Woods Family

The **Woods Family** is a very affluent Northeast family presiding at Thornewood Hall near the Kirkeby community of Ashford Falls, New York. Despite their opulence and philanthopic donations to society, the family is very private and has been subject to far-fetched rumors and urban legends over the years involving tales of vampires and witchcraft. It is known that the family residence has had a long reputation as being haunted, along with the nearby Trout Mansion.

Much of the family's wealth was formed by a ship-building company in Cumberland Green on the southern shore of Devonshire County, England and expanded by an import/export business along with gun factories, distilleries, manufacturing and other businesses. Several family members achieved wealth as doctors and lawyers and in government positions. Elizabeth Woods has boasted her ancestors were related by marriage to both the English, French and German aristocracies, but very few records from the period exist to confirm this.

The origins of the American branch of the family begin with *Isaac Woods*, who received a land grant of eighty acres alongside land alongside the property of the Kirkeby Family for duties and faithfulness to the British Aristocracy around 1760.
They became one of the founding families of Ashford Falls with the Satterwhite and Crutcher Families. According to a lengthy and often confusing family history, Isaac began construction of a mansion on land in the proximity of Thornewood Creek (later Coogan's Creek), but he passed during construction and his son, Gerard, finished the construction. A lawyer and magistrate, Woods wanted his family to be as little reliant on others as possible and built several houses concurrently. Several of his employees were ancestors of the Coleman Family and the Strickland Family which still exist today. Construction lagged on and off for over thenty years with his family living at the Woodbury House until 1784, when Isaac passed, his sons Joshua, Matthew and Johnathan and their families wrapping up the construction and becoming the first residences.

In America, the brothers increased the family wealth in real estate, lumber and gun manufacturing, becoming one of the wealthiest families in upstate New York in the 1790s. Before the arrival of the Hedison Family in the 1930s, the family owned much of the property in town, and with the Crutcher, Satterwhite and Hood Families, they controlled much of the business in town. Johnathan soon became a doctor, and Matthew became a lawyer. Running the family businesses, *Joshua Woods* and his wife, Nancy, had five children consisting of their sons, Josiah, Barclay and Daniel and their daughters, Rebecca and Sara. However, despite their wealth and advantages, they suffered several tragedies. Josiah was killed in a duel after eloping with a rival's fiancée, both Barclay and Sara died from fatal sicknesses and Rebecca took her life for unknown reasons from Whistler's Rock, siring a romantic ghost story that has persisted in the area for several years. However, an alternate family legend claims that Barclay Woods actually survived and moved back to England to restore the family's stakes.

Joshua's son, Daniel, soon managed to survive the fatal diseases that reportedly took two of his brothers, but Nancy Woods believed the area was cursed and compelled Joshua to abandon the house. They also adopted Barclay's illegitimate son, William Woods, conceived out of wedlock and moved to North Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow, New York) where they took over custody of Greystone Hall, later left to relatives of the Collins Family, who named it "Collinswood," after their ancestral manor in Maine.

Thornewood Hall, however, remained abandoned and neglected until William's grandson, *Quentin Woods*, inherited it and restored it. Joined by his wife, Roxanne, and children, Jamison and Sarah, he was soon joined by his siblings, Judith, Rachel and Desmond, as well as by Daniel's grandsons, Edward and Gabriel. Edward ended up founding the local Skull and Bones Society, but between 1865 and 1869, they were joined by other relatives, Barclay Woods III and Julia Woods, reputed descendants of the first Barclay Woods. According to Elizabeth Woods, their evidence was based solely on intimate knowledge of the family tree and possession of several lost family relics. Nevertheless, shortly after their arrival, there was another series of fatal illnesses during the period. Roxanne Woods, however, was very much into Spiritualism, and often had seances in the house, starting a recurring theme in belief in the afterlife through the family. There was also a series of attacks on women in town that went unsolved and abated a few months after Barclay departed town with Angela De Fontaine, Gabriel's long-time love, believed to be the reincarnation of a lost love.

Despite a public perception as scoundrels and hermits, Quentin's grandson and heir, *William Woods*, started a yearly tradition of cotillions to raise money for local town charities by inviting local businessman to Thornewood. In doing so, he became friends with Lincoln Hedison, Gage Winchester, James Gratz and Frederick Loren among the local businessmen. The parties were continued through the 1990s and 2000s by his daughter, Elizabeth Woods. During her teenage years, Elizabeth had lead a very frivolous and carefree lifestyle, but when she became pregnant, William and Judith covered up the pregnancy by binding her to home and adopting the infant with a cover story that lasted for several years. Liz named the baby Monica, who grew up knowing Liz was her mother, but to further conceal the secret, they hired Maggie Winters, a college student to be Monica's nanny and governess. They also introduced Liz to Thomas Pritchett, the son of a local politician, and encouraged a marriage between the two. Liz had another daughter, Carolyn Woods, from the marriage, but it didn't last.

William and Judith had several children after Liz, who was their oldest. Two sons, Joseph and Gregory, died early as youths, and Liz's baby sister, Marjorie, died in a fatal accident when she was eight. Their son, Robert Woods, was three years younger than Liz, became a lawyer and had inherited Daniel Woods' old family estate near New York City. He had married Laura Fillmore, the heiress of the Fillmore Brewery Company, and had a son named David Woods, but after her death, he found himself in debt and moved back to Thornewood Hall. Monica was given the task of governess to her younger cousin, who tormented both her and Carolyn with disturbing practical jokes, and while Monica and David soon became friends, David and Carolyn remained antagonistic far much longer.

Over the years, the family was visited and shared their home with several individuals. Among the first was Watson Pritchett, Thomas's nephew looking for a place to live, Samuel Quinn, a romantic interest of Liz's and Sebastian Wright, who temporarily became Liz's second husband. Most notably was Barclay Woods IV and Quentin Woods, the last living members of the English and Boston branches of the family, and Chris Hackett, a descendant of Quentin Woods I. The family also welcomed Dr. Samantha Oh from the Duffy Medical Center in Albany, who came to treat Carolyn for a strange affliction. Dr. Oh's associate, Professor D. B. Moore was also a frequent guest over the years.

Through the 70s and 80s, both the Woods Family and the Featherstone Families were often at odds with the Hedison Family. While their patriarch, Lincoln Hedison, had been a much liked and trusted businessman even with William Woods, Liz learn to distrust and and even loathe his son, Carter Hedison. Carter made several efforts to swindle or at least illegally obtain several Woods properties or least cheat them in several business deals, but Liz was remarkably shrewd, and Robert had numerous contacts in the New York Judicial system that kept him in check. Robert even tried wooing Carter's daughter, Rachel Hedison, who was twelve years younger then him, but the relationship never developed.

More public than they were from the 1950s to the 1970s, the Woods Family has largely become known in the area for living in reportedly the most haunted house in Ashford Falls due to local reporter Melissa Strickland. Known for writing the yearly Halloween articles, Melissa was nearly sued by Robert and Liz for insisting the family was connected to recurring vampire-like attacks occurring over the years. Although Melissa back off, she has since pursued other reported paranormal events in the area.

According to Liz's wishes, Monica Woods is likely going to inherit the estate after her. David has been promised to inherit his mother's wealth, and Carolyn has a large trust fund to take care of her for life.