548 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Martha Williams, of Dolington, and pur- 

 chasing his present {v:m of 125 acres in 

 Buckingham, removed thereon the fol- 

 lowing spring. In politics Mr. Scott is a 

 Democrat, and in religion a member of 

 the Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. 

 Scott are the parents of six children: Char- 

 lotte, Martha, Mary, Sarah, Emma, and 

 Laura. 



DR. ISAAC J^EALL WOODMAN, of 

 Morrisville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 was born in Buckingham township, Bucks 

 county, 8 mo. — , 1869, and is a. son of 

 Henry and Margaret M. (Neall) Wood- 

 man, and grandson of Henry and Mary 

 (Smith) Woodman, who settled in Buck- 

 ingham in 1828. 



Edward Woodman, the great-grandfather 

 of the subject of this sketch, was born in 

 Chestertown, Maryland, on Christmas day, 

 1749. His parents were natives of England ; 

 his father, a sea captain, died at sea before 

 the birth of his only child, and the widow 

 landed at Chestertown, where Edward was 

 born. His mother died- also while he was 

 yet a child, and the orphan was left to the 

 care of his guardian, William Clayton, of 

 Chestertown. His guardian died when Ed- 

 ward was in his thirteenth year, and he 

 remained with the widow and family until 

 fourteen years old. Mr. Clayton owned a 

 coasting-., vessel that traded between the 

 Barbadoes and points on the American 

 coast, and it was still owned and run by 

 the widow and heirs. Witnessing its arrival 

 and departure at Chestertown, young 

 Woodman had felt for some time a longing 

 for a life on the sea, and in 1764. by the 

 connivance of some of the crew, succeeded 

 in secreting himself on board until the ves- 

 sel was out at sea. He went with the ship 

 to Barbadoes, after which they brought a 

 cargo to so.me port in Virginia, where they 

 took on a cargo of contraband goods for 

 the use of the French, with whom England 

 was then at war, and sailed _for Halifax. 

 Shortly after leaving the port they were 

 captured .by • a yessel in charge, of bucca- 

 neers, or a species - of pirates that were 

 preying on the merchant vessels oflf the 

 coast of Virginia and the Carolinas. and 

 their cargo seized, and young Woodman 

 was carried off by the pirates, with whom 

 he was forced to remain for four- years. 

 While their ship was laid up for repairs 

 in a North Carolina port he succeeded in 

 making his escape, and found employment 

 among the planters near Hillsborough. 

 North Carolina, where he remained until 

 the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. 

 At the first organization of the soldier yeo- 

 manry he joined a military company under 

 Colonel Caswell, and was drilled in the 

 art of war as a mounted minute man. Early 

 in 1776 Colonel Caswell summoned his men 

 to join him at Fayette, North Carolina, and 

 they hastily marched to join General Moore, 

 who was ordered by the committee of safety 



to intercept a force of fifteen hundred 

 Tories under Brigadier General MacDonald 

 and Major General MacCloud, who were 

 marching to join Sir Henry Clinton's fleet 

 at Wilmington. Col. Caswell and his com- 

 mand met the Tories at Moore's Bridge, one 

 day's march from Wilmington, and com- 

 pletely routed them. From this time on 

 Edward Woodman was with the American 

 army. He assisted in building Fort Moul- 

 trie, and in the defense of Charleston, after 

 which his regiment was ordered to join 

 General Washington near New York, and 

 marched the whole distance, arriving in 

 time to participate in the disa.strous battle 

 of Long Island. Private Woodman re- 

 mained in the army until 1782, participating 

 in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Ger- 

 mantown and Brandywine, and other en- 

 gagements, in all twenty-four battles, and 

 suffered the hardships of the camp at Val- 

 ley Forge. While at the latter place he was 

 detailed to assist Abijah Stephens, a Quaker 

 farmer residing near the camp, in caring 

 for the sick and wounded. Friend Stephens 

 possessing some skill at surgery and the 

 concoction of simples, did much to relieve 

 the suffering troops. Through this asso- 

 ciation he became acquainted with the 

 family of Friend Stephens, whose daugh- 

 ter he eventually married. His first invita- 

 tion to the Stephens home was due to the 

 fact that he had known William Thomas, 

 the brother of Mrs. Stephens, when a resi- 

 dent of New Garden, North Carolina. Dur- 

 ing one of the winters of Trooper Wood- 

 man's service in the north, under General 

 Sullivan, he was one of a small scouting 

 party who were, surprised and surrounded 

 by British- cavalry, and on -orders of the 

 captain they scattered and ran each one for 

 himself. Woodman escaped through the 

 lines and after a night in the woods found 

 shelter in a farm house with the family of 

 an American soldier who was serving in a 

 distant army. He was persuaded by the 

 helpless women and children to remain with 

 them -until hostilities opened in the spring, 

 and spent the remainder of the winter in 

 cutting firewood and fencing and caring 

 for the family, believing that his comrades 

 thought -him dead, and that he could be 

 of more use there than in the winter quar- 

 ters of his command. In the spring he 

 rejoined his command, and, obtaining a 

 personal interview with General Sullivan, 

 told his story, and was received kindly. 

 He served with the North Carolina Line 

 until August. J782. when, the term of his 

 second enlistment having expired, he was, 

 with a number of his old neighbors, hon- 

 orably discharged, while in the neighbor- 

 hood of New York, and they started on 

 their homeward journey to North Carolina.' 

 Being badly worn out from the privations 

 of the long war, and miserably clad, hav- 

 ing received but two pairs of shoes in his 

 seven years' service, he suggested that they 

 go by the w'ay of Valley Forge an<l rest for 

 a time w'ith their old friend Abijah Steph- 

 ens. Arriving there they were warmly 



