James Wood’s Mourning Ring - French and Indian War Foundation

Founder of Winchester VA.

Compiled and written by Jim Moyer 1/13/2017, updates to follow on this search.

gollum — Gollum, created by author Tolkien in 1937

We’re looking for a ring. We want to know where it is.

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Maybe Gollum has it? He calls the ring “precious.”

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We call the ring James Wood’s Mourning Ring.

And it’s somewhere.

wilbur-s-johnston-picture-by-scott-mason-winc-star — Wilbur S Johnston and his book on James Wood : ON THE TOWN

[Katherine Glass Greene] “Greene refers to a “mourning ring” in the possession of an unnamed Wood grandson bearing the inscription of the date James Wood died as “6th of November, 1759, aged fifty-two years, “ putting his birth in 1707, “

– states Wilbur S Johnston in his book on James Wood, entitled: On The Town, page 3, published in 2016.

So all we have is what Katherine Glass Greene recorded.

Here is what she recorded of a response by one of James Wood’s grandsons to inquiries about James Wood. She does not indicate which grandson claimed the following:

“The inscription of a mourning ring still in the possession of my branch of the family establishes the fact that he died on the 6th of November, 1759, aged fifty-two years,”

– states Katherine Glass Greene in her book, Winchester, Virginia, and Its Beginnings 1743-1814, page 13, in the version published by Heritage Books, 2007, originally published 1926.

The grandson by inference might be Dr Robert Wood Dailey. More on that below.

But . . .

That’s it.

We don’t have the ring.

We don’t even have a Wikipedia article on the senior James Wood.

His son, having the same name, has a Wikipedia article. And so does Gollum.

And Founders Online makes no distinction between father and son on a search string. See link on letters between GW and James Wood. Only the first two letters refer to the senior James Wood.

Wait a minute, Who’s James Wood, some of you might ask?

He’s the founder of Winchester VA. More on that later.

But guess what else we don’t have?

james-woods actor 2 james woods actor 1

No. That’s James Woods, the actor — that’s not our James Wood.

Yep. We don’t even have a picture of our senior James Wood.

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My Precious GIF from Lotr GIFs

So, that’s it.

That’s all we have on the ring.

If you know where it is, contact us. 🙂

Grandson have that Ring?

katherine glass greene book cover — This book is packed with information. Many leads to follow. Originally published in 1926, republished 2007

After Katherine Glass Greene quotes the “Notes used by one of his [James Wood’s] grandsons in answer to one of many inquirers for information are, in brief, as follows … , “ Katherine Glass Greene without stating this is the particular grandson who mentions the mourning ring, writes:

The obituary of Dr Robert Wood Dailey, who died at Romney, West Virginia, April 12, 1902, says in part:

“Dr Dailey’s mother was Comfort Wood of Winchester, Virginia, and through her he was the great-grandson of Colonel James Wood, founder of the city of Winchester, Virginia, and the first clerk of the court of Frederick County, Virginia … “

Source:

Katherine Glass Greene in her book, Winchester, Virginia, and Its Beginnings 1743-1814, pages 12- 13, in the version published by Heritage Books, 2007, originally published 1926.

Who is this great grandson?

He is not from James Wood’s famous son of the same name – the one who became Governor of Virginia, the one who has that Wikipedia article. 🙂

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Instead this great grandson comes from another son of James Wood.

Robert Wood is the other son, who married Comfort Welsh. One of their daughters, named Comfort after the mother married a Dailey and who had a son – the great grandson who told of the mourning ring – Dr Robert Wood Dailey, mentioned above in the obituary by Katherine Glass Green.

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Robert Wood (1747-1801)

married Comfort Welsh (1751-1840), with whom he had numerous children. Nine of the children are represented in this collection: Julia, Comfort (Wood) Dailey, Robert W. (1776-1855), Mary Dorcas (Wood) Washington, Catherine (Wood) Glass, Harriot, Sarah Ann, William (1786-1872), and James.

Source:

James Wood Collection at the Handley Library Stewart Bell Jr Archives

The rest of this page looks at James Wood’s origins.

Was he English or Scot?

When did he arrive in Virginia?

James Wood on that Ship?

In 1998, Jennifer Esler, Executive Director of MSV (Museum of Shenandoah Valley) hired historical analyst Leila Boyer to find out.

Leila Boyer found some plausible connections with many families of Scot origin, noted Wilbur S Johnston in his book ON THE TOWN, which disagrees with Katherine Glass Greene’s assertion that James Wood was an Englishman from Winchester England. More on the Scot connection later.

ElizabethIandAnneBoleynSidebySideMediumInor19 — Elizabeth I daughter to Ann Boleyn on the right, Henry VIII’s 2nd wife

For now we are going to look at a ship, named after Elizabeth I and her mother Ann Boleyn.

