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Disambiguation John Wood

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Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: New Englandmap
Surname/tag: Wood
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There were many records for "John Wood" in and around early New England. Some early arrival records cannot confidently be linked to any later resident. Some hypothesized links and/or English origins have been disproved, but are still floating around on the internet. Understandably, these various records and men are frequently confused.

  • John Wood, servant to Joseph Hull, arr. 1635 on Marygould
  • John Wood, passenger list on Hopewell, 1635
  • John Wood of Saybrook, arr. 1635[1]
  • Mr. John Wood of Salem, arr. 1636[1]
  • John Atwood of Plymouth, gentleman, arr. 1636
  • John Wood alias Atwood of Plymouth, arr. 1636
  • John Wood of Lynn, arr. 1638
  • John Wood of Sudbury and Marlborough, arr. 1639
  • John Wood of Newport and Portsmouth, arr. 1643
  • his son John Wood of Middletown
  • John Wood of Southwark St Saviour, London
  • John Wood, Master of the Peregrine, of Redcliff, d. 1653 in Italy
  • John Woodis of Salem, d. 1659

Contents

John Wood, servant of Joseph Hull

Great Migration Directory: Wood, John: Unknown; 1635 on Marygould; passenger list only (with caveat) [GM 2:7:497-98].

Joseph Hull's Congregation of 1635 has John Wood among its members.[2] John Wood's age, which is 20 according to the manifest, and the fact that he was Joseph's servant are the only details known about him.[3] In 1635, they departed from Weymouth, Dorset, England to Dorchester, Massaschusetts by sea, fifteen years after Pilgrims established Plymouth Plantation and five years after Puritans founded the Bay Colony, seeking the freedom to practice their religion without fear of persecution, a liberty they would not grant to others. On 8 July 1635, John Winthrop noted in his journal, "At this court Wessagusset was made a plantation and Mr. Hull, a minister of England, and twenty-one families with him allowed to sit down there."[4]

He could not have been the same as John Wood of Portsmouth, who had a son named John Wood, Jr., born around 1620, fifteen years before the migration to New England because he was a 20-year-old servant with Joseph Hull in 1635, alone and without children or a wife on the migration list.[3]

Although there are other John Woods in New England, none of them completely match this man's description, according to Anderson.[1]

John Wood of the Hopewell

See Great Migration Directory: Wood, William: Unknown; 1635 on Hopewell; passenger list only (with caveat) [GM 2:7:499-500].

John Wood was a 26 year old passenger boarding the ship Hopewell on September 11, 1635.[5] The Hopewell manifest shows he was alone with his relatives, William Wood, age 27 and Elizabeth Wood, age 24.[6] Anderson explicitly declines to identify him as the John Wood later of Lynn, and he is too young to be the John Wood of Portsmouth who was married with a child by 1620.

John Wood of Saybrook (- 1639)

Great Migration Directory: Wood, John: Unknown; 1635; Saybrook [GM 2:7:498].

John Wood of Saybrook, mariner, was identified in a letter from John Winthrop, Jr., dated 1636. A town record dated 11 April 1639 indicated that he had been killed at "Pequannocke."

Mr. John Wood of Salem

Great Migration Directory: Wood, John: Unknown; 1636; Salem (land grant only) [STR 1:25; GM 2:7:497].

There's no further record of this John Wood after his 1636 grant of 50 acres at Salem, in which he was styled "Mr."

John Atwood of Plymouth (abt. 1599 - 1643/4), gentleman

Great Migration Directory: Atwood, John: London; 1636; Plymouth [PCR 1:12, 47, 48, 78, 7:10, 8:173, 188, 12:28; PTR 1:7; WP 4:437; MD 5:153-59, 11:200-6, 44:137].

John Atwood, styled "gentleman," was a prominent resident of Plymouth and appears in numerous town records. His wife was Anne Crowe; he died between October 20, 1643, and June 5, 1644 (will and probate).[7]

He is frequently confused with John Wood alias Atwood, also of Plymouth, who married Sarah Masterson and died between November 22, 1675 and March 7, 1675/6 (will and probate).[8]

John Wood alias Atwood (abt. 1615 - 1675) of Plymouth

Great Migration Directory: Wood, John: Unknown; 1636; Plymouth [PCR 1:46, 70, 88, 2:4, 8:181, 188, 12:27; PTR 1:6; NEHGR 144:23-28; MQ 48:127-30; MD 44:137-42; TAG 41:200-5].

John Wood alias Atwood married Sarah Masterson and died in Plymouth between November 22, 1675 (will date) and March 7, 1675/6 (probate date). He bequeathed his whole estate to his "wife Sarah" in his 1675 will in Plymouth.[8]

He is frequently confused with John Atwood, also of Plymouth, whose wife was Ann and who died between October 20, 1643, and June 5, 1644 (will and probate).[7]

John Wood of Lynn

Great Migration Directory: Wood, John: Unknown; 1638; Lynn [EQC 1:53, 57, 58, 62, 92, 2:270; MBCR 2:293; GM 2:7:497-98].

