My Genealogy Hound

W. G. Woodsmall, one of the county’s oldest pioneers, was born in Nelson County, Ky., December 8, 1811. His parents moved to Oldham County of that State when he was but four years old, and on reaching manhood he married Elizabeth Ellis, a native of that county, in 1834. They lived there but two years, and in September, 1836, started for Lewis County, Mo. They made the trip on horseback, and in the same month located near Monticello. Just one year later he moved to his present home, 240 acres of which had been entered by his brother-in-law in 1885, and which he has himself increased to 480 acres. His wife died in 1885, after becoming the mother of ten children. There was an equal number of both sexes, but three sons are now deceased. Our subject’s ancestry is English, and is known back to the paternal grandfather, who died in Kentucky whither he had gone from Virginia about 1785. The father, William, died in that State also in 1837, in Oldham County; he was born about 1780 in Virginia. The mother, Sarah (Eldridge), died in the same county in 1829, and in her native State. She was the mother of six children, three of whom were daughters, and the youngest of these died in infancy. John, Nancy and W. G. came to Missouri, and the sister died March 30, 1872, as the widow of Walter Ellis, who died in Louisville, Ky., in 1857. Mr. Woodsmall and brother, John, are the only survivors of the family.