some are small, but, of the countless thousands who attend these churches, only the tiniest handful—perhaps a dozen persons can tell you the name of the first minister to settle in our region and bring his message to the people. To most, the name of Thomas Wolsey would be meaningless.

This man lies in a grave in the River Bend Cemetery in Smyth county, along the South Fork of the holston River. His grave was unmarked for over 150 years. There is now a plain, modern stone abee it. The inscription merely says: “Rev. T.W. Wolsey-A pioneer Baptist Minister: Died in 1794. “ There is nothing more written upon the stone.

Yet, in spite of the indifference of an ungrageful area, this is the man who preached the first ermons, held the first Sunday Schools, the first funerals, and performed the first marriages in the holston-Clinch region. He was in the area about three years prior to the coming of the Rev. Charles Cummings, whom Presbyterians long thought he was the first minister living in our area.

It is apity that old Thomas Wolsey is so forgotten, for he was not merely a “pioneer” Baptist minister but the pioneer minister of our area!

Thanks to the sectarianism of the earlier historians of our day and to the great indifference of man to man, we kow but little about him. He seems to have settled on land very near and possibly including his final resting place, in 1770 or 1771. Though we approximately when he moved to the frontier settlements along the Holston, we do not know from whence he came. It is reasonably sure, however, he did not come from Augusta County, as the Valley of Birginia was then denominated.

His wife was Sarah, or, as she is called in his will, “Sary”. We know they had (at least) the following children, given without knowledge of order of birth: George, John, Richard, Stephen, Thomas Jr. and 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. LL. Hopkins escaped from there, and later, was ummmarily hanged by Genera 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 seemly success 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.

When Thomas Wolsey resettled on the south fork of the Holston not far from the present grave, he built his home in the neighborhood of a group of hardy pioneer Baptists. These included the Pierces and Wolseys, who took up land independently and jointly, as well as the Holliotts, Coles, Wheelers, Thomases, and Bishops; The land of these early settlers lay around a mignificant tract of 996 acres, known then and still called Sinclair’s Bottom. This great tract had been patented by Charles Sinclair on 3 Aug 1753 and had lived on it until the French and Indian War massacres of 1755 drove him out.

The land around Sinclair’s Grant was the property of the speculative Loyal Company. From the Loyal company Thomas Wolsey bought a tract of nearly a square mile, 613 acres. On the edge of the tract, a Baptist Meeting house was erected. The date of the survey for this 613 acres to Wolsey is February 23, 1775 in the Fiscastle records, but the meeting house, of course, had existed before this.

It may well be that this was the first Church erected in the entire region of the Holston and Clinch. Regardless of this, it is certainly one of the three colonial churches built before the Revolution in Southwesteren Virginia-the other two being the Glade Spring and Abingdon Presbyterian churches.

Later on, Thomas Wolsey moved from the portion of land on which the Meeting house stood and sold that section to Jospeh Cole, the wicked Zephanian being one of the witnesses to the deed. Still later, joseph Cole deeded one acre and 100 poles of land to the trustees and congregation of the Baptist Church. Oddly enough, no name is given to the church, but is referred to in the deed as “Congregational and Meeting house formerly know by Sinclair’s Bottom.”

The little church still stands, and it is one of the most beautiful of our old churches. When the little brick building now on this spot was ereted is not kown, but it must have been at 150 years ago, and is most likely one of the very earliest brick structures in the region. In front is a gigantic oak that three men with out-stretched arms can scarcely circle. In the rear of the church, in the graveyard is a splendid white pine that is worth the trip up the South Fork to behold. The stones in the cemetery date back to one for old oseph Cole himself, who was born in 1733 and died in 1806. Many of the older graves are unmarked.

