Skeate171 gives Nathaniel Woods’ birthdate as 25 Mar 1667, but Green172 gives 27 Mar 1668. H. E. Woods173 gives 25 March 1667/8. Green transcribes Nathaniel’s gravestone as follows: “HERE LIED BURIED | YE BODY OF | MR NATHANAEL | WOODS WHO | DECD JUNE YE | 20TH ANNO 1738 | IN YE 71ST YEAR | OF HIS AGE”.

The assignment of Nathaniel Woods’ children to his first two wives is not clearly established. Skeate174 writes: “There is considerable confusion about ‘Eleanor’, called in Woods Fam. Gen. by Henry Wood[s] as mother of first 10 chi, though Butler in Hist. of Groton and Whitney Gen. say Alice was first wife. One way to explain this would be if Eleanor Whitney, Alice’s sister, were first wife of Nathaniel Woods. Whitney Gen. says Eleanor Whitney married Samuel Shepard. Since it is unknown what the origin was for this information, this is a problem not easily solved. There are no rec. of either marriage.”

H. E. Woods’ provides this account: “4. NATHANIEL2 WOODS (Samuel1), born at Groton 25 Mar. 1667-8, died there 20 June 1738.

“He married four times: first ELEANOR _____; secondly ALICE _____, born about 1673-4, died 10 Jan. 1717-18 in her 45th year; thirdly, 3 July 1721, SARAH BROWN, born at Sudbury, Mass., 20 May 1680, died at Groton 3 Mar. 1724-5, daughter of Jabez and Deborah (Haines) of Sudbury and Stow, Mass.; and fourthly, 14 Sept. 1725, MRS. MARY (BLANCHARD) DERBYSHIRE, who survived him, daughter of John of Dunstable, and widow of John of Groton.” In the list of children that follow, the first ten (Nathaniel through Rueben; Woods omits Alice) are assigned to Nathaniel Woods’ first wife, Eleanor; the last two (Phebe and Jonathan; Woods omits Mary) are assigned to wife Alice.