Elijah Woods was a politician from

Belmont County, Ohio Belmont County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 66,497. Its county seat is St. Clairsville. The county was created on September 7, 1801, and organized on November 7, 1801.McKelvey, ...

who was a delegate to the convention that drafted the first constitution of the

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1802 and served in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

soon after statehood.

Biography

Elijah Woods was born in

Rockingham County, Virginia Rockingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,757. Its county seat is the independent city of Harrisonburg. Along with Harrisonburg, Rockingham County forms the Harrisonburg, ...

in 1778. He travelled with his uncle Archibald Woods to the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

Valley in 1798. Woods worked for

Ebenezer Zane Ebenezer Zane (October 7, 1747 – Nov. 19, 1811) was an American pioneer, soldier, politician, road builder and land speculator. Born in the Colony of Virginia (possibly near what became Moorefield, West Virginia), Zane established a settle ...

at Fort Henry, now

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

, and acquired land in Belmont County

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

, where he settled. He had surveyed in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

for a winter before coming to the Ohio Valley. When Belmont County was organized in September, 1801, he was named County Surveyor, and served as clerk of courts 1801–1806. Woods was elected to the Convention to write a constitution for the proposed state of

in 1802 as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

who was “pledged to support statehood and the principles of

Jefferson Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

”. At the convention, he voted to oppose civil rights for black people. Woods was elected to the

in 1803 and 1810. Woods was married to Ebenezer Zane's daughter, Hester “Hetty” Zane on May 15, 1803. They had six children. Ebenezer Zane laid out

Bridgeport, Ohio Bridgeport is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in eastern Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It lies across the Ohio River from Wheeling, West Virginia, at the mouth of Wheeling Creek (Ohio), Wheeling Creek and is connected by two bridge ...

across the Ohio River from Wheeling. He deeded eight acres to Elijah and Hetty Woods in the town in 1806. Woods operated a ferry from Bridgeport to

Wheeling Island Wheeling Island is the most populated island in the Ohio River. It lies within the city of Wheeling in Ohio County, West Virginia, in the United States. The 2000 census showed a resident population of 3,142 people on the island, which has a la ...

and Zane operated the ferry from Wheeling to Wheeling Island. Woods built his home in Bridgeport near the ferry and operated an inn there. Elijah Woods died on November 23, 1820, in Belmont County at the age of 42.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Elijah 1778 births 1820 deaths Ohio Democratic-Republicans Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802) People from Belmont County, Ohio People from Rockingham County, Virginia American surveyors Members of the Ohio House of Representatives