Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Theophilus Wood
Theophilus Wood purchased one-half gallon of rum for widow McClean (McKlain?) at the Colden Store on this day, 250 years-ago.
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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The surname of 'Wood' appeared 29 times in the DayBook. In five instances, Benjamin Wood picked up items on the account of Josiah Talcott (Talket). Talcott was a carpenter in demand at many of the larger homes in the area. In one of those cases, Benjamin Woods picked up shalloon, binding, and mohair. The entry read "for the use of Benj^m Woods." Perhaps he was an carpenter's apprentice under Talcott?
'Theophilus' was the most prolific given name, appearing 17 times. The entries also referenced his daughter and son. Other given names of the Wood family (and relatives revealed by entries) were Silas (6; a brother, son), Silas Jr. (1; a daughter), Benjamin (1), Isaac (1), Elizabeth (1).
The August 24, 1767 entry for the account of Silas stated that his brother picked up rum, paper, and sugar for the vendue of the widow Wood. The next day, Elizabeth Wood, picked up another gallon of rum at the store...Did they run out of rum at the vendue? From family genealogies it is plausible that the 'brother' was Theophilus and that Elizabeth was the wife of Theophilus.
In 1771 (a few years from this date) Benjamin Wood purchased land adjacent to the Samuel Campbell farm. At this point the Campbell farm was probably being farmed by Samuel's son, Daniel, (brother of Joel Campbell, eponym of this blog) who was living on it in 1774 when Samuel's will was written. In a 1784 deed, Benjamin Wood transferred the land to, Abraham Wood. From family genealogies, this was his brother.
Three members of the Wood family were admitted to the Goodwill Church in 1778: Theophilus, Elizabeth, and William. Presumably this is Theophilus Jr who is living close to the property described in the prior paragraph.
The 1779 tax assessment for Hanover Precinct listed Benjamin's property as 50 acres, with Theophilus Wood adjacent with another 50 acres. The neighboring Campbell farm was being farmed by the younger brothers of Daniel and Joel (namely Nathan and Levi), each taxed for 25 acres. [A William Wood is also in this assessment with no land and personal property of £30, but is not enumerated in the same neighborhood.]
Researching this family presented me with some challenges. I doubt much of the data on ancestry.com and this family has a relatively common surname and recycled given names. Please do not take the following as facts, but it appears that Theophilus and Silas were brothers, aged about fifty years at the time, who also had sons with the same names. Theophilus' sons included Benjamin, Abraham, and Abner (who would marry a Campbell). That Campbell was presumably a neighbor...a daughter of Nathan or Levi?
I hope to do a future blog on the Revolutionary pension files of Abraham and Benjamin. Benjamin is described as a carpenter which connects him with the Benjamin Wood of Wallkill Precinct who appears to be a carpenter's apprentice in 1768, but he says he lived in Cornwall during the war. He also does not mention his brother, Abraham, in his pension deposition, which seems odd.
The lives of the Colden Store customers were connected in many ways. They would intermarry, mourn deaths together, and fight side-by-side during the revolution.
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