Irene Woodard's parentage has not been proven,
but it's obvious she was another granddaughter of Christopher Woodward.
One of her descendants, Lela Vee Hunt Peterson, has worked for over
fifty years trying to find records to correctly place Irene Woodard.
In the process, she has uncovered and shared many other valuable Woodward
records.
Irene's history is especially
interesting and puzzling at the same time. Irene Woodard Hyatt Wiggins
made two Revolutionary War pension applications as the widow of Allen
Alse Hyatt. One was in Sept., 1855 when she stated she was age 63;
the other in June, 1859 when she stated she was age 65. In one record
she stated she was married in 1810 in Anson Co.; the other in 1811
in Anson Co. The Anson Co. marriage records were lost, so it's impossible
to determine which date is correct. Her 1850 census gave age 55. None
of these records for Irene's age agree, but they place her birth at
some time between 1792 and 1795. Women had a tendency to shave a few
years off their ages whenever they could, so the earlier date may
be closer to being correct. Her second husband was Willis Wiggins.
Irene's first husband, Allen
Alse Hyatt, was the son of Asa Hyatt. Apparently the Asa Hyatt family
moved from Wake Co. to Anson Co. at approximately the same time as
the Jordan Woodward family. It was not unusual for several families
to pull up stakes and move together to new lands, and that may have
been the case with the Jordan Woodward family and the Asa Hyatt family.
Irene Woodard married Allen Alse Hyatt in Anson Co. in 1810 or 1811.
Dorcas Hyatt, daughter of Asa Hyatt and sister to Allen Alse Hyatt,
married Berryman Traywick, son of Robert and Moore Traywick, in Wake
Co. in 1804. Two daughters of Berryman Traywick and Dorcas Hyatt,
Sarah R. Traywick and Elizabeth Brown Traywick, later married Joseph
Hatcher/Henry Woodward, son of Jeptha Treadway Woodward and grandson
of Jordan Woodward. There are also indications of a possible connection
between the Hyatts, the Hatchers, and the Oneils. (See p. 368)
Marriages were usually conducted
in the bride's home town, so it struck me as strange that Dorcas Hyatt,
whose family had already moved to Anson Co., married in Wake Co. According
to Kay L. Parnell (Mrs. Wray E. Parnell) whose husband descends from
John Traywick, Dorcas Hyatt had previously married Edward Hocutt before
her marriage to Berryman Traywick. I'm not totally comfortable with
this statement. In 1801, Edward Hocutt's wife was Eleanor Traywick,
daughter of Robert and Moore Traywick and sister to Berryman Traywick.
This Edward Hocutt was still living in 1808 when Abner Traywick's
land was divided. The bondsman for Dorcas Hyatt's Traywick marriage
was an Edward Hocutt. Was there another Edward Hocutt? If Dorcas was
previously married, then probably she remained in Wake Co. with her
first husband when the Hyatts left for Anson Co., then joined them
after her marriage to Berryman Traywick. An earlier Edward Hocutt/Howcutt
appeared on records involving Samuel Woodward of Chowan Co. (See p.
298) A careful search of the Hocutt family might reveal more records
of interest.
Jordan Woodward's family lived
in Anson Co., so at first glance it would seem likely that Irene was
his daughter. According to Gordon H. Turner, Jordan is supposed to
have had fifteen children, and less than fifteen have been identified.
So it is possible that Irene was a daughter who was not mentioned
by Asa Lawrence Woodward. (See p. 21)
According to the research of
Lela Vee Hunt Peterson, Irene Woodard Hyatt left nine known children,
all by her first marriage: Elisha Hyatt, Sanders Jones Hyatt, Pleasant
Woodard Hyatt, Cynthia Hyatt, Rosanna (or Roseann) Hyatt, Martha Hyatt,
Joseph J. Hyatt, Sarah Jane Elizabeth Hyatt, and Daniel Franklin Hyatt.
