Francis McCraw

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: , , Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1801, , , Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1810, , Buckingham, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1820, New Canton, Buckingham, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1830, , Buckingham, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1833, , , Virginia, USA

Francis married Mary Harrison Word on 7 Feb 1795 in Littleton, Cumberland, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of Thomas Word and Lockey Harrison) was born on 30 May 1768 in Mohawk, Buckingham, Virginia, USA; died in Jun 1850 in Elysian Fields, Buckingham, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Lockey Harrison McCraw was born on 15 Nov 1795; died on 19 Sep 1861.
2. Thomas Word McCraw was born on 18 May 1797 in , , Virginia, USA.
3. Mary Alice McCraw was born on 26 Dec 1798 in Elysian Fields, Buckingham, Virginia, USA; died in 1888 in , Charlotte, Virginia, USA.
4. Cary Harrison McCraw was born on 6 Oct 1800 in , Buckingham, Virginia, USA; died in 1875.
5. Nancy Ann Word McCraw was born on 30 Jun 1802; died on 19 May 1825.
6. Francis Dancy McCraw was born on 16 Jul 1804 in , Buckingham, Virginia, USA; died in , Carroll, Virginia, USA.
7. Miller Woodson McCraw was born on 5 Sep 1807 in , Buckingham, Virginia, USA; died in 1866 in Princeton, Dallas, Arkansas, USA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Francis McCraw
• Residence: 1757, , Cumberland, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1775, , Cumberland, Virginia, USA

Francis married Mary Ann Woodson on 18 Sep 1752 in , Cumberland, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of John Woodson and Mary Miller) was born in 1738 in Southam Parish, Cumberland, Virginia, USA; died in Oct 1801 in , Powhatan, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1746, , Goochland, Virginia, USA

Notes:

The name William MaCraw has been found in York Co., Virginia records in the early 1720s. It is beleived he may have come to the Colonies sometime after the 1715 Jacobite Rebellions in Scotland. John Baynes writes in his book about the '15 Rebellion "The Earl of Seaforth (MacKenzie) was joined by two big reinforcements raised by Lord Duffus. One consisted of 700 of MacDonald's men from Sleat (on Skye). He then writes "The other consisted of 500 men which included the MacKinnons, the McCraws, and the Chisholms of Strathglass." The Skey MacKinnons included 150 of the 500 men. The Strathglass Chisholms included 200 of the 500 men. That means that 150 of the 500 would have been McCraws.

William McCraw fled to America from the Isle of Skye, Scotland after the Battle of Culloden Moor by the British in 1746. After Willism's death in 1752, the Cumberland Co. VA. court ordered the Church Wardens of Southam Parish to bind out the McCraw orphans. One son was Benjamin, who eventually moved to Surry Co. NC. Three sons of Benjamin moved to Cleveland Co. NC, then Rutherford Co. in 1801. These sons Samuel, Cabraid, and Baird, married three daughters of Jesse and Mary Tate, Susannah, Mary and Kisiah. While some of Samuels's descendants are found in Henderson Co., most of the McCraw's are descended from Baird and Kisiah's son Jesse. Jesse married Mary T. Jones on 11 Sept. 1840.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden

William came from the Isle of Skye, Scotland, arriving in Virginia prior to 1746 when he appears on the Tithe Lists of Goochland Co. VA. He executed his Will 28, Nov. 1748 which was filed in Cumberland Co. VA in May of 1752 after his death. His wife was not mentioned in his Will and since he had left the care of his younger children to Francis, it can be presumed that she had died earlier. It is thought by the present generation of descendants that his wife might have been a Miss Dancy, Dantze, or Dance but no proof exists. * Goochland Co. VA was formed in 1728 from Henrico Co. The western protion of Goochland lying on both sides of the James River, in 1744, became Albermarle Co. In 1749, the southeast portion of Goochland became Cumberland Co. VA.

1746 Tithe list by John Payne, Goochland Co., VA
No.Tithes Names
Wm. McCraw, Frans. McCraw, Wm. McCraw, Jr.

10 June 1747 Tithe List by Jas. Holman, Southam Parish, Goochland Co., VA
William McCraw, William McCraw, Jr., Samuel McCraw

James Cocke's list
Francis McCraw, overseer

10 June 1748 List of Tithes by John Payne Southam Parish, Goochland Co., VA
Willm. McCraw, Willm. McCraw,Jr., Saml. McCraw, Willm. Wetherford

28 Nov 1748 William Maccraw executes his Will in Goochland Co., VA

William married Elizabeth Dancy. Elizabeth was born in 1700 in Isle of Skye, Scotland; died in 1748 in Southam Parish, Cumberland, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Mary Miller. Mary was born on 31 Jan 1710 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA; died on 12 Dec 1775 in , Cumberland, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 7 Jun 1700, , Charles City, Virginia, USA

