Name: John Wood97 
   Born: aft 1775
  Place: Vermont149 
   Died: bef 1830
  Place: prob Clark Co OH
 Buried: 
Y-Haplo: R1b-BY21620
Married: 20 Dec 1818
  Place: Clark Co OH

This paragraph appears in JW Fisk's memoirs:⁹⁷

My grandmother [Charity (Corson) Stites] was married a second time. It was several years after my grandfather Stites either died or became estranged. She married a man by the name of Woods. To them were born three children. John in 1824 or 1824 (?), I cannot recall the month; Minty two years later; Polly sometime in the year 1827 or 1828.

"Minty" was J W's uncle Edward Fisk's wife, Araminta Wood. Since there was a marriage between Charity Stites and John Wood in Clark County, it seems clear that John Wood was Araminta's father.

From Clark County, Ohio Marriage Records 1818-1821, Volume 1, compiled by Sara J Greer, 1998:

Wood, John Charity Stites 20 Dec 1818 13 Wood, William Mary Mattox 30 Mar 1820 49 Woods, Sally Chas. Maddon 9 Sep 1819 36

The 1880 and 1900 census entries for Araminta D Fisk, John's daughter, state that her father was born in Vermont. The census records for Vermont for 1790, 1800 and 1810 list a very large number of Wood households, including the names Isaac (1800 and 1810, Bennington and Franklin Counties) and Jeremiah (Rutland county, 1790-1820). In Rutledge county alone, there are 35 Woods listed for 1800. The 1820 census for Ohio shows two Jeremiahs (Clermont and Muskingum Counties), four Isaacs (two in Clark County, including a Jr) and 21 Johns (including one in Clark County).

John Wood appears on the 1818 tax list for Clark county OH as a "proprietor." The "original proprietor" is listed as Andrew Ellison.

The 1820 Clark County census index shows:

Isaac Wood Springfield Twp page 19
Isaac Wood Jr Springfield Twp page 21
John Wood Harmony Twp page 15
Thomas Wood Springfield Twp page 20
William Wood Springfield Twp page 19

The online census record (Heritage Quest) is difficult to read. This is what I see for John:

1820 > OHIO > CLARK > HARMONY Series: M33 Roll: 88 Page: 15 John Wood    100010    20101

All we can know about John's age from this is that he was under 45 years old, making him born after 1775.

Daughter Araminta was not born until 1821 (in Columbiana county) so would not be listed.³ The two youngest girls would have been Charity's daughters from her first marriage, Julie Ann and Doindia Stites. In his memoir, J W Fisk says that Charity and her second husband had three children. The son listed above could be son John, who was known to be their eldest child. It is John, the son, that J W Fisk references:

Uncle John Wood was a man of sterling worth. He together with his mother's family moved to Iowa in 1844 and succeeded in establishing himself in later years on a farm in Marion County, Iowa.⁹⁷

In 1830, John's widow, Charity Wood, is found living next door to her mother, Christianna Corson, in Harmony township, Clark county. That she is named the head of the household indicates that John had died. Although there are no males listed in her household, there is a young male in her mother's home. We might safely assume that this was John Jr. (See the article on Charity for details.)

We're unable to identify John's family with any of the other Wood families in the county, which includes families from Virginia and from England. In a rather desperate search for possible brothers, I've searched the 1850 census for any male Wood born between 1770 and 1790 in Vermont who were residing in Ohio. It's a short list but I don't expect it to yield anything useful.

• Ephraim Wood, born c1781 Vermont; Woodville, Sandusky
• Jeremiah Wood, born c1780 Vermont; Carlisle, Lorain
• Elijah A Wood, born c1786 Vermont; Parma, Cuyahoga
• Alvan Wood, born c1790 Vermont; Streetsborough, Portage

John Wood (Jr)

John Jr is found in Lake Prairie Twp, Marion county Iowa, as early as the 1850 census, age 30. (Note that the 2 year-old Wyatt Earp can be found on the same census.) Interestingly, a Lurena Wood, age 62, is living in the household. Her place of birth isn't noted. We can be fairly certain that she was not John's mother as all evidence points to Charity (Corson) Stites. Could she have been an aunt and, therefore, a sister or sister-in-law to his father? It's curious that most of John's daughters' names started with an 'L'. Was Lurena the inspiration?

