William
Wood
Born about in Matlock, Derbyshire, England
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Margaret (Gibbens) Wood
— married
9 Aug 1612 in All Saints Church, South Wingfield, Derbyshire, England
Descendants 
Father of
Michael Wood and Ruth (Wood) Wheeler
Died
at about age 89
in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay
Profile last modified
| Created 28 Mar 2013
This page has been accessed 2,285 times.
| William Wood migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 383) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Biography
William was born in England, probably near South Wingfield, Derbyshire, around 1582. He began his life during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and grew to manhood under James I and Charles I. He Married Margaret Gibbens at All Saints Church, South Wingfield on August 9, 1612. William, his wife Margaret, his son Michael and his wife Mary, William's daughter Ruth, unmarried, and a nephew, the Hon. Thomas Flint, left Matlock, Derbyshire, bound for Massachusetts, in 1638. At the time, William was about 56 years old.
There is little record of William in Concord, although he was one of the earliest settlers. It is certain that he came directly to Concord, Massachusetts, and lived the rest of his days there. Margaret died in Concord on September 1, 1659. William made his will in Concord on September 15, 1670, age about 88, and died there on May 14, 1671. His will was proved on June 4, 1671. In the will he mentions that he gave his daughter "Ruth Wheeler" her share of his estate when she married, and mentions "my son Thomas Wheeler". William also mentions his grandchild Abigail Hosmer, and leaves the rest of his estate to his son Michael. William was probably buried in the Old Hill Burying Ground, as it was the only cemetery in use at the time of his death.
Sources
Information for this profile was taken from:
- "The History of Westminster, Mass." ...
- Phillimore, W.P., Phillimore’s Parish Register Series (Phillimore & Co., London, 1917) Derbyshire Parish Registers: Vol. 14, Page 120: "William Wood & Margaret Gibbens ... 9 Aug. 1612"
- Probate records of Worcester County, Massachusetts;
- Holmes, Clayton Wood. A Genealogy of the Lineal Descendants of William Wood Who Settled in Concord Mass., in 1638 (Elmira, N.Y, 1901) Page 9
- Probate Records of the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts, volume 3, pages 256-257, Will of William Wood; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89D5-B5BT : accessed 14 February 2018), image 506 from DGS 007554518 ("Probate records (originals) v. 1-3 1654-1673").
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Categories: Puritan Great Migration
On the other hand, there is the record of the marriage of a William Wood at Denby on 13 May 1610 to Anne Bawe; so perhaps that is the boy born in 1583. Denby is seven miles south of S. Wingfield, while Matlock lies six miles to the northwest of S. Wingfield.
We know from records in Massachusetts that William Wood left just one surviving son - Michael.
A search for Michael is revealing. There is no record of a christening of Wiliam and Margaret's son Michael in S. Wingfield, Matlock or Denby. However, I DID find the baptism of Michael son of William Wood 19 Mar 1617/8 -- in St. Mary's Parish, in Crich, which is just two miles WSW of S. Wingfield! This is very near the geographic center of Derbyshire.
The only other Michael (son of William) Wood in the right time frame found in a search on freereg.org.uk is Michaell son of "Gulielmi Woode," chr 14 Oct 1614 at Ingleton in the W. Riding of Yorkshire. Ingleton is about a hundred miles NNW of S. Wingfield. So that would literally be quite a stretch.
Further, the Crich register includes a record of the christening of Margaret daughter of William Wood 17 Oct 1619. This would seem to be the namesake of Margaret (Gibben) Wood.
William Wood also had a daughter Sara chr. 23 Feb 1623/4 at Crich. Sadly, she lived only a few months, and was buried 18 August 1624 at Crich.
There can scarcely be any doubt but that the above christening entries belong to William Wood of Concord, as they conclude with the christening of Ruth Wood (daughter of William) on 21 April 1627.
Thomas Flint, who accompanied William Wood to New England on his second trip (1638), is surely the Thomas Flint chr. at Crich 8 April 1608, son of Anthony, whose residence is given as the village of Wessington (called "Washington" in ancient times), a bit east of Crich proper. It became a separate parish in 1859. There is a burial record for Elizabeth wife of Anthony Flint on 6 Oct 1624, and one for Anthony himself on 1 April 1627, so Thomas' Uncle William Wood may have assumed a parental role to the orphan Thomas. I find no marriage for Anthony, but it seems a fair assumption that his wife Elizabeth was the sister of William Wood of Concord.
A search in freereg for the christening of an Elizabeth Wood in the appropriate period for her to have been the mother of Thomas Flint yields only one entry -- that of Elizabeth, daughter of John Wood, chr 24 June 1586 at Denby.
It may be worthy of note that a William Woode also had a daughter Jane chr. 15 June 1606 at Crich; the parish register noting that this was William Woode "of Lea." In light of the known age of William Wood of Concord, I can't rule out the possibility of a first marriage that might have produced this Jane, but I have no information on Jane's mother, or whether the William Woode who lived at Lea was a different person from the William Wood who married Margaret Gibbens in 1612.
The profile on Familysearch for William Wood of Concord identifies him as the son of a William Wood who had a number of children chr. in Yorkshire in the latter part of the 16th century, but that profile has no credibility in my opinion. It is supported by exactly zero sources linking the William Wood (or William Woods, the profile could be an amalgam of data on two or more different men) of Yorkshire with the William Wood who lived in Derbyshire prior to his trips to New England.