Black Sheep Sunday – Charles Woodson

Charles Woodson (b: 27 May 1895) left his family in Virginia, and traveled to New York where he started another family.  That was the story handed down in the Woodson family through the years. 

We heard this tale at the local Fredericksburg PostNet store where we went to have our genealogy monographs printed and bound.  The young black man who waited on us was so intrigued with our research he just had to share his own family story. 

My hubby ended up grabbing a piece of paper so he could write down some of the information.  A couple of days later, after several hours of diligent research, he went back to the PostNet with a very different story about Charles Woodson.

Charles Woodson married Ruby Carey (b: abt 1896) on 14 May 1923 in Buckingham County, Virginia.  Charles and Ruby had four children: Virginia Elizabeth b: abt 1924, Charles b: abt 1925, James Henry b: abt 1926, and Robert b: abt 1929. 

At some point later in the 1920s Charles, Ruby, James, Robert and Ruby’s sister, Georgia Cary left Buckingham County, Virginia and moved to New York. Virginia and Charles E. stayed in Virginia with their grandparents.  The family lived on Lefferts Avenue, Brooklyn, New York and paid $16/month rent.  Charles found work helping in a garage.

Apparently Ruby and her sister could not adjust to city living and returned to Virginia with the children. Charles stayed on, living by himself at 430 Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn. He moved up to the position of chauffer with a commercial truck company.  

Charles served his country in World War I as a Private in the U.S. Army. His draft card states he was a farmer and employed by his mother and grandmother.  He registered again in 1942 for the WWII Draft. On that form he stated he had no telephone.

Charles died 10 December 1968 in Brooklyn and is buried in Long Island National Cemetery, Section 2W, Site 3604.

There could be any number of reasons why this family lived apart, and we may never know the answer.  But we do hope my husband’s research and subsequent report sheds a much kinder light on Charles Woodson of Buckingham County, Virginia.