The Wood Family of Concord, Massachusetts and Norridgewock, Maine
The Wood family were ancestors of James Lewellyn Wilder. Originally settling in Concord, Massachusetts in the early 1600's, they lived in this area for well over one hundred years before Oliver Wood moved his family north to the area of Norridgewock, Maine in 1774. Silas Wood was the last direct family ancestor with the last name of Wood. Silas Wood's granddaughter, Hadassah Thompson Wilder, was the mother of Francis L. Wilder, the grandfather of Marian Wilder DeJonge and Agnes Wilder McMurdo.
This link is to a journal entry of Henry David Thoreau, which tells a story about pirate money believed to have been buried in colonial days on the Wood farm, adjacent to the Hosmer farm. This would have been the Ephraim Wood farm. Ephraim Wood was the father of Oliver Wood and great great grandfather of Hadassah Thompson Wilder. The story seems to take place during the lifetime of Ephraim Wood Sr., or perhaps his father, Jacob Wood, who operated the farm before Ephraim.
Henry David Thoreau tells a story of pirate money buried on the Wood family farm in Concord
Mary (Polly) Wood Thompson was the great grandmother of James Lewellyn Wilder. She was the last person in our family to be born with the Wood family name.
This link provides information about her life.
Silas Wood was the great great grandfather of James Lewellyn Wilder. His was descended from several of the founding families of Concord, Massachusetts. After the Revolution, he joined his father and mother in Norridgewock, Maine, where he lived for about fifty years.
Jonas Wood was the older brother of our ancestor Silas Wood. Although little is known about him, the mystery of his last year living is a story worth reading:
Oliver Wood was the great great great grandfather of James Lewellyn Wilder. He was the father of Silas Wood. Oliver Wood was born in Concord, Massachusetts and moved his family to the area near Norridgewock, Maine around the summer of 1774. He lived the rest of his life there, dying in 1816.
The following link is a story about the homes of two of Oliver Wood's brothers, Ephraim and Amos Wood. The story relates how the brothers began construction on their homes on the same day in 1763. As Oliver Wood was their older brother living also in Concord, and as the homes were built of Wood family land, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Oliver Wood and perhaps his young sons Jonas and Silas may have helped somehow in the construction of these homes.
The Amos and Ephraim Wood Houses Discussed
The Ephraim Wood house renovation in the 1960's revealed several samples of early American wallpaper, which were discussed in the book
"Wallpaper in America: from the Seventeenth Century to World War I" The link is to images of the wallpaper revealed in the house of Ephraim Wood, The
brother of Oliver Wood and the Uncle of Silas Wood and Jonas Wood.
Wallpaper from Ephraim Wood's House
This link is to the will of Ephraim Wood, Sr.,of Concord, Massachusetts, dated July 31, 1782. He was the father of Oliver Wood, born in Concord who moved to Norridgewock, Maine, in the autumn of 1774. Two of the three witnesses to the will were Joseph and Benjamin Hosmer, the younger brothers of Ephraim's daughter in law (and Oliver Wood's wife), Lucy Hosmer Wood. Joseph Hosmer had been second in command of the American militia at the Battle of Concord Bridge in April of 1775. The Hosmers and the Woods were neighbors going back several generations.