Our Woody Family Connection with Georgia

I had an email from a distant cousin asking how the Clark/Woody Family is connected to the Woody Family in Northern Georgia.   I'm going to reprint a short history I wrote for the Woody Family Reunion in June 1996.  My Great Grandfather, John "Johnnie" Clark married Mary Eliza Woody, the daughter of Peter Littleton and Eliza (Stover) Woody.

Our Woody Connections by Nicholas L. Clark

"It had been a long drive from Muncie, Indiana to Dahlonega, Georgia in March 1988.   My wife Verona, and our children Nicholas and Amy, were on our way to visit Walt Disney World in Florida over Spring Break.  The weather was superb and got better as we headed south.  The sun warmed the temperatures well into the 70s, as we traveled along in our Chevy Caprice Wagon.   The children were very eager to get to Disney World and knew that they were in for another "family roots" delay when I announced that we were going to take a little side trip to discover some of our Woody family history.

An 1895 Map of Georgia showing Lumpkin and Union Counties in the north central portion of the state.


All my life, I had heard about the Woody family from my Grandmother, Mabel Clark; from my cousin, Mabel Woody, and from a very distant cousin and Woody family genealogist, Thelma (Mrs. Olaf) Nelson.   It was really Thelma, who was the expert.   She had traced the family heritage from Kansas to Missouri, and on to Georgia.  The early roots of the family were in North Carolina and England.    She had documented Woody family participation in the American Revolution, the Civil War and other events of consequence.   She was a dear lady whom my Grandmother Clark loved and respected.   My family visited Thelma and her husband Olaf Nelson, when they lived in Tacoma Washington.   The year was 1978 and, even though advanced in age and with considerable physical handicaps, we found them to be warm, wonderful, welcoming and full of interest in their distant cousins.  

I loved my Great Great Grandfather's Woody's (Peter Littleton Woody) beautiful stone house in Snokomo, Newberry Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas.   It was already 100 years old when I first became interested in family history.   It was occupied by dear cousin Mabel Woody, who was short, slender, pert, hard-working and loved to share stories about her life.   Her mother, Minnie Wilson, had lived past 100 and had instilled a love of family and history which Mable gladly shared.  My Grandmother Clark and I would often drive to the old Woody home on Sunday afternoon and spend the afternoon visiting with Mable and Minnie.  

The Peter Littleton Woody Home, Snokomo, Newberry Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas.  This photo was taken about 1880, ten years after the Woody's moved to Kansas from Platte County, Missouri.   Unfortunately, not all those photographed are known, but Peter L. Woody is standing between the two white horses.  This is the south side of the house.  Note the double veranda.  There was an identical double veranda on the north.  The underground root cellar was just behind the man and black horse on the left.

One time in the late 1960s, Thelma Nelson was visiting Cousin Mabel Woody so Grandmother Clark and I drove over and spent the afternoon.  Mable would always take us up to the head of the stairs where hung the portraits and marriage license of Peter Littleton Woody and Elisa Stover Woody, who built the stone house.  Mable said that Peter Littleton Woody had been raised in northern Georgia, but he was not a Southern sympathizer as had been other members of his family.  She said that he had first joined the Confederate Army, but that he had deserted and joined the Northern Army because he didn't like the way the blacks were treated and didn't believe in slavery.   This interested Thelma and myself, and Thelma began corresponding with the National Archives to retrieve Peter Woody's military records.   She found Mabel's oral history to be accurate.

Mabel didn't remember too much about Peter's Civil War history.   But Thelma eventually discovered a great deal more.  It seems that one of Peter Woody's brothers, John Woody, was absolutely committed to the Southern Cause, so much so, that he headed the Home Guard, which was evidently a unit meant to harass the families of men who joined the northern army or deserted from the Confederate Army.   John Threatened to kill Peter if he returned to Dahlonega after the war.

Peter Littleton Woody and his wife, Eliza Stover Woody.



