My WOOD FAMILY
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Welcome to my WOOD FAMILY Pages. Information shown in these pages has been gathered from many sources - including from my parents and living relatives. I am very grateful for their support and memories. I have not shown ALL my information on these pages but, in-time I will work on up-dating these pages. Some information may be incorrect and, there is much detail still to find. I welcome any contacts with new and/or, correct information or, just to make contact with me. Please go back to my HomePage for my contact details.
Thomas Wood My research only goes back to 1786, starting with Thomas Wood. Thomas Wood was born in 1786 in London, England. He married Frances Banes 23 November 1809 in St Andrews by the Wardrobe Church, Blackfriars, London. On the 27th January 1828, after a voyage which lasted three and a half months, the ship "Albion" under Captain Proctor arrived at Sydney, Australia. Among the thirty passengers on board were Thomas and Frances Wood and their family who had left their home in London for a new life in the mainly convict settlement of Sydney. In the 1828 Census of Population of New South Wales, Thomas is listed as a 42 year old protestant who came free to the colony. His occupation is listed as a tinman of George Street, Sydney. Other members of the family are Frances (47), John (22), Hannah (19), Thomas (21), Charles (15), Francis (12), William (10), Joseph (9) and, Henry (7). Apparently Thomas wasted no time in settling into his new life and soon was prospering in his trade as Tinman, as the following advertisements taken from the Sydney Gazette show; [March 14 1828] "AUSTRALIAN BLOCK TIN MANUFACTORY, LAMP and OIL WAREHOUSE, 22 George Street, Opposite Mr Levey’s Mill. T. Wood, lately of London, respectfully informs the inhabitants of Sydney, and it’s environs, that he has commenced to manufacture in a superior style, numerous articles in the above branches, and begs to assure the public, that the greatest attention will be paid by himself and sons, to those who favour him with their commands, and by assidious attention to the business, he hopes to ensure their future patronage. T.W. particularly wishes to call attention of the gentry of the tavern-keepers and others, to the propriety of lighting the exterior part of the premises, with his improved street lamps, which is on a constructed principle, calculated to afford a light equal to gas. The advertiser will provide and light, with oil, the same lamps nightly at a reasonable expense, as he is enabled to do so by having met the approbation of His Excellency the Governor, and wishes to be adopted throughout the streets of Sydney, he having been honored with the Government Contract for providing and lighting the same. T.W. returns his thanks to those who have already favoured him with their orders. Superior Lamp Oil, Wholesale and Retail Shipping supplied. Up-country Settlers may be accommodated with goods in exchange."
[June 2nd 1828] " T. WOOD’S IMPROVED PATENT LONDON STEEL LAMP. The public are respectfully informed that he has on sale at his Lamp and Block Tin Manufactory, 22 and 23 George Street, opposite Mr Levey’s Mill, the improved London street lamp, which he particularly recommends to the inhabitants of Sydney, in consequence of it’s superior light, to any yet introduced into the Colony; specimens of which may been seen at his residence, the Australian Bank, and many other parts of the town. T. Wood will further engage to light the same, at a reasonable rate. N.B. He continues to manufacture every article in the common and Block Tin Line, by the London Patterns, on the most reasonable terms. Refined Lamp Oil and Wiltshire Lamp Cotton always on sale." Immediately under this advertisement, in the same newspaper, Thomas offers a 10 dollar reward to any person who can help with the conviction of those responsible for damaging the street lamps. Obviously, vandalism was alive and well in 1828! Thomas’ loyalty to his Monarch shows through in the following delightful paragraph recorded in the Sydney Gazette of April 25th 1828; " The rejoicings and other displays of loyalty, on the occasion of the Anniversary of our Gracious Sovereign’s natal day, were not exclusively confined to the brilliant assembledge at Government House, on Wednesday evening. A number of the inhabitants of Sydney appeared anxious to avail themselves of the opportunity of manifesting their devotion and affection towards their beloved Monarch by brilliantly illuminating their dwellings. Amongst