According to New England Historic Genealogical Register, 1879, Vol. 33, pp. 60-61, there is a reference to an interesting petition by Jane Armitage of Lynn, to the Massachusetts Court. This petition was signed by a number of her fellow citizens including John Wood, and is dated October 26, 1643.[9] It can be found in Massachusetts Colony Records, Vol. II, on page 46.

John Woods (abt. 1610 - 1678) of Sudbury and Marlborough

Great Migration Directory: Wood, John: Bures St. Mary, Suffolk; 1639; Sudbury, Marlborough [SuTR 3; MBCR 1:377; MPR Case #25456; NEHGR 147:377-82; Emerson-Benson 601-2].

John Woods married Mary Parmenter in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, England, in 1633. He was freeman in New England 13 May 1640, the same date as his father-in-law Deacon John Parmenter.[10] He names his wife Mary and children in his 1677 will. He died in Marlborough July 10, 1678.

John Wood (1590 - 1655) of Portsmouth

Not profiled in the Great Migration series.

  • Not John Wood of Lynn, Massachusetts because there was a John Wood in both places in 1643.
  • Not John Wood of Plymouth, Massachusetts married there Sarah Masterson and remained in Plymouth until his 1675 death.
  • Not John Wood who came with Hull in 1635, age 20 (b. abt. 1615) - for John of Portsmouth had a son who was born about 1620.
  • Not John Wood of the Hopewell in 1635, age 26 (b. abt. 1609) - for John of Portsmouth had a son who was born abt 1620.
  • Neither John Wood, nor his son John Wood Jr. (abt 1620-1704) were associated with the ship "Peregrine". This hypothesis by Clark was examined in Genealogists' Magazine, December 2017. According to an article, "John Wood, Master of the Peregrine", it states that the 6 Apr 1650 letter from Captain John Wood to Mrs. Elizabeth Winthrop of Boston (the original document held by the Boston Historical Society) was signed by the same John Wood who was killed in the 1653 Battle of Livorno (Italy).

The first known account of this John Wood is found in a Newport Court document from Rhode Island, which states that on June 7, 1643, John Richman and David Greenman separately filed a trespass suit against John Wood of Newport.[11] Subsequent documents reveal him as John Wood, residing in Newport from 1643 to 1646.[12] His final mention in Newport dates back to 1646. And last, a different document indicates that he was present in Portsmouth in 1648 as a freeman. It seems that at some point after 1646, he relocated from Newport to Portsmouth. He is hence referred to as John Wood of Portsmouth.

John Wood (abt. 1620 - 1704) of Middletown

Not profiled in the Great Migration series.

John Wood of Middletown is the son of John Wood of Portsmouth, and formerly of Newport.

The father of John Wood of Middletown was once identified as "John Wood, Sr." on March 1, 1649/50, when he purchased his Portsmouth farm. There had been no reason to differentiate between the two Johns up until that point. This was most likely the moment when the father gave John Jr. the 50-acre Newport homestead he had just left behind—the property he had previously purchased from Robert Jeoffries, probably sometime before 1643, albeit the Newport deed record was undated. It is beyond dispute that John Jr. possessed this land prior to his father's passing in 1655, and it is also beyond dispute that John Jr. was a Newport town member when a list of such residents was compiled in 1655.[13]

According to original sources, John Wood of Middletown was recorded in Newport, Rhode Island, in March 1662, serving on the grand jury.

John Wood (abt. 1586 - ) of St. Savior, Southwark

Not profiled in the Great Migration series.

Bertha W. Clark claimed that John Wood of Portsmouth is identical to John Wood of St. Savior, Southwark who married Margaret Carter.

The marriage entry in the parish registers of St. Savior, Southwark in England shows that John Wood married Margaret Carter, a daughter of John Carter, a tailor, on January 28, 1610/11, at St. Savior's Parish in Southwark, Surrey, England.[14]

John Wood and Margaret Carter were listed in the Token Books of St. Saviour Southwark every year from 1623 to 1643 as the head of a household residing in Frying Pan Alley and attending St. Savior's, the same street where Margaret Carter lived with her father from 1620 to 1622.[15] Her husband's name, John Wood, was listed next to John Carter, and they were residing on Frying Pan Alley in Boroughside from 1623 to 1629 in the Token Books.