1850 > IOWA > MARION > LAKE PRAIRIE TWP Series: M432 Roll: 187 Page: 293

He is found on the 1860 census for Marion County, Iowa, age 38, living next door to J W Fisk's parents, Henry C and Julia A Fiske. Julia was John's half-sister.

1860 > IOWA > MARION > LAKE PRAIRIE TWP Series: M653 Roll: 335 Page: 606

John is 50 years old on the 1870 census, same county. His wife is listed as Mary A, born KY, 43 years old.

1870 > IOWA > MARION > LAKE PRAIRIE TWP Series: M593 Roll: 409 Page: 124

The following is likely him, as John Woods, in 1880. However, the birthplace of his parents is shown very differently from what we'd expect, with his father born in New Jersey and mother born in Florida. Of further interest is the fact that his sister, Polly, is living with him. I'm unable to determine, however, her last name. It certainly isn't the expected Turner.¹ His son, Benajah, is found in a separate household, same page.

1880 > IOWA > CRAWFORD > IOWA Series: T9 Roll: 335 Page: 71

We can determine at least some of John Jr's children from the census records. Son Benajah G Wood would have been named for his maternal uncle, Benajah Corson. (See Following the Benajahs.) John's wife is listed as Margaret, born in Kentucky c1825.

Lusanna Wood, born c1849, Iowa
Lucinda, born c1850, Iowa
Letitia, born c1852, Iowa
William H, born c1854, Iowa
Benajah G, born c1858, Iowa
Christian, born 1860, Iowa
Lena, born c1862, Iowa
Gerold, born c1864, Iowa
John, born c1869, Iowa

Y-DNA

The Y chromosome may one day provide leads. In other words, should a partilineal descendant of John's test, it might be possible to compare it against the Wood DNA Project and find a related line. With that end in mind, I'm maintaining a short list of John Wood's Y descendants.

Update, 12 September 2021:

Indeed, the above scenario has happened. A descendant of John's grandson, Benajah Thompson Wood, has tested the low-level Y-37. The markers provided for that test are minimal but are enough to place the tester into group 44 of the Wood DNA Project. One of the Wood testers of the group has taken the most advanced Y-DNA test, known as the Big Y.

The alphanumeric designations are markers found on the Y chromosome. Because the Y passes directly from father to his sons virtually unchanged, the markers (simple, and harmless, single-letter mutations) accumulate through the entirety of the lineage. For example, my own Y chromosome has gathered at least 1700 mutations. These markers distinguish my Cooleys from all other clans. Comparing these markers against the whole of the database, a simple genealogy-like tree can be developed, as above. For example, this Wood tester (who happens to have had Wood ancestors born in Vermont) has this genetic ancestry:

Of course, these relationships are not precise. These mutations occur approximately every four generations or so. We certainly don't know whether our tester will follow the same path, but it will be something very close to it. Further testing (and testers) are needed.

Update, 2 November 2021:

More information, of course, is needed. After all, there might well be another explanation. But we have three important pieces of data: A match in the surname (Wood), a match in the place (Vermont), and a match in the Y-DNA (BY21620). This is a good example of triangulation. We might not have pinpointed it, but we have something real to deal with. Where to go next? Here is a list of the heads of households for the Orange County, Vermont census, 1790-1810.

