{genealogy} Wood ancestry part 7 - Henry Wood

Henry Wood

Heather’s 7th great grandfather

Henry Wood was born as early as 1684, probably in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of Mary Peabody and John Wood. He married Content Thurston on September 14, 1715, in Little Compton, Rhode Island. They had four sons and two daughters during their marriage. He died in March 1758 in Little Compton, at the age of 71.

Unfortunately I am missing the page from Ewers’ research that describes Henry’s documentation, so I am summarizing the research of Ms. Clark instead.

Ms. Clark estimated Henry’s birth year as 1684 based on the fact that he was buying and selling land as early as 1705, which meant he would have been of legal age to buy/sell land by that year. She goes on to say that Mrs. Ewers has records of many land transactions by Henry, in Little Compton, even while Henry was living in Newport.

But his first land transaction is the one that allows us to name his father John Wood who married Mary Peabody. I will paste text from Ms. Clark’s work:

But by 14 September 1715 he has relocated to Little Compton and he marries Content Thurston. They have six children from 1716 to 1733. Son William died young, but the other children survived to adulthood.

Ms. Clark says once Henry gets to L.C., he has a “quiet life”, which I guess means she didn’t find a lot of documents with his name on them.

His will was written 14 Mar 1758, and proved 4 April 1758 (according to Wilbour), so he must have been sick, I think. He names his wife and all five of his surviving children. The two daughters were still living at home at the time of his death. He leaves a generous amount to Content. “…the whole of the house where I now dwell…a piece of land near the house for a garden…great looking glass…one half of pewter and glasses and earthenware…brass warming pan…the best bed…case of drawers…great chest…oval table…my will is that [Henry and Peleg] find and provide for my wife yearly and every year during her widowhood one good milk cow the whole season that cows commonly give milk, and six cords of wood to be brought to the door of the house, and one hundred pounds of good pork, and one hundred pounds of good beef, and fifteen pounds of good sheep’s wool, and fifteen pounds of good flax, and eight bushels of Indian corn, and three bushels of barley, and to pay her yearly as above said the sum of forty pounds…”

“…To son Thomas Wood 1200 pds current money of R.I. tender…To daughters Sarah Wood and Rebeckah Wood 120 pds and the use of the largest room at my house…”