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Jonas Wood Sr (bef. 1614 - 1689)

Jonas "of Oram" Wood Sr aka Woode
Born before in Shelf, Parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, Englandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married about 1640 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died after age 74 in Brookhaven, Suffolk, New Yorkmap
Profile last modified | Created 25 May 2011
This page has been accessed 5,559 times.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Jonas Wood Sr migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).
Join: Puritan Great Migration Project
Discuss: pgm

Please do not merge the following profiles. Thank you.

  1. Jonas Wood-2784 of Oram [1614-1689], son of Edmund
  2. Jonas jr Wood-2801 [1650-1712] son of Jonas Wood of Oram
  3. Jonas Wood-4536 of Halifax [1614-1660], son of Henry

Contents

Biography

Jonas Wood, son of Edmund Wood & Martha Lome (Lum), was baptized September 18, 1614 at Halifax, Yorkshire, England. The parish register gives his father's residence (and therefore the child's birthplace) as "Shelf," which was (until 1851) part of the Parish of Halifax. [1] He along with his parents and siblings were early emigrants to the New England colony.[2][3]

He was called Jonas Wood of Oram by early scribes to distinguish him from another man (unrelated) of approximately the same age and origin who was called Jonas Wood of Halifax.[4][5]

His siblings were:[6]

  1. Martha bp. 8 Apr 1612, m. Thurston Raynor.
  2. Susannah bp 23 Mar 1616 & d. about 1687. m. abt 1640 Samuel Clark
  3. Jeremiah bp 6 Jan 1619/20 & d 28 Dec 1686. m. Elizabeth, prob daut of Richard Gildersleeve Sr. of Hempstead.
  4. Timothy bp 14 Jul 1622, died about 1659 at Huntington.[7]likely m. daut of John Strickland since guardianship of his children given to Strickland after Timothy's death.


The family arrived on the James that left Bristol in England on May 23, 1635, was waylaid at Milford Haven for about 30 days and then cross the Atlantic, arriving at Boston on August 16, 1635. It was recorded by Rev. Richard Mather (who was also a passenger on the James) that a hurricane hit the coast the night of their arrival, causing the ships in the harbors to be thrown randomly about. The James lost anchor and was blown toward Piscataqua, the wind changed directions and it was almost torn to pieces by the Isle of Shoals. Fortunately the wind died down and the foul weather passed with not a soul perishing nor the cattle harmed. The next morning one hundred passengers, twenty three seamen, twenty three cows and heifers, three calves and eight mares disembarked. Rev. Mather wrote, "It was a day much to be remembered, because on that day the Lord granted us as wonderful a deliverance..."[6]

On May 14, 1636 Edmund Wood and Matthew Mitchell signed a contract with William Pynchon laying out the land for the new town of Agawam, later called Springfield along the Connecticut River in the western part of Massachusetts Bay. Jonas Wood's name appears in this contract, "The lotts of Mr. Matthew Mitchell Samuel Butterfield Edmund Wood Jonas Wood, are ordered to lye adioyninge to mill brooke, the wholl beinge to the number of twenty-five acres, to begin three of them on the greate river and the fowerth on the other side of the small river."[6]The family moved to Wethersfield, Connecticut Colony in 1637 and then Stamford, Connecticut Colony in 1641;[7] Edmund Wood, his sons Jonas and Jeremiah, his sons-in-law Thurston Raynor and Samuel Clark are all mentioned on the lists of settlers and landholders.[6]

Jonas, along with his father, Edmond Wood, brothers Timothy Wood and Jeremy Wood, were on a deed for purchase of

"a certain quantity of land, beginning at a river called and commonly known by the name of Nesaquake River, and from that river eastward to a river called Menanusack, lying on the north side of Long Island, and on the south side from Connecticott four necks westward."

