R251 
Husband: James Morton Wood (Source [S041], who interviewed his daughter, suggests his call name was Morton.)
Father: Carlos Wood [R250]
Mother: Priscilla (Holloway) Wood [R250]
Born: 11/1 or 11/1787, in Prince Edward County
Died: 6/1/1877, in Bath County. A stone in the new Windy Cove Church cemetery says “Buried at / WINDY COVE / 1877,” meaning in the old churchyard cemetery. However, his gravestone there does not survive.
First wife: Martha Pettus (Cook) Wood
Father: William Cook
Died: ~1844, buried in the Windy Cove churchyard. Her gravestone does not survive.
Married: 4/2/1828
Children:
Elizabeth Wood, b. in Botetourt County (?)
James Pettus Wood, b. 5/9/1832 in Pocahontas County. Married Virginia M. Frazier, 20, of Augusta County, 4/22/1854 [S055]. He is described on the marriage license as a clerk. They later lived in Richmond.
Benjamin F. Wood, b. 7/20/1837 in Pocahontas County
William B. Wood, b. 6/26/1839 in Pocahontas County
Harriet A. Wood, b. 9/30/1841 in Bath County
Second wife: Mary Jane (McMullen) Wood
Father: James McMullen
Mother: Sally (Jones) McMullen
Born: 1 or 2/17/1835, in Bath County
Died: 11/29/1914. Buried in the new Windy Cove Church cemetery
Married: April 1849 [S055], by Rev. John Blain. According to the marriage license he was 66, she 20! However, adding 66 to James’s birthdate gives you 1853, not 1849. According to the application Mary made in 1878 for a War of 1812 pension, they were married 4/12/1855 in Williamsville, Bath County. If this is correct and the date on their marriage license [S055] is wrong, their first child (below) was illegitimate. James was at least 80 when his last child was born.
Children:
George W. Wood, 9/4/1851-4/11/1863
John Wood, b. 7/31/1855 (m. 1st 4/3/1879 to Martha A. Rhea, 9/24/1858-4/22/1883 [S052]. Ch. Harry G. Wood, b. 2/6/1880; Maggie B. Wood, b. 8/11/1881. M. 2nd 4/14/1887 to Annie J. Vess, b. 1867.)
Andrew M. Wood, 10/13/1858-4/12/1863
Charles S. Wood, 10/231861-4/11/1863 (the similar death dates of
George, Andrew, and Charles suggest an epidemic.)
Sarah Ann Wood, b. 7/1/1864 (m. 8/9/1882 to David W. Armentrout
[S052])
Mary Ellis Wood, b. 7/25/1868, unmarried. (Mary Ellen Wood,
7/25/1870-12/13/1957, the “Miss Mary Wood” referred to below, is
buried in the New Windy Cove cemetery, near Mary Jane Wood.) It is
remarkable that the daughter of a man born in 1787 was still alive in
1957!
(1996) Morton was a name of distinction in Prince Edward County, where James Morton Wood was born. Bradshaw’s History of Prince Edward County [S042] speaks of a Capt. John Morton who commanded a company of Regulars, the 4th Virginia, in the Revolutionary War; and an Edward Wood (who may or may not have been the Edward Wood treated in (R001) who was an Ensign in the company. One of James Morton’s parents may have been related to the Prince Edward County Mortons.
James (~23) appears to have been on his own as early as 1810, since he does not appear in that year’s census record for the household of his father Carlos Wood [R250] in Charlotte County. On 8/29/1814, a few days after the British took Washington DC in the War of 1812, James enlisted at Fincastle in Capt. John Pitzer’s Company of Virginia Militia (see [S098]). He held the rank of Sergeant. His pension application relates that he was discharged 2/22/1815 in Norfolk Va.
James’s enlistment in Fincastle shows that he was living in Botetourt County by 1814. In 1816 he participated in the marriage bond of his uncle Thomas Wood [R252] in Prince Edward County. On 8/31/1819, in Botetourt County, James signed the marriage bond for the wedding of his aunt (but six years his junior) Sarah Wood to William Rowland [R277].
On 5/27/1825 James, together with his brother Tommie and his uncle Edward [R003], bought tracts of land in Pocahontas County (now W.Va.). James purchased lot J in Fig. R003c, 1000 acres, from Brown Jenks for $500.
In 1828 James married Martha Cook. Their household is listed in the 1830 census of Botetourt County. In 1832 James and Martha moved to Pocahontas County. On 5/28/32 James (45) wrote a letter speaking of the move and had his cousin Joseph Moore [R350], who earlier had migrated from Botetourt County to Randolph County, carry it to a mutual cousin, Davis Morton Wood [R255], when he travelled back to Botetourt County for a visit. James’s first son James Pettus had been born just 19 days before the letter was written. The letter is reproduced in Fig. R251a. According to [S116], James “...cleared some 30 acres and hacked [?] some 60 acres more, planted an orchard & built a house and barns, and resided upon [their land] until 1839, at which time he sold out at a considerable advance upon the purchase...” In 1836 James gave 173 acres of his land on Dry Fork of Elk to William Wood (DB2-524), probably his brother (see [R250]).