Many years ago, Mrs. Peterson
established contact with Jeff D. Hyatt, an elderly great-grandson
of Irene Woodard. Jeff D. Hyatt was the son of another Pleasant Woodard
Hyatt (not the son above) who was the son of Elisha Hyatt. As a young
boy, Jeff D. Hyatt had lived for a while with his great-grandmother,
Irene Woodard. According to Mrs. Peterson, Jeff D. Hyatt stated in
a letter to her that Irene had told him that her son Pleasant Woodard
Hyatt had been named for her father. Unfortunately, that letter written
by Jeff D. Hyatt has been lost. Because of Jeff D. Hyatt's statement,
Mrs. Peterson is convinced that Irene was another daughter of Woodward.
If you have nothing more than his statement as remembered by Mrs.
Peterson to go on, it certainly sounds convincing that Pleasants Woodward
must have been Irene's father.
But this does not seem to agree
with the other information we have for Pleasants Woodward's family.
Since Irene was born between 1792 and 1795, she should have appeared
on the 1800 census as age 0-10. Pleasants Woodward's census listed
only one female in that age frame, and his daughter, Winifred Woodward,
born about 1798, would also have to fit in that frame. Irene was not
named as a daughter in either the letters of Samantha Ann Smith Currie
or Emma Woodward. None of Pleasants Woodward's other children ever
left records that associated them with Anson Co.
Lela Vee Hunt Peterson somehow
picked up on some family lore that said that Pleasants Woodward's
children went to live with Jordan Woodward because Pleasants remarried
and his children by Winifred Utley didn't get along with their new
stepmother. The family lore also said that Pleasants Woodward had
15 children by two wives. At the time, Mrs. Peterson was corresponding
with Mrs. Gordon H. Turner. She later told me that this story had
come from Allean Wright Turner, but she didn't know how Mrs. Turner
had learned of it. Mrs. Peterson allowed me to read all her old letters
from Mrs. Turner and the carbons of her own letters to Mrs. Turner.
I did find in Mrs. Peterson's letters references to this story, but
I never found in either set of letters the original telling.
This story sounds suspiciously
like the statement made later by Gordon Turner in his book The History
of Scotts Hill, Tennessee that Jordan Woodward produced fifteen children.
His actual statement was in relation to Phoebe Ellen Woodward:
Mrs. Phoebe Ellen Austin was
born near her husband's N. Carolina birthplace in 1798. In great contrast
to her husband physically, she was a small woman seldom tipping the
scales at over 100 pounds. Her parents were Jourdan (variously also
Jordan and Jordon) Woodward and the former Eadie Jones. She was one
of 15 brothers and sisters and her father was a Revolutionary War
soldier.
How the part about Pleasants
Woodward and two wives got into it is beyond me. I still don't know
how the Turners obtained this information about fifteen children,
let alone why they first thought it related to Pleasants Woodward
and then later decided it related to Jordan Woodward. It certainly
was not Pleasants Woodward who was the father of this large flock,
and the Turners seem to have come to the conclusion that it was Jordan
Woodward. I suppose this was because at one time Mrs. Turner believed
that Phoebe Ellen Woodward was the daughter of Pleasants Woodward,
so if Phoebe Ellen was one of fifteen children, then Pleasants must
have been the father of fifteen children. There was no mention of
Jordan having two wives in the book. There was similarly no mention
of Pleasants' children coming to live with him. Jordan Woodward's
censuses do not reflect that many children, let alone any extras.
Asa Lawrence Woodward left
a statement that named his grandfather, Jeptha Treadway "Jap"
Woodward, and Jepthah's brothers and sisters as best he could remember
them: Dabney, Jesse, Lucinda, Jordan, John, Bathsheba, Phoebe Ellen,
and Ben. (See p. 21) Although he did not name the father of these
siblings, they were obviously Jordan Woodward's children. One was
named Jordan, others named sons Jordan, and they were raised in Anson
Co. Jordan Woodward was the only Woodward living in that area at that
time, and therefore would be the only logical father even if the name
Jordan didn't appear so many times in the family.