This purchase was made in 1650 and was named Smithtown, Suffolk, New York. Other purchasers on the deed were Daniel Whitehead and Stephen Hudson. All these men were original proprietors of Hempstead.[8]

Marriage

Jonas Wood married Elizabeth Strickland, daughter of John Strickland about 1640 (see on p. 9 of NYGBR Vol. 120.).[6][4]Some researchers have incorrectly said that Elizabeth Strickland married Jonas Wood "Halifax." The full explanation of the marriage to Jonas Wood "Oram" can be found on p. 148, 149 of "John Strickland and His Sons-In-Law" by Herbert F. Smith.[9]

Jonas, along with his wife, father and brother Jeremiah, may have observed that the land on Long Island, just across the Sound, was a paradise with balmy climate, rich soil, fish & fowl, grasslands, etc. In 1644 they planted another new town, Hempstead on Long Island. Jonas, his brothers Jeremiah & Timothy, his father Edmund and his brothers-in-law Thurston Raynor and Samuel Clark all settled this new town.[6]They are in the alphabetical listing of proprietors of Hempstead in 1647[10]They left Hempstead fairly quickly however, since they were Puritans and Hempstead drew several religious dissidents. By 1650 Jonas and his sons-in-law had moved to Southampton which was under the jurisdiction of Connecticut.[6]

Jonas was at Huntington, Long Island by July 23, 1657 when he bought land from the natives, witnesses were John Strickland and John Lum.[7][11]On July 7, 1663 Jonas Wood of Huntington "sold and made over to John Core of the same town all the housing and land both home lot and comonedy so fare as belongeth to a hundred pound lote that was formerly my father Edmone woodes the medow now belonging to it excepted." Core was "to take possession of the hous now and of the land at mikellmus or so soon as the crope is of." It seems from this record that Jonas' father, Edmund Wood, had recently died; and since no mention is made of his mother we may assume that she had already deceased.[6]

In May 1663 and May 1664 Jonas was elected Magistrate for Huntington and in 1665 at Huntington he was Deputy to the Hempstead Assembly. He was a Patentee of Huntington on November 30, 1666.[7]

Jonas Oram Wood was one of those who purchased land from native Sachem Nasseconseke of Long Island on May 28, 1663.Pelletreau, William.[12]They did not develop the land or obtain a patent. Richard Smith obtained a patent a few years later and the area became known as Smithtown, Long Island.[6]

Children:[7]

  1. Jonas was born about 1643 & died about 1710 at Huntington. Married Elizabeth, probably Conkling. Children: Elizabeth b. 26 Feb. 1668; Phebe b. 14 May 1671; Martha b. 29 Jan 1674/5; John v. 15 Apr 1677; Jeremiah b. 18 Aug 1679, Jonas b. 8 Dec 1681; Timothy b. 17 Jul 1683; Ann b. 11 Aug. 1687.
  2. Elizabeth married September 15, 1665 to Isaac Platt. Children: Elizabeth, Jonas, John, Mary, Joseph, Jacob.[13]
  3. Phebe married in March 1667 to Epenetus Platt.
  4. John married and had children at Huntington: Eliphalet b. 14 Feb 1667; John b. 6 Apr 1680; Martha b. 6 Jan 1683/4.

Jonas "Oram" died 12 June 1689. His will dated 20 Feb 1688/9 proved 15 Apr 1692 at Brookhaven had bequests to his son Jonas, son Isaac Platt, daughter Elizabeth, son Epenetus Platt, daughter Phebe, son John Wood. [7][14][15]

Research Notes

Lillian Miner in "One Branch of the Miner Family" says that Jonas "Oram" Wood was "supposed cousin of Jonas Halifax Wood."[16]This is not accurate as Seversmith in his article on the sons-in-law of John Strickland traced the paternal ancestry of "Halifax" for several generations and demonstrated he was not related to the Edmund Wood family.[6]

Lillian Miner says, "It is a difficult problem to determine the identity of the wives of this Jonas and of his son Jonas and of his supposed cousin Jonas "Halifax". ... to accept, tentatively, the conclusion that Jonas "Oram" married a daughter of John Strickland ... he may have married a second wife, may have married a widow Smith, mother of James."[7]But as we have seen above, Jonas Wood of Oram was the husband of Elizabeth Strickland, daughter of John Strickland, see reference to The American Genealogist (TAG) vol. 11.

"The statement in "Ancestors of Jacob Shaffer and his wife Cordelia Hunt" (by Mrs Josephine C. Frost, 1927) page 78 that Jonas "Oram" married Elizabeth Conkling is scarcely worth consideration for she was baptized 18 Mar 1648/9 as a child and was a generation too late to be mother of the children of Jonas "Oram." Elizabeth Conkling was apparently of proper age to be wife of Jonas Wood, the son of Jonas "Oram" Wood.[7]


Relationship to Jonas "Halifax" Wood

Colonial America court proceedings/laws were researched by Seversmith and Matthew Y. Wood that jurors, even in the 1600's had to attest to the court that they were not related to any of the parties involved in the complaint.