In the Token Book, her father, John Carter, was shown but was crossed out, and 'dead' was in the margin in 1629, and it was his last residence on Frying Pan Alley in Boroughside. Interestingly, in the same book, at the 28th line, John Carter's name was below John Wood's name, which was at the 25th line.[16]

Also, Robert Carter was residing on Frying Pan Alley in Boroughside and was listed next to John Wood from 1637 to 1643 in the Token Books. His relationship to John Wood and his wife Margaret was unknown.[17]

It demonstrates that John Wood of St. Savior, Southwark, is not the same as John Wood of Portsmouth, who lived in Newport from 1643 to 1646 and again in Portsmouth from 1648 to 1655.

John Wood (abt. 1621 - 1653) Master of the Peregrine, of Redcliff

Not profiled in the Great Migration series.

Some thought John Wood, master of the Peregrine, of Redcliff is identical to John Wood based on his occupation that he was a mariner. No evidence is shown that he was a mariner when he was in Newport from 1643 to 1646 and later in Portsmouth from 1648 to 1655.

Bertha W. Clark, the author of John Wood of Rhode Island and His Early Descendants on the Mainland, hypothesized that John Wood, master of the Peregrine is identical to John Wood of Portsmouth, whom she thought he was a mariner. However, he is not identical to John Wood who was still alive from 1648 to 1655 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island because John Wood, master of the Peregrine was 32 years old and was killed on March 3, 1653 in the 1653 Battle of Livorno (Italy). Six English merchantmen had been blockaded in Livorno. They accepted naval command under Commodore Henry Appleton and made an unsuccessful attempt to break out before reinforcements arrived. Wood was wounded in an action with the Dutch and died ten days later. He was buried at Old English Cemetery on Via Giuseppe Verdi in Livorno, Italy.[18][19]

John Woodis (- 1659) of Salem

Not profiled in the Great Migration series.

"John Woodis dyed ye 25th 3 mo., '59 ; his wife Frances dyed ye 3mo., '58."[20]

He is sometimes claimed to be one of the earlier John Wood immigrants.

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration: immigrants to New England 1634-1635, vol. 7, T-Y (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2011), pp. 497-8.
  2. Chamberlain, George Walter. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts. Vol 3-4, Higginson, 1923, p. 300, citing Thomas Holbrook's deposition.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hotten, John Camden. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. United States, Empire State Book, 1874, 283.
  4. Winthrop, John. Winthrop’s Journal, vol. 1. Ed. James Kendall Hosmer, Scribner’s, 1908, p. 163.
  5. Hotten, John Camden. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. United States, Empire State Book, 1874, 130.
  6. Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration: immigrants to New England 1634-1635, vol. 6, R-S (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2009), pp. 499-500.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Watson, Ian, The Great Migration: immigrants to New England, 1636-1638, vol. 1, A-Be (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2024), pp. 235-43, esp. note at 243.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Williams, Alicia Crane, “John Wood alias Atwood of Plymouth, Massachusetts,” Mayflower Descendant, vol. 44, no. 2 (Jul 1994): pp. 137-42.
  9. New England Historic Genealogical Register, 1879, Vol. 33, pp. 60-61.
  10. Bennett, Ralph Parmenter, “Further notes on the English background of John Parmenter of Sudbury and Roxbury, Massachusetts,” The New England Historic and Genealogical Register, vol. 147, no. 3 (Oct 1993): pp. 377-82 at 381.
  11. Chapin, Howard M.. Documentary History of Rhode Island: History of the towns of Portsmouth and Newport to 1647 and the court records of Aquidneck. United States, Preston and Rounds Company, 1919, pp. 141, 142.
  12. Chapin, Howard M.. Documentary History of Rhode Island: History of the towns of Portsmouth and Newport to 1647 and the court records of Aquidneck. United States, Preston and Rounds Company, 1919, pp. 154, 157.
  13. Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England: 1636-1663. United States, A. C. Greene and brothers, state printers, 1856, p. 301.
  14. Wood, Michael M., “The Token Books of St. Saviour's, a source for testing a John Wood hypothesis,” American Ancestors Magazine, vol. 19, no. 2 (Summer 2018): pp. 44-7.
  15. The Parish of St. Saviour, Southwark. "The Token Books of St. Saviour Southwark." Book 209, Page 41, Line 47, Book 210, Page 51, Line 20, Book 211, Page 46, Line 11.
  16. The Parish of St. Saviour, Southwark. "The Token Books of St. Saviour Southwark." Book 218, Page 48, Line 28.
  17. The Parish of St. Saviour, Southwark. "The Token Books of St. Saviour Southwark." Book 237, Page 24, Line 43.
  18. “M3138 | Maritime Memorials.” M3138 | Maritime Memorials, memorials.rmg.co.uk/n3138.
  19. Michael M . Wood. "John Wood, Master of the Peregrine and his forgotten Italian Grave," Genealogists' Magazine' vol 32, pp. 304-310 (London, Dec 2017).
  20. Patch, Ira J., “Extracts from the First Book of Births, Marriages and Deaths, of the city of Salem,” Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, vol. 4, no. 1 (Feb 1862): p. 43.




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