| 4. | John Wood was born on 29 Jan 1850 in Henry Co, Kentucky (son of George Edward Wood and Nancy Jane Batts); died on 14 Feb 1923 in Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma; was buried in 1923 in Grace Lawn Cem, Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma. Other Events and Attributes:
- Census: 1850, Port Royal District (District 1), Henry Co, Kentucky
- Birth: 29 Jan 1850, Henry Co, Kentucky
- Census: 1860, Marion Twp, Madison, Monroe Co, Missouri
- Census: 1870, Marion Twp, Madison, Monroe Co, Missouri
- Occupation: 1870, Farmer
- Emigration: 1875, Moved West to Madison, Missouri
- Census: 1880, Saling Twp, Audrain Co, Missouri
- Occupation: 1880, Farmer
- Residence: 1883, Rock Creek, near Burden, Cowley Co, Kansas
- Residence: 1884, Hooser, Cowley Co, Kansas
- Census: 1900, Cedar Twp (District 47), Cowley Co, Kansas
- Occupation: 1900, Farmer
- Census: 1910, Cedar Twp, Cowley Co, Kansas
- Occupation: 1916, Retired from farming
- Residence: 1916, John and Mary moved to Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma
- Census: 1920, Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma
- Death: 14 Feb 1923, Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma
- Cause of Death (Facts Pg): 14 Feb 1923, Senility
Notes:
John is my paternal grandfather. I never saw either of my paternal grandparents since they had passed away before I was born.
His birthplace in Kentucky was about six miles south of the Ohio River, some 45 miles southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, George Edward Wood, my great-grandfather, was a farmer. His mother, Nancy Jane Batts Wood, my great-grandmother.
The remaining children, James Hershel, Crissy Malson, Lucy Alice, Laura Lee and George Washington, had not been born as of the 1850 census.
In 1856 at age 6 John, with his parents, moved from Henry County, Kentucky to Madison, Monroe County, Missouri. At 25 years of age John was still living on the farm at Madison.
John and Mary farmed in Saling Township, Audrain County, Missouri. A few years later, about 1883, they moved to Rock Creek, near Burden, Cowley County, Kansas, the nearest railroad depot. They arrived on the K. C. L & S. K. Railroad. It had been opened to Burden (or then known as Burdenville) on February 1, 1880.
In 1883 the population of Burden, Kansas was 400. It had seven general stores, a drug store, a hardware store, two hotels, a jewelry store, three agricultural implement stores, two land and loan offices, a lumber yard, three furniture stores, a livery stable, a meat market, restaurant, millinery, a billiard room and two blacksmiths. The town had two doctors, one of whom was J. M. Wright, and a lawyer named S. S. Moore. Everything a modern town needed.
The first wedding in Burden was of James Hershel Wood, John's brother, to a Miss Hattie Smith. John's other brothers, Thomas and James lived nearby.
John and Mary started looking around for a farm. In the fall of 1884 John and Mary bought a 160 acre farm five miles South of Hoosier, east of Arkansas City, Cowley County, in an area known as Irish Flats. They bought it from Clara A. and C. H. Carlton. It had an assessed value of $1,200. John paid $1,100 on September 30, 1884. The land was located in Section 36, Township 345, Range 7E. An old receipt, No. 2389, from the Cowley County Treasurer's Officer, dated February 27, 1879 stated: Received of Thomas Callagan the sum of 12 dollars and 18 cents. Full taxes for the year 1878 on the following property--signed by F. R. Bryan, County Treasurer.
John and Mary set about digging the sod and stacking it and the rocks to make the walls for their "dugout" house. Poles from trees, thick enough to support the weight of the sod and the packed dirt of the roof were cut and dragged to the site. Rocks were hauled from nearby outcroppings reinforced the side wall parts of the 14 by 16 foot room that had been dug into the side of the hill. The dugout had a dirt floor and a No. 8 wood burning stove. They built the home on the windswept eastern hill of the acreage, about a quarter mile north of the southeastern corner.
They needed, of course, a water well. Neighbors helped haul the poles and do the lifting. They put up a low half-dug-out barn for the livestoc
Until fences were built they staked out the small number of livestock they had. The farm was five miles North of the Osage Indian Nation line, seven miles east of the present Maple City, and near Otto and Hooser, Kansas. It was slightly more than 23 miles east of Arkansas City, the largest town in the area.
