Charles Woodmason
Encyclopedia
Charles Woodmason was an author, poet, Anglican clergyman, American loyalist, and West Gallery psalmodist. He is best remembered for his journal documenting life on the South Carolina frontier in the late 1760s, and for his role as a leader of the South Carolina Regulator movement.
Chapel, Gosport
, Hampshire
, England
and was evidently a native of that town. Benjamin was from an old Devon family and apparently settled in Gosport after marrying the first time to a local girl. Charles Woodmason’s mother died in August 1722 and his father remarried in October 1725. In June 1735, Woodmason completed the seven-year apprenticeship to a Gosport mercer
named Thomas Levet. He married Hannah Page in 1745 and they had two children, a daughter and a son. Only his son James Woodmason survived to adulthood. In 1747, he was responsible for the removal of the organ used by George Frederick Handel from the deceased Duke of Chandros' private chapel at Canongate to Holy Tirinty, where it still remains in use today. His tune book, A Collection of Psalm Tunes with Basses Fitted for the Voice and Figured for the Organ, for the Use of Gosport in Hampshire, saw its second edition in 1748.
, including one (which was widely reprinted) lauding Benjamin Franklin
’s recent electricity experiment. One authority on colonial life described him as “South Carolina’s brightest literary light”. Both Franklin and Woodmason were considered "principal correspondents" (and were members) of the Royal Society of Arts
, London
. Writings from both of them were included in a microfilm edition Selected Materials Relating to America, 1754-1806 that the Society published in the 1960s.
, Charles Woodmason returned to England and was ordained a Church of England
minister. On Friday, Apr. 25, 1766, Charles Woodmason was ordained a deacon by John Green
, the Bishop of Lincoln
, at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall
, Westminster
. On the following Sunday, Edmund Keene
, the Bishop of Chester
ordained him as a priest.
Woodmason was assigned to St. Mark’s Parish on the South Carolina
frontier, assuming his duties in September 1766. The parish had a dispersed and growing population, yet had few roads and even fewer amenities. Woodmason had 26 regular, periodic stops in the parish which he visited anywhere from every other Sunday to once yearly. He also had the option of preaching whenever and wherever he could gather a congregation. In two years he traveled 6,000 miles. He found very little in backcountry life to his liking. The people lived in open cabins “with hardly a Blanket to cover them, or Cloathing to cover their Nakedness”. Their diet consisted of “what in England is given to Hogs and Dogs” and he was forced to live likewise. Most cabins even lacked basic cutlery. At worship, the people used “the barbarous Scotch Version” of the Psalms
instead of Isaac Watts
’. And that was just the start of his long litany of complaints and criticism.
Woodmason's ministry was most unwelcome by some non-Anglicans in the backcountry. He faced especially great opposition from Presbyterians and Baptists. Both received savage condemnation from him and he did all he could to preserve the privileged position of South Carolina's established Church of England. However, historians have overlooked (or ignored) the fact that in their battle for souls with Woodmason, they gave is good as they got and the abuse may well have reached the epic proportions Woodmason reported. He was especially virulent when it came to the Presbyterians. Not yet published research by Joseph R. Gainey indicates that the only Benjamin Woodmason of the right age to be his father was baptized as an infant by a Presbyterian minister ejected from his Devon parish by the 1662 Act of Uniformity. Interestingly, a 1790 grant of an arms to James Woodmason stated that the family originated not in Gosport but in Devon! This raises the unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, question: Was this due to Benjamin Woodmason's rejection of Presbyterianism and conformity to the Church of England? Benjamin served as the parish clerk for Holy Trinity for nearly thirty years. A case could be made that such service, which required almost daily attendance at baptisms, marriages, and burials, was an exercise in over-conformity.
During this period, Woodmason started his journal which vivdly depicted the primitive conditions. It and his related writings (only a fraction of which have been published) constitute the most complete, if highly biased, account of the primitive conditions on the colonial American frontier known to exist. Some of his writings, including the complete text of his journal, were published in 1953 as The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution: The Journal and Other Writings of Charles Woodmason, Anglican Itinerant, edited by Richard J. Hooker. In tone, Woodmason’s writing has been compared to that of Jonathan Swift
and Laurence Sterne
. He authored the Remonstrance for South Carolina’s Regulator Movement.