Benjamin married Sarah Porter on 7 Jul 1700 in , Charles City, Virginia, USA. Sarah (daughter of William Porter, Jr and Margaret Amos) was born in 1668 in , Henrico, Virginia, USA; died in Aug 1723 in , Henrico, Virginia, USA; was buried in , Henrico, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 25 May 1700, , Henrico, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 7 Jun 1700, , Charles City, Virginia, USA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1656, , , Virginia, USA

Col married Elizabeth Ferris on 21 Oct 1656 in Curles Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of Richard Ferris (Ferrar Fariss) and Sarah Hambleton (Ferris Ferrar)) was born on 8 May 1634 in Curles Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA; died in 1689 in Curles Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Margaret Amos on 30 Sep 1681 in , Henrico, Virginia, USA. Margaret was born in 1654 in , New Kent, Virginia, USA; died on 14 Mar 1733 in , Lancaster, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Arrival: 1619, , , Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1624, Fleur de Hundred, Prince George, Virginia, USA

Notes:

Dr. John Woodson was born in 1586 in Devonshire, England. He matriculated at St. John's College in Oxford on March 1, 1604. He lived in Dorsetshire until 1619, when he and his wife Sarah decided to join an expedition to the new colony of Jamestown. On January 29th, 1619, the ship George sailed from England and landed the following April at Jamestown, Virginia. The ship carried Sir George Yeardley and a company of his men to the Virginia colony, where Sir George had been appointed the new governor. Among the passengers on the George was Dr. John Woodson, attached to Sir George's company as surgeon. His wife Sarah accompanied him, and was one of only a handful of women to voyage to the colony before 1620. At the time of their arrival the Jamestown colony was just over a dozen years old and numbered no more than 600 residents. Drought, disease, starvation, and war with the local tribe of Powhatan Indians meant that only about half the colonists who arrived between 1607 and 1624 survived.

Dr. John Woodson settled on Governor Yeardley's plantation, known as Flowerdew Hundred, which was about 15 miles up the James river from Jamestown. Dr. Woodson lived in a small, fortified compound on the plantation with about 10 other families. Dr. Woodson and his wife arrived at the start of the second major wave of colonists to Jamestown. Between 1619 and 1622, the number of colonists grew to about 1000. This tide of newcomers upset Chief Opechancanough of the Powhatan Confederacy of Indian tribes, who saw the influx as proof that the English planned to expand in to Powhatan lands.

The Massacre of 1622
On March 22, 1622 Chief Opechancanough launched a series of coordinated attacks on all the English plantations and towns developing around Jamestown. Powhatan Confederacy braves entered each settlement with trade goods, looking as if they wished to barter. When the colonists approached them, the braves grabbed any weapons or tools that were at hand and attacked the unprepared colonists. 347 people were killed, a quarter of the colony's total population. Only the most fortified positions survived. The fortifications at Flowerdew Hundred held and the Woodson family survived the attack.

The settlement at Flowerdew Hundred plantation was one of the few that was allowed to remain outside the walls of Jamestown after the 1622 attack. The next ten years involved attacks of retribution by the colonists. The time passed relatively peacefully for the Woodsons. Two sons were born to them, John in 1632 and Robert in 1634. In 1634 the colonists built a palisade defense wall across a six-mile wide strip of land between the James River and York River estuaries. This structure may have lulled the colonists in to a false sense of security. The Powhatan tribes were in no state to attack, having been nearly wiped out by English reprisal attacks. Emboldened, the colonists started building plantations outside the palisade around 1640. Chief Opechancanough was once again outraged by the English encroachment on his lands.

The Indian Massacre of 1644
An account of the Woodson family's ordeal during this attack was handed down through the Woodson family and first printed by a Woodson family genealogist in the early 19th century. On the morning of April 18, 1644, Thomas Ligon, a soldier in the Governor's employ, stopped by the Woodson's house seeking Dr. Woodson's services. Sarah Woodson informed him that her husband was out on his rounds through the nearby plantations, and Ligon elected to wait for the doctor to return. When Ligon saw the Indians approaching, he raised an alarm and told Sarah to hide inside with her two sons. Ligon grabbed his eight-foot muzzle-loaded rifle, and bracing his gun in the fork of a tree, fired on the approaching Indians. Meanwhile, Sarah gathered her boys together and desperately searched for a place to hide her 10 and 12 year old sons. She spied the root cellar where the family kept potatoes during the winter. She put Robert in the pit and covered it. Then she upturned a washtub and had John hide beneath it. With the boys hidden, she grabbed her husband's rifle and proceeded to load and fire upon the Indians from the window of the cabin. Before she could get off a second shot, the Indians had made their way around the back of the cabin and out of her sight. Then she heard sounds on the side of the cabin and on the roof. The Indians climbed atop the cabin and two of them attempted to come down the chimney. The fire had gone out, but she still had a pot of hot water sitting in the hearth. Thinking quickly, she upended the pot in to the fireplace just as the first Indian descended in to view, scalding his face. His companion then climbed out over his wounded fellow and came towards her. Sarah grabbed an iron roasting spit hanging next to the hearth and swung it at her attacker, knocking him senseless. Sarah grabbed her children from their hiding places and fled the house. She ran towards Ligon, who was still firing upon the Indians, who were now in retreat. Ligon struck another Indian as they fled. In total, he and Sarah killed seven of their attackers. As she watched the Indians flee back in to the woods, Sarah noticed a familiar horse wandering riderless through the field from which the Indians had attacked. It was her husband's horse. Running to it, she found her husband lying beside the road to their house, an arrow in his chest. He had evidently returned just as the Indians attacked, and having forgot his musket at home, was defenseless against them.

