Shep's Place Family Tree

Pay Roll I PD 189 He was a private & paid £2 from July 15-August 15, 1780. He was with Capt. James Patten's Co. in the Virginia Militia under Brig. Gen. George Rogers Clark.

Inventory of the personal estate of Joseph Wood, Botetourt County.

A list of the personal property 7 slaves of Joseph Wood Deceased appraised-----

1 Brown Horse $70
1 Sorrell horse $40
1 Sorrell Colt $81
9 2 % 3 year old Steers & Heffers $58
9 Yearlins and Calves $22-50
1 Black Bull $12
10 old Sheep & 3 lambs $13
15 molding & grooving planes $7-50
3 smoothing Do &Jonter $2-75
8 Chizels $1-25
1 Hand Saw 2 tenant and 1 compass $4
a foot adz $1
1 Square & Gouges &
Sundry old Irons $1
1 Pair Stelyards $4- 50
1 Cow and Steer $18
25 Head Hoggs first choice $50
25 Ditto next choice $25
Total $483

1 Waggon & Gears 40
1 Wind Mill 18
2 Barshears plows & Hangin 5
1 Iron tooth Harrow 5
3 Shovle 3 75
1 Grubbing Hoe & 1 Sprouting do 1
1 Dunge fork
1 Cutting Box & Sundrie old Iron 2
2 Gross wedges 1 drawing
knife 1 auger 2
etc.

1 Negro man named Joe 500
1 Negro by named Abriham 500
1 Negro girl named Suky 140
1 Negro boy named Randolph 250
1 Negro boy named Burrell 200
1 Negro boy named George 200
1 Ditto girl named Rachel 100
1 Ditto girl named Patsy 80
1 Ditto girl Violet 80
1 Ditto woman named Sarrah 450
1 Ditto girl named Fanny 420
1 Ditto girl Haily 300
1 Ditto woman named Eady 420
1 Ditto man Daniel 100
1 shot gunn 8
1 Ditto 5
3 Beds & furniture 90
etc.

Amount brought forward 4981

5 volumes domestic Encyclopedia 2
2 volumes theological Dictionary 4
1 Virginia Justice 4
1 vol Taplins Farrier 1 50
1 Royal Gauger 2
1 arthmetick 1
3 vol Youngs Night Thoughts 1 25
1 Vol Weather Spoons 1 50
1 Buckans Medicine 2 50
1 Smollets History of England 1
1 Vol Harveys Meditations 1
1 Vol Enfields Elocution 75
1 Esay on astronomy 75
1 Morses abridged Geography 1
1 Simpsons Plea for Religion 1
1 Large Bible & sundry old Books 3
1 pair Brass Candle Sticks 2
2 Hachets 5
1 paid Scales of Wat 2
1 pair Smoothing Iron 1 50
1 pair tongs & 1 pair fire dogs 3 50

8 chairs 2 50
1 pair fire doges & 1 Chest 5
1 Large Kittle 4
1 Small Ditto 1
4 Dutch ovins 4 50
1 Large Pot 1 50
2 Large Spinning wheels 3
1 Loome & warping bars gears 10
A quantity of Ry groing on the ground
Supposed to be 20 acres @ 3.50 cents 70
A quantity of Wheat supposed to be
20 acres at $3.15 70
$5205,66

Later they appraised his corn, hemp and stacks of hay which came to $1306,22 ‎(19 Nov 1816)‎

Joseph and his family appear to have moved from Prince Edward to Charlotte County about 1779; son Edward was born in Prince Edward County in 1777, but sons Thomas and Joseph were born in Charlotte County, in 1780 and 1786 respectively. However, Joseph continued to invest in Prince Edward County land; on 27 July 1785 he bought an additional 300 acres of land from Samuel Arbuckle for £500. The deed speaks of him as Joseph Wood "of Charlotte County."

In 1788 Joseph Wood was 44 yrs old, eleven of his thirteen children had been born, and his first son Carlos had married ‎(1787)‎. On March 8 of that year Joseph sold 100 acres of his Prince Edward County land to Thomas Worsham of Amelia County for £27. About that time he moved his family to Botetourt County, perhaps settling on the Craigs Creek tract.

In 1802 Joseph Wood bought 454 acres of land in Botetourt County from the estate of Alexander Breckenridge. The property consisted of an island in the James River plus a larger amount of land north of the river. The island was known as Cahogan's ‎(or Gauhagen's)‎ Island, but its name then became Wood's Island.....In time the descendants of Joseph and Martha populated this portion of Botetourt County so abundantly that it came to be called "Wood Town".

The home Joseph built, was called "Pleasant Hill". Judging by the property inventory after his death Joseph raised corn, livestock and hemp.

In the 1810 Census Martha isn't listed, which would mean that she had died by then. Joseph Sr. aged 65 years was there. There were two free persons working there as well as 10 slaves.

Joseph Wood's will was written in March 1814 and probated in Botetourt County in April 1816. It names as heirs his children Carlos, Edward, Thomas, Joseph, James, Mary Stull, Martha Moore, Elizabeth, Ann and Sally. His property was assessed in May of that year. The inventory shows that he was rather well-to-do, having 14 slaves and a library that included treatises on law, medicine, religion,history, elocution, geography and astronomy. However he did not believe in educating his daughters. The wills of Elizabeth, Ann and Sarah are signed with xs.

When Martha died is not known. Two deeds from 1802 in Botetourt Co. name Martha as Joseph's wife, but Joseph's will does not speak of a wife. The place where Joseph and Martha Wood were buried is also unknown.

Joseph's will ‎(1814)‎ says "I give...all my household furniture to be for the use of my five Children that is now living with me to be Equally divided...." These were probably Elizabeth ‎(44)‎, Ann ‎(40)‎, Sarah ‎(31)‎, Francis ‎(25)‎, and James ‎(24)‎. Sarah and James would soon marry and make their own lives, but family tradition is that Elizabeth and Ann ‎(spinsters)‎, Lucy ‎(later widowed)‎, and Francis died at "the old homestead" in later years. Francis is a puzzle. He was not mentioned in his father's or his sister Elizabeth's ‎(1837)‎ wills, but sister Anne's will ‎(1847)‎ left him a slave girl named Susan, so he had not died. I speculate that he may have been handicapped in a way that prevented him from making his way in the world."

Joseph Wood has been the entree for women from our families who wanted to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. According to Donald Foglesongs's genealogy, Joseph Woods lived from 1740 to 1795 and is DAR Ancestor #298044.