the shewy displays may be mentioned Cumming’s hotel in Macquarie Place, the house of Mr Wood, a respectable tradesman in George Street, who exhibited festoons of lamps surmounted by a brilliant crown, together with the letters G.R. in characters of fire, which seemed as if in ether hung, at the very summit of Mr Barnett Levey’s illumination was particularly imposing, and when seen at a distance excited a variety of conjectures, as to what so unusual phenomonon could be; some being of opinion that a comet had visited our hemisphere, and others that South-Head lighthouse had paid a visit to Sydney on honour of the day. We should not be surprised if, in future, illuminations on the King’s birth night would become not only general, but a matter of course, in Sydney." The Monarch referred to in this paragraph was George IV who, because of his lack of diginity and rather outlandish behaviour, became unpopular with the people. He dressed in the height of fashion and delighted in the title "The First Gentleman in Europe". George IV died in 1830 and was succeeded by his brother William IV. It is also of interest to note that, as recorded in the Sydney Gazette on May 12th 1828, Thomas donated a cow to the Female School of Industry. Thomas Wood, late of Sydney and Parramatta, died on 23rd January 1840, a few days short of 12 years in the Colony. His wife Frances, passed away on 12th April 1840. They were buried together in the Sydney Burial Ground. At the turn of this century, when the cemetery became the site for the Central Railway Station, all unclaimed headstones, Thomas and Frances’ included, were shifted to Bunnerong where it remains to this day.
John
Wood Nothing is known about John at the moment.
Thomas
Wood Thomas Snr. was anxious to do well in the colony and to guarantee prosperity for his sons. On 14th June 1828 Thomas Wood Junior applied to the Colonial Secretary for a Grant of Land. The original papers are held at the State Archives of New South Wales and they give us a good insight into Thomas’ background: " I arrived in the Colony with my father Mr Thomas Wood of George Street by the ‘Albion’ in the month of January last and have since lived with him - it is now however my intention should I succeed in obtaining any land to live upon and cultivate it in person - I have had an opportunity of informing myself in some small degree with agriculture from having, for about 18 months, some years ago resided with my uncle, who lived at Cambridge upon a small property of his own to which he attended. This uncle has since died and he has bequeathed to me a sum of 450 Pounds, which I am daily expecting will be remitted me and which sum when received I also fully purpose to invest in stock and improvements of a farm. I am nearly 22 years of age. Thos. Wood." Land Board 8th July 1828 Mr Thomas Wood Snr appearing this day as the referee and guarantee of his son states: " I have made the purchases of the stock and implements stated in the schedule for my son the whole of which is paid for. It is my son’s determination to reside upon and manage in person any grant which may be made him, and so soon as I shall have permenantly established my other sons in the extensive business which I am now carrying on, it is my intention to retire and join my son the present applicant on his farm. The note for 500 Pounds which I have given him I bind myself to answer as from time to time he may require funds. My brother (his uncle) lately deceased at Cambridge has left to him a sum of 450 Pounds which he is daily expecting will be remitted to this country. I cannot say that my son is qualified as a agriculturalist of farmer, but a little land which I had in the neighbourhood of Deptford was managed by him and with a little instruction, and from the observations which he will be able to make of the general usages of stock etc in the Colony, I am sure he will be very soon be sufficiently qualified to conduct by himself a tolerably extensive farm. My son is nearly 22 years of age." Thomas Wood Snr. The Land Board must have been suitably impressed by Thomas’ application for, on the 29th July 1828, Thomas was granted permission to select for himself a square mile of land, in the district of Molonglo Plains. Unfortunately, nothing more is known about Thomas’ venture into the agricultural business however, the New South Wales Calendar and General Post Office Directory of 1836, shows a Thomas Wood Jr in business as Oilman and Tinworker, 31 George Street, Sydney, which may suggest that his farming life had come to an end.
