Ancestors

James G. Woodall

James G. Woodall was born on 29 May 1800 in Johnston County, North Carolina, according to a family Bible. His father, Jacob Woodall, was a planter on the White Oak Swamp, in the waters of Hannah Creek. On 11 May 1818 Jacob deeded him 648 acres there, "for the love good will and affection which I have and do bear to my sd son and for the better maintenance and support of him." Thirty years later Jacob's will left "to my son James G. one negro boy named Arthur and one negro woman by the name of Silvey togather with her increase."

On 10 August 1821 James gave bond at Johnston County to marry Sally Barber of the same county. Ply Barber stood as his bondsman. A marriage bond was a promise to the governor, backed by a surety, that there was no lawful bar to the marriage.

James and Sally had twelve children, ten of them born about two years apart from 1822 to 1840, then Martha about 1844 and Elizabeth about 1847. His will names them in order: Harriet, Seth, John, Ryal, Burt, Troy, Isham, Ira, Sarah, Eleanor, Martha and Elizabeth. Ryal, called Riley, left for Mississippi before 1850 and settled in Texas.

He lived near Elevation, in Johnston County, on land that began with his father's gift of 648 acres, and he held enslaved workers, whom his will passed to his wife. He bought more land from his father in 1848 and deeded parts of his own to his sons in the 1850s. In the spring of 1852 he wrote to the *North-Carolina Star* in Raleigh with his method for sweet potatoes, which the paper printed on 7 April 1852. He told readers to bed the seed potatoes "on the south side of a high fence," under chopped stable manure and a few inches of rich dirt, and to plant the sprouts fifteen inches apart on ridges thrown up with a dagon plow. "I have followed the above rules for many years and find them very profitable."

He made his will on 3 November 1862, in the middle of the Civil War. He left his wife Sarah thirty acres "where I now live" for her widowhood, with slaves, stock and furniture. His daughter Elizabeth was to have $205, and everything else was to be sold and divided among the twelve children. He died on 30 July 1865. His sons B. A. and Isham Woodall were his executors.

His son Riley had died in Texas in April 1865, four months before him. Riley's share passed to Riley's five children in Texas. The family land was sold under a decree of the Johnston County Court of Equity. On 6 January 1871 Riley's widow, Mary A. Woodall of Panola County, Texas, as the children's guardian, appointed Seth Woodall of Johnston County to collect "whatever may be due the said minor children of the late Ryal B. Woodall."

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Cite: Heirology, "James G. Woodall (1800-1865)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/james-g-woodall-1800-1865-717331.