When I visited Dahlonega in 1995, I talked with local historians there and at Blairsville, just to the north in Union County, Georgia.   Both related to me that the area had been very much divided between Northern and Southern sympathizers.  Since it was a mountainous area and not dedicated to raising cotton, the slavery issue was not as heated in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.   They also said that all of Northwest Georgia had been Cherokee Indian Territory and that the Cherokee were very much against slavery.  The historians said that there had been many, many families split over the slavery issue and that they felt the majority of the people in Lumpkin and Union Counties had been in favor of maintaining the Union.

At any rate, Peter Woody must have felt he couldn't remain in Georgia, because he moved his family far from this beloved Georgia woods, to Platte County, Missouri in 1867.   There was a terrible flood on the Platte River in 1868, which ruined all the work that Peter and Eliza Woody had done in improving their Missouri farm.  Realizing the risk of remaining in the Platte River Valley, he moved his family about 100 miles west, to Wabaunsee County, Kansas.   He was in search of land that would not flood.   The year was 1868 and the vast Potawatomi Indian Reservation of over 3,000,000 acres had just been opened to settlement.   He decided to farm in the highlands, overlooking the spectacular Mill Creek Valley.   In 1870, he purchased 16y0 acres in the community named for Potawatomi Chief Snokomo.   Cousin Mabel said that the old Chief was still living in the area when the Woodies moved there and that Peter Woody allowed him to be buried on his farm. 

Peter Woody, like many other farmers in Wabaunsee County, built his two-story home of native limestone which was available from the surrounding hills.  It was hard work to quarry the stone, but it was cheap and there were many stone masons in the area.  The home was in a "T" formation.  The house had three large rooms on the first floor and three on the second.   On each side of the upstairs bedrooms, were two beautiful long sleeping porches, a most unusual feature for Kansas but quite common in Georgia.

There was one large kitchen on the west side of the house.   Mabel showed us that if you went through a door in the northwest corner of the house, you went into a large underground root cellar.  This was used for many purposes.  Primarily it was used as a root cellar to store harvested potatoes and other root vegetables as well as canned and preserved foods.   Secondarily it had been used for a "storm cellar" because tornadoes blew stone into the home and killed it's occupants.   Thirdly, it had been used as a little "fort" in case there had been Indian troubles.  There were still several Indian families living along Mill Creek at that time and the Kaw Indian Reservation wasn't too far to the south so they felt protection was necessary.

Mabel told us a story about the kidnapping of one of Peter and Eliza Woody's children.   She said that soon after the house was built, a large number of Indian men came up the lane.   The family hadn't seen them at first and before they knew they were present, an Indian leaned down from his horse and swooped one of the playing children onto the horse and they all galloped away but remained in sight.  Peter approached them and they asked him what he had to trade for the child.   He told them that he had a barrel of sugar and they were willing to trade.   He wheeled out the barrel of sugar and the Indians gave the child back, breaking the top of the barrel and carrying away the sugar in buffalo skin bags.   After that, the Indians came back many times.  They didn't threaten the family or take any captives, but they would camp in the yard and Eliza would send food out while they smoked their pipes and visited.

The interior styling of the house was completely foreign to Wabaunsee County.   Most houses were plastered inside, but the interior walls of the Woody home were completely paned with beaded board.   This is a  horizontal board hat is about 3/4" thick and 4" wife.   Down the center of the board, there is a "V" groove.   Each board is tongue and grooved so that they fit tightly together.   Wood doesn't hold heat very well but plaster does.   Therefore, this style was employed in much of the South were the Woodys were raised.  

Even 100 years after the house was built, the skill of Eliza Woody was evident in the living room and all of the bedrooms, which were carpeted with her beautiful handmade rugs.  Mabel told us that there was straw underneath the rugs and that every spring, they were taken up and put over the banisters of the two big upstairs porches and beat to get the dust and dirt out.   Clean straw would be put down and the rugs laid and tacked.  These were braided rugs.   Wool strips were cut and then braided together.   The braids were then sewn together to make the desired size carpet.

Not far from the Woody House, was the Snokomo School House, also built of stone.  Records show that Peter Woody paid $700.00 to have the school built so his children and other neighboring children would have a place to go to school.   This beautiful old building was restored as a country school by the Snokomo Silent Workers Club and I was privileged to be the speaker for the rededication ceremonies in 1973.  The Wabaunsee County Historical Society placed an historical marker at the school.