As an Englishman, Woodmason was offended by the growing Revolutionary movement and chided the Patriots for hypocrisy. In the South Carolina Gazette and Country-Journal on March 28, 1769, much to the displeasure of many, an article by him (published under the pseudonym “Sylvanus”) asked pointedly how the locals could complain of “No taxation without representation!” regarding acts of Parliament, while these same powerful men denied the Backcountry representation in South Carolina’s Assembly yet expected them to pay taxes passed by that body.
In 1772, Charles Woodmason accepted a parish in Virginia
only to find upon his arrival that the vestry in their patriotic zeal had resolved to hire only native-born Americans. Had they read the Sylvanus article, they would have been even less desirous of employing Woodmason! He served as a curate for a parish near Baltimore, Maryland
in 1772 and 1773. On 29 May 1774 (the day that the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
set aside to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II), Rev. Charles Woodmason angered the local Patriots by performing the special liturgy authorized for that occasion, which stresses that those in authority—especially the King—must be obeyed, and read the homily on obedience (the traditional reading for this day), all as the Prayer Book rubrics directed. That act, coupled with his refusal to publish at that service the “Brief for collecting Money for relief of the poor of Boston, (but in fact to purchase Ammunition)” (according to Woodmason's 1776 memorial to the Bishop of London
) led a local Patriot committee to advise him to “consult his safety”. He did so by returning to England.
, Somerset (less than three miles southeast of Wells
). He also preached at nearby churches, Watford (which Watford is unstated), and the parishes of Dedham and Chingford in Essex. Ongoing research will, hopefully, fill in the many unaccounted for time periods of Woodmason's English years.
On 18 January 1782, tragedy struck the Woodmason family. While James Woodmason was at a royal ball at St. James’ Palace, he suffered a disastrous fire that destroyed his home and business on Leadenhall Street
, City of London
, killing all seven of his children. The oldest child was only eight and home from boarding school for a visit. Mary Gavelle Woodmason, James’ wife, alone survived. (The children are memorialized by a Francesco Bartolozzi
plaque in St Peter upon Cornhill
church, Leadenhall Street, City of London. The monument pictures each child individually.) Although two additional sons were born to the couple, the marriage eventually disintegrated. Fortunately, Charles Woodmason did not live long enough to see it end in a messy and very public Doctors' Commons
lawsuit against the wife for abandoning her husband and family by returning to live with her father in France
, obtaining a French divorce (which the British courts firmly refused to recognize) “on the ground of non-performance of conjugal rights”, and committing bigamy by marrying a Parisian
named Joseph Antoine Guibert (who, according to press accounts, was very much younger than Mary). Parliament
granted James Woodmason a divorce in early 1798. Being, in the eyes of the law, the “innocent” party in this affair, he was free to remarry, which he quickly did.
In late March 1789, Rev. Charles Woodmason died. Evidently, he was in the parish of Sedbergh
(West Riding, Yorkshire now Cumbria) for he was buried from St. Andrew’s Church, in Sedbergh, on Monday, 30 March 1789. His grave in the churchyard is unmarked.
as an Anglican curate for about 25 years. There is no record that either man ever married.
Background and Early Life
The son of Benjamin Woodmason, a ship's carpenter, and his second wife, Susanna Pittard, Charles Woodmason was baptized on 23 October 1720 at Holy Trinity Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Chapel, Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and was evidently a native of that town. Benjamin was from an old Devon family and apparently settled in Gosport after marrying the first time to a local girl. Charles Woodmason’s mother died in August 1722 and his father remarried in October 1725. In June 1735, Woodmason completed the seven-year apprenticeship to a Gosport mercer
Mercer
A mercer is a merchant or trader, more specifically a merchant who deals in textiles / mercery.Mercer may also refer to:-People:*Bill Mercer, American sportscaster*George Mercer, rapist...
named Thomas Levet. He married Hannah Page in 1745 and they had two children, a daughter and a son. Only his son James Woodmason survived to adulthood. In 1747, he was responsible for the removal of the organ used by George Frederick Handel from the deceased Duke of Chandros' private chapel at Canongate to Holy Tirinty, where it still remains in use today. His tune book, A Collection of Psalm Tunes with Basses Fitted for the Voice and Figured for the Organ, for the Use of Gosport in Hampshire, saw its second edition in 1748.