The earlest marriage of which we have a record in our region was performed by Thomas Wolsey. This was not, of course, the first he performed, but just the first of which we have a record. This was in March of 1773, six months before the Reverend Cummings moved to near Abingdon to live. This was a brilliant wedding of its day. Margaret, daughter of Colonel ohn Buchanna, was married to Joseph Drake at the famed Townhouse in Chilhowie, home of the bride’s cousin James Thompson. Since there was no Lilian Childress to write it up, a brief account must be given to the guests. Present were Thompson (later son-in-law of General Shelby), a sister of the bride and a brother of the groom who later married each other, and the two sisters of General William Campbell. What this marriage had in brilliance, it lacked in durability, for Drake, a most disagreesble troublemaker to the settlers moved to Kentucky in 1778 and was killed by the Indians.

Thomas Wolseys will is probably the shortest on record in Abingdon. “Feb 26, 1794, I Thomas Woolsey (it is spelled both ways in the will) of Washington County and State of Virginia lise very low and dus not think he will live long. I do in the name of God make this my last Will and Testament. I leve my wife Sary Wolsey, allthat I have but Sevenior (phonetic for the “wicked’ Zephaniah) Wolsey five shillings. I do acknolege this to be my last Will and Testament Thomas Woolsey.”

The ‘lise very low” portion of the will must have been correct, for old Thomas did not sign the will, although he could write, and the document was probated in December, 1794.how “Sary” lived and where she is buried is not certain.

This, then, was the man who first brought the organized church into the Holston and Clinch. He lived and died and has been forgotten among the people of our area. The section in which Wolsey lived and died is one of the most quietly beautiful on the Holston River. (To get to the little brick church he founded, take State 91 out of Damascus to the village of Lodi. There, turn off to the right and follow 762 up to the brick Church in Sinclair’s Bottom that is a monument to our first minister.

After you have seen the church and its great white pine, Route 762 will take you back into Chilhowie. The trip between Sinclairs Bottom and Chilhowie passes through the Bonham apple orchard which are quite a sight in the spring when the blossoms are out.

Those who take this trip will have seen scenery they will not soon forgoten, one of the earliest churches we have, and perhaps, a glimpse into what was done by the most pioneer of our ministers-Reverend Thomas Woolsey.”

My Grandfather was a minister of the gospel and I have every reason to believe that he taught the gospel & did the very best he could with the limited light and knowledge that he had. He is in a place of perfect Light & Knowledge now and my prayer is that he has accepted the temple ordinances that are accomplished for him and that his knowledge of the fullness of the gospel has increased; I would like to dedicate this poem to him and to each of us, his progenitors, of whom may one day read this brief chronology of the long & laborious life of Reverend Thomas Woolsey;

Reverend Thomas Woolsey moved to Virginia in about 1767. -Lived at both sides of the south fork of the Holsten River, called "Sinclair Bottoms".

Some information I have received says he was born about 1730 in Scotland or Ireland, but I have found nothing to substantiate this. Also that his first name was Moses. If the Thomas Woosley who wrote his Will in 1705, is his grandfather then Thomas Sr. would have been born in Virginia. I doubt they would have gone back to Scotland or Ireland.

Information received from Betty Marr of 430 Obispo #106, Long Beach, California 90814. She believes like I do that Thomas is his name and not Moses as a lot of people have thought. (May 1993)

Thomas was one of the witnesses to his son Thomas Jr.'s marriage in 1786. It seems that most of his sons were over 25 years old before they ever married.

Some of his sons moved to Kentucky, some to Tennessee, and some to northern states.

He served in the Revolutionary War along with about seven of his sons according to family tradition. Also according to tradition he was the father of 14 sons and one daughter. My grandmother Jessie Holeman Doss, said her mother always told her that Thomas and a bunch of his boys fought in the Revolutionary War together.