John farmed winter wheat and oats, but mostly corn on the upper flat areas of his 160 acres. The land furnished the sod, stones, boards and poles for the dugout John built to shelter his family during the winter of 1884-1885. It was some time before the wood frame house could be built. The cost of lumber was beyond reach of the homesteaders. Other needs such as plows, seed, harnesses and nails were more important.
John farmed winter wheat and oats, but mostly corn on the upper flat areas of his 160 acres. The land furnished the sod, stones, boards and poles for the dugout John built to shelter his family during the winter of 1884-1885. It was some time before the wood frame house could be built. The cost of lumber was beyond reach of the homesteaders. Other needs such as plows, seed, harnesses and nails were more important.
The Kansas winters were bitterly cold as the winds blew. Snow drifted as high as a man and lasted for days. Ice storms isolated families from help and medical aid. Men and animals froze, if not prepared. Ice covering the water ponds had to be chopped to allow access to the water by the farm animals. The John Wood family spent most of their time in the small dugout until warm weather arrived.
December 31, 1885 a cold Northerner began blowing in Cowley County, bringing freezing rain and temperatures. By nightfall the temperature fell below zero. In some places it fell to 25 degrees below zero at night.
John's few cows and horses were locked inside to keep them from freezing. The cold stayed for weeks. One family--a man, his wife and six children--traveling south were found frozen to death on the prairie. Another homesteader and his team of horses were found frozen within 100 feet of his dugout. The horses, after having arrived home, appeared to have stood patiently waiting to be unharnessed. It had been impossible for the man to see more than a few feet due to the blinding snow and winds. His family, in the dugout, was unaware of the man's plight for two days.
The storm paralyzed Kansas. John, Mary and their children, Maude, Guy and Elmer stuck it out. John chipped ice and heated it on the wood stove to obtain water for the livestock. Whole corn and fodder from the previous season ran out during the last of the month. Some of the corn was saved to avoid starvation of the family. In the end John lost only one of his three cows. Many people in Kansas lost everything.
Summers were hot. The cook stove was taken out of the dugout to cook. Rattlesnakes were common. Mosquitoes swarmed. Grasshoppers attacked the crops. Vegetables and fruits were canned by Mary.
John and Mary were educated and could read and write. They were frugal. They sold eggs and butter. The price of butter in 1903 was only 5 cents a pound; eggs 5 cents a dozen.
John and Mary had six children. Maude Melissa Wood, their only daughter, was born May 22, 1878 in Madison, Missouri. A son, Guy Manyard Wood, their eldest son, was born January 25, 1881. A second son, Elmer John Wood, was born September 6, 1884. Their third son, my father, was George Dixon Wood, born in May 4, 1888. John was 38 years old and Mary was 30 years old when dad was born.
Oil was discovered in a shallow 36 foot hole drilled at Chelsea, east of the Verdigris River, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory in 1889 (now Oklahoma). The Indians, moved from all over the southeastern United States, were placed on the land by the federal government and promised by treaty that the land would belong to the Indians for "as long as the grass grows and the wind blows." The United States Government's promise was as illusory as it has been so many times in our history. Cattlemen wanted the land given to the Indians for grazing their herds. And, of course the finding of oil, and the greed it espoused ended the Indian's use to the land. On September 16, 1893 the Cherokee Strip was opened to the land rush of white men. John Wood watched the Cherokee Strip run near the Chilocco Indian School.
Thomas Wood, John's brother, participated in the 1891 Oklahoma Run for Land. He "ran" for less than a mile. He filed an affidavit on October 19, 1891 at the U.S. Land Office at Oklahoma City, O. T. He received his land Patent in November 1896.
Otis Calvin Wood was their fourth child, born April Fool's Day, April 1, 1897. His sister, Maude, was 19 years old, and his oldest brother was 17.
Their fifth and final child was Neal Edward Wood, born August 6, 1902.
All the children were born while they lived on the family farm at Irish Flats.
Things did improve. Mary got her second stove, one that had two ovens. Mary was well known throughout the county for her vinegar cobblers and Jenny Lind cakes.