1790

Stephen Wood, Barnet
Daniel Wood, Corinth
John Wood, Littleton
Joseph Wood, Littleton
Abiel Wood, Thetford
Israel Wood, Thetford
Israel Wood, Thetford

1800

Jerad Woods, Barre
Ezehe Woods, Barre
Elisha Wood, Brookfield
Gideon Wood, Chelsea
Danl Woods, Corinth
Jos Wood, Strafford
Jesse Wood, Strafford
Amara Wood, Randolph
Thos Wood, Randolph
Jacob Wood, Randolph
Leml Wood, Randolph
Thos Wood, Randolph
Thos Wood Jr, Randolph
Abiel Wood, Thetford
Jona Wood, Thetford
Jacob Wood, Thetford
Wm Wood, Tunbridge

1810

Searl Wood, Barre
Mihelable Wood, Berlin
John Wood, Bradford
Amos Wood, Chelsea
Nathe Wood, Corinth
Jona Wood, Corinth
Amos Wood, Corinth
Saml Wood, Fairley
Bengel Wood, Newbury
Jesse Wood, Strafford
Borya Wood, Strafford
John Wood, Thetford
Silas Wood, Thetford
John Wood, Thetford
Abial Wood, Thetford
Luther Wood, Thetford
Jona Wood, Thetford
Jona Wood, Topsham
Wm Wood, Topsham
Seth Wood, Washington

If we're on the right path, John will be buried in those records. A process of elimination might well lead us to his parents. Since he married in 1818, he is likely to be on the 1800 census but not by name, only as a mark under the appropriate column. For starters, I've looked at the three Woods in Thetford, recording only the sons of age up to 16.

1800 Thetford, Vermont

Abiel, 1 male to 10, page 581
Jacob, 1 male to 16, page 579
Jona, 2 males to 10, page 583

Abiel and Jacob were grandsons of Richard through his only recorded son, Israel. Neither are listed at FamilySearch.org as having a son named John. In fact, the one son of Abiel's of that age was Abiel Jr. We can probably rule out him as John's father. Jacob's son was Jacob, Jr. Of course, this is assuming the genealogies are right. According to the same source, many of Israel's sons were too young to have been John's, including the last known son, Samuel, who was born in 1781 in Massachussets, two years before the family moved to Vermont. The births of Israel's children are recorded in Andover, Massachussets. Might it be that his wife had another son born after arriving in Vermont? There as a birth recorded in Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954 for John Lund Wood, son of Daniel, born in Corinth, Vermont on 3 May 1792. But he died in New Hampshire in 1855. Another dead end. But note that he is believed to have been descended from a Samuel Wood guessed to have been born about 1636 in England, immigrated to Massachussets. I find no Y-DNA tests for this man, so we cannot know whether there was a relationship to the immigrant Thomas Wood.

And so it goes. I've only started researching this family. There's a lot of work to do, and we'll need more Y-DNA testers. So far, this appears to be very doable.

Other early Wood families in Clark county, Ohio

• A will recorded in Clark county, Ohio (1822) for a John Wood lists wife Catherine, son Thomas, daughter Mary Jinkins (wife of Joel) and granddaughter Ann, daughter of his deceased daughter Elizabeth.⁹⁶
• John G Wood, apparently a cabinet maker from Virginia, had three children by his first wife: Sarah, Edward and James. From his second marriage he had Robert I Wood, born 1830 in Virginia. Robert had sons Charles Alfred, born 1851, and William, born 1853.^{92 93}
• Matthew (died 1830) and his wife Jane (died 1856) arrived from Kentucky to Clark County in 1810. It is probably this man who is listed in the 1818 poll-book as "Woods" and it may be his wife listed on the 1840 census as Jane "Woods". A Matthew Wood was elected Justice of the Peace in 1829. A daughter, Jane G Wood, married George W Alt, in 1845. It appears that Matthew left a will in Clark County (book 1, p 290).⁹¹
• Benjamin Wood arrived in Clark county in 1805. He had a son Albert who died in 1843 at the age of 35. Albert had children Mary, Benjamin, Sarah, Juliet, Anna, Henry and Isaiah Wood, born 18 Jan 1842 in Clark county, Ohio.⁹⁴
• Isaac and Jane (Cory) Wood came to Clark county in 1812. Our John had been long thought as a possible son but it is now clear that they had a son, John T Wood, who died in infancy in 1810. Nevertheless, I've saved and updated my older article about this family.
• There was another John Wood born in Clark County in 1818, the son of Isaac and Sarah Wood of New Jersey. This family moved on to Marion County in 1821.²