Information from CD100 Automated Archives in 1993.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~popfraley/pafn36.htm#1143

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From Frank Beard, duell@aol.com

According to the book "Family Histories of Christian Co. Ky. 1797-1986" Thomas Woosley came from Ireland to Va. where he married a Miss Waters (Walters). Others think he came from New York to Va. Since there is no proof to my knowledge, at this date "12 Oct 1995", we will leave both opinions presented. Of the 14 sons of Thomas and Elizabeth, this is the areas they moved to. SamueL, David, Joshua, and Thomas came to Kentucky. Joshua lived in Hart County. Samuel and David in Edmonson County, Moses and Thomas came to Christian County. Some of the other brothers settled in Tennessee and some in the northern states. Samuel S. Woosley, son of Moses Woosley, came to Christian County and settled on the land now known as the George Watts place. Samuel's son Wilson Henry was my g-grandfather and most of what I know about him and his family on down to the present day, will take a large part of this book.

This note is from Lawrence Woosley of Alton, Halifax Co. Virginia!!

WILL OF THOMAS WOOSLEY 24 april 1705 in Norfolk Co. Va. Will Book pg.195. Proved 15 aug 1715. (Spelling retained from original)

In the name of God Amen I Thomas Woosley of Norfolk Co. on the Western Branch of Elizabeth River be weeke of body but in perfect mind and memory, doe make and ordain this to be my last will and testement heretofor by me maid and this be taken held and Decined to be my last will and testament.

I bequeath my soule unto God who gave it and my bodie to the earth to be decently buried. I give and bequeath unto my eldest son Thomas Woosley (My note, Frank Beard, this could be the father of Thomas or Moses who was the father of several sons who served in Rev. War. The one who made this will could be the grandfather of Thomas or Moses who was born abt. 1719, we shall see.) cont. from above, one fire lock fowling piece. Son John Woosley one pair lock muscault (probably fire lock musket).

Daughter. Mary Cherry one ewe.

" " Ann Woosley one ewe.

" " Mawdlin Woosley one ewe.

Loving wife Mary Woosley all personal & Real Estate and anything else that he owns that is not mentioned in his will.

      Wife Mary sole execitrix

signed (in his own writing) THOMAS WOOSLEY

This document is the earliest I (Lawrence Woosley) have seen in which the name is spelled WOOSLEY.

Woosleys apparently are not to be found in Norfolk records after 1718. A Thomas Woosley shows in the records that year. This probably is the same family which later begins to show up in Cumberland, Buckingham, Amelia, Halifax and other counties farther west. No documentation has yet been found that establishes a connection.

!Revolutionary War, Pvt, VA line.

If the above will is our Woosley line, our pedigree would look something like this from Moses Woosley the Rev. War vet who was born in 1758: His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Walters (Waters) Woosley: Thomas' father could have been Thomas or John Woosley: Thomas or John's parents were the writers of the will, Thomas and Mary Woosley. This theory does away with the story of Thomas or Moses being born in Ireland, Scotland or England if this is our family. My mother was told by her parents that her Grandfather Joel Doss was born in Ireland and that he spoke with a heavy Irish accent. I found in the records where he was born in the good ol' hills of Virginia. Many people I've talked to over the years have liked to think their family came to America from far away places when in fact the families had been in the U.S. for many generations. Many also have stories of Indian ancestors in the family. A few have proven true but most only stories. One fellow wanted me to prove he was related to Jesse James the outlaw. People like exotic names and places and like to be connected to them whether they are true or not in some cases.

Only when we find recorded facts can we be fairly sure of our family history, and then sometimes it is not correct. In the case of the name WOOSLEY, it is even more difficult because the name in many cases was spelled the way people pronounced it. So, the names WOOSLEY, OUSLEY, OWSLEY, OSLEY, OOSLEY, and sometime even WOOLSEY and a few other spellings are all likely the same family name. Even in the offical Court records of Halifax Co., the clerk would write in the record: Ousley, sometimes spelled Woosley, or Woosley, sometimes spelled Ousley. Even here in modern Utah I told a fellow the name was pronounced WOOSLEY. When he repeated it to me it still sounded like OUSLEY when he spoke. My personal opinion is the name was probably originally WOOLSEY, which has it's roots in the manfacturing of clothing, vis. "Lindsey Woolsey" a type of cloth.

