Dr. John WOODSON, 8th great grandfather of Jerry Mower, immigrated to America in 1619 as ship's doctor on the George, an English ship, whose destination was Jamestown, Virginia. I quote from Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their Connections Vol. 1 by Henry Morton Woodson, published in 1915:
"When Governor Dale returned to England in 1618, Sir George Yeardley was appointed to succeed him. The colony at this time numbered nearly two thousand men of high character; many of them being younger sons of the nobility who had come to the new country to make their own fortunes and were not afraid nor ashamed to do the work necessary to accomplish that end. These young gentlemen, owing to the law of primogeniture, lived at home under very great disadvantage, and could accomplish something for themselves, only by going to some part of the world where that law was not operative in its strictest construction. On the 29th day of January, 1619, the ship George sailed from England and in the following April landed at Jamestown, Virginia. This vessel brought the new Governor, Sir George Yeardley and about one hundred passengers; among whom were Dr. John Woodson, of Dorsetshire, and his wife Sara, whom he had married in Devonshire.
"Dr. John Woodson came in the capacity of surgeon to a company of soldiers who were sent over for the better protection of the colonists; for the Indians about this time were scowling and seemed disposed to resent further encroachments of the white man.
"It was during the administration of Governor Yeardley that the settlements were divided into eleven burroughs, each of which was allowed two representatives. These representatives were called burgesses and when assembled, constituted the house of burgesses, which, with the governor and council, formed the general assembly or colonial government. This general assembly convened at Jamestown, June 19, 1619, and was the first legislative assembly to perform its functions in Virginia.
"Dr. John Woodson who came over in the ship George, with Governor Yeardley, was a man of high character and of great value to the young colony. He was born 1586 in Devonshire, England, matriculated at St. John's College, March 1, 1604, at the age of eighteen...
"Like other young gentlemen of his time, he, no doubt had a desire to see the new country in which the Virginia Company of London had planted their colony a dozen years previously: so at the age of thirty-three he, with his young wife, Sara, embarked on the ship George and landed at Jamestown, April 1619.
"Sometime in 1620, a black looking vessel landed at Jamestown, having on board about twenty negro captives whom the Dutch skipper had kidnapped somewhere on the coast of Africa. These were sold to the colonists as slaves and found to be quite profitable in the cultivation of tobacco which was the staple crop at that time.
"Dr. John Woodson, at this time or shortly afterwards, bought six of these Africans who were registered in 1623 as part of his household, and simply as Negars, without giving them any names.
"It was also during this year, 1620, that the London Company sent over about one hundred maids, respectable young women possessed of no wealth but of irreproachable character, who desired to seek their fortunes in the new world. These young women were not permitted to remain a great while in single blessedness. Their hands were eagerly sought in marriage by the young men of the colony. When a young man had wooed and won the maid of his choice, in order that she might become his wife, he was required to pay in tobacco, the price of her passage across the ocean.
"The relations between the Indians and the white colonists appeared to be friendly enough, but underneath the placid surface lay a black plot which burst forth in all its horror on the 22nd day of March, 1622.
"While the colonists were engaged in their usual vocations, the Indians suddenly fell upon the settlements and killed three hundred and forty-seven men, women and children in an incredibly short space of time. Of course the Indians were made to suffer ample punishment for this outrage. Every man who could handle a gun, took the field and the savages were hunted down and killed without mercy and driven back into the depths of the wilderness. Then ensued a period of respite from the Indian depredations. In the meantime the colonists extended their settlements further into the interior and up both sides of the James River.
"Dr. John Woodson located at Fleur de Hundred, or, as it was sometimes called Piersey's Hundred, some thirty miles above Jamestown on the south side of James River in what is now Prince George county. He and his wife, Sara, and their six negro slaves were registered at Fleur de Hundred in February, 1623. It was, no doubt, at this place that their two sons, John and Robert, were born. [Mary CANNON's mother, Judith Woodson was the daughter of Robert] Robert was born in 1634 and John probably in 1632.
"The governor, Sir George Yeardley, died November 1627 and the council elected Francis West to act as governor in his place until another should be appointed. The King appointed Sir John Harvey to succeed Yeardley. He was no stranger in the colony, had been a member of the council and was very unpopular. He continued in office until 1642 when he was succeeded by Sir William Berkley...
"The colonists lived in constant dread of another outbreak on the part of the Indians, for there had never been any real peace nor confidence between the two races since the great massacre of 1622.
"Twenty-two years had passed and the fire of revenge was still smouldering in the heart of the bloodthirsty chief, Opechankano, who had matured another scheme for slaughtering the whites.
"On the 18th day of April 1644, the Indians made a sudden attack upon the settlements and killed about three hundred of the colonists before they were repulsed.
"At this time Dr. John Woodson's two sons, John and Robert, were respectively twelve and ten years of age.
"There is a cherished family tradition that, on the day of this second massacre, Dr. John Woodson, while returning from visiting a patient, was killed by the Indians in sight of his home. The Indians then attacked the house which was barred against them and defended by his wife, Sara, and a man named Ligon (a shoemaker) who happened to be there at the moment. The only weapon they had was an old time gun which Ligon handled with deadly effect. At the first fire he killed three Indians, and two at the second shot.
"In the meantime two Indians essayed to come down through the chimney; but the brave Sara threw her bedding on the fire and the resulting smoke caused the Indians to fall down the chimney into the cabin. She then scalded one of them to death with a pot of boiling water which stood on the fire; then seizing the iron roasting spit with both hands, she brained the other Indian, killing him instantly.
"The howling mob on the outside took fright and fled, but Ligon fired the third time and killed two more, making nine in all.
"At the first alarm, Mrs. Woodson had hidden her two boys, one under a large washtub and the other in a hole where they were accustomed to keep potatoes during the winter, hoping this way to save them in the event the Indians succeeded in entering the rude log cabin in which they lived.
"From this circumstance, for several generations, the descendants of one of these boys were called "Tub Woodsons" and those of the other were designated as "Potato Hole Woodsons" (I come through Potato Hole Woodson--- my wife said, "Just be glad it is not Potatoe Head)
"The old gun which rendered such valuable service on that dreadful 18th day of April , 1644, is still in the possession of the descendants of the late Charles Woodson, of Prince Edward county. Mr. C. W. Venable, late of that county, writing of it says: 'The gun is by exact measurement, seven feet six inches in length, and the bore is so large that I can easily put my whole thumb into it. When first made it was eight feet long, but on account of some injury, it was sent to England to be repaired and the gunsmith cut off six inches of the barrel.'
"As if to commemorate his bravery on this historic occasion, the name of Ligon was rudely carved upon the stock. The gun is now (1915) in the possession of Mr. Wm. V. Wilson, a prominent lawyer of Lynchburg, Virginia. (I have since learned it is in a museum in Richmond presently --- 1994)
"After this second massacre, the war with the Indians continued about two years, when their power was completely broken, and in 1646 a treaty was made by which they relinquished the land of their fathers and retired further into the wilderness. At this time the colony was in a very flourishing condition, commerce was largely increased, more than thirty ships were engaged in the carrying trade, and the population in 1648 had increased to twenty thousand.
"Many inquiries have been made as to whatever became of Mrs. Sara Woodson, one of the heroines of April 18, 1644, but nothing is known of her since that time. It is but reasonable to suppose that she lived long enough to bring up her two boys in the paths of rectitude and to instill into them the principles of righteousness and the spirit of loyalty and patriotism for which their descendants have been distinguished."