Mary "Molly" Woody

Notes for MARY MOLLY LOVINGOOD(LOVEL): Mary Molly Lovel (Lovingood) is buried in Cawker Cemetery at Suches, Union County GA. This information was recorded by orison Ingram on 15 October 973, after he visited the cemetery. Other descendant families of Mary Lovel and Jonathan are buried there.

From Ances.com

Molly Lovingood's parents have yet to be discovered, although family traditions state she was from Kentucky. She married Jonathan Woody in South Carolina and her sister, Elizabeth married Jonathan's brother, William. Her sister went by the name of Lovell while Molly chose Lovingood. The name was probably a German name spelled Liebengut. Some researchers connect her to Samuel Lovingood in SC but that puts her birth date in 1799 which is much later than 1756 which is on her tombstone.

Molly was a well known and well liked midwife. She died while on a visit to deliver a baby. A storm approached suddenly with large gust of wind. A tree blew over in her path and the startled horse stopped which threw her hard against the saddle horn. She lived only a few days after the accident and was buried in the Woody Cemetery in Gaddistown, Georgia. Upon her death, Jonathan planted a locus tree upon her grave which lived until the 1950's. Jonathan then left at the age of 86 to travel to Iowa to live with his son. A marker has been placed in the town of Dahlonega ( named after the Ga town) Iowa saying he is the only Revolutionary War soldier to have died in Iowa. There is also a large headstone at the Gaddistown Cemetery which list her husband and her 13 children's names.Jonathan and Molly Jonathan's wife, Molly Lovingood, left behind few clues to her ancestry. Even her name is up for debate with her sister's name being Lovel and Molly's is Lovingood. The census records indicate that she is a few years older than her husband, which would change the birth date generally given for her. According to my mother's records, the Woody Bible was burned in riots in Michigan. It is said that the records in the Bible indicated that Jonathan and Molly were married in Kentucky. A copy of the information is said to be held by the DAR. Although Jonathan's brother moved to Kentucky, I have not yet been able to place Jonathan there.

Most of our early genealogy information is based on the short genealogy written by William Coffee Berry in 1796. This paper has been very helpful, but it does seem to contain some mistakes. Berry wrote that Jonathan was born in Virginia, but according to Jonathan's war records, he was born in Surry, North Carolina. Jonathan states that he continued to live in North Carolina and joined the Revolutionary War there. ( This is in contrast to Berry who believed Jonathan moved to South Carolina as a child.) Jonathan received his discharge in Surry Co North Carolina in 1781 where his son John Wesley Woody was born. He then moved to Elbert County, Ga for 3 years before moving to Greenville, South Carolina. In the 1790 Greenville Census, he has at least 2 boys and 2 girls under the age of 16. This would indicate he married either in North Carolina or perhaps Kentucky as the lost Bible is said to have recorded. Jonathan's brother William married Molly's sister Elizabeth and he was living in North Carolina at the time.

By 1802 Jonathan and Molly were living in Buncombe County, NC. They moved about in North Carolina several times, but by 1840 were living in Union County, Georgia. Molly was a midwife, and despite her age and the stormy night, left to deliver a child. A gust of wind blew a tree across the road causing the horse to buck and hit the tree. Molly was thrown against the saddle horn hitting her chest hard. She lived only a day after the accident. Jonathan planted a locust tree at the head of her grave saying, then he could always find it. A few days later, he announced he was leaving for Canada. It was not until a generation later that the family learned he had traveled at the age of 86 to Iowa to live with his youngest son.

In going through my mother's old genealogy records I discovered letters written among my mother and 2 other women who were trying to connect the Georgia Woody's to the Iowa Woody's. I discovered several interesting notes. First, it mentioned again that Molly was born in Kentucky and one lady believed Molly's family then moved to North Caroliana. It mentioned a family tradition that said Molly was a widow when she married Jonathan, which would explain different last names. It mentioned that a Thomas Woody married a Molly Loving and was there a connection? No one knew. They agreed that any Lovingood's in SC would have to be a brother or brother in law because of the ages and dates.

My mother died before they could solve the mystery of Molly's name, but the ladies did see that monuments were erected for Jonathan and Molly and were able to connect the Georgia Woody's to the Iowa Woody's.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 18 2020, 23:18:10 UTC