This family lore about Pleasants
Woodward's children going to live with Jordan Woodward created a lot
of confusion. For many years, Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Turner worked
under the assumption that the children named by Asa Lawrence Woodward
must have been the children of Pleasants Woodward rather than Jordan
Woodward. The confusion came about because of the family lore and
the fact that the name Pleasant also turned up in the descendants
of Phoebe Ellen Woodward who was named by Asa Lawrence Woodward as
his grandfather's sister. Phoebe Ellen Woodward married Charles Austin
and named a son Pleasant Austin. It was assumed that this son was
named for Pleasants Woodward. As it turned out, the name Pleasant
had also been used in the Austin family. Charles Austin's half-brother
was named Pleasant Austin. Of course, it was only natural to further
assume that Phoebe Ellen Woodward must have been named for Jacob Utley's
wife Phebe. Surely Phoebe Ellen Woodward had to be a daughter of Pleasants
Woodward and Winifred Utley. Therefore, all of Phoebe Ellen's brothers
and sisters as named by Asa Lawrence Woodward were more children of
Pleasants Woodward. Pleasants suddenly had a whole new set of children.
It was further believed that Asa Lawrence Woodward had just forgotten
to include Irene Woodard in his list. Irene was living in Anson Co.,
too, and named a son Pleasant Woodard Hyatt, to honor her father according
to Jeff D. Hyatt. This reasoning caused Pleasants to gain another
daughter, Irene. Not long afterwards, the Turners made a trip to Raleigh
and apparently discovered the deed in which Christopher Woodward was
named as a son of Pleasants Woodward. They also found indications
of another son named Joseph Woodward. Mrs. Turner's letter said they
had determined that Pleasants' children did not go to live with Jordan,
but she did not include any of the records they had found. She promised
to send the records later, but never did. Mrs. Peterson added the
son Christopher to the family of Pleasants Woodward. Joan Brink later
used the information from Mrs. Peterson's group sheets when she published
her book on the Utley family. The family of Pleasants Woodward and
Winifred Utley as published in the book listed all of the children
named by Asa Lawrence Woodward plus Irene Woodard plus Christopher
Woodward. Only one of these children was correct, Christopher.
Although the error concerning
the siblings named by Asa Lawrence Woodward has been sorted out, and
those children can be related to Jordan Woodward, Irene Woodard was
not named in that group. So she was still left unplaced. Mrs. Peterson
still believes she was a daughter of Pleasants Woodward because of
Jeff D. Hyatt's statement, but I simply don't see any way that she
could be.
Of course, the fact that she
was living in Anson Co. at the time of her marriage would tend to
associate her with Jordan Woodward. If Jordan Woodward's wife was
in fact Eadie Jones, then Irene's son named Sanders Jones Hyatt might
reflect Eadie Jones's family. But that does not explain why Irene
named a son Pleasant Woodard Hyatt and told her great-grandson that
this son had been named for her father.
There is another possibility
that perhaps might explain some of this. Irene Woodard might have
been the daughter of Pleasants Woodward's youngest sister, Mary Woodward.
The 1793 Wake Co. court minutes
included two references to an illegitimate child conceived of Mary
Woodward and sired by Nathaniel Jones, son of Lewis Jones. One record
used the name Polly Woodward, but it was obviously a record concerning
the same illigitimate child. Polly was a common nickname for Mary.
There were several Nathaniel Jones in Wake Co., but since this one
was referred to as the son of Lewis Jones, there's no doubt that he
was the same Nathaniel Jones who was a near neighbor to the Woodwards
and later became the father of Delia Jones, Dolly Jones, and Dicey
Jones. Neither the child's name or sex was given. Probably the child
would have used the last name Woodward. Irene Woodard was born at
about the same time as Mary Woodward's child.