Some of the experts who read this will probably say, Frank Beard doesn't even know how to spell correctly, why is he trying to write a book? My answer to them is, I may be a high school drop-out but I love family history or genealogical research. I hope all will be tolerant of my mistakes and try to see the real intent of this book,,to show that the Woosley families are the families that make up the backbone of America and had a big part in the building and protection of this nation.

Again I plead with all who read this to please send me your remarks with corrections and additions so they will be in future books. Thanks to all.

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From Dale Woosley, <Genonly@aol.com>

Good to hear from you, Larry, as always. And, as usual, you come up with some good questions as well as good information.

Regarding the references to both Buckingham and Halifax as the birth places of some of the children of Thomas Woosley, Sr. and Elizabeth Walter, I have no explanation despite hours spent in trying to solve the riddle. Here are some of the things I have been through in my efforts.

(1) On the VaGenWeb page, there are many maps depicting the evolution of the counties of Virginia. Some are indexed on the webpage itself, many more are to be found in the link "180 years of development". If you look at the earliest maps, you will see that at several points in time, all the present counties of south central Virginia were under a few counties names.

(2) The Woosley men who served in the Revolutionary Way (sometimes found recorded as Owsley men) gave their county of enlistment as AMELIA county. Amelia was formed in 1735 from Prince George and Brunswick Counties. On one of the maps, Brunswick county at one time covered the entire western half of what is now Virginia although at that time, West Virginia and Kentucky, which took part of western Virginia, were not formed yet. I have a couple of records of land transactions in Amelia county involving a Thomas WOSLEY and since the will of Thomas WOSLEY (1712) of Norfolk, Va spells the surname in that fashion, I have thought that when the sons went westward out of Norfolk,

they might have settled in Amelia county, even if only temporarily. I say only temporarily because except for the land records I mentioned and the military records, there are little or no traces of Woosleys in Amelia county.

(3) Amelia county is considerably north-northeast of what is now Buckingham county and even farther from what is now Halifax county. When these men enlisted in the army in Amelia county, Buckingham county had been formed in 1761 from Ablemarle county and Halifax county had been formed even before that, in 1752 from Lunenburg county, including parts of what is now Pittsylvania, Patrick and Henry counties, plus parts of Franklin and Floyd counties. The first county seat of Buckingham county was Buckingham, then the name was changed to Maysville and then back to Buckingham County.

formations in Virginia are confusing and hard to take into account in genealogy.

(4) There are now two rows of counties between Buckingham county and Halifax. Right south of Buckingham county are Appomatox (1845) and Prince Edward (1753-55) counties and south of them, bordering Halifax on the north and northeast, are Campbell (1780) and Charlotte (1764) counties. The point I am making is that there seems to be no record of Buckingham and Halifax counties being connected at the time the Woosleys lived there and they were not formed from the same parent counties.

(5) I looked on early maps on the internet and in the Virginia Archives in Richmond for any community or locale in Halifax county that had the name of Buckingham. I found none. I have also looked for any landmarks in all these counties with the name Woosley, Wosley, Wolsey, Woolsey, Woolsley, Ousley and Owsley. Nothing.

(6) I bought the book, "Buckingham Burials, Volume 1" by Janice J. R. Hull (1997) and looked for Woosley names and variations. None are listed even though there are people saying that Thomas Woosley, Sr. also known as Moses Woosley, Sr, was buried in Buckingham county. Ms. Hull does not claim that she did not miss any burial places, but the book is amazingly complete and authoritative. There are some other references to this same man being buried in Brunswick county, but records are too scarce there to say yes or no.

(7) I have found no real evidence that Woosleys resided or owned property in Buckingham county, Virginia.