Dr. John Woodson was one of 500 colonists who died that fateful day in 1644. Although the number was even greater than that killed in the 1622 attack, it represented less than 10% of the colony's population in 1644. Nevertheless, the retribution by the colonists was severe. A counterattack on all the nearby Powhatan-allied tribes nearly wiped them out. In 1646 Chief Opechancanough was captured and brought to Jamestown. He was nearly 100 years old at the time. While being held at the stockade awaiting trial, he was killed by one of his guards in revenge for a family member killed in the 1644 attack. After the death of their leader, the Powhatan Confederacy fell apart, and the individual tribes were either confined to reservations or left the area.

Sarah Woodson remarried twice and outlived all her husbands. She died in 1660. Her sons both married and had large families. Their descendants passed on the story of Sarah saving her sons from the Indian massacre, and referred to themselves as being either "potato hole" or "washtub" Woodsons. The Woodson musket was also passed down from generation to generation, until in 1925 it was donated to the Virginia Historical Society, where it is on display in Richmond.

Dr. Woodson and Sarah were also one of the first recorded slaveholders in Colonial America. In 1619 a Dutch privateer ship called The White Lion, and an English privateer called the Treasurer, captured a Portuguese slave ship São João Bautista in the Caribbean. The privateers took the slaves aboard their ships and set sail for Jamestown to sell them to the colonists. The ships arrived at Point Comfort, on the James River, late in August 1619, with "20 and odd" Africans aboard the White Lion and at least a few more aboard the Treasurer. Dr. Woodson bought some of these Africans. In 1623 a census of the colony listed 23 Africans, six of whom appear in Dr. Woodson's household. Notably, Dr. Woodson's six African servants are the most of any colonist, and one of only two households that did not give names for their African servants on the 1623 census. The fact that all the other Africans listed in the census were named could be interpreted as them having been indentured at the time of the census, while Dr. Woodson's servants were slaves. This is similar to how slaves were counted but not named on future census. If so, then the record of Dr. Woodson's servants on this census could be considered the first recorded mention of African slaves in Colonial America.

It should be noted that in the early stages of Colonial America, Africans, though imported against their will, were not necessarily considered slaves as we understand it today. Instead, they were considered indentured servants, similar to poorer English who agreed to work off their passage to the colonies under the headright system. Several Africans were able to gain their freedom and become planters with headright contracts of their own. Anthony Johnson was one such man, transported prior to 1622. By 1651 he was a free man with 250 acres and five indentured servants of his own. But Anthony Johnson is the exception. By 1650 there was already some distinction made between indentured servants based on race. The records of the early colony in Virginia show a number of African indentured servants having "life terms" of servitude, while their white counterparts only served a limited seven-year term. This was the first step towards the racial, hereditary institution of slavery in America.

It is not clear what happened to Dr. Woodson's servants. There is no further record of them in his household (it is possible they were killed in the Indian attack of 1644). When Sarah died in 1660, her will did not mention any servants. Around 1670 the first laws defining slaves were enacted in the colony. When their son John Jr. wrote his will in 1699, he bequeathed several slaves to his children. The idea that one man could be another man's property was fully accepted by 1700 in Colonial Virginia.

Selected sources:
"Virginia's First Africans" from the Encyclopedia Virginia.
Archaeological Excavation of Flowerdew Hundred, by University of Virginia
J.C. Schreiber, "The Woodson Family"
Paul E. Pennebaker, "Dr. John Woodson"

Dr married Sarah Isabelle Winston. Sarah was born in 1600 in , Devonshire, England; died on 17 Jan 1660 in Fleur de Hundred, Prince George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Sarah Hambleton (Ferris Ferrar) in 1637 in Jamestown, James City, Virginia, USA. Sarah was born in 1616 in , James City, Virginia, USA; died on 5 Feb 1690 in Curles Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]