Guy and Elmer walked two miles in the early freezing morning winter rain to the nearest neighbor to get a bucket of hot coals when they accidentally let their fires burn out.
The Wood boys ran the land cultivator with a team of horses, milked the cows, and gathered the eggs, slopped the hogs. When not working their favorite pastime was hunting with their dogs. They played marbles, called "mumbly-peg."
Maude helped her mother, Mary, boil clothes in a large cast iron pot. The same pot was used to render lard when the hogs were killed. The chitlins (pig skin) left from the lard rendering was used to make lye soap.
In the 1900 Census John was listed as 50 years of age, Mary 42. Out of eight children five still lived. Maude was still at home and single at age 22; Guy was 19 and listed himself as a school teacher although he noted he had been unemployed for eight months; Elmer, George and Otis were also listed, Neal was not yet born.
Money was scarce. A bank statement showed how seldom a checking account was used. "Page 740, Cedar Vale, Kansas, Dec. 1, 1900. John Wood, In account with Dosbaughs Bank (a private bank). One $10 check written and paid on Nov. 1, left a balance of $38.33. On Nov. 19, $15 was deposited leaving a balance $43.33." A two cent documentary stamp, Series 1899, was affixed. The check was cancelled by hand, dated and initialed in ink by a J. W., Nov. 9, 1900, issued in Cedar Vale, Kans., Nov. 10, 1900, by Dosbaughs" Bank. It said, "Pay to the Order of Guy M. Wood, $10," and was signed by John Wood.
In 1916, at age 66, John and Mary retired from farming. Their son, Otis, had been attending college in Edmond, Oklahoma, living with his brothers, George and Guy. When George and Guy moved away from Edmond that left Otis alone. They turned the Kansas farm over to their daughter, Maude, and her husband, Walter Foltz. John and Mary moved to a rented house in Edmond, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City. In December of 1916 John and Mary bought a small frame house at 116 East Second Street, Edmond, Oklahoma. The house had a front porch and small back porch. Second Street became better known as the famous Route 66.
Otis, their son, died of pneumonia on March 24, 1918 while in the United States Army at Fort Worth, Texas. Otis was buried at Grace Lawn Cemetery, Edmond, Oklahoma.
January 16, 1920 the US Federal Census was taken on for Edmond City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. John Wood, was head of the family, owned their home, male , white, age 69, married. He was able to read and write. Born in Kentucky. His mother was born in Kentucky and spoke English. He had no occupation (retired).
Marie M. Wood, wife, female, white, age 61, married, able to read and write, born in Pennsylvania, her father and mother having been born in England.
Neal E. Wood , son , male, white, age 17, single,, attended school, able to read and write, born in Kansas, father's place of birth was Kentucky, mother's was Pennsylvania. He had no occupation.
Mary died on March 13, 1921, leaving John to live alone. She was buried in the family plot near her son, Otis, at the Grace Lawn Cemetery, Edmond, Oklahoma.
John died two years later at home in Edmond, Oklahoma on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1923. He was 73 years old. He lies buried adjacent to Mary and his son Otis at Grace Lawn Cemetery, Edmond, Oklahoma.
John's obituary appeared in the Edmond Sun newspaper on Thursday, February 22, 1923:
John Woods was born in Kentucky, January 29, 1850. He died at his home on East Second street, February 14, 1923.
His family moved to Monroe county, Mo., when he was six years old. At the age of 27 he was married to Mary Maria Dixon. To this union six children were born.
The wife of the deceased died March 13, 1921. One son, Otis C. Wood, died in army camp, March 24, 1918. The rest of his children are living and all were present at the funeral except Elmer J. Wood of Seattle, Wash.
Funeral services were conducted from the family residence February 16, Rev. Ishley officiating for Rev. McGehee, who as absent from the city.
John married Mary Maria Dixon on 31 Jan 1876 in Madison, Monroe Co, Missouri. Mary was born on 28 Mar 1858 in Granville, Mifflin Co, Pennsylvania; died on 13 Mar 1921 in Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma; was buried in Grace Lawn Cem, Edmond, Oklahoma Co, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1919 - 1978 (59 years)