(8) It appears to me that references such as "Buckingham, Halifax, Va" are due to confusion as to the location names and formation dates. At this time, with the evidence that exists that Woosley residences were maintained in Halifax county and the lack of evidence that Woosley residences were maintained in Buckingham county, I tend to assume that the references should have referred simple to "Halifax, Va".

(9) The old Woosley farm on route 501 north of Halifax and Volens, Va and south of Brookneal, does not appear to have even been in the jurisdiction of Buckingham county. Maybe this doesn't answer your question, but if it helps to any degree, I am glad about that. Take a look at the maps on the VaGenWeb site and see what makes sense to you about the possibilities and lack of possibilities.

Regards, Dale

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From Dale Woosley of Salem, IL

"Oldest known ancestor as of Fall, 1997 Supposedly came from Wales after waiting two years for passage. In August, 1993, visit was made to the farm on west side of highway between Halifax and Brookneal, VA, just south of junction with Hw. 636 East. Visited cemetery west of house 9/94 and 5/95.

Few legible stones out of about 25 sites. Fieldon Woosley (KY) said that Thomas was buried in Buckingham Co, but not found in "Buckingham Burials" by Janice J. R. Hull (1997)."

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From Dale Woosley of Salem, IL

There is a good family historian in Alton, Virginia by the name of Lawrence Woosley and since he lives in Halifax County, I consider that he has more FIRST hand data than anyone else I have worked with. I have visited him a few times and we have gone to some family cemeteries in the county and to the old Woosley farm off Hwy. 501 between Volens and Brookneal. I think Lawrence said this property has been in the Woosley family since about 1755, with Woosleys living there except for a few years during the Civil War when it was leased out. Behind the house (Estelle Woosley Childress now living there), there is a burial area with about 28 gravesites, most unmarked and only a few with readable stones. The area is overgrown with ground cover but the sunken graves can be located okay.

Lawrence and I thought it unusual that there was no documentation for a Moses, Sr. and we began to really dig into records. Some of the sons of this man and his wife, Elizabeth, went to Grayson, Christian and Trigg Counties, KY and there they said their father was a Thomas Woosley. This is documented. Beginning with that kind of information, we built a case of Moses, Sr. really being named Thomas. Because someone had to initially say he was Moses, Sr., I honored that and in my data, which has been used repeatedly by others, I said he might have been named Thomas Moses, but if you buy that, then his son Thomas, Jr. who married Dinah Tribble would have to have been named Thomas Moses, Jr. and I have found absolutely no record of that being true.

One of the interesting things about Thomas is his ancestry as suggested by a Charles Benjamin Woosley (deceased) who was living in Fiddletown, CA when he found the transcript of a will which appeared to be by a Thomas Woosley who died in 1712. He transcribed the name as Woosley and from the will he found 5 children named and the first name of his wife (Mary) and then he projected this information into saying that the son John was the father of "Thomas Woosley, Sr.", the man who was married to Elizabeth Walters. Charles wrote this information in the early 1980's.

In February of this year, I spent some more time in Virginia and North Carolina and in the Chesapeake (City) courthouse where I found the transcription that Charles had found and I kept looking and pestering people until I found the original will. The transcriber made some errors but none seemed significant.

The really stunning thing was that the name "Woosley" never appeared in the will. It was written as "Wossley" several times and "Wosley" once, I think. Charles no doubt had a reason for believing that this was a "Woosley" will and at this time, I cannot argue the point nor do I want to do so. However, Charles must have had some some information which led him to think that of the two sons, Thomas and John, John was the father of the man we are referring to as Thomas (Moses), Sr. In early land records of Virginia, a Thomas WOSLEY was buying and selling land in the area now known and Buckingham and Halifax counties.

I don't know what Charles had, but there are some people among my genealogy friends who had corresponded with Charles and they are trying to help me with my concerns about the Thomas-John-Thomas connection. If I learn something I will be spreading the word as soon as I get it.