Planter
In September 1750, Benjamin Woodmason died. Sometime in 1752, his son left England for America and settled in the colony of South Carolina where he initially prospered as a planter and store proprietor. The South Carolina Gazette issue of August 10, 1752 contains a long list of books “to be sold by Charles Woodmason.” This is the earliest mention of his presence in South Carolina. Both his wife and son remained in Gosport. Initially, he prospered as both a merchant and planter. In addition to his mercantile and agricultural pursuits, he wrote a book on the production of indigo and published several poems in The Gentleman's MagazineThe Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...
, including one (which was widely reprinted) lauding Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
’s recent electricity experiment. One authority on colonial life described him as “South Carolina’s brightest literary light”. Both Franklin and Woodmason were considered "principal correspondents" (and were members) of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Writings from both of them were included in a microfilm edition Selected Materials Relating to America, 1754-1806 that the Society published in the 1960s.
In the Backcountry
After a series of reverses, including a failed attempt to become a distributor under the hated Stamp ActStamp Act
A stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised...
, Charles Woodmason returned to England and was ordained a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
minister. On Friday, Apr. 25, 1766, Charles Woodmason was ordained a deacon by John Green
John Green
John Willison Green is a retired Canadian journalist and a leading researcher into the Bigfoot phenomenon. He is a graduate of both the University of British Columbia and Columbia University and has a database of more than 3000 sighting and track reports, leading some to affectionately refer to...
, the Bishop of Lincoln
Lincoln
Lincoln commonly refers to:* Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States* Lincoln, England* Lincoln, Nebraska, the state's capital* Lincoln , a luxury brand of the Ford Motor Company* Lincoln , people with the surname Lincoln...
, at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
, Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
. On the following Sunday, Edmund Keene
Edmund Keene
Edmund Keene was an English churchman and academic, Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, Bishop of Chester and Bishop of Ely.-Life:He was the third but second surviving son of Charles Keene, and younger brother of Sir Benjamin Keene, and was born at King's Lynn, Norfolk...
, the Bishop of Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
ordained him as a priest.
Woodmason was assigned to St. Mark’s Parish on the South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
frontier, assuming his duties in September 1766. The parish had a dispersed and growing population, yet had few roads and even fewer amenities. Woodmason had 26 regular, periodic stops in the parish which he visited anywhere from every other Sunday to once yearly. He also had the option of preaching whenever and wherever he could gather a congregation. In two years he traveled 6,000 miles. He found very little in backcountry life to his liking. The people lived in open cabins “with hardly a Blanket to cover them, or Cloathing to cover their Nakedness”. Their diet consisted of “what in England is given to Hogs and Dogs” and he was forced to live likewise. Most cabins even lacked basic cutlery. At worship, the people used “the barbarous Scotch Version” of the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
instead of Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
’. And that was just the start of his long litany of complaints and criticism.
Woodmason's ministry was most unwelcome by some non-Anglicans in the backcountry. He faced especially great opposition from Presbyterians and Baptists. Both received savage condemnation from him and he did all he could to preserve the privileged position of South Carolina's established Church of England. However, historians have overlooked (or ignored) the fact that in their battle for souls with Woodmason, they gave is good as they got and the abuse may well have reached the epic proportions Woodmason reported. He was especially virulent when it came to the Presbyterians. Not yet published research by Joseph R. Gainey indicates that the only Benjamin Woodmason of the right age to be his father was baptized as an infant by a Presbyterian minister ejected from his Devon parish by the 1662 Act of Uniformity. Interestingly, a 1790 grant of an arms to James Woodmason stated that the family originated not in Gosport but in Devon! This raises the unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, question: Was this due to Benjamin Woodmason's rejection of Presbyterianism and conformity to the Church of England? Benjamin served as the parish clerk for Holy Trinity for nearly thirty years. A case could be made that such service, which required almost daily attendance at baptisms, marriages, and burials, was an exercise in over-conformity.