In 1840 both James and Tommie Wood moved to Bath County. (Later Tommie would return to Randolph County, but James would not.) On the same day, 5/5/1840, the two bought neighboring parcels of property a few miles north of Millboro Springs, on Wilson’s Run (I believe that was the name given then to Pig Run). The deed book describes the brothers as being “Of Pocahontas County.” James bought a 268 acre and a 5 acre tract of land from Joseph and Ann Payne for $1200 (DB9-318). On 7/4/1840 James bought an additional 211 acres of land from John Jinkins for $100. This is described as being “on the mountain between the two Back Creeks,” which would place it ~8 miles NNW of Warm Springs, less than three miles from the Pocahontas County boundary. I have not tried to plot either of these parcels of land. On 8/26/44 James sold 755 acres of his Pocahontas County land to Andrew W. Cameron (Pocahontas County DB4-88) and 183 acres to Samuel V. Gatewood (DB4-90), both of Bath County.
The Payne property James bought included the building shown in Fig. R251b. It had been built about 1812 of hand-hewn logs with mud daubed in the cracks. Later it was improved, as was customary. The house was located about a mile north of Millboro Springs. By the time the WPA surveyed the property in 1936, it had fallen to ruin. Under Historical Significance, [S041] reported “In this house, over one hundred years ago [i.e., before 1836], a man by the name of Stuart, killed his wife. His wife was confined to her bed with a baby three days old. They had hired woman staying with them with whom the old man had fallen in love. He proposed to the hired woman he would kill his wife if she agreed. She agreed to this and he picked up his gun and walked to the door and shot his wife. Stuart and the woman escaped and were never again heard of.
“During the War between the States, five or six Confederate soldiers stopped at this house, when the Yankees came up. The Confederate soldiers crawled under the house. The Yankees searched the house taking almost everything they could find, including bedding and bed covers. They did not discover the hidden soldiers, so they escaped being captured.
“The father of Miss Mary Wood, present owner, was Captain Morton Wood, who served in the War of 1812. He was a son of Carlos Wood and was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, November 14, 1787.”
On 4/4/1848, James Morton sued his uncle Edward Wood [R003] over Pocahontas County land dealings [S116]. After James bought his nominal 1000 acres Brown Jenks, the seller, surveyed the land and found it actually consisted of 1460 acres. James later charged that when he wanted to sell out, Edward “...pretended that he had purchased the land contained within the bounds purchased by your Orator which was over the one thousand acres, and insisted before your Orator made a deed to A. W. Cameron and Gatewood and others he should purchase from him this [sampling?]...” James, “in an unguarded moment,” paid the amount demanded, then decided he was cheated and, four years after the transaction, sued to recover his payment. Edward denied it all. I don’t know how the case was settled.
The 1850 census of Bath County lists both James and Tommie Wood. The entry for James is:
James Wood, Farmer, 62 Prince Edward Co.
Elizabeth Wood 20 Botetourt Co.
James 18 Pocahantus
William 17 Pocahantus
James’s wife Martha had died ~1844. It is unclear why Benjamin and Harriet are missing (deceased?), and why William’s age is discrepant.
Along the way James sold some of the land he had bought. On 10/26/1871 he applied for a pension as a veteran of the War of 1812 [S113]. (This entailed certifying “that he, at no time during the late rebellion against the authority of the United States, adhered to the cause of the enemies of the Government, giving them aid or comfort...”) In 1877 (age 90) he declared the original 268 acres and his belongings under the Homestead Exemption laws and Poor laws of Virginia (DB13-212); I am not clear on the implications of this. In the same year he wrote a will (4/1877, WB7-26), and died (6/1/1877). Mary Jane Wood continued to receive a pension as a veteran’s widow until her death in 1914.
James was a distinguished enough citizen of Bath County to be written up in Hardisty’s 1884 Historical & Geographical Encyclopedia Illustrated, Special Virginia Edition [S027]. According to this, “Mr. Wood died possessed of an estate of 260 acres on Pig run, in Millboro district, and his widow is managing this farm, about one-half of which is cleared. Her post-office address is Millboro Springs, Bath County, Virginia.” The property and house later passed from Mary Jane Wood to her daughter Mary E. M. Wood, according to [S041] in 1911 (which would be three years before Mary Jane’s death). The house no longer stands; it has been replaced by a modern dwelling.
