Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 1912


Wood Family Biography

This family is of direct English ancestry and first appears in Pennsylvania with the coming of John, Isaac and Clement Wood, brothers, who came from England in 1789, landing at Philadelphia. John Wood is the ancestor of the branch herein recorded.

Isaac Wood, aforementioned, wooed and won a Quaker maid of Philadelphia, Sarah Comeley, who failing to obtain parental consent to her marriage outside the church eloped with her lover in 1791, thereby forfeiting her birthright in the Society of Friends. The lovers were married and came directly to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, then but a frontier village, where they lived ever afterward, founded a family, descendants being numerous in and around Uniontown. Their children: Clement, married Martha Nelson, and moved to the state of Iowa; Isaac; Josiah, married Hannah Hopwood; Comeley, settled in Connellsville, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, married John Lewis; Margaret; Rebecca, married John Walthen. Clement Wood, the third brother, married and settled near Philadelphia, many of his descendants being found there.
(I) John Wood, the elder of the three brothers, was born in England, July 5, 1767, died in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1813. He landed in Philadelphia with his brothers about 1789 and in 1790 came to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, settling in Uniontown, where he was one of the early settlers. He became a large land owner in county and village, was justice of the peace, and locally "Squire Wood" was prominent and influential. Among the parcels of real estate he owned in the village is the ground upon which the First National Bank building, the Standard building and the Episcopal Church now stand. He married, June 6, 1791, Elizabeth Hewitt, born January 28, 1763, died May 17, 1843. Children: 1. Benoni, born September 28, 1792, died at birth. 2. Seth Wood, born October 17, 1794; married May 2, 1816, Fanny Nixon; children: John, died in infancy; James; she died young and her husband then moved west. 3. Benjamin, born June 19, 1796, died October 7, 1799. 4. Elizabeth, born July 30, 1799, died March 11, 1820. 5. John, twin of Elizabeth, died in 1823. 6. Thomas Jefferson, born November 16, 1800, died December 4, 1852. 7. William, of whom further.

(II) William, youngest son of John Wood, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1802, died June 24, 1869. He was a saddler and harness maker, learned his trade in his native city, spent his entire business life there and finally died there. He was very prominent in the early history of the state militia, attaining the rank of general and devoted a great portion of his time to drilling, organizing and inspecting the citizen soldiery of Western Pennsylvania directly under his command. He married (first) Deborah Garnell, born April 24, 1805, died September 7, 1840. He married (second) March 24, 1842, Martha Matilda Jeffries, born June 24, 1817, died April 12, 1888. Children of first wife: 1. Samuel, born October 7, 1831, died March 13, 1857. 2. Seth, born September 7, 1833, died July 27, 1835. 3. Elizabeth, born June 1, 1835, died September 21, 1846. Children of second marriage: 4. John William, of whom further. 5. Albert Darlington, died August, 1902. 6. James Jeffries, died March, 1907; he was blind from childhood; after being educated in the school for the blind in Philadelphia he developed a great genius along the mechanical lines and accomplished wonderful results; his principal occupation was broom making, at which he was very expert. 7. Sarah, died in infancy. 8. Martha Esther. 9. Jane Elizabeth. 10. Anna Frances, (these three maiden sisters now reside at No. 98 West Fayette street, Uniontown ). 11. Charles Thomas, died in infancy. 12. Ella, married, April 10, 1879, John Calvin Brown; children: Ross Wood, born July 18, 1880; Esther Jeffries, August 19, 1881, died September 13, 1898.

Martha Matilda (Jeffries) Wood, second wife of William Wood, was a daughter of William and Martha (Mendenhall) Jeffries, William Jeffries was of English descent, and owned the farm adjoining the present Fayette county home. He married (first) Mary Woodward, who bore him: William, Joseph, Myron, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Nancy, Hannah, John. He married (second) Martha Mendenhall, daughter of Joseph Mendenhall, one of the earliest settlers of Fayette county, settling about 1750-60 on the Salem road five miles from Uniontown. He was a cooper and a farmer; he married Mary Collins. By second wife William Jeffries had: Jane, married Simon Johnson; Esther, died unmarried; Martha Matilda, married William Wood; Darlington, married Sarah Miller and moved to Hancock county, Illinois.

