The Woods Cemetery is the final resting place for members of the John and Elizabeth Elmira (Betsy) Woods family. In Ole Foley, published in 1981, Paul C. Boethel wrote that Sarah and Washington Green Lee Foley's daughter, Betsy, married John Woods, a teacher seventeen years her senior, on September 4, 1831 in Rodgersville, Alabama. They came to Texas in 1852, settling not far from her parents' home. The Woods' children included James M., who married Sarah A. (Sallie) Seymour; John, who married Mary E. ?; Mary C., married Dr. John Sutton and, after his death, Rev. Buckner Harris; Octavia, who married Frank A. Farley; Charles; Louise; Margaret; and Arthur G., who married a woman named Texana. The Woods prospered as farmers and Betsy's steady character also made her the beneficiary of her father's estate. Besides her considerable personal property, the 1875 tax roll listed her as owning 13,087 acres, with 4,381 more acres belonging to her heirs.
According to James K. (Ken) Baker, the Woods home was situated where the old Gonzales to San Felipe Road crossed the Lavaca River and was referred to as "Woods' Crossing". The remains of a trench dug during the Runaway Scrape were visible below the cemetery. There were stories in earlier times of a cannon barrel, sticking out of the river bank at the crossing, that was used as a diving board. However, that has long since disappeared.
The Woods Cemetery is located on private property near the junction of County Roads CR 265 and CR 266. You must have permission to visit. The fence is enclosed within an iron fence which at some point was broken down, allowing cattle to trample and break the markers. The fence has been rebuilt, but the markers remain strewn through the cemetery. Though the property's original log cabin and adjacent stockade are long gone, the deteriorating remains of a later 1870s home are within view from the cemetery.
All photographs contributed by Brenda Fisseler
Marked Graves
| Name |
Birth |
Death
|
Inscriptions |
Verse |
| Little Jimmie |
|
2 May 1864
|
|
|
| Woods, Elizabeth E. [Foley] |
|
29 Aug 1875
|
To the memory of Our Mother
Age 61 yrs, ? months, 16 days |
He gave thee He took thee and he will restore thee And death has no sting for the Savior has said |
| Woods infant |
|
15 Apr 1862
|
Infant Daughter of John & M. E. Woods |
|
| Woods infant |
|
|
Infant Son of A. G. & T. C. Woods |
|
| Woods, John |
|
22 Mar 1864
|
To the Memory of My Husband
Aged 68 years 10 mos |
Born by Angels on their wings
Far from earth the spirit flies |
| Woods, Louisa |
|
25 Feb 1862
|
Aged 10 yrs 11 mos |
Thou will rise in full immortal prime and bloom to fade no more |
| Woods, Maggie H. |
|
14 May 1861
|
Aged 9 years 9 mon
footstone: M. H. W. |
God's own hand will guide Thee there |
Related Links
Foley Cemetery
John Woods
