Marginia M. Thomas Woody Jones

In my previous post, I wrote about William and Marginia Woody's family and his brief service in the Confederacy that ultimately cost him his life. In this post, I hope to describe some of the information I have obtained on Margie and the children after William's death in May 1862.

In the 1870 Federal census, Margie can be found in Brush Creek Township, Yancey Co, North Carolina. She is listed as 33 years old, W[hite], F[emale], keeping house, born NC [North Carolina]. She has three children listed in her home: Emily, age 12; Matilda, age 8; and Sherman, age 4. I believe this Emily to be Creeney E. as listed in the 1860 census. Matilda is the right age to be a child of William, so I assumed this was their last child together. Based upon her death certificate, that is the case. Matilda was born several months after her father's death. That brings us to the question of who is Sherman? I have searched in subsequent census years to no avail. I have come to the conclusion that he must have been illegitimate and died before 1880. The only other possibility is that he went by a first name other than Sherman and I don't think I'll ever have a way to find him.

I have been unable to locate their daughters, Kisiah C., Harriett L. or Mary Jane anywhere in the Mitchell or Yancey county censuses for 1870. I know that Mary Jane marries Isaac Grindstaff, but I have no idea what became of the other two sisters. Kisiah would have been old enough at 18 in 1870 to have been married, but I suspect that Harriet may have been too young to be married by then.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to share information with a woman named Melody from the Detroit, Michigan area. She was trying to work backwards on a Margie Jones who may have been a Woody before she married a Jones. I was trying to work forwards on Margie Thomas Woody. Our paths collided and we began to share information. It seems that Margie Thomas Woody married a John Sydney Jones, a man over 20 years her senior, on 7 July 1872 in Washington Co, Tennessee. By 1880, John and Margie were living in Sullivan Co, Tennessee with their son, Dick, age 5. As a descendant doing the research, Melody had discovered that Margie may have had an entire family before marrying John Sydney Jones, a fact that was unbeknownst to all of the living descendants of Dick Jones.

According to the Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002 database at Ancestry.com, the marriage of John S. Jones and Margie Woody was solemnized on the 7th day of July 1872 by Robert H. J. Hackers [sp?], M.G.

By October 1896, John Sydney Jones had died. I have been unable to locate Margie in the 1900 census. In 1910, she is listed as a boarder in the Thomas Dixon household in Civil District 12, Sullivan Co, Tennessee. She is listed as widowed and born in North Carolina as well as her parents. Unfortunately, it does not list the number of children that she gave birth to or how many are still living. According to the death certificate provided by Melody, Margie died 26 Jan 1914 and is buried with John Sidney Jones in Kingsport, Tennessee. It also lists her birthplace as Mitchell Co, North Carolina and her parents are John Thomas and Sindia [Lucinda] Wilson. In addition to the death certificate, Melody also provided me with a headstone photo, and an old photo that may possibly be Margie. Because I have lost touch with Melody, I won't post them here without her permission.

So was the marriage of Margie and John Sydney a marriage of convenience: he needed a wife to keep house and she needed financial security? Or was it a love match? Either way, why did none of Dick's descendants know of Margie's first family or only have a slight inkling that somehow she used to be a Woody? Was Margie able to keep in touch with her Woody children and her own Thomas family from a couple of counties away? Whatever became of little Sherman and who fathered him? And most of all, how was Margie able to survive after William died in the War?

So many questions and so many answers that probably went with Margie to the grave.


If anyone has information on this branch of the Woody line or more specifically what became of Harriett, Kisiah, Creeney Emily and little Sherman, I would appreciate hearing from you. I have quite a bit of information on my ancestor, Mary Jane, and some on the other sister, Matilda, who went on to marry James P. Thomas and had at least nine children.

And Melody, if you are still out there, please contact me again.

Henry Grindstaff and Bedie Buchanan

Henry Grindstaff and Bedie Buchanan are my third great-grandparents. I have written previously about their son and my ancestor, Rev. Isaac Grindstaff.

