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Searchroom visit: President Woodrow Wilson’s University Connections- Revisited

By rachaelegan on May 2, 2012 • ( 1 )

Erick Montgomery, from the non-profit organization ‘Historic Augusta’, visited us in March this year to trace the ancestors of US president Woodrow Wilson.

He found out that the University of Glasgow holds the student records of Thomas Woodrow (1793-1877), the grandfather of President Wilson, who graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MA in 1819. He was the second son of John, a man from Paisley and first matriculated in 1815 to study subjects such as Greek, Latin, Ethics and Logic. You can find out more about Thomas and his family from our previous blog-post about Erick’s visit.

Once Erick returned to Georgia, he was kind enough to send us images of Thomas Woodrow and his wife Marion, a girl from Glasgow and grandmother of President Wilson.

This is a portrait of the Reverend Thomas Woodrow, painted in the 1850s. The original painting was given by Thomas’ youngest daughter, Mary Ann Love Woodrow Hunt, to the Worthington Presbyterian Church in Worthington, Ohio and now the picture hangs in the Woodrow chapel there. We have been able to add the portrait to Thomas’ University Story profile and so put a face to the name.

This photograph of Rev. Thomas Woodrow was taken later in his life, perhaps 1860s/70s.

Black and white photograph of Marion Williamson Woodrow's portrait

This is a painting of Marion Williamson, first wife of Thomas. Amongst her eight children was Janet E. Woodrow (1822-95): the mother of President Woodrow Wilson. This image was shared with Erick by the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia.

If anyone has any useful information on the Woodrow family or even just has an interest in the subject, Erick would be happy to hear from you: Erick@historicaugusta.org

Thank you for the images Erick!