Ruth (Bailey) Wood (1756 - 1838)

Born 22 Jun 1756 in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Wife of Benjamin Wood — married 17 Oct 1779 in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Died 15 Feb 1838 at age 81 in Lebanon, Grafton, New Hampshire, United States

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Biography

Ruth Bailey was born in 1756, the daughter of Richard Bailey and Rachel Page.^[1][2]

On 16 July 1779, Ruth and her future husband Benjamin Wood, of Andover, MA., registered their intention of marriage.^[3] The marriage took place on 17 Oct. 1779, in Haverhill, MA.^[4][5] The couple settled for a short while in Methuen, MA, where their first child was born, then lived in various locations in New Hampshire, including Weare (1790 census, 1788-93 Tax List), Grafton (1800 and 1810 censuses) then later on in Lebanon. Altogether, the following were their eight children:

1. Ruth, b. 7 Oct. 1780; d. bef. 1838 and possibly much earlier
2. Abigail, b. 5 July 1782; m. Moses Kinsman, 1 Jan. 1805; d. 25 May 1868
3. Benjamin, b. 16 Mar. 1785; m. Betsey Dustin, 22 Nov. 1810; d. bef. 1838
4. Elizabeth, b. 28 Jan. 1788; m. Isaac Dean, Jr., 16 Nov. 1808; d. 31 Dec. 1865
5. Asa, b. 30 Apr. 1790; m. Elizabeth Wiggin, 1816; d. 23 Sep. 1875
6. Sarah, b. abt. 1793; m. Henry Hill Greene; d. 19 Oct. 1821
7. Jesse, b. abt. 1796; m. Philena Flint, abt. 1844; d. bef. 1870, and
8. Clarissa, b. 1798; m. Henry Hill Greene, 15 Sep. 1822; d. 1878.

Ruth lost her husband in 1830, at age 74. Widow Ruth Wood was no doubt the elderly lady age 70-80 living in the home of her son-in-law, Henry Greene, at Lebanon, NH when the 1830 census was taken. She passed away in 1838, at age 81. She was buried (as was her husband) in Old Pine Tree Cemetery, West Lebanon, NH. They have no period gravestone, but inscriptions for Benjamin and Ruth Wood, their birth and death years, the names of their parents and listing their eight children are inscribed on a 20th century gravestone in Old Pine Tree Cemetery.^[6]

On Nov. 19, 1852, her daughter Elizabeth Dean, applied for a pension that should have been due Widow Ruth Wood, deceased, on behalf of the five surviving children of Benjamin and Ruth Wood. Her application was denied, but the file provides valuable information about the death dates of Benjamin and Ruth, and their surviving children.

Sources

1. ↑ Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield Historical Society, 1910)| Volume 1, Page 27
2. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records, Haverhill Town Book| Birth, Ruth Bayley
3. ↑ Massachusetts Marriages, Andover Town Records| Marriage notice - Wood - Bailey
4. ↑ Vital Records of Andover, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield Historical Society, Topsfield, Mass., 1912)| Volume 2, Page 49
5. ↑ Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield Historical Society, 1910)| Volume 2, Page 30
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #101856754 for Ruth Bailey Wood

See Also:

• Family Search | Ruth Bailey
• Ransom, Jeanne Bailey. The Bailey Family; History and genealogy of descendants of Richard Bailey of Rowley, Massachusetts who came to Michigan by way of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, 1635-1990, with Allied Families (Ann Arbor, Michigan : After Thoughts, Inc., 1991) , pg. 44.
• A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Bailey of Rowley, Massachusetts, Historical and Genealogical Researches, of Merrimack Valley, Vol 1, Nbr. 1, April 1857, Published by Alfred Poor, Haverhill,| from Page 102, upper left-hand column