PROMINENT PERSONS
259.
scended on both parental sides from Scotch-
Irish ancestry. His first American progeni-
tor, Michael Woods, received a patent to
a large tract of land in 1737, in the
western part of Albemarle (then Gooch-
land) county ; his wife, Mary Campbell, be-
longed to the clan of which the Duke of
Argyle was the head. William Woods,
great-grandfather of Micajah Woods, was a
member of the legislature of Virginia, 1798-
90 ; and his son, Micajah, was a member of
the Albemarle county court, 1815-37, and
sheriff of the county at the time of his death.
Micajah Woods was educated at the Lewis-
burg Academy, the Military School of Char-
lottesville, taught by Colonel John Bowie
Strange, and the Bloomfield Academy. In
1861 he entered the University of Virginia,
but with many of the other young men of
the South soon entered the Confederate
army. He served when barely seventeen
years of age as volunteer aide on the stafif
of General John B. Floyd in West Virginia,
and in 1862 was a private in the Albemarle
light horse company. Second Regiment Vir-
ginia Cavalry, and afterwards was first lieu-
tenant in the Virginia state line. In May,
1S63, he was commissioned first lieutenant
in Jackson's battery of horse artillery, in
which capacity he served until the close of
the war, participating in the battles of Car-
nifax Ferry, Port Republic, Second Cold
Harbor, New Market, Second Manassas,
Sharpsburg, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and
Gettysburg. At the close of the war he re-
turned to the University of Virginia, where
after studying in the academic department
for one year, he took up law, and was gradu-
ated therefrom in 1868 with the Bachelor of
Law degree. He opened an ofifice for the
practice of his profession in Charlottesville,
\'irginia, and in 1870 was elected common-
wealth's attorney for that county, and filled
that position for thirty-three years, with-
out opposition for the nomination since 1873.
In 1872 he was made a member of the board
of visitors of the University of Virginia, a
position which he held for four years, at the
tmie of his appointment being the youngest
member of the board ever selected. He was
chairman of the Democratic party of Albe-
marle county for several years ; as elector
represented the seventh congressional dis-
trict of Virginia ; and also was a member of
the presidential electoral board in 1888. He
was permanent chairman of the Virginia
Democratic state convention which met in
Staunton, in 1896, to elect delegates to the
national convention. As captain of the
Monticello Guard at Charlottesville, he com-
ir.anded that famous old company at the
Yorktown celebration in October, 1881. In
1893 he was made brigadier-general of the
Second Brigade of Virginia Confederate
\ eterans, which position he held until 1901,
when he declined reelection. On June 9,
1874, he married Matilda Minor, daughter
of the late Edward Minor Morris, Esq., of
Hanover county, Virginia.
Croghan, George St. John, son of Col. George Croghan, was a Confederate officer, and was fatally wounded at McCoy's Mills, West Virginia, during the retreat of Gen. Floyd in December, 1861. He invented a pack-saddle for mules, which was first suc- cessfully used in carrying wounded soldiers over the mountains in West Virginia.
Thurman, Allen Granberg, born in Lynch- burg, Virginia, November 13, 1813. His grandfather, a Baptist minister, opposed slavery, and removed with his family to
