Lydia (Birge) Wood (1734 - aft. 1800)

Born 2 Jul 1734 in Hebron, Tolland Co., Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1800 after age 65 in Strafford, Orange County, Vermont [uncertain]

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Biography

LYDIA/LIDDE BIRGE, daughter of Daniel Birge and Rebecca Tarbox; born 2 July 1734, Hebron, Tolland County, Connecticut;^[1] married (1) by 1761 (when she was mentioned as Lydia Root in the records of her father’s estate),^[2] SIMEON ROOT; mother of Simeon, Jonathan, William, Solomon, Daniel, and Lydia Root. She married (2) between 27 January 1778 and 7 May 1781, JONATHAN WOOD. After her second husband’s death, she lived with her son Daniel and died in Strafford, Vermont. ^[3] She was probably the aged woman (age 45 and up) listed in Daniel's household on the 1800 census of Orange County, Vermont.

As a widow, Lydia Root of Strafford, Gloucester County, Colony of New York, purchased 50 acres in the township of Strafford, one half of 100 acres, lot #5, in the 1st Division, the Northern Half, originally the right of William Brisco, for £15, from Levi Root, of the same, yeoman; the transaction took place on 21 December 1776, with witnesses David Chamberlain and -----el Chamberlain; it was recorded in Strafford, Vermont, 24 July 1783.^[4]

On 28 January 1778 Lydia Root of Strafford, county of Gloucester, State of New York, spinster, for £15, sold to Jonathan Wood of Strafford, yeoman, 50 acres in the township of Strafford, half of 100 acres laid out in the first division, originally the right of William Brisco; witnessed by William Pinnock and Isaac Carrier, and signed by Lydia Root.^[5] It was, of course, that same land she had purchased from Levi Root a little over a year earlier. On the same day (January 28), for £10, she sold Jonathan Wood 100 acres in the township of Strafford, part of the 3rd division, originally the right of Timothy Phelps the Third; witnessed by the same men, signed by Lydia (her X mark) Root.^[6] The climax of the day’s transactions was a marriage contract: “I Lydia Root do freely & voluntarily engage unto Jonathan Wood that upon out marrying together and if that I should survive him to return to his heirs all that my heirs now have, not excepting my daughter Lydia, which he has promised to maintain. Her heirs shall not be entitled to any part of his estate.” It was witnessed by the same men, and eventually recorded in Strafford, Vermont, on 7 May 1781.^[7]

Agreement between Lydia's sons and her 2nd husband

An Agreement between the brothers Solomon and William Root and Jonathan Wood, who had married their widowed mother Lydia (Birge) Root.

We, Solomon Root and William Root, both of Strafford, Orange County, bound for £500 to Jonathan Wood, 28 November 1783, 50 acres in Strafford.

The conditions of this obligation is such that whereas ----- the said Solomon and William Root for and in consideration of fifty acres of good land in Strafford secured to us by a good, authentic deed of conveyance procured by the said Jonathan Wood which we hereby acknowledge we have received by the procurement of the said Jonathan of John Thompson of Lime in the county of Grafton and State of New Hampshire under his hand and seal [giving?] date the 7th day of November A.D. 1783, and ten pounds current money to us in hand paid by the said Jonathan before the [ensealing?] ----- of the receipt where we have by also acknowledging have agreed to and with the said Jonathan to maintain and support our honored mother, wife to the said Jonathan, and our sister Lydia Root, an idiot daughter to the said Lydia, wife to the said Jonathan, during their natural lives and also to pay all debts due and demands that are now due from or that can in any legal way or manner be ----- upon the said Lydia, wife, or upon the said Jonathan by virtue of his marriage with the said Lydia, by means of any debt contract or thing already contracted, made, or done either before or since the marriage by the said Lydia and also forever to indemnify the said Jonathan and his heirs from all farther cost of charges that may or can arise [p. 120] in fortune from any contract due or obligation that may hereafter be made by the said Lydia, wife, or expenses that may in any wise arise by means of the said Lydia, wife, or Lydia, daughter. Now if the said Solomon and William do in fact support and maintain the said Lydia, wife, and Lydia, daughter, during their natural lives as aforesaid and also forever indemnify and save harmless the said Jonathan and his heirs from all debts, ---- and demands of what name or nature soever that have already arisen or that may hereafter arise by means of the said Lydia, wife, or Lydia, daughter, aforesaid, then the obligation to be null and void otherwise to stand and remain in full force and virtue. From already and his heirs way interlined before him. [What does that mean?]

Signed, sealed, and delivered in presents of: John Alger Heber Gilbert

Solomon Root (seal)

William Root (seal)

8 December 1783, received for record. Recorded 8 January 1784.^[8]

Birth

2 Jul 1734 ^[9]

Sources

• http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64675884

1. ↑ Hebron VR: Ricker, 1391.
2. ↑ Manwaring, Digest of Early Conn. Probate Records, 3: 229.
3. ↑ Root, Root Genealogical Records, 123; note that this book calls her Elizabeth Birge, but Simeon’s wife was certainly Lydia.
4. ↑ Strafford Town and Vital Records, 2: 139, Microfilm no. 028899.
5. ↑ Strafford Town and Vital Records, 2: 56, Microfilm no. 028899. This deed appears again on p. 105 of the same volume, with £50 as the price instead of 15, and an identification of the land as lot #5 (otherwise identical to the previous version); recorded 26 April 1783.
6. ↑ Strafford Town and Vital Records, 2: 57, Microfilm no. 028899. This deed also appears again, on p. 106 with a recording date of 28 April 1783, and otherwise apparently the same.
7. ↑ Strafford Town and Vital Records, 2: 54, Microfilm no. 028899.
8. ↑ Strafford Town and Vital Records, 2: 119-20, Microfilm no. 028899. This is my own reading and transcription of the document, with modernized spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, and expanded abbreviations, but with no changes in the wording.
9. ↑ Ancestry.com. Connecticut, U.S., Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data:White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Birge-1 created through the import of MyFam2.ged on Oct 31, 2011 by Stasia Ruggles.