I cite from: The American Genealogist and New Haven Genealogical Magazine 1935-01: Vol 11 Issue 3 pgs. 152,153.

"In 1656 a more complicated case, one which Jonas Wood "Halifax" was involved, was tried in the New Haven Court. Captain Nathaniel Sylvester of Shelter Island had bought a mare of Jonas Wood, and the former's brother Giles Sylvester, having a sloop at Northampton, employed the brother Thomas and John Cooper to fetch the mare to the "North Sea." The mare was unruly and was accidentally killed while in the custody of the Coopers. On October 30, 1655 Captain Sylvester sued Wood for the value of the mare which had not been delivered to him and recovered; and Wood there upon sued the Cooper brothers and recovered from them. At the first trial, Jonas Wood of "Oram," son of Edmund and Martha (Lum) Wood, was a member of the jury. This would seem to require that the two Jonas Woods were unrelated sufficiently to permit one to act as juror in a case involving the other and also that they were not related through marital connections."

Sources

  1. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2256/images/32355_248981-01093?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=upN250&_phstart=successSource&pId=8928157, tenth entry from the top of the image page 6.
  2. "John Strickland of Long Island and His Son-in-laws" by Herbert F. Smith aka Seversmith of Washington, D.C. in "The American Genealogist" vol 11 p 199-200.subscribers$
  3. West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records; Old Reference Number: D53/1/4; New Reference Number: WDP53/1/1/4
  4. 4.0 4.1 Great Migration 1634-1635, T-Y. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VII, T-Y, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011. Sketch of Edmund Wood.subscribers$
  5. The ... book of records of the town of Southampton : with other ancient documents of historic value, including all the writings in the town clerk's office from 1639 to 1660. Sag Harbor, N.Y.: J.H. Hunt, book and job printer, 1874-1893, p. 75.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Matthew Wood. "English Origins of the Mitchell, Wood, Lum and Halstead Families" The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (January 1989) Vol. 120.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Lillian Lounsberry (Miner) Selleck. "One Branch of the Miner Family" Donald Lines Jacobus, New Haven, Conn. (1928) pp 50 - 62.see at archive.org
  8. Published history. Ross, Peter, A History of Long Island, From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, New York and Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company, 1902, Vol. I, Chapter LXVI. Smithtown, pg. 978.
  9. The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Vol. 11 (1934) pp 148, 148.subscribers$
  10. Charles B. Moore. "The Early History of Hempstead Long, Island" Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, New York (1879). p. 12.see at archive.org
  11. The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) "John Strickland of Long Island and His Sons-In-Law" Herbert F. Smith. p. 81 - 87.subscribers$
  12. Records of the Town of Smithtown, Long Island, N.Y. (1898) Page 1-2
  13. Donald Lines Jacobus "History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield" Vol. 1, p. 485.link
  14. "Early History of Hempstead, Long Island" by Charles B. Moore, New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, publ 1879 page 12. https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryofhe00moor#page/12/mode/1up
  15. Evely Beran research at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sanford%2Dshulsen&id=I4608
  16. "One branch of the Miner family with extensive notes on the Wood, Lounsberry, Rogers and fifty other allied families of Connecticut and Long Island" by Lillian Lounsberry Miner Selleck, publ 1928 p 50-54.see at archive.org.

See also:

  • Find A Grave: Memorial #80052106 Event Type:Baptism West Yorkshire, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1512-1812 for Jonas Wood .U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 for Elizabeth Strickland.Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current for Jonas Wood.
  • (this following work has outdated, inaccurate information) Wood, Simeon. A History of Hauppauge, Long Island, N.y: Together with Genealogies of the Following Families: Wheeler, Smith, Bull Smith, Blydenburgh, Wood, Rudolph, Hubbs, Price, Mccrone. New York, N.Y: C.J. Werner, 1920. Print.
  • "Town Records of Newtown." The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (quarterly-1933) - Extracts; Publication Place: New York; Publisher: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society; Vol. 64 Page Number: 29 Text: 19 May 1667. Jonas Wood of Elizabethtown, N.J., sold a house and lot. -- Is this him or a different Jonas?




