| Our Grandfather James Morton Wood, Sr. Born July 18, 1893 Died April 19, 1973 |
| LOST IN THE WOODS THE WOOD FAMILY HISTORY |
| Jesse Wood's Story Lost In The Woods Main Page |
| The early WOOD history is cloudy. WILLIAM WOOD came from Virginia with his sons: PENUEL, BENNETT, WILLIAM, JR., and JOHN. There are numerous land transactions for WILLIAM SR. in both Virginia and North Carolina. Lunenburg County, Virginia and Gran- ville County, N. Carolina butt against one another across the state line and the recorded follow him as he moved south. BRETT F. WOODS has done a |
| a great job researching deed books and records to find this information. On April 2, 1746, WILLIAM purchased 100 acres on the south side of the Roanoke River from JOHN and KATHERINE SHEARMON. He paid 30 pounds for this acreage, which was in Cumberland Parrish and recorded in the Lunenburg County, Virginia Deed Book 1, page 113 In the List of Tithes in the book "Sunlight on the Southside", Lunenburg,County, Virginia, 1748-1733, WILLIAM is enumerated in 1748. In 1750 both WILLIAM and "PENNUWELL" are listed, and in 1751 WILLIAM is listed with PENUEL noted to be his son. WILLIAM sold his 100 acres on the Roanoke River for 70 pounds to SHERWOOD BUGGS. WILLIAM'S wife, MARY, also signed the deed, which was recorded in the Lunenburg County Deed Book 3, page 3 on January 2, 1752. WILLIAM is next found on October 8, 1754 in Granville County, N. Carolina, some 20 miles south of the Roanoke River property he'd sold 2 1/2 years earlier. He and PENUEL are listed on a muster roll of a regiment of militia under the command of COLONEL WILLIAM EATON. There are 734 men listed in the regiment and WILLIAM and PENUEL are in the 97-man company of CAPTAIN JOHN GLOVER. The complete list is in "List of Earliest Inhabitants of Granville County, North Carolina". In 1755, on page 5 of the Granville County, N. Carolina Tax List WILLIAM is again listed, this time with three sons; PENUEL, JOHN and WILLIAM, JR. The Bute County, N. Carolina Will Book 1764-1779 mentions several land transactions involving WILLIAM WOOD, JR., his wife, MARTHA, BENNETT, PENUWELL, a CHARLES WOOD and WOOD MALONE, who would later server under CAPTAIN BENNETT WOOD in the militia. The Bute County Tax List of 1771 several WOODs: WILLIAM, SR., WILLIAM, BENNETT, HENRY, JOHN, ROBERT and ANNE. BENNETT was appointed Captain in the militia by the Bute County Safety Committee in 1776 along with DAVID TURNER, LEFT, and WOOD MALLONE, ENSGN. In "Pierce's Register. Reference: North Carolina State Records, Clark, Vol. XVI, 1782-1783, page 177 lists WOOD, BENNETT, PT; Company: BACOT'S; Period of service: 18 mo[?]; Occurrences: Mustd Dec '82, Discharged 13 Dec '83. "I believe this is the LIEUTENANT SAMUEL BACOT [1745-95] who was imprisoned in Camden, and with thirty captives, while being removed to the "Black Hole", Charleston, where smallpox was raging, overcame the guard and escaped. He served in GENERAL FRANCIS MARION'S brigade. BACOT was born and died in South Carolina, and is buried in Darlington County ." This note was added by BRETT WOODS. Bute County was dissolved in 1779, divided between Franklin and Warren Counties. BENNETT is listed in the Warren County census records until 1790 and seems to have died there after that census. There are several mentions of BENNETT, both as a preacher and a stone mason, one says he helped build the North Carolina State Captiol buliding. It has been difficult to distinguish BENNETT'S heirs from that of his brothers. The census lists the following WOODs: HENRY, JOHNATHAN, MICHAEL, MYSEL, MISCELL, PHILLEMON, WILLIAM, ELIZABETH, BRITTIN and JAMES. This seems to be the time our side of the family parted from the rest. According to the family history written by The Reverend JESSE M. WOOD in April of 1887, [click on JESSE WOOD's Story] after the Revolution and BENNETT's death, his son JAMES moved his family to northwest Georgia to what is now Madison and Elbert counties. JESSE wrote that his grandfather was born in 1765, fathered 12 children, served the people of Georgia in both houses of the Georgia Legislature and died in Monroe County on July 5, 1835. |
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