Hannah
Wood
Hannah,
elder daughter of Thomas and Frances was married to James Lewis
Cole, who was 25 years of age, on 12th May 1828 at the Scots Church
Sydney by the Rev J.D. Lang. The marriage was to be a short
lived one, for on 20th June 1832 Hannah died in Hobart. There
was one child, a daughter christened Hannah Francis. James Cole
was undoubtedly pleased enough with the Wood family, because about
two years after his wife’s death he married her younger sister,
Frances The Sydney Morning Herald of 17th December 1835
proclaimed the birth of a son and heir the previous day.
Charles
Wood Nothing is known about Charles.
Francis
Wood Nothing is known about Francis.
William Wood [Refer seperate pages]
Joseph
Wood No more is known about Joseph.
Henry
Wood Henry Wood appears not to have been so lucky in his choice of marriage partner, a reference in the Australian newspaper 06 June 1840, a few months following his father’s death, shows that the executors of the late Oil Merchant requested clergyman not to solemnise the banns of matrimony of his son Henry Wood with Ann Hayes, alias Mary Malony.
William
Wood William was the fourth son of Thomas and Frances Wood, born about 1818 in London, England. William was 10 years of age when he arrived in Sydney with his family on the 27th January 1828. Williams’ father set-up business in Sydney; Australian Block Tin Manufactory, Lamp and Oil Warehouse at 22 George Street, Sydney. It was the usual pattern that sons followed in the trade of their fathers, and Thomas himself stated that he wished his sons to enter his business, however William became a carpenter and in about the year 1838, he left for New Zealand in the employ of the famous Dicky Barrett who had a shore fishery at Te Awaiti, at the head of the Marlborough Sounds. It is not clear if William was actually engaged in whaling pursuits; it is more likely that he was employed as a carpenter and shipwright. In his journal "Adventure in New Zealand" Edward Gibbon Wakefield, states that in the five months of the whaling season a whaler could expect to earn 35 Pounds. He goes on to say "The artisans seemed to be the best off. Carpenters and blacksmiths get 10/- a day, and insist upon payment in money." As was common practice among the whalers, William took himself a Maori wife. The natives who settled in this area of the Sounds were Ngati Awa, and it was from this tribe that William’s wife is thought to have come. Wakefield comments in his journal of 1839, "The women of the whalers were remarkable for their cleanliness and the order which they preserved in their companion’s house. They were most of them dressed in loose gowns of printed calico, and their hair, generally very fine, was always clean and well combed. It was evident that the whaler’s seaman like habit of cleanliness had not been abandoned; and they had affected that change at least in their women, who seemed proud of belonging to a white man, and had often we were informed, protected their men from aggression or robbery."
Henry, eldest son of William and Eraiha was baptised on this same day, as was Eraiha herself. Records of these three events were found in the Rev. Ironside’s registers now kept at the Methodist Church Archives in Christchurch. By the year 1849, whaling was well and truly on the decline and shore fisheries were dismantled. That same year saw William and his family making a new home at Pipitea Pa, on the shores of Port Nicholson (Wellington Harbour). In 1852, William petitioned Sir George Gray for a Crown grant of land. Although no records can be found to show if the land was ever granted, William’s memorial and subsequent correspondence is still housed at the National Archives of New Zealand (Archives reference NM52 688, +619). William’s memorial states:
"
To His Excellency Sir George Gray H.C.B. Governor in Chief of the
Islands of New Zealand. The Humble Memorial of William Wood of
Wellington in New Munster Cabinet Maker. That your Memorialist understanding that Crown Grants are about to be issued as well to the Aboriginal Natives as to European begs to state. That he married an Aboriginal Native woman twelve years since and has at this time four children living being the issue by such marriage. That a relative of the wife of your Memorialist by name "James" and now residing in Wellington being desirous of presenting such children with a piece of land situate near the Native Chapel at Pipitea, and that the same may be properly granted to them, and your Memorialist having erected a dwelling house on the same land upon the faith of such desire, being also desirous that such grant may be made, begs Your Excellency’s kind consideration in their behalf and that the Native Interpreter may be instructed to investigate their case." And Your Memorialist as in duty bound will ever pray. W. Wood We know from the information taken from the list of persons qualified to serve as jurors for the District of Port Nicholson for the year 1850 (listed in the Province of New Munster Gazette), that William lived at the Pipitea Pa and worked as a carpenter. He is also recorded as leasing his house and grounds at Pipitea Point on Native Reserve No. 1. After William’s death at least two of his sons remained on at the same address; Henry until 1873 and, William until 1879. William and Eraiha’s family were:
Henry
C.1841 William died on 15th September 1863 at the early age of 46. His obituary appeared in the Wellington Independent on Thursday September 17th 1863: " At half past one today the remains of the late Mr William Wood will be conveyed from Pipitea to their last resting place. He was so lately among us in apparent good health, that this announcement must take most of our readers by surprise, as foreman of the hands employed in finishing the deep water wharf, it will seem to many as though they saw him there engaged but yesterday. Mr Wood’s illness (heart disease) had been long coming on, but assumed a serious aspect only a few weeks since. He died on Tuesday shortly after noon, aged 46. Mr Wood’s name belongs to the history of New Zealand, and as such deserves a more extended obituary notice than considerations of a merely private nature would justify us in attempting. His father who was a respected will-to-do (sic) citizen of London, emigrated in the ship ALBION to Sydney in 1827, with his wife and children, William then being aged about 10 years old. They were amongst the earliest free settlers in the Colony and the New Zealand whale trade being then a flourishing one, and offering advantages to young men of enterprise and adventure, the deceased engaged himself to the once well-known Richard Barrett, and came to Queen Charlotte Sound in 1838. In 1839 he was one of the crew of the boat that put off to welcome the TORY, the New Zealand Company’s pioneer ship with Col. Wakefield on board. In 1843, while engaged at Dougherty’s station in Cloudy Bay, he was one of the crew that took off the beach the survivors from the massacre at Wairau. In 1849 on the breaking up of the shore fishery he came to live in Wellington, where he resided and became well-known as a steady, industrious, and skillful carpenter and boatbuilder. While living in Cloudy Bay he was married by the Rev. Samuel Ironside to a native, who with a large family of half-caste children, still survive him. To them he leaves little more than his name; a name however which they fondly cherish, and which many of the towns people will delight to do honour today, as that of a worthy man and fellow settler." Of Eraiha’s life, very little is known. Her daughter Fanny, appearing before the Maori Land Court in November 1902, states that Eraiha had died when Fanny was very young and that she had been brought up as a European. Fanny also gives Eraiha’s whakapapa as follows (Note: it appears that Eraiha was also known as Kuraututu). Te Wakatotara = Taitapuariki Te Heu = Te Wetiki (m) Moatia (f) Waketotara (f)
Kuraututu
(f) Wi Te Mau (m) Unfortunately, despite extensive searches of burial records for several cemeteries in the vicinity of Pipitea, no trace of the burial site of William Wood can be found. It could be assumed however that he was probably buried in the Bolton Street Cemetery - either public or Church of England sections. No accurate records were kept until 1881 and by then it was far too late to accurately update the register as the first burials were carried out in 1843. In the early days of the settlement there was very little money, if any, to provide permanent headstones and most of the graves were marked with white picket fences to keep out the wandering stock. These wooden fences have long since rotted away, leaving no indication as to the occupants. Indeed, it is recorded in Margaret Alington’s Unquiet Earth, that because of the absence of burial registers and plans the sexton often came across bones in spaces he thought unoccupied! It is therefore safe to assume that many of the towns people were buried without lasting memorials, William being among them.
DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM WOOD [Due to the large amount of details I have, I have only shown a very small portion below. If you wish to learn more about what I may have or, able to pass on new information to me, please contact me by email: [email protected].]
Henry
Wood 1841 - 1911
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