Alfred Benjamin Wood

In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census dated July 14th for Girard, Montgomery County, Illinois, Alfred B. Wood was 7 months old, and living with his parents and two sisters. They were listed as follows in the census: William, 28, Hiley A., 26, Julia A., 6, Nancy M., 3 years old. Alfred's father William was working as a farmer and his real estate was valued at $2,800 and personal estate at $700. They were all born in Illinois.

By 1880 they were living in Pitman, Illinois, and listed as: William B., 38, Hila A., 36, Julia A., 16, Nancy Mary, 13, Alfred, 10, William E., 8, and Nellie E., 4 years old. William was still farming. They were all born in Illinois, and Hila's parents were both born in Kentucky.

Alfred married Clara Mae Skaggs in 1892, the daughter of Andrew Skaggs and Laura Jane Eubank. In 1900 they were still living in Pitman, and were listed in the census as follows: Alfred Benjamin Wood, 30, Clara Mae, 26, Lorin Alfred, 7, Morris Clyde, 5, and Ruth, 7 months old. Also living with them was Alfred's younger sister, Nellie. Alfred was working as a railroad laborer and Nellie as a milliner (hat maker).

By 1910, another daughter had been born to Alfred and Clara, and she was Laura Anne Wood, 4 years old. Alfred, 40, Clara, 36, Lorin, 17, Morris, 15, and Ruth, 10, were still living in Pitman, Illinois, and Alfred was working as a farmer and was renting his farm. Another daughter, Dorothy Grace, was born in 1911, but sadly, their son Morris Clyde Wood died in1915 at the age of just 20 years old. His headstone at the Providence Cemetery in Waggoner, Montgomery County, Illinois, reads "Blessed are the pure in heart, Matthew 5,8." I don't know what caused his death.

In 1920, the family were living in Zanesville, Montgomery County, and were listed as: A.B. Wood, 50, Clara, 46, Laura, 13, and Dorothy, 7. Alfred was still working as a farmer and owned his own farm free from a mortgage.

They were still living in Zanesville in 1930, and Alfred was listed as a retired farmer. Also living with them was their married daughter, Laura, and her husband and their daughter. They were listed in the census as: Alfred, 60, Clara, 56, Laura A. Lee, 24, Morris Lee, 28, and Patricia Ann Lee, 7 months old. They owned their farm and had a radio in their home. Morris Lee was working as a farmer. He was born in Indiana, as were both of his parents.

Sadly, Clara Mae Scaggs passed away just 8 years later at the age of 64 years old. She was buried in the Providence Cemetery in Waggoner, Montgomery County, Illinois, as were her parents and her grandfather, Stephen Green Eubank, who died in 1872 the year before Clara was born, while they were living in Missouri.

After 46 years of marriage to his first wife, Clara, and not long after her death in 1938, Alfred married Julia Violet Garman, and they were listed in the 1940 census as A.B. Wood, 70, and Julia Wood, 69. They were living in Zanesville, Montgomery County, Illinois. They owned their home which was valued at $1,500. Both Alfred and Julia had an 8th grade education, and they were both born in Illinois. Previously in 1935 Julia had been living in rural Montgomery, Illinois, and Alfred was living in the same house. Alfred passed away 15 years later in 1955 and Julia lived another 12 years and died in 1967 in Litchfield, Montgomery County, Illinois.

There is a photo of Alfred and Julia taken in 1941 posted on Julia's Geni profile page.