(III) John William, son of William Wood, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1843, died February 5, 1910. He was educated in the public schools, and learned the harnessmaker's trade with his father. He established business under his own name at No. 61 West Main street. He continued in business there a great many years, finally retiring in 1906, four years prior to his death. He was an ardent Democrat, but never would accept public office. He enlisted during the war between the states in Company K, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war in 1865. He married, December 31, 1879. Cecelia V. (Wathen) Hook, widow of David Ewing Hook. She was born in Uniontown, and survives her husband, residing at No. 120 West Fayette street, Uniontown. She is a daughter of Captain Thomas and Rebecca (Wood) Wathen. Captain Thomas Wathen was born in 1793 in Frederick county, Maryland, came to Uniontown in 1818, married Rebecca Wood in 1819. He followed his trade of shoemaker until his death, August 12, 1857. He served in the war of 1812, attaining the rank of captain, a title by which he was always addressed. Captain Thomas Wathen was a son of Gabriel Wathen, a Frenchman, and Susan (Whitter) Wathen, of Irish descent. They settled in Maryland about the time of the Lord Baltimore settlement, and became large land owners of Frederick county, Children of Gabriel Wathen: Leonard, moved to Kentucky, where descendants are found; Henry, moved to Ohio; Cecelia and Helen, became brides of the church and spent their lives in a convent in Maryland; Susan, married and lived in Frederick county, Maryland; Captain Thomas, of previous mention. Rebecca Wood, wife of Captain Thomas Wathen, was born in Uniontown, 1802, daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Comeley) Wood, the Quaker maid of Germantown, Pennsylvania, who defying parents and church clung to her lover and leaving home and kindred came with him to the then wilderness of Western Pennsylvania, there to found a family and help in the upbuilding of a prosperous community. This marriage and the subsequent one of John William Wood and Cecelia V. Wathen unites more than a century later the blood of two of the emigrant Wood brothers, John and Isaac (see introduction to this sketch). Children of Captain Thomas and Rebecca (Wood) Wathen: 1. Henry, a shoemaker of Uniontown, married Mary Howser, both deceased. 2. Sarah, died at age of thirteen years. 3. Ellen, married Merchant Springer, of Uniontown, both deceased. 4. Julia C., married John Bierer, an attorney of Uniontown, who died in 1906; she survives him, a resident of Uniontown. 5. Margaret, married James Smith and moved to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, both deceased. 6. Cecelia V., of previous mention, married John William Wood. 7. Amanda, married George Coughanour, whom she survives. 8. Alice, married John Eberhart and lives in Hoboken, Pennsylvania. The only child of John William Wood; William Lee, of whom further.

(IV) William Lee, only child of John William and Cecelia V. (Wathen) Wood, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1881. He was educated in the public schools, and after completing his studies spent three years in Pittsburgh as clerk in the offices of the Pennsylvania railroad. In 1901 he returned to the old home in Uniontown and purchased the cigar and news store of L. L. Hatfield at No. 67 West Main street, where he continued in the same line of trade. He has a good business and is one of the active, energetic younger business men of his city, highly regarded by all. He is the last surviving male member of his Grandfather Woods line, that branch of the family tree that has flourished on American soil one hundred and twenty-five years. He is a Democrat in politics, but has never sought public office. Both he and wife are members of the Episcopal church. He is a member of Uniontown lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and Uniontown Lodge of Perfection, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

He married, April 16, 1904, Ethel M., born at Pataskla, Ohio, July 10, 1882, daughter of Warren and Harriet (Marion) Cargille, Warren Cargille, deceased, was a cigarmaker. His wife survives him. Child, John Warren, born in Uniontown, June 25, 1908.


Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912.





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