Henry Grindstaff was born 12 May 1820 in Burke Co, North Carolina, likely in the area that later became Yancey and then Mitchell county, to Isaac Grindstaff and Sarah Hart. This Isaac married twice, first to Sarah Hart and second to Prudence (Prudy) Ledford, and had children from both wives. Henry is believed to be from Sarah Hart, the first wife.

Bedie Buchanan was born 25 Apr 1829 in Burke Co, North Carolina, likely in the area that later became Yancey and then Mitchell county, to Sarah (or Sally) Buchanan. Alternate spellings for her name include Beady, Biddie, or Beadie. I was told early on in my research that Bedie was illegitimate. The original pedigree chart that my great-grandfather, Charles McNeill, prepared lists Bedie with the surname of Buchanan, her mother as Sarah Buchanan and no father is listed. This also agrees to her death certificate. Additional evidence is the 1860 census where Sarah Buchanan is living in the household of Henry and Bedie. Sarah Buchanan can be found in 1850 living presumably with her parents, William and Elizabeth (Jones) Buchanan. William was born about 1765 in Maryland and Elizabeth in about 1775 in Virginia.

I have seen other online message board postings and family trees indicating that Bedie's father was either a John Davis or an Ebe Hoppes. I have contacted many of those that posted trees with little to no success. One researcher did respond to me indicating that for many years John Davis was believed to be the father but that has since been disproven. I think it was determined there were two Sarah/Sally Buchanans in the same approximate age range, one of which did marry John Davis. The other one I believe to be the mother of my Bedie Buchanan Grindstaff. However, the damage is done and the wrong data is spread far and wide across the web.

Henry and Bedie married sometime around 1848-49. They had the following 12 children:

• Sarah born Feb 1850 and died 10 Feb 1919. She married Sam Pitman.


• William born Nov 1851 and died 1 Sept 1918 in Grassy Creek, Mitchell Co, NC. He married 1) Matilda Thomas and 2) Nancy. He had children with both wives.


• Isaac born 1852. This is my second great-grandfather.


• Clarissa born abt 1856 and married J.G. Woody.


• Eveline born abt 1857


• Matilda born abt 1860


• John B born Mar 1862 and married Martha. They had several children.


• Mack born 13 Sept 1863 and died 9 Apr 1939 in Bakersville. He married Cordelia Thomas and had several children.


• Jane born 28 Jul 1866 and died 28 Dec 1939 in Madison Co, NC. She married Ruben A. McKinney.


• Henry Gilbert born 28 Jul 1868 and died 1 Mar 1952. He married Betty Ann Duncan. Henry is buried at Mine Creek Cemetery.


• Ruben Malone born 19 Oct 1870, died 6 Apr 1957 and is buried at Mine Creek Cemetery. He married Esther Burleson.


• Mary born abt 1873

The Grindstaff family, like many others in that area, used the same first names repeatedly. This has caused great confusion for me and it's evident for others based upon online tree postings. There were two Henry Grindstaffs born within a few years of each other. Apparently one of the Henrys was commonly referred to as Fighting Henry due to service in the military (the Mexican-American War, I think), but I do not know which Henry this should be attributed to. Many online trees have confused their birth dates, wives, children and death dates. I believe my Henry was the first of the two Henrys to pass away on 1 Jan 1892. The other Henry died in 1906. The Henry who died in 1892 was buried at Mine Creek Cemetery, which is where Bedie was buried after her death on 25 Jun 1919. Additionally, Mine Creek is the Baptist church where their son, Isaac (my ancestor), was a preacher. Several of Henry and Bedie's children are buried there. It seems reasonable to believe that my Henry is the one that died in 1892. Two problems make this harder to determine. Death certificates were not issued until 1910 after both Henrys were deceased. Secondly, a 1900 census entry for Bedie has not been located to see if she's widowed, but she can be found in 1910.

I would appreciate corresponding with any descendants or other researchers who could shed some light on the questions surrounding Henry and Bedie. Anything to prove, disprove or add to my data would be wonderful. Please contact me using the yellow Contact button on the left side of the page.