Saschel Woods
From WesternStarWiki
| Saschel Woods | |
 "Date Unknown" | |
| Born: | approx 1800 |
|---|---|
| Died: | April 26, 1854 |
(alternately spelled Sashel, Sashiel, Sarshel, Sarshiel, or Satchel)
Saschel Woods was born in Kentucky in about 1800. Little is known of his early life, except that he became a Cumberland Presbyterian minister before migrating to Carrollton in Carroll County, Missouri in 1834.
Contents |
Life In Missouri
Woods served as a member of the Missouri state militia on the staff of General John B. Clark. In the year 1838, he held the rank of "Major." [1]
It is said that Saschel Woods became a Mason in Wakanda Lodge No. 52 of Missouri in 1842, but examination of the records indicates a lodge meeting was opened with prayer by Woods on December 27, 1841, indicating he almost certainly was a Master Mason by then. Unfortunately, Wakanda Lodge lost its hall and most of its records in a Christmas Eve fire on 1849, so we will likely never know for certain.
His conduct in the Mormon War must have been found meritorious, for by 1840, Woods was known as a Colonel. A history of Livingston County, Missouri records that in the fall of that year, he built a bridge across Shoal Creek at Whitney's Mill, likely the first bridge in the county. The following March, he was allotted $140 for its construction by the County [2].
Life In California
In 1848, Woods came to California as part of Peter Lassen's wagon train. According to an entry in J. Goldsborough Bruff's diary, it was not the first time Woods had been to California. Bruff had known Woods while in Washington "a short time" before Bruff had crossed the plains in 1849.
On December 28, 1848, Senator Benton petitioned the United States Senate on behalf of Woods for mining privileges in California and New Mexico. His petition was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.[3]
While in Sacramento in the fall of 1849, he was approached by a number of Masons he knew he had a Masonic charter who urged him to open a lodge in that burgeoning city. He refused, and opened Western Star Lodge on October 30, 1849. It is unclear why Lassen and Woods waited a year to first open a lodge of Masons in Benton City. Woods seems to have travelled in the Sacramento Valley frequently, according to the journal of J. Goldsborough Bruff. He is also referred to as Colonel Wood(s), so he must have received a increase of rank following the Mormon War.
In "the early part of the winter of 1849," Woods was treated in Shasta for a "severe case of pneomonia" by Benjamin Shurtleff
Saschel Woods was also instrumental in organizing what would become to Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in California. Woods served as the first Junior Grand Warden.
Sadly, there are very few records of how Woods governed Western Star Lodge in those early years; the Lodge's records burned in the Shasta fire of 1853.
In 1850, Saschel Woods was instrumental in laying out the town of Leodocia, the town that would later become Red Bluff [4][5]. Woods initially attempted to hire J. Goldsborough Bruff to survey the site, but . Woods instead hired a Mr. Thorn for the job, and the two left Lassen's ranch for the site on May 23, 1850.
Interestingly, a 1851 property claimn the town of Shasta written by Benjamin Shurtleff ireads "...the line of street surveyed by Col Wood & others in June 1850" [6] Could Saschel Woods have surveyed the town of Shasta as well?
In 1851, Woods was part of an expedition led by Colonel Reddick McKee that travelled through much of coastal Northern California signing treaties with Indian tribes on behalf of the United States government. A journal of the expedition was kept by George Gibbs, an interpreter.
Possible Trip to New Mexico
A well-circulated and apocryphal story places Saschel Woods as part of a party traveling to or from Taos, New Mexico in the 1850s[7]. As the story goes, the party was set upon by a large group of Indians who capture the band and prepare to burn them alive. Woods manages to free his hands and in desperation, gives a Masonic sign of distress. An Indian recognizes the sign, the two talk, and it is revealed that the Indians were seeking revenge upon a band of whites who had murdered some of their band. Woods explains that it was not his group, his story verified, and the band is freed and escorted out of the area.
The story seems to have originated in Edward A. Sherman's Fifty Years of Masonry in California, which presents the most detailed account and places the timeframe as prior to Woods encountering Lassen in Missouri. Until confirmation of Woods' presence in New Mexico can be found, it is best enjoyed with a grain of salt.
Death
Woods left from San Francisco for Mexico in 1852 "to look after his interests in that country" [8]. In Mexico, Woods fell ill with an intestinal ailment. By the spring of 1853, he had returned to San Francisco, where he booked passage on a vessel for Crescent City. From there, "he located on the Gasquet Ranch at the forks of the Smith's River where he was again prostrated by recurrence of the ailment he had contracted in Mexico[9]." Fortunately, the brethren of Crescent City's Crescent Lodge No. 45 heard of his plight and brought him down to Crescent City, where they cared for him. Despite their ministrations, Woods died April 26, 1854. He was buried with Masonic honors. It should be noted that Crescent Lodge was still under of dispensation at the time, and consisted of only 16 members. Nevertheless, the brethren incurred expenses of $600 on the care of Woods, a figure that would be over $13,000 today. The brethren of Crescent Lodge should be an example for Masons everywhere.
Family
According to the writings of Bruff, Woods had a son[5], and the two were in company of each other on June 29, 1850. In the journal of entry of July 13, Bruf writes "Young Wood very severely burnt with gun-powder, most imprudently pouring gun powder from a horn into the ember, to enliven them." It is unknown if he died from his injuries. Woods also had a daughter, Margaret Woods. She was born in 1824 in Tennessee, married William Creel on January 26, 1841, and passed away on September 21, 1861 in Missouri [10].
References
- ↑ Unknown. (1896) "Historical, Pictorial, and Biographical Record of Charlton County, Missouri." Salsbury: Pictorial & Biographical Publishing Company.
- ↑ Roof, Albert J. (1913) Past and Present of Livingston County, Missouri: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement.. Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. Google Book Search. Retrieved October 1, 2008.
- ↑ Journal of the Senate of the United States. (1849). Google Book Search. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- ↑ A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California - Chicago, Lewis Publ. Co., 1891
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bruff, Joseph Goldsborough; Georgia Willis Read; Ruth Gaines; Ruth Louise Gaines; and Frederick Webb Hodge. (1949). Gold Rush: The Journals, Drawing, and Other Papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff, Captain, Washington City and California Mining Association, April 2, 1849-July 20, 1851. Irvington: Columbia University Press.
- ↑ Boggs, Mae Helene Bacon (1942). My Playground Was A Concord Coach: An Anthology Of Newspaper Clippings And Documents Relating To Those Who Made California History During The Years 1822-1888. Oakland: Howell-North Press.
- ↑ Grant, Blanche Chloe. (2007) "When Old Trails Were New." Santa Fe: Sunstone Press.
- ↑ Sherwin, Edwin A. (1898). Fifty Years Of Masonry in California Volume One. San Francisco: George Spaulding & Co.
- ↑ Whitsell, Leon O. (Ed.) (1950). One Hundred Years of Freemasonry in California. San Francisco: Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of California.
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/r/e/William-L-Creel/GENE5-0007.html
