Dr. John Woodson and Sarah Winston were both born in England and were among the first immigrants to the new Jamestown Colony in Virginia. They arrived in April 1619 on the ship George, which was under the command of Sir George Yardley. John and Sarah settled in Fleur de Hundred, about 30 miles upriver from Jamestown. Dr. Woodson served as a physician for both British soldiers and colonists.
Outbreak of Hostilities, 1644
On April 19, 1644, while returning from a house call, Dr. Woodson was ambushed and killed by Powhatan tribe members within sight of his home. They then set on the house, which was defended by Sarah and a visiting shoemaker named Ligon. Sarah hid her two young sons: John, age 12, and Robert, age 10, under a tub and in a potato hole respectively. Sarah and the shoemaker killed eight tribe members together; the shoemaker used an 8-foot musket that now resides in the Virginia Historical Museum in Richmond.
At one point during the attack, a tribe member began descending into the house through the chimney. Sarah lit a mattress afire in the fireplace, which caused the attacker to fall in confusion. She dispatched the unfortunate young man with a frying pan.
Potato Hole Woodsons
Both sons survived the attack. For generations after, John’s descendants were known as “Tub Woodsons” and Robert’s as “Potato Hole Woodsons.” We are “Potato Hole Woodsons”.
Descendants of the Woodsons include Dolley Todd Madison, wife of President James Madison, and the James brothers, Frank and Jesse James, the notorious bank robbers. Read more about these cousins in An Unlikely Trio!
Read the biographies of Dr. John Woodson and Sarah Woodson for more about their lives, and for the proof of lineage for our family’s membership in the Jamestowne Society.
© 2013 W. Mullins