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Jonas by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
  • Bob Wood Find Relationship : Family Tree DNA Y-DNA Test 700 markers, haplogroup I-MF139477, Ancestry member gigaboy1, FTDNA kit #938864

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Comments: 30

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Please remove Timothy Wood and Esther Wood as children of Jonas. Neither was mentioned in his Will. Original GED imports were in error.
posted by James Bogart
Done. Thanks James........................................
posted by M Cole
Please remove Richard Wood and Richard Wood as sons of Jonas Wood and Elizabeth Strickland. Looking back on the profiles of Richard and Richard, I cannot locate any material to support the parentage. From what I can determine Richard-2831 is the grandson of George Wood and the son of a Jacob Wood. I am still looking for source material to confirm the new lineage.
posted by James Bogart
James, thanks for adopting the Richards to research them. I agree that there doesn't seem to be anything linking them to Jonas & Elizabeth.

Hmm it looks like some other extra children snuck in there too, I'll post messages to the other profile managers asking them to follow up on these. Oh wait, I see that you've got them all under your wing except Abigail. It seems we should also disconnect Jeremiah, Esther and Timothy, do you agree?

posted by Brad Stauf
edited by Brad Stauf
yes, I agree James and Brad. Following the research on this profile, there were 4 children: Jonas, Elizabeth, Phebe, John. Others snuck in...

[edit] Brad, I see you're working on this, so I'll leave it to you. Many thanks.

posted by Cheryl (Aldrich) Skordahl
edited by Cheryl (Aldrich) Skordahl
I left comments on the children's profiles and added the Needs Relationship Check category. I'll try to return in a few days.
posted by M Cole
Thanks for your assistance on this profile, M.
I would like to know more about exactly where this Jonas Wood was first referred to as Jonas Wood of "Oram." This is a bit troubling in light of the fact that the christening record that shows his father as Edmonde Wood gives the father's residence as "Shelf." This is a village three miles northeast of Halifax proper. There is no "Oram" as such. However, the Parish of Halifax included the village of "North Owram" or "Northowram" halfway from the Town to Shelf. There is also a "South Owram," about two miles southeast of the Town of Halifax.

Curiously, there was christened in Halifax on 14 Jan 1615/6 a different Jonas Wood, the son of Joseph Wood. The father's residence is given as "Northow." - meaning Northowram. Source: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2256/images/32355_248981-01107?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=upN259&_phstart=successSource&pId=8930251, in the middle of the left-hand column of image page 10.

On the same day, Henry Woode of Halifax had a daughter Martha christened. In the parish register entry, Henry's residence appears as "Halifax," i.e., the town. Thus it would seem that the Jonas Wood who was actually born in (North) Owram was the son of Joseph, not Edmund.....

Based on the 1663 deeds, though, Jonas Wood of Huntington, Long Island was clearly the son of Edmund and not of Joseph. Thus, the 1616 birthdate for Jonas "of Oram" and Long Island that one sees on the occasional family tree on Ancestry is wrong.

Is there any evidence that Jonas son of Edmund lived in Northowram prior to his emigration? (I don't have access to the NYGBR article right now, so I can't evaluate what it might say on the subject.)

posted by Barry Wood
Barry, I think you need to get ahold of the NYGBR article. As I recall, it is very detailed and very well-researched. The terms "of Oram" and "of Halifax" were used in the primary records to distinguish men of the same name.
posted by Joe Cochoit
It occurs to me that that the DAR Library must have the NYGBR on its shelves. From the DAR website, I can't see that the Library is under any sort of Covid shutdown at present, so a trip in that direction is probably the most practical solution. I just wish that parking were not so problematic in that neighborhood.
posted by Barry Wood
Here is a snippet from the article (page 3) that may help:

"It is well to keep in mind here the differences between Jonas Wood "Halifax" and his namesake, Jonas Wood "Oram". The latter was the eldest sn of Edmund Wood. Born in the same year, both came from Halifax parish and lived in the same series of towns in Connecticut and Long Island, from the time they first met in 1636-7, until they settled in Huntington in 1656-7. For the sake of distinction, the colonial scribes gave them the surnames "Halifax" and "Oram". The latter refers back to the villages of North- and Southowram in Halifax parish. It was these names which allowed the earlier genealogists to identify Halifax as their place of origin."

