Woods Branch, Livingston Parish, Louisiana
File prepared by D.N. Pardue



**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************
 

From the book entitled "The Free State - A History and Place-Names Study
of Livingston Parish" by the members of the Livingston Parish American
Revolution Bicentennial Committee in cooperation with the Livingston 
Parish Police Jury and the Louisiana American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission, 1976.  Reprinted by permission.  Dedicated to the memory of
Reuben Cooper and Raymond Riggs.

WOODS BRANCH is a short tributary of the Tickfaw River that converges with

the river just north of Courtney Bridge near Holden.  It flows through

Sections 11, 14, 15 of T6S-R5E.

     At present, there appear two possible explanations for the origin of

the name.  The first is that the name is merely a descriptive adjective 

used to denote the woodsy condition of the area through which the branch

runs.  Thus, this name would be similar to others used in Livingston 

Parish, for example Caney Branch and Palmetto Branch.

     The second explanation is that it is derived from the surname of the

Wood family who lived nearby.  Headright Section 38, which adjoins Section

15, was claimed by Jeremiah Spiller in 1824.  He married Elizabeth Richard-

son on May 7, 1820, but died in 1835, after which Elizabeth married David

Wood, who was born in Illinois. (1)

     It should be noted that three of the four children of David and Elizabeth

Wood who reached marriageable age married people with a last name represented

by the original claimants of Section 15.  They may have referred to the branch

as Woods Branch. (2) -- Clark Forrest, Jr.

-----------

(1) Letter from Mrs. J.N.C. Moffat, San Antonio, Texas, to Clark Forrest, Jr.,
dated Feb. 20, 1972.
(2) Greensburg District, State Tract Book No. 23, p. 94, Louisiana State Land
Office, Baton Rouge.

* * * * *