“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

S. A. WOODS, a farmer of Grapevine prairie, Dallas county, was born in 
Cole county, Missouri, April 17, 1839, a son of Andrew and Elizabeth 
(Witten) Woods, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of 
Virginia.  The paternal grandfather, Archibald Woods, was born in Ireland, 
and came to America when a young man, settling first in North Carolina, 
where he married, and moved thence to Wayne county, Kentucky, where he 
subsequently died.  Andrew Woods was reared mainly in Kentucky, and 
after his marriage he moved to Fayette county, Missouri, in 1830, settling 
where the town of Lexington now stands.  He was a carpenter and 
cabinetmaker by trade, and erected the first house ever built in Lexington.  
He died in Cole county, Missouri, in 1841, at the age of forty-three years.  
Our subject’s mother, nee Elizabeth Witten, was born in Tazewell county, 
Virginia, a daughter of Samuel Witten.  Her parents moved to Kentucky 
when she was twelve years of age, settling in Wayne county, where she grew 
to womanhood.  She was married in that State, and accompanied her 
husband to Missouri, in pioneer days, where she died, in Cole county, in 
1853, at the age of fifty-two years.  Her people were originally from 
Maryland, her parents, however, being Virginians by birth, and were 
pioneers of Kentucky and Missouri.  Mr. and Mrs. Woods had five children: 
Mary, the wife of C. A. McCarty, of Tarrant county; Emeline, who became 
the wife of Thomas Greenup and lived several years in Wise county, where 
she afterward died, leaving a family; Margaret, formerly Mrs. James A. 
Jenkins, died in Cole county, Missouri, several years ago; Archibald, our 
subject; and Andrew Macky Lucetta, the wife of Bryant Harrington, a sketch 
of whom appears in this volume.

The subject of this sketch was reared in his native county, and when a young 
man, in October, 1857, he came to Texas, first stopping in Denton county.  
One year later he moved to Wise county, where he enlisted in the 
Confederate service, in February, 1862, in Company B, Fifteenth Texas 
Cavalry.  He was actively engaged in the service until in January, 1863, 
when he was taken prisoner at Arkansas Post, and after his exchange he 
went to New Mexico, where he entered the employ of the old Santa Fe Stage 
Line Company.  Mr. Woods was in the employ of that company in New 
Mexico and the western plains of Texas until the close of the war, and after 
the surrender he returned to Wise county, which he afterward sold, and, 
moving to Dallas county, purchased the place where he now lives, on 
Grapevine prairie, near the Tarrant county line.  He first purchased 135 acres 
of prairie land, but he has since added to this tract until he now owns 520 
acres, also eighty acres of timber land in the same vicinity, and a farm of 120 
acres in Denton county.  In addition to his farming Mr. Woods buys 
considerable stock, which he fattens, keeping from ninety-five to 100 head 
on hand at all times, and sells when the market is favorable.

He was married December 17, 1884, to Mrs. Mary Gatewood, a daughter of 
J. F. Morris, of Denton county, Texas, and born in Moniteau county, 
Missouri.  To this union has been born three children: Alexander, Isabella 
and Mary.  Mrs. Woods had one child by her former marriage.  Mr. and Mrs. 
Woods are members of the Christian Church, and the former has been a 
Mason since 1864 and is now a member of Estelle Lodge, No. 570.

Submitted by: Justina Cook