Yes, I think the father of Elizabeth Walters was an Aaron Walters. I am less sure that her mother was a Rose Wickliff, since I have found only one reference to that name. One of the tips that led me to suspect Elizabeth's name was Walters and not Waters was the descendant Rodey Walters Woosley, a grand-daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth. In my opinion, her middle name Walters (well documented) was unusual enough that it had to signal that her grandmother's name was not Waters.

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About Halifax County, VA

Halifax County, located in Southside Virginia, was created in 1752 from Lunenberg County and named for the British statesmen George Montagu Dunk, Earl of Halifax. At the time of its creation, its territory included what is today Pittsylvania, Patrick and Henry counties and parts of Franklin and Floyd counties. Its present-day boundaries were established in 1766 when Pittsylvania County was created from the western portion of the county. In addition to the Virginia counties of Pittsylvania, Charlotte, Campbell and Mecklenberg, Halifax County is also bordered by the North Carolina counties of Caswell, Person and Granville. Numbers of Halifax County families joined the great western migration out of Virginia in the period after the Revolutionary War. The destination of many were the Middle Tennessee counties of Davidson, Sumner, Smith, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Overton and Maury.

Present-day Halifax County covers an area of 800.41 square miles with a poplation of over 37,000. The county is mostly rural with the towns of Clover, Halifax, Scottsburg, South Boston and Virginila within its borders. The once-independent city of South Boston, with a population of over 7,000, reverted to town status in July 1995.

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From Dale Woosley of Salem, IL

About Buckingham County, VA - Created in 1758, from Albemarle and Appomattax Counties

Brunswick County - formed 1720 from Prince Edward, Isle of Wight and Surry

Lunenburg County - formed 1746 from Brunswick County

Halifax County - formed 1752 from Lunenburg county

This means that Thomas, Sr. was born in Brunswick or one of the three counties from which Brunswick was formed. There are some impressive looking trees on the internet which refer to the town of Buckingham in the county of Halifax. On my map, Buckingham is considerably north of the present borders of Halifax county, so I don't know what to make of that.

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From Dale Woosley, October, 1999, To Becky Gregg, Greenville, SC:

Hi, Becky, I have a world of trouble acknowledging a connection between the Woolseys of New York, including Joris, to the Woosleys of Virginia. After 34 years of research on the surnames, I have found no reliable connection. The Woolseys of New York were highly educated, prominent people who do not seem to match the relatively uneducated Woosleys of Virginia, most of whom were illiterate.

I have a copy of a will of Thomas Wosley of Norfolk, Virginia, dated 1705 and probated in 1712, the year of his death, in it are the names of his 5 children, Thomas, John, Mary, Ann and Madeline (which was spelled Mawdlin in the script). A researcher by the name of Charles B. Woosley somehow made a connection between the son John and Thomas Woosley, Sr. of Halifax County, VA who married Elizabeth Walters. Until recent years, this latter Thomas was referred to as Moses Woosley, Sr., something which is generally accepted now as incorrect.

Another researcher for the LDS Church, whose name I can provide you, put in the LDS Ancestral File that there was a connection between the Woolseys of New York and the Woosleys of Virginia, but when I discussed it with him in 1997 he said he was in error in accepting that information from someone who had given it to him. I do not know if the information has been retracted or not.

It would be nice to believe the Woolsey-Woosley connection because the Woolseys of New York have been well documented, including the fact that one of them was an Admiral in the Colonial Navy in the Revolutionary War. But as of now, I cannot accept the connection. On the other hand, I am willing to look at and consider any new information that suggests the connection and in this sense I will be always on the lookout for new data.

Unfortunately, it is easy to see how the names Woolsey and Woosley could be substituted for each other. To make it worse, there are variations of both names, such as Wosley, Wolsey (like the good Cardinal), Worsley, and so on.

Please accept my comments in the good nature in which I make them. And let me know quickly if I am wrong on anything I have written.

