The History of the Woodward Family

Let’s start with the main focus of the family, and the person listed on the plaque: Thomas Woodward. In case you missed it before, here’s the text again. We can figure out what it means first and then work from there.

For the record, 1/4 mile east lands us in the middle of a lumber farm, so it’s not like we could go over there and find more information. Not without a full-scale archaeological excavation, at least.

To start with, the Regulators were a mid-18th century movement in North and South Carolina that attempted to impose law and order on the western regions of both states. At the time, much of the economic and political power of the Carolinas was centered at the coastline, thanks to large-scale plantations and ease of access to shipping. The capital of South Carolina was Charleston, and Camden (the state’s first inland city) had about 20 years to go before it would gain major relevance. Therefore, it was exceedingly difficult to uphold and enforce laws in the upstate. A group of armed men, mostly farmers, attempted to…regulate the largely unregulated parts of South Carolina. Woodward was a member and supposed leader of that organization.

The “First Provincial Congress” refers to a set of organizations that sprouted just prior to the formation of the United States. In the few years where the colonies thought of themselves as separate from the UK but had not yet coalesced into the USA, 10 of the 13 colonies formed Provincial Congresses to legislate on their own behalves. South Carolina’s Provincial Congress, specifically, was officially disbanded by the Lord Governor of the state, but continued to operate illegally for years afterward.

The Mt. Zion Society was a group of high-ranking politicians and businessmen that sought to create a public school in Winnsboro. Their efforts were a success, but the school faced a variety of setbacks throughout its early years. For one, the entire town was occupied in 1780 by British forces. The school was later shut down again, thanks to the Civil War. And a series of fires seemed to be a looming specter over the school’s head — by my count, at least four major fires in the school’s history. But the college continued its good work until the very end, in 1960. At that time, the institute shut down and the land was handed off and turned into a public high school. And then, in 1991, after some 200 years of service, the school was closed, seemingly forever. (In fact, there’s more to this specific story; we’ll address it in a later section of this article.)

“Rangers” is just a generic term that’s referring to participants in the Snow Campaign. The Snow Campaign was an attempt by colonists to shut down Loyalist organizations in the colonies. At the time, public opinion on the Revolutionary War was mixed; generally, the closer a person was to the coast of South Carolina, the more likely they were to be in favor of the war. A common rationalization in the western parts of the state was that a war would move them out of the hands of one tyranny (the British) and into another (the far wealthier and more powerful lowcountry elites). And for Indians, the problem was even more clear-cut than that: either side with the nation you know, or bet on a new nation that may or may not recognize your right to exist on this land. So as you go west into the state, you’d be likely to see more and more Loyalists — people who wish to remain under British rule. As you can probably imagine, that’s a problem, because a non-unified colony is quick to fall to British invasion. To bring in a Benjamin Franklin quote on you: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” The Snow Campaign was a series of attacks made on Loyalists and Loyalist recruiting centers. And as for the name, it’s just called that because the winter of 1775 was particularly cold and snowy.

The ripple effects of the Snow Campaign would ultimately kill Woodward. More than likely, he made himself a good few enemies in the enemy ranks. As it’s listed on his gravestone, a little obelisk that you can see above:

Thomas Woodward is by far the most notable person present in this cemetery. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look at the other people who are here with him!

The other person of particular note is Thomas’ son, named William. He was one of five recorded children, and fought alongside his father in many battles. When Thomas died, William left military service. He would later become either a state or national Congressman; at this point, sources vary enough that I can’t be sure.

Here’s a short list of some people either known to be related to Thomas Woodward or having a gravestone in the cemetery.

• Mary A. C. Woodward

• Harriet Woodward

• Regina G. B. Woodward

• John

• Margaret

• Nancy

• Rebbica

The strangest part about all of this is that if you look around the cemetery some more, there’s actually another name you’ll see:

Gadsden???

As it turns out, Gadsden is another family name. At some point, Regina Woodward (listed above) married a Christopher Gadsden Jr. of Charleston, and they had quite a few children. They had a son, named Francis Marion Gadsden, and all three are buried in this cemetery.

That’s just about all I can authoritatively say on the Woodward family. If we had access to more/better historical records, there are more connections we could make, but hundreds of years of passing time have probably eliminated those opportunities.