During this period, Woodmason started his journal which vivdly depicted the primitive conditions. It and his related writings (only a fraction of which have been published) constitute the most complete, if highly biased, account of the primitive conditions on the colonial American frontier known to exist. Some of his writings, including the complete text of his journal, were published in 1953 as The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution: The Journal and Other Writings of Charles Woodmason, Anglican Itinerant, edited by Richard J. Hooker. In tone, Woodmason’s writing has been compared to that of Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
and Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
. He authored the Remonstrance for South Carolina’s Regulator Movement.
As an Englishman, Woodmason was offended by the growing Revolutionary movement and chided the Patriots for hypocrisy. In the South Carolina Gazette and Country-Journal on March 28, 1769, much to the displeasure of many, an article by him (published under the pseudonym “Sylvanus”) asked pointedly how the locals could complain of “No taxation without representation!” regarding acts of Parliament, while these same powerful men denied the Backcountry representation in South Carolina’s Assembly yet expected them to pay taxes passed by that body.
In 1772, Charles Woodmason accepted a parish in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
only to find upon his arrival that the vestry in their patriotic zeal had resolved to hire only native-born Americans. Had they read the Sylvanus article, they would have been even less desirous of employing Woodmason! He served as a curate for a parish near Baltimore, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
in 1772 and 1773. On 29 May 1774 (the day that the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
set aside to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II), Rev. Charles Woodmason angered the local Patriots by performing the special liturgy authorized for that occasion, which stresses that those in authority—especially the King—must be obeyed, and read the homily on obedience (the traditional reading for this day), all as the Prayer Book rubrics directed. That act, coupled with his refusal to publish at that service the “Brief for collecting Money for relief of the poor of Boston, (but in fact to purchase Ammunition)” (according to Woodmason's 1776 memorial to the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
) led a local Patriot committee to advise him to “consult his safety”. He did so by returning to England.
Return to England and Later Life
From at least February 1776 through December 1777, he served as the curate of St. Michael and All Angels Parish, DinderDinder
Dinder is a small village 2½ miles west of Shepton Mallet, and 2 miles east of Wells in Somerset. It falls within the civil parish of St Cuthbert Out.The river Sheppey runs alongside the main street of the village....
, Somerset (less than three miles southeast of Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
). He also preached at nearby churches, Watford (which Watford is unstated), and the parishes of Dedham and Chingford in Essex. Ongoing research will, hopefully, fill in the many unaccounted for time periods of Woodmason's English years.
On 18 January 1782, tragedy struck the Woodmason family. While James Woodmason was at a royal ball at St. James’ Palace, he suffered a disastrous fire that destroyed his home and business on Leadenhall Street
Leadenhall Street
Leadenhall Street is a street in the City of London, formerly part of the A11. It runs east from Cornhill to Aldgate, and west vice-versa. Aldgate Pump is at the junction with Aldgate...
, City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, killing all seven of his children. The oldest child was only eight and home from boarding school for a visit. Mary Gavelle Woodmason, James’ wife, alone survived. (The children are memorialized by a Francesco Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London.He was born in Florence...
plaque in St Peter upon Cornhill
St Peter upon Cornhill
St Peter upon Cornhill is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street. It is currently a satellite church in the parish of St Helen's Bishopsgate, and is used for staff training, bible studies and a youth club.The church was used by the Tank...
church, Leadenhall Street, City of London. The monument pictures each child individually.) Although two additional sons were born to the couple, the marriage eventually disintegrated. Fortunately, Charles Woodmason did not live long enough to see it end in a messy and very public Doctors' Commons
Doctors' Commons
Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil law in London. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildings with rooms where its members lived and worked, and a large library...
lawsuit against the wife for abandoning her husband and family by returning to live with her father in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, obtaining a French divorce (which the British courts firmly refused to recognize) “on the ground of non-performance of conjugal rights”, and committing bigamy by marrying a Parisian
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
named Joseph Antoine Guibert (who, according to press accounts, was very much younger than Mary). Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
granted James Woodmason a divorce in early 1798. Being, in the eyes of the law, the “innocent” party in this affair, he was free to remarry, which he quickly did.
In late March 1789, Rev. Charles Woodmason died. Evidently, he was in the parish of Sedbergh
Sedbergh
Sedbergh is a small town in Cumbria, England. It lies about east of Kendal and about north of Kirkby Lonsdale. The town sits just within the Yorkshire Dales National Park...
