As you might expect, there were a lot of men named John Wood in Anne Arundel County MD during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is not an uncommon name. In fact, I have already researched a couple of men of that name in previous family history studies. While I was studying the relationships among the men in Captain Thomas Simmons' company of the Maryland Militia in the War of 1812, I came upon yet another John Wood and wanted to see if he was related to the others I had already researched, or if not, what were his family origins. In order to track him down, I had to explore a lot of his social connections, or his FAN (Friends, Associates and Neighbors) Club.
John Wood served in Captain Simmons' company in Anne Arundel County in 1813 and 1814. His widow, Sarah E. Wood, filed an application for bounty land in December of 1850 which provided some basic information, including the fact that he had fought at the Battle of Baltimore (Fort McHenry).
In 1878, Sarah came back to apply again and provided more information, including the fact that both she and John had been married before. She was the widow of Richard Drury, who died in 1841. Also, her first cousin Richard P. Jackson and her niece Mary Sophia Jackson attested to her application.
Using these clues, I was able to identify John's second wife as Sarah Ellen Ward, the daughter of William Ward and Sarah Plummer, born in Anne Arundel County MD in 1813, died 1881.
I found a memorial for a John Wood in the Wood Family Cemetery in Jewell, Anne Arundel County. This man was born 30 January 1794, which put him the right age range to serve in the War of 1812. The gravestone was broken and only a partial date was listed--10 January. But this did match the date that Sarah had given for her husband's death.
In the same Wood Family Cemetery, were four more burials:
My Ellen, born 28 January 1798, died 21 June 1845. ELW
Ellen L. wife of James W. Allen, born 17 May 1829, died 13 November 1850
Matilda J. Plummer, died 3 July 1853
Robert Plummer, died 21 January 1853.
Since James W. Allen and Robert Plummer had supported Sarah's first pension application, this John Wood seemed pretty promising as the man I was looking for. There was at least some connection among the men.
Next, I looked at marriage records in Anne Arundel County MD and found a marriage for John Wood and Eleanor L. Simmons 21 January 1818. Right initials and right time frame to be "My Ellen" buried in the cemetery above. And also to allow for John's second marriage in 1846.
In the 1840 Census of Anne Arundel County, 1st District, John Wood appears age 40-49, with 1 M under 5, 2 M 10-14, 1 F 40-49 (presumably Ellen), 2 F 10-14, and 1 F 15-19. There is another John Wood in the 2nd district, but I believe this man in the 1st District is the John I am interested in, looking at the make-up of his family and his neighbors in the census.
I also knew from my research on Thomas T. Simmons that he named a daughter Eleanor Wood in his 1832 will. So, I suspected that John Wood was Thomas Simmons' son-in-law. I also did some research on James W. Allen and Robert Plummer, both of whom married Wood women. James W. Allen married Ellen Lois Wood in 1848. Robert Plummer married Mary Jane Wood in 1850. So, they were likely John Wood's sons-in-law.
I was also able to find two cases in Chancery Court at the Maryland State Archives that involved John Wood. One in 1847 involved the estate of Joseph G. Harrison, for whom John Wood was the executor. This case included Samuel W. Thomas, Matilda B. Harrison, Thomas L. Simmons, Susan Simmons and Kinsey Johns. (The two Simmons were children of Captain Thomas and the niece and nephew of Joseph Harrison.) I was able to find John Wood's signature among the court records of this case.
Another one in 1849 involved the settlement of John's own estate and included Susan A. Wood, Emory Wood, Robert Plummer, Mary Jane Plummer, Sarah E. Wood, James Allen, and Ellen Lois Allen and several pieces of property that John Wood owned. Lucky for me, the court suit spelled out the relationships among these folks and confirmed James and Robert as John's sons-in-law. Robert Plummer also served as the administrator of John's estate, completing an inventory of $2006 in February 1849.
So now I had this family picture:
John Wood, born 1794. Married 1st Eleanor Simmons 1818. Daughters: Susan, Ellen and Mary Jane. Son Emory. Married second Sarah Ward Drury 1846. Died 1849.
Fortunately for me, Matilda B. Wood showed up in another document in Anne Arundel County (Thank goodness for her slightly unusual name. If she were named Mary Wood, I might never have found her.) The 1801 will of John Jones Wood names his wife Barbara, his son Samuel, his son John and his daughter, Matilda Burgess Wood.
"I give and bequeath unto my beloved son John Wood my dwelling plantation whereon I now live being part of the tract or parcel of land called and known by the name of Burkhead's Lot containing by Deed to me 95 acres more or less together with all and singular the improvements appertaining thereunto to him and his Heirs forever, also my best feather bed and furniture - but if he my son John Wood die before he come to the age of 21 years then my land as above devised to him and the bed to desend to my daughter Matilda Burgess Wood & her heirs forever."
Here, I had to go to the land records. John Wood, the son of John Jones Wood, inherited a piece of property from his father: Birkhead's Lot. John Wood had purchased Birkhead's Lot from Samuel Maynard in 1778. The plat of the property is shown below. (My plat is slightly off, since the acreage does not match John’s description, but it is pretty close.)
It is located in the Lyons Creek district, near the town of Friendship in southern Anne Arundel County, the area where John Wood, Thomas Simmons, and Joseph Harrison lived. The main road mentioned in the plat is the road going through Friendship, although the town did not exist in 1778.
The Chancery case I mentioned above shows Birkhead's Lot as one of the properties that was distributed in John Wood's estate in 1849. His heirs sold the property in 1855. So, John Wood who died in 1849 is the son of John Jones Wood and Barbara Burgess and the brother of Matilda Burgess Wood and brother-in-law of Joseph G. Harrison. Matilda confirms this relationship in one of the court documents.
(And just for fun: Joseph G. Harrison was also the brother-in-law of Captain Thomas Tillard Simmons, who married as his second wife Ann V. Harrison.)
I have not yet been able to go back another generation for John Jones Wood, but I'm still working on it, especially that great clue in his middle name. So far, he does not seem to be related to the other John Woods that I have previously researched, but maybe I just haven't gotten back far enough.
To me, this confirms again the value of doing cluster research. I would not have been able to place this John Wood without researching his associates and neighbors through cemeteries, church records, deeds, wills, and court cases.
To summarize:
John Wood, the son of John Jones Wood and Barbara Burgess, was born in Anne Arundel County MD, 30 January 1794. He married in 1818 Eleanor Lyles Simmons, the daughter of Thomas Tillard Simmons and his first wife, Elizabeth Lyles. John and Ellen had three daughters and a son: (although the gaps and the 1840 census suggest that there could have been other children who died young)
*Mary Jane 1819 m. Robert Burgess Plummer
*Susan Alverda 1826 m. Mordecai Plummer
*Ellen Lois 1829 m. James W. Allen (who was the grandson of Barbara Burgess Wood by her first marriage to Adam Allen, just to keep things in the family)
*Emory 1836, still alive in 1850
John Wood served with Thomas T. Simmons, Joseph G. Harrison, John Scrivener, and many others during the War of 1812.
He died at his home near Friendship (Birkhead's Lot) in January 1849.
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