James Wood is listed as a prisoner of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 in the link below:

http://files.usgwarchives.net/md/statewide/immigration/scotamerica.txt

In that above link are a list of prisoners sent away on ships and their destinations:

Passenger lists for 10 immigrant ships in 1716, several of which came to Maryland

The ship names and destinations are as follows:
AG —   “Africa Gally” —   Barbados
AN —   “Anne” —   Virginia
EA —   “Elizabeth & Anne” —   Virginia
FS —   “Friendship” —   Maryland
GS —   “Goodspeed” —    Virginia    (actual landing place Maryland)
HH —   “Hockenhill” —   St Christophers
SC —   “Scipio” —   Antigua
SS —   “Susannah” —   South Carolina
TB —   “Two Brothers” —   Jamaica
WF —   “Wakefield” —   South Carolina

Ship On Ship on ship In Prison in prison # P Prison

EA Wood James Wood James Montook Sterling 091 Wigan

Here’s more on the Elizabeth & Ann of 14 January 1716, travelling from Liverpool to Yorktown VA.

This link on the same ship has a different date 29 June 1716

Another look at James Wood in the list of names from the Virginia State Papers 1652 – 1781.

You can see “James Wood” on lower right of right page.

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Link for above – https://archive.org/stream/calendarvirgini12palmgoog.

How old was James Wood on that Ship?

James Wood would have been 9 or 10 years old on that ship – if that was the same James Wood.

That age of James Wood on the ship is based on Katherine Glass Greene’s recording of the inscription on a “mourning ring” whose whereabouts is not known.

Katherine Glass Greene does not indicate which one of James Wood’s grandsons claimed the following:

“The inscription of a mourning ring still in the possession of my branch of the family establishes the fact the he died on the 6th of November, 1759, aged fifty-two years,”

– states Katherine Glass Greene in her book, Winchester, Virginia, and Its Beginnings 1743-1814, page 13, in the version published by Heritage Books, 2007, originally published 1926.

wilbur-s-johnston-james-wood-book — Wilbur S Johnston’s book on James Wood published 2016

Wilbur S Johnston in his book, ON THE TOWN, page 6, says the ship above was in 1717, but those files listed above state 1716.

More on the origins of James Wood to come

Stay tuned.

Katherine Glass Greene says he’s English

katherine glass greene james wood family 1890 — Colonel William Wood Glass and family on porch at Glen Burnie. Persons identified as (standing, l to r): Thomas R. Glass, Harriet Wood Glass, Dr. Robert Glass; (seated, l to r): Susan Glass, Col. William Wood Glass, Nannie Campbell Glass, William Wood Glass, Jr. [future mayor of Winchester], Julian Wood Glass Sr. [father of the future restorer of Glen Burnie], and Katherine Glass [Greene]. Person behind wicker chair on right is unidentified, possibly a servant. Similar but not quite identical (different exposure) to photograph in Lee, The Gardens of Glen Burnie, p. 1. Date estimated as c. 1890. Filed with oversized photos. (Image enhanced.)

For now we can quote a passage from page 12 and 13 of Katherine Glass Greene’s book, Winchester, Virginia, and Its Beginnings 1743-1814, in the version published by Heritage Books, 2007, originally published 1926.:

“Notes used by one of his grandsons in answer to one of many inquiries for information are, in brief, as follows:

“Colonel James Wood was an Englishman by birth;

and by communication made to me in my youth from his widow, Mary Wood [Ed note: maiden name Rutherford], who lived to a great age, and survived her husband thirty-nine years,

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I understood he had been a lieutenant in the British Navy before his emigration to this country.

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He embarked with one of the colonial governors for Virginia and remained in his family until he located himself adjoining Winchester.

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[Ed note: Or was he the James Wood that was 9 or 10 years old as a Jacobite prisoner sent to Yorktown VA in 1716 or 1717? So far, there is no independent verification that James Wood was a Lieutenant in the British Navy or that he traveled with a colonial governor to Virginia. ]

He personated Washington in his early life as a candidate to represent Frederick County in the Colonial House of Delegates at Williamsburgh.”

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[Ed note: this last line has confirmation. See this link on the 1758 election of GW to House of Burgesses]

Wilbur S Johnston says he might be a Scot

More later to be filled in here

The Family Tree

James Wood, Sr.,

built the first “Glen Burnie” in 1738.

He married Mary Rutherford (died 1798) in 1738

with whom he had children

Elizabeth (b. 1739),

James, Jr. (b. 1741),

Mary (b. 1742),

John (b. 1743-44),

and Robert (b. 1747).

He is buried in the family graveyard at Glen Burnie.

James Wood, Jr.

(1741-1813) was deputy surveyor of Frederick County and represented the county in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1766 to 1776 and in the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1776. He served as governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1796 to 1799. Wood negotiated the Treaty of Fort Pitt with the Shawnee Indians in 1775, making possible the successful expedition of General George Rogers Clark. He fought in the Revolutionary War as a colonel, commanding the Virginia Regiment at the Battle of Brandywine; later, he was a Brigadier-General of Virginia troops.

James Wood, Jr., married Jean Moncure in 1775;

they had no children.

Robert Wood (1747-1801)

married Comfort Welsh (1751-1840), with whom he had numerous children. Nine of the children are represented in this collection: Julia, Comfort (Wood) Dailey, Robert W. (1776-1855), Mary Dorcas (Wood) Washington, Catherine (Wood) Glass, Harriot, Sarah Ann, William (1786-1872), and James.

Source:

James Wood Collection at the Handley Library Stewart Bell Jr Archives