This is a photo of the Snokomo School House, built not far from the Woody residence at a cost of $700.00, paid mostly by Peter L. Woody.   This photograph was taken in 1934 and shows Pauline Shipp, teacher, standing in front.   My great grandmother, Eliza Woody Clark, my grandfather, James Peter Clark, and my mother, Lucille Corbin Clark all attended school here.

Returning to narrative about our family's trip to Georgia, I was reluctant to try and contact my relatives still living in Georgia on count of the controversy between my great great grandfather's desertion and consequent removal from Georgia.  I didn't know what kind of unpleasantness might be harbored by them.   There are always two sides to every story and I didn't know what Peter might have done when he left Georgia.   However, I knew that Thelma Nelson had visited there and had been very well received and had remarked about how wonderful all the Woody Cousins were to her, so I soon overcame my fears and left the Interstate at Dalton, Georgia and headed east on Georgia Highway 76.

The children soon forgot any unpleasantness they may have felt in giving up a day to explore family history, after all, it surely wasn't the first time they had tolerated their father's family history craziness!   The drive into the Blue Ridge Mountains was simply spectacular and they were soon absorbed in the scenery and watching for various animals.  We continued on Highway 76 to East Elijay, and there took Highway 52 to Dahlonega, the county seat of Lumpkin County, Georgia.  The weather continued to be exceptionally warm and beautiful.

The Dahlonega region was homeland to many bands of Cherokee Indians.   The Cherokee are closely related to the Iroquois Indians of the Great Lakes Region and have lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and the Southeast for many hundreds of years.   There is a photograph of my great, great, great grandmother, Percilla Treadway Woody in the archives of the Georgia State Historical Society in Atlanta.  On the back of the photograph is written, "Percilla Woody - full blooded Cherokee." Suches, Georgia, just to the north of Dahlonega, is named for the Cherokee Chief, Suches.   It was one of the main areas where General Winfield Scott gathered the Cherokee at gun point and began their march 1500 miles west to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.  The tragic trek, when 4000 Cherokee lost their lives, is now known as The Trail of Tears.

A photo of Percilla Treadway Woody, now in the Georgia Historical Society archives.  On the back it says, "Percilla Woody full blood Cherokee."   Percilla is wearing a typical Cherokee beaded collar.  The photo was made between 1860 and 1870.  Percila was the mother of Peter Littleton Woody.

Dahlonega is today very much a tourist town and summering location for wealthy residents of Atlanta and other urban areas.  Thank heavens one of our Woody descendants, W. Arthur "The Ranger" Woody, was the first National Forest Ranger appointed in Georgia (1918) and was responsible for the United States purchasing millions and millions of acres of verdant, timber-covered mountains which is today, the Chattahoochee National Forest.  He is said to have seen the last wild deer slaughtered in his region, and vowed to not only bring back the deer population, but preserve vast tracts of mountain land for future generations.   He went to North Carolina, brought deer back with his own funds, and attracted the attention of the government when it began to develop the Chattahoochee Forest.   He remained a ranger until his death in 1944 and was one of the most respected men in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Dahlonega was full of tourists on the beautiful March day in 1988 and we ambled into the local Chamber of Commerce office, near the old courthouse, and asked about the Woody Family.

"Oh my goodness," said the elderly grey haired lady at the desk.   "The Woodys are one of our most prominent families and are very highly respected."   She continued to tell me about her knowledge of the family and then picked up the phone and dialed without us asking her to do so.

"Hello Miss Oline?   There's some nice kin folk of yours here and they'd sure like to talk with you."   She handed me the phone, ready or not, and the next thing I knew I was talking with Oline WOody, widow of "Ranger" Woody's son, Clyne E. Woody.

We chatted a monument, and then she said, "Thelma Nelson said you'd be coming down for a visit one of these days."   I had never mentioned that to Thelma, but Thelma was certainly aware of my love for family and history and must have surmised the same.  "Now you folks come right on out to the house.   I want to take a look at you!"   With that, Ms. Woody gave us directions and we were on our way.