Thanks and good hunting, Dale Woosley, Salem, Illinois

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To all interested WOOSLEY researchers:

In regard to the WOOSLEY - WOOLSEY families, it may be of some interest for you to know that I have spent over two years, full-time, trying to 'document' the "well-documented" WOOLSEY family of New York, using the facilities of the Family History Library, in Salt Lake City, which is about 30 minutes drive from my home.

I have done original research in the Eastern states and in the Southern states, as well as in the Mid-west and Western states, finding our New York WOOLSEY families in all these areas.

Also, I have done (and hired)Research in Holland and in Norfolk and Suffolk counties, in England, tracing our George WOOLSEY (WOLSEY) back across the ocean.

Therefore, I believe I am in a position to make a few conclusions about these families.

The name WOLSEY (WOLCY, WULCEY, WULCI, etc) can be found in Suffolk and Norfolk counties, in England, before the Norman Conquest (William the Conqueror, 1066), so it is not of "Norman" or French extraction, but preceeds that.

I can't say for sure for the WOOSLEY name, but am of the opinion that it is a post-conquest name, (i.e. after 1066) in English records. There is some evidence to connect the name WOOSLEY with the better known family of WOSELEY, which has its own coat-of-arms and has been fairly well traced.

(A few researchers here in America attempted to connect the WOOLSEY family with the WOSELEY family, but were unable to sustain that theory. It is more tenable to connect your WOOSLEY family with the WOSELEYS.)

My conclusion is that there is NO connection between WOOSLEY and WOOLSEY, even here in the United States. My WOOLSEY family begins with the immigrant GEORGE WOLSEY (chr. 1616 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), and came to New Amsterdam about 1643 (other dates used for years not-withstanding) and married in New Amsterdam in 1647 to Rebecca Cornell. They lived in Jamaica (Queens County, Long Island) and are buried there. George and Rebecca had eight children and it is the descendants of four of these children we are trying to "document". He is found in both Dutch and English records.

George WOOLSEY (I use the spelling "WOLSEY" in England and "WOOLSEY" in America, just to standardize the spelling.) was an apprentice of Isaac Allerton, the MAYFLOWER passenger and PLYMOUTH agent, who later became the agent of the Dutch at New Amsterdam. George went on to become either a clerk or a partner of Isaac Allerton as he "kept the books" for Allerton.

(It was from this alliance that some early WOOLSEY researchers attempted to put George WOOLSEY with the PLYMOUTH adventurers. That theory cannot be proved from available records.)

George WOOLSEY was the first WOOLSEY in America, but he wasn't the only immigrant by that name. I have found WOOLSEYs in Maryland in the middle 1600's and in New Jersey who were shipped over on "prison ships" in the middle and late 1600's but no relation to George and few descendants I have found. Descendants of George WOOLSEY do appear in New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut from the late 1600's, however, and so care must be taken to keep them all separate. !!

There are at least two examples of WOOLSEYS who were "transported" to Virginia in the middle 1600's and they left descendants but appear to have thinned out by the middle 1700's. They seemed to remain in the tide-water area.

The WOOSLEY family seems to be in the Norfolk, Amelia, Halifax, Counties, of Virginia.

Then my ancestor, the Baptist preacher, Reverend Thomas (Richard, Thomas, 'Joris' George) WOOLSEY (b 1719, Bedford, Westchester, New York) came to what would become Washington County, Virginia, abt 1771, settling on the South Fork of the Holsten River, near St. Clair's (Sinclair's) Bottoms.

With the Reverend Thomas WOOLSEY came brothers, cousins, nephews, and some of his children, with friends and neighbors and in-laws (and "out-laws", see Francis Hopkins, of Washington County, Virginia, notoriety). From Washington County, Virginia, they spread out to Greene County, Tennessee, and to several counties in Kentucky, and from thence continued to spread "West".

I don't know where the WOOSLEY family originated in Virginia, but they came from different counties, also heading "West" into Kentucky, mostly.