Pleasants Woodward inherited
Christopher Woodward's home plantation in 1785. Perhaps Mary, still
a child at the time and under the guardianship of her brother Jordan
Woodward, continued to live in the familiar surroundings of her family
home with Pleasants Woodward and his wife, Winifred Utley. There was
a female of Mary's age on Pleasants' 1800 census, and it also appears
from this census that one of Pleasants' younger brothers may have
continued to live in the home, too. If Mary did continue to live in
her family home after her father's death, it could be that Mary raised
her child in Pleasants' home at least for a short period, which would
explain the child looking up to Pleasants as a father. However, if
this was the case, it must have occurred between censuses or the child
was left off of the census. No extra child of Irene's age was listed
on Pleasant's 1800 census even though a young woman of Mary's age
was included.
Polly Woodward married Augustus
B. Turner in 1801. Corbell Woodward was the bondsman. The family could
not be located on NC censuses until 1840. The Wake Co. censuses for
1810 and 1820 were lost, so if they were living in Wake Co. that would
explain why those censuses couldn't be found. But the census for this
family also could not be found in 1830, and there is no explanation
for that census. An Augustus Turner with a wife of the right age finally
turned up on the 1840 Wake Co. census.
Other Wake Co. Turners moved
to Anson Co. Jasper M. Turner was one of them. It is not known if
Augustus B. Turner and wife Mary/Polly Woodward were among the Turners
who moved to Anson Co., but it is a distinct possibility. If this
was the case, then Mary Woodward's child probably would have been
taken with them. The Anson Co. censuses for 1810 and 1820 were not
lost, and Augustus Turner was not listed in Anson Co. If he did spend
any time in Anson Co., he apparently returned to Wake Co. (See p.
183 )
Jordan Woodward moved to Anson
Co. in 1802, the year after Mary's marriage. Mary's child would have
been about 9 or 10 years old at that time. Since Jordan had been Mary's
guardian, surely he must have felt that his responsibility to look
after Mary's affairs extended to her child as well. It is possible
that Mary's child was unhappy after her mother's marriage and wanted
to live in another home. Although she might have been very attached
to Pleasants Woodward, his wife Winifred Utley died during the same
period, and it might have been impossible for Pleasants to take in
another child under the circumstances. So perhaps Mary's child went
to live with Jordan Woodward and ended up in Anson Co. Of course,
this is nothing more than speculation, but it does offer a possible
explanation as to how Irene Woodard could have come to Anson Co.,
why she considered Pleasants Woodward a father figure, and why she
was not included as one of Jordan Woodward's children as remembered
by Asa Lawrence Woodward.
If Irene Woodard was the daughter
of Mary Woodard and Nathaniel Jones, perhaps when she moved to Anson
Co., she tried to hide her illegitimacy by claiming to be the daughter
of Pleasants Woodward. I can't imagine any other reason she would
have told her great-grandson, Jeff D. Hyatt, this story about the
origin of Pleasant Woodard Hyatt's name. Or perhaps she said that
Pleasant Woodard Hyatt was named for a man who was "like a father
to her", and her great-grandson misunderstood or his memory became
confused over the years. Jeff D. Hyatt related the story to Lela Vee
Hunt Peterson when he was quite old. Unfortunately, his letter has
been lost, so we can't check the exact wording of his statement. I
do think Irene originally came from Wake Co. and named her son to
honor Pleasants Woodward, but I am not at all convinced that Irene
was Pleasants' daughter.
Irene Woodard named another
son Sanders Jones Hyatt. Again the name Sanders has turned up in a
Woodward descendant, but this time the name can't be traced back to
Winifred Utley's ancestry since Irene was not descended from Winifred
Utley. Irene also could not have been the daughter of James Woodward
and Eliza
Copyright: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Date Created: Saturday, 01-Feb-1997, 12:01 AM
Date Modified:
Saturday, 20-Oct-2007 9:45 AM
