• Joined his brothers, Thomas and John, in Virginia in 1755.
• Performed military service under Generals Washington and Braddock, French & Indian War.
• Nursed sick and wounded soldiers in home after a Revolutionary War battle near Alexandria,Virginia.
• Donated pewter tableware to be melted down into bullets for Colonial troops.
• When Tennessee became a state in 1796, Samuel was appointed Justice of the Peace, an office he held until his death in 1800.

Biography

research provided by Tim Peerson, ninety-Six, SC

 Wood family of Bunker Hill Township

The Wood family of Bunker Hill Township traces its beginning to Leicestershire England. Samuel, who later sired seven sons, was born on the 2nd day of May, 1737. His father, William, was a woolcomber and Samuel started a woolcomber apprenticeship with Thomas Jones in 1751. Samuel failed to complete his seven year apprenticeship when he crossed the Atlantic in 1755 to join his brothers, Thomas and John. He sailed on the vessel “Hopewell” which landed in Alexandra, Va. To pay for his passage he may have had to serve with the Colonial troops, since family records state that he was in the service of Col. George Washington and also with General Braddock at Fort Duquesne.

After the peace of 1763, Samuel returned to Virginia where he was employed by some of the large plantation owners of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. He married Sarah Reives in 1772. During the American Revolution, Samuel Wood, due to his lameness and poor health, could not serve in the military, but he performed patriotic service for his new country by giving his pewter tableware to be melted and made into bullets, and after the battle near Alexandria, he and Sarah nursed the sick and wounded soldiers in their home. Samuel is listed in the DAR patriot index. Samuel and Sarah’s first four sons, William, James, Samuel, and Thomas were born between 1773 and 1779 near the “Great Falls of the Potomac River” in Loudoun County, Va. In 1781, Samuel, Sarah and the four boys moved to Washington county North Carolina, (later to become Washington county, Tennessee). There three more sons, Abraham, John and George were born. Samuel died sometime before August of 1800 as his will was proven then.

 To contact the Wood family: April Blount, 618-278-4215 or Ollie Schwallenstecker, 618-278-4792, e-mail address: judyollie@frontiernet.net

Much information for this “Historical Vignette” was found in the book “Samuel Wood” written by William L. & Vera Wood and Ruby M. Whitaker Buck. L of Congress #88-051660

Links

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ghills&id=I44015
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2861698&id=I567252578