It is here in Kentucky that we begin to see a "cross-over" between the names WOOSLEY and WOOLSEY, and I have had to identify each individual I found as belonging to one family or the other.

The families themselves seemed to keep the spellings fairly intact, (meaning they kept their pronunciations correctly), but the scribes and clerks made many mistakes in recording their names, even within the same document.

So, my considered opinion is that there is NO connection between the families WOOSLEY and WOOLSEY, except incidentally as names were mis-spelled in the old records.

So, Becky Gregg, Greenville, SC, your enthusiasm and interest is greatly appreciated, but I would suggest that you do NOT post 'Joris' Woolsey of Long Island on the WOOSLEY list. One reason I suggest you NOT do this is that there are so many mistakes in the early postings and PAF and IGI and Ancestral Files. I have been working 8-10-16 hours a day, full-time, on the WOOLSEY problems and would be dismayed to see those mistakes compounded again and again.

And, Oh, Becky, I do not know who Thomas WOOSLEY, 'mariner', is. He states that he is of New York "at present", so I don't think he is of there originally. He doesn't fit into any of our WOOLSEY families of New York, but of course, that is always subject to change as we obtain new and better data.

Some researchers have 8 or 10 generations for ancestors of our ancestor 'Joris' George Woolsey of Long Island, trying to connect him to Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey, of Suffolk and King Henry VIII's 'spiritual advisor'. Please, please, don't post anything prior to George Woolsey, the immigrant. NONE of those lines are correct.

There is a list for the WOOLSEY family that anyone interested should check out

< Woolsey-L@rootsweb.com >.

And to Dale Woosley, Salem, Illinois: I agree with your excellent summation. And it is true the New York WOOLSEYs were 'highly educated and prominent people', but as they moved West, the realities of the frontier tended to dilute and minimize educational opportunities. Although I find many of the WOOLSEY "signed" their names while their spouses "made their marks", and as it was the frontier mother who 'educated' their children, the educational level dropped significantly.

The information in the LDS Ancestral Files, unfortunately, will not be corrected, unless someone makes the effort to do so. Regrettably (sp?) the information submitted there is now written 'in stone' and has become 'indisputable', and more's the pity for it. Once something has appeared in print, some careless researchers seem to think it is 'tried and true' and people unthinkingly pass this 'tainted' data blithely back and forth, marvelling all the while, on the great lengths of their 'proven' pedigrees.

I, on the other hand, am just trying to find and 'prove' who the wife of the Rev. Thomas WOOLSEY was, notwithstanding what the Ancestral Files and IGI files claim!!

I, too, make the above statements in good faith and hopefully, good nature. Please forgive me if I ruffle some feathers. My interest is in "documenting" our family tree.

Thank you for putting up with me this far.

Sincerely,

Wilford W. Whitaker, Murray, Utah, <wwwhit@integrityonline3.com>

rations for the troops during the Revolution. The Woosley farm is still in Woosley hands and has been since before the Revolutionary War. It's located off Hwy 501 N. of Volens, VA in Halifax, VA

Some information I have received says he was born about 1730 in Scotland or Ireland, but I have found nothing to substantiate this. Also that his first name was Moses. If the Thomas Woosley who wrote his Will in 1705, is his grandfather then Thomas Sr. would have been born in Virginia. I doubt they would have gone back to Scotland or Ireland.

Information received from Betty Marr of 430 Obispo #106, Long Beach, California 90814. She believes like I do that Thomas is his name and not Moses as a lot of people have thought. (May 1993)

Thomas was one of the witnesses to his son Thomas Jr.'s marriage in 1786. It seems that most of his sons were over 25 years old before they ever married.

Some of his sons moved to Kentucky, some to Tennessee, and some to northern states.

He served in the Revolutionary War along with about seven of his sons according to family tradition. Also according to tradition he was the father of 14 sons and one daughter. My grandmother Jessie Holeman Doss, said her mother always told her that Thomas and a bunch of his boys fought in the Revolutionary War together.