Ahijah Wood was born in Stow, on February 15, 1754, the second son of Nathan Wood and Rebecca Haynes. The family moved to Westminster when Ahijah was only two. Ahijah grew to be a young man in the troubled times that led to the Revolution. On April 19, 1775, Ahijah volunteered as a private in the Company of Capt. Miles, in John Whitcomb’s regiment, which was formed upon hearing of the battles of Lexington and Concord. The company marched from Westminster to Cambridge. At the end of ten days, Ahijah joined a new company which was recruited for the regular army for eight months service and put in charge of Capt. Edmund Bemis. That company took part in the seige of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Ahijah served in Capt Bemis' company until November 30, 1775. He also appears on the rolls of Capt. Aaron Haynes' Company in the Ticonderoga, New York area from January to December 1776.
Ahijah returned from the war and married Dorothy Wheeler of Templeton on December 9, 1779 in Westminster. They lived the rest of their lives in Westminster and were the parents of eleven children. Ahijah served as town assessor and many terms as selectman. He was also active in the church. Dorothy died in 1821, at 66. Ahijah remarried, on September 24, 1823, Lydia Rockwood of Groton, who died in 1828. Ahijah applied for and received a Revolutionary Soldiers Pension on August 7, 1832. Ahijah died on July 24, 1840 and is buried in Woodside Cemetery in Westminster. His gravestone reads: “Ahijah Wood Died July 24, 1840, AE. 86 Look here my friends, turn off your eyes from earth and earthly vanities, And in me read your certain fate that death will call you soon or late.”
Information for this biography taken from "The History of Westminster, Massachusetts" and "A Genealogy of the Lineal Descendants of William Wood, Who Settled in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1638" by Clay Wood Holmes; Stow Vital Records; Westminster vital records; the Revolutionary Pension application of Ahijah Wood; Central Massachusetts Genealogical Society Tombstone Inscriptions.
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Ahijah is 24 degrees from Herbert Adair, 20 degrees from Richard Adams, 18 degrees from Mel Blanc, 23 degrees from Dick Bruna, 19 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 30 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 19 degrees from Sam Edwards, 15 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 21 degrees from Marty Krofft, 12 degrees from Junius Matthews, 11 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 18 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.