We headed north out of Dahlonega on Highway 19, towards Blairsville.   Then we turned to the northwest on Highway 60, as if going to Suches.    Before we arrived at Suches, we traveled a narrow, black-topped road up, down and around the most rugged and picturesque of areas.   At last, we topped a splendid mountain when my son Nicholas suddenly said, "Dad, look!"   There's a sign that says Woody!"   Sure enough.   Just ahead, was a beautiful National Forest Service marker denoting that we had arrived at Woody Gap, in the Chattahoochee National Forest.

We stopped, unloaded and drank in the grandeur of our surroundings.  For as far as the eye could see, there was beauty of every description.   Purple hued mountains with red, pink and gray granite formations.   Sturdy pine forests and bubbling streams.   Overhead, a huge hawk called its welcome.   Little chipmunks wandered over to sample crackers from the children.   A rush of emotion filled me, as if all my ancestors had gathered to say, "You're home!"  We were humbled and proud to know that we were in a very special place that honored more than 150 years of our family's heritage.

Not wanting to leave, but realizing our limited time, we left Woody's Gap, but vowed to return as soon as we could.  We climbed back into our station wagon and headed north on Highway 60.   We soon  came to Ms. Clyne Woody's nice, brick, ranch home nestled at the bottom of Woody Gap.  Just beside the house, was one of the bluest lakes in Georgia.   She was already at the front door, waiting to greet us and it was all we could do to get the children to come inside long enough to be introduced.   They were ready to "run a little" and explore.   So they went outside and we visited with Ms. Woody for about an hour.   She then said, "There's another cousin you've got to meet, Mabelle Woody Gooch."   I had heard Thelma speak of her and was pleased to have the opportunity.

Ms. Woody phoned and made certain that they were home before giving us directions and sending us on our way.   Although Oline didn't say so, I had the feeling that she was not well.    I visited Dahlonega again in October 1995 and her name was not in the phone book.   I'm assuming that she had passed on.     We will never forget her hospitality and that beautiful home by the blue lake.

Mabelle was a frail little lady, whose eyes twinkled and who radiated a warm feeling of welcome   She was living with her children and grandchildren who had owned a fine cattle operation.  We visited for a long while and the children explored yet another inviting forested parcel of land.   It was nearing supper time and we didn't want to impose so we took our leave.   I asked Ms. Gooch for directions to the old Woody Family Cemetery, which Thelma Nelson had told me was nearby.   Thelma had spoken so lovingly of the cemetery and I wanted to see where my fourth and fifth generation ancestors were laid to rest.  It seemed that it was not more than one or two miles distant from Ms. Gooch's home.   It is in a very remote location, up a little graveled lone, which dead ends at the cemetery.   The cemetery itself is immaculately kept.

The knoll on which the cemetery is located, overlooks the little valley with breath-taking beauty.  It speaks to you and tells you that you have entered a very special place.  Here, lie cherished loved ones--family members---who we never knew but for the oral descriptions and traditions of our loved ones.   The parents of Peter Littleton Woody, John Wesley and Percilla Treadway Woody have stones that are fairly new and indicate that they were placed there by loving descendants.  On the rise, is a very nice family picnic shelter which is used annual for a reunion on Memorial Day Weekend.  It is also used by family members for funeral and other gatherings.

Incidentally, Percilla Woody was a midwife and delivered over 3,000 babies during her lifetime.  When she passed away in 1888, her obituary in the Dahlonega Paper stated that she always added "Percilla" to every girl baby's name that she delivered, making it one of the most popular names in the county.   She was 89 at the time of her death.

Both Ms. Woody and Ms. Gooch invited us to return, but fate has not been kind in providing such an opportunity.   I continue to hope that we will be able to return in some not-to-distant time, for I felt as if I had known these wonderful people all my life and that we were more than welcome.   We were kin."

Hope this answers some questions and creates many more.   I had a very wise professor of education in college.   He said, "Education isn't about answering questions, its about creating a spirit of inquiry which makes it necessary to find answers."   How true.    Happy Trails!!