{genealogy} Wood ancestry part 11 - Thomas Wood

Thomas Wood

Heather’s 8^th great grandfather

When Thomas Wood was born in 1666, his father, John, was 46 and his mother, Mary Peabody, was 27. He married Content (Thurston?) in 1690 in his hometown. They had nine children during their marriage, all of whom survived their father. He died on May 10, 1729, in Little Compton, Rhode Island, at the age of 63.

Little Compton vital records has his death record, but they also listed his birth year with his death date, which is helpful.

LC vital records also record the marriage in 1690 to Content, but gives no last name for Ms. Content. Researcher Eugene Preston, who published his work in 1916, “felt quite sure” that this was the Content Thurston who was the daughter of Edward Thurston and Elizabeth Mott. The other Content Thurston (Thomas’s brother Henry’s wife) was THIS Content’s niece.

We know that Thomas’s father is John Wood, Jr. because John sold land to his son and named him “son Thomas” in the deed. The land was located in Little Compton.

Bertha Clark writes, “Thomas Wood was a Quaker, and it would seem a very active one.” She notes that by following Dorothy Wood Ewers’s research, we can learn that Thomas Wood regularly attended the Newport Monthly Meeting of Quakers, which included Little Compton, and that he represented L.C. twice a year in these meetings.

Probate records show that Thomas’s will was written 22 Aug 1728, and proven on 20 May 1729. It does not mention his wife Content, so we assume she died before the will was written. He names 3 sons, 6 daughters, and 1 granddaughter. The inventory indicated that he owned a home and 100 acres of land.