posted by S (Hill) Willson
Here's an additional snippet which may help from p. 6,7. of the NYGBR article entitled "English Origins of the Mitchell, Wood, Lum and Halstead Families" by Matthew Wood:

"On 14 Ma 1636, Matthew Mitchell and Edmund Wood signed an agreement with William Pynchon and others, defining the laws and layout of land in the new settlement of Agawam, or Springfield, deed in the interior of Massachusetts, on the Connecticut River. The signatures of the eight incorporators are reproduced in Reg. 13:297. This charter was enacted on site and states, 'The lotts of Mr. Matthew Mitchell, Samuel Butterfield, Edmund Wood, Jonas Wood, are ordered to lye adioyninge to mill brooke... Edmund's eldest son Jonas first appears in this record.

So here, Edmond's son Jonas has neither "Oram" or "Halifax to distinguish him from another of the same name. In the next paragraph of the article, the author mentions that they "removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut in the spring of 1637," then goes on to say, "In this town records clearly mention Edmund Wood and his son Jonas. Rev. Richard Denton later settled here, as well as Jonas Wood "Halifax."

p. 9 gives the children of Edmund and Martha (Lome,Lum) Wood: 2nd birth was "Jonas, bap 18 Sep. 1614 and d. 1689; m. c.1640 Elizabeth, dau of John Strickland. They settled in Huntington and became ancestors of a prominent family centered in that locality."

Question about this as Jonas Wood of Oram vs. Jonas Wood of Halifax:

In the Early Long Island Wills of Suffolk County 1691-1703 (Pelletreau, 1897) the 1688 will of Jonas Wood (pp. 60-64) describes him as Jonas Wood of Halifax, son of Mr. Strickland. Children in the will include Jonas, John, Elizabeth, and sons-in-law Isaac and Epenetus Platt. Link to book source: https://archive.org/details/earlylongislandw00pell/page/n69/mode/2up?q=Wood

Since this is an older source it may have been revised?

posted by Elee Wood
To the best of my knowledge, the most recent work on this family is found at NYGBR120. This profile is based on that source.
I've spent a considerable amount of time on this biography today.

Of one thing I am uncertain, the death date and place of Jonas Wood "Oram."

I made no change to that, but left it as it was with source to "Miner" "Moore" and a rootsweb with link to nowhere. Miner and Moore were published long time ago, and I can find no recently published info re: his death/will.

Anyone help?

An addition of marriage place (Huntington?) about 1640 seems very uncertain to me. Maybe about 1640 is a good guess but in 1640 he was still in Connecticut. I'm removing the marriage place.
posted by Anne B
Before me I have hard copy of Great Migration featured: Edmund Wood p. 493 and hard copy of NYGBR Vol. 120 #1 p. 9 (1989).

Both of these conclude: "Jonas (son of Edmund Wood and Martha Lome) bap. 23 Mar. 1616, d. 1689, m. c. 1640 Elizabeth, dau. of John Strickland."

Nothing is said about a wife named "Ann Page Jager. She should be detached unless someone has source more current.

I am baffled by the christening date shown in your quotation above. The actual parish register of Halifax shows no Wood baptisms in March of 1615/6 at all. I didn't check March of 1616/7. If 1616/7 is correct for this emigrant to Long Island, then Edmund's son Jonas chr. in September of 1614 must have died young, and a subsequent child given that name. I searched in sort of a cursory fashion through the burials from 1614-1616 but didn't see a burial entry for the Jonas who was chr. in September of 1614.
posted by Barry Wood
We need to address the multiple wives listed here. While one might have been a Strickland we don't know her first name. I don't see a source for the other wife.
posted by Jillaine Smith
I did look, but will check again, more carefully!
Yes, look at the source and page #s I stated - it has Jonas Wood and many others in it.
posted by Beryl Meehan
Beryl, did you intend to post the comment (below) about Winans on this profile for Wood? I'm sorry, but I don't see the connection.
Caution - profiles of 3 different men - do not merge

- Jonas Wood-2784 of Oram [1614-1689], son of Edmund

- Jonas jr Wood-2801 [1650-1712] son of Jonas Wood of Oram

- Jonas Wood-4536 of Halifax [1614-1660], son of Henry

posted by Sally x
According to NYGBR you have the names of the parents and siblings of Jonas "Oram" correct.

W  >  Wood  >  Jonas Wood Sr

Categories: English of Colonial Long Island | Puritan Great Migration