(West Riding, Yorkshire now Cumbria) for he was buried from St. Andrew’s Church, in Sedbergh, on Monday, 30 March 1789. His grave in the churchyard is unmarked.
Descendants
A great-grandson, also named Charles Woodmason, along with several other family members, followed their friend John Henry Newman into the Roman Catholic Church. This Charles' brother, Rev. James Mathias Woodmason died in Cumbria in 1873. A graduate of St. Bees Theological College, he had served a church near CockermouthCockermouth
-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....
as an Anglican curate for about 25 years. There is no record that either man ever married.
Works by Charles Woodmason
- L. H. Butterfield, ed. A Poetical Epistle to Benjamin Franklin, Esq., of Philadelphia on His Experiments and Discoveries in Electricity. Written at Cooper River, South Carolina, in 1753. Richmond, VA, USA: William Byrd Press, 1954.
- Richard J. Hooker, ed. The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution: The Journal and Other Writings of Charles Woodmason, Anglican Itinerant. 1953. ISBN 978-0807840351
- A Collection of Psalm Tunes with Basses fitted for the Voice and Figured for the Organ for the Use of Gosport in Hampshire. London: J. Simpson, [ca. 1747].
Sources
- Alan Axelrod. "Charles Woodmason" in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 31: American Colonial Writers, 1735-1781, Emory Elliott (editor). Gale Research Company, 1984. p. 272-273 ISBN 978-0810317093
- Richard Maxwell Brown. The South Carolina Regulators. Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1963. ISBN
- Henning Cohen. "Charles Woodmason (c. 1720-c. 1776)" in James A. Levernier and Douglas R. Wilmes (editors). American Writers Before 1800: A Biographical and Critical Dictionary. Greenwood Press, 1983. Vol. 3, pp. 1658–1660 ISBN 978-0313234774
- Joseph R. Gainey. “Rev. Charles Woodmason (c. 1720-1789): Author, Loyalist, Missionary, and Psalmodist.” West Gallery: The Newsletter of the West Gallery Music Association (ISSN 0960-4227), Issue No. 59 (Autumn 2011), pp. 18–25. This undocumented article is the first publication to identify Woodmason's parents, background, baptism, marriage, and burial dates and places and contains much previously unavailable information.
- Richard J. Hooker, ed. The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution: The Journal and Other Writings of Charles Woodmason, Anglican Itinerant. 1953. ISBN 978-0807840351 This is the most complete collection of Woodmason's writings avaiable and Hooker's interpretative framework has held up remarkably well.
- Claude E. Jones. “Charles Woodmason as a Poet.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 59, No. 4 (October 1958), pp. 189–194.
- Whitt Jones. "Charles Woodmason (ca. 1720-ca. 1776)" in Joseph M. Flora, Amber Vogels, and Bryan Giemza (editors). Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary. Louisiana State University Press, 2006. p. 451 ISBN 978-0807131237
- Anonymous article. "Woodmason, Charles (c. 1720-post 1774)" in John Mack Faragher (editor). The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America. Da Cappo Press, 1996, p. 462 ISBN 978-0306806872
- W. P. W. Phillimore and A. T. Everitt, eds. Hampshire Parish Registers. Marriages. Vol. X. St. Thomas a(sic.) Becket, Portsmouth, 1653-1700. London: Phillimore & Co., 1907.
- Nicholas Temperley. The Music of the English Parish Church. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. 2 vols.
- Nicholas Temperley assisted by Charles G. Manns and Joseph Herl. The Hymn Tune Index: A Census of English Language Hymn Tunes in Printed Sources from 1535 to 1820. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
- Arthur T. Winn, M.A. The Registers of The Parish of Sedbergh, Co. York. 1594-1800. Part III.: Burials. Sedbergh, Eng.: Jackson & Son, 1912.
- William Woodfall and assistants. An Impartial Report of the Debates That Occur in the Two Houses of Parliament, In(sic.) the Course of the Second Sessionof the Eighteenth Parliament of Great Britain, called to meet at Westminster, on Tuesday[,] the 27th of September 1796. London: for the Reporter, 1798.