Jacob Wood

About Jacob

Johanna Daniels married a Wood, probably in Middlesex County, NJ. It makes sense that she would marry a Staten Island Wood, since that is where the family wound up living for more than two decades afterwards.

One of Jacob's daughters (Amelia Mellott) was described as being "of Jacob" so we know he used that name. Oddly enough, there is nothing else that hints at Jacob's given name, although we are certain he existed.

About Jacob's religion

Jacob's mother (see below) was a French Huguenot descendant, and his father was an offshoot of the Long Island Wood clan, whose formal religion is unclear. Jacob's later siblings were baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church on Staten Island, but Jacob either wasn't, or he was born too early - cannot tell. One of Jacob's daughters, Martha Roberds, became Quaker, and it may be that Jacob himself did not follow any specific existing organized religion. Certainly he and his family did not leave any records behind on Staten Island, even though there were two churches there - Dutch Reformed and Moravian (Church of the Brethren), and we have their records. Jacob is not mentioned, nor is wife Johanna.

Other children sometimes had their marriages recorded, but interestingly they married in New Jersey, not on Staten Island, possibly at the request of their spouse.

It turns out that one family that Jacob's daughter Mary married, the Parmer family, were Baptist immigrants from England. It may well be that for some reason Jacob also had joined the Baptist community on Staten Island - assuming of course that one existed. Certainly Paton Parmer's father Joseph lived on Staten Island (having moved from Upper Freehold, NJ) in his later years, and thus a Baptist community may already have existed there. This would explain the lack of birth records for Jacob's children.

About Jacob's politics

Jacob's sons and daughters universally supported the American Revolution; some married participants, and some participated themselves (e.g. Captain John Wood). Captain Wood married four times - and his fourth wife was the daughter of UEL signer Isaiah Cain. Shortly thereafter, they went to British Canada.

Grandchildren also participated. Granddaughter Elizabeth Smallwood's first husband Samuel Fuller may have died in the War, and her second husband rose to the rank of Colonel in the same conflict. Elizabeth's brother Richard Parmer also participated. Jacob and Johanna's daughter Amelia married Theodorus Mellott, who was an officer in the War as well.

Wife Johanna had a sister Margaret, however, who married George Ferris, and it appears that all of her sons and daughters declared for the Tories and had to flee to Canada. So the Daniels family was not of one mind about politics.

About Jacob's wife

We know that Johanna Daniels married a Wood because she was described as Johanna Wood in father Jonathan's 1764 will. We do not, however, know exactly when the couple married, or what children they had, except through DNA analysis. But there are some constraints.

• There is a DNA link to descendants of Captain John Wood, of New York City and later Ontario, through Jacob's daughter Mary. So we know that Jacob and Captain John were close Wood relatives. Dates work out for John to have been Jacob and Johanna's first son.
• There is also a DNA link for the Daniels family, back through the Averys, through the daughter Mary. That means that Mary had to be the daughter of both Johanna and Jacob.

The Daniels family left various children behind in its journey from New London to Woodbridge, NJ. While some of the daughters may have been widows when they married, if should be possible to date the Daniels family's arrival in Woodbridge by these marriages. It appears that 1752 is the earliest date of arrival in Woodbridge from Rye, NY. This at first glance makes it seem difficult for Captain John Wood to be the son of Jacob and Johanna, since he was born in 1739. But there is no reason to be sure Jonathan Daniels did not "scout ahead" when deciding on his next place of abode; Johanna may have accompanied him, if so. She was a favored daughter, compensated heavily in his will, and it so happened that Jonathan had a sister Margaret who was married and living on Staten Island already, beginning around 1719.

About Jacob's parents

Jacob may have come from one of two sets of parents. The first set I considered was Richard Woods, Jr. and his wife. This worked better date-wise (at least at first glance) since Richard and family might well have encountered the Daniels family on their way from Bristol County, MA, to New Jersey. However, on second glance this had a problem: one of Jacob's sons was born in 1739, in the New York City area, and that meant that Jacob had to be there by then, which nullified the "encountered while traveling" advantage. So I looked elsewhere.

The second Wood, Stephen Wood, Sr. , had several children baptized on Staten Island, and from the marriages of his children with marriage records, we know that Jacob and Johanna lived there. And, another unexpected benefit from this choice of family: Jacob's grandmother was French, from the Paris region, which neatly explained a 23-and-me heatmap hit for my ancestry that otherwise had no explanation.

Note that the implication is that either Jacob had an unknown first wife, or that Johanna Daniels got to Woodbridge, NJ, by 1738. (She had to get there by 1744 in any case; Mary Wood is my ancestor and she is definitely a Daniels, according to DNA). I discovered that Johanna already had an Aunt Margaret on Staten Island, who was married and having children there by 1719, so it become far more plausible that Johanna was part of the "advance team" once that was clear.

Life

Jacob was born on Staten Island in about 1719. He married Johanna Daniels, who was likely residing with her aunt Margaret Symons , probably in January of 1739. The couple had the following suspected children:

1. John, who married four times, lived in Claverack, NY, served in the Continental Army, and died in Ontario, b. December 1739
2. Frances, m. Henry Morris, b.c. 1740. and emigrated to the Carolinas
3. James, who helped with some of John's legal work in NYC, b.c. 1741, never married
4. David, who accompanied John to Claverack NY, b.c. 1742
5. Mary, m. Paton Parmer and moved to Camden County NJ, b.c. 1744
6. Johanna, m. Robert Isletine, b.c. 1749
7. Martha, m. Freeman Roberds, b.c. 1752, emigrated to the Carolinas
8. Margaret, m. Jeremiah Stillwell, b.c. 1754, emigrated to the Carolinas
9. Amelia, m. Theodorus Mellott, b.c. 1756, emigrated to Bedford County, PA, may have been a twin
10. Elizabeth, m. Daniel Folk, b.c. 1756, emigrated to Bedford County, PA, may have been a twin

(Children's approximate birthdates are based on their actual marriage records or approximate marriage dates determined through their families. John's actual birthdate is the only one known, and that was apparently because of a burial record in Ontario.)

Jacob's father Stephen Wood did not mention him in his 1763 will. From that we can surmise that he predeceased his father.

Sometime after 1763, Jacob's family left Staten Island. They stopped for a short while in Bucks County, PA, but then proceeded along with a large number of familiar Staten Island families to Bedford County, Pennsylvania, where they likely made their new home in Belfast Township. In Bucks County, Martha married Freeman Roberds. Several daughters married in Bedford County when they got there: Amelia, Elizabeth, and Frances (although it is also possible that Frances married while they were still on Staten Island).

Johanna Wood, Jacob's widow, likely died in Bedford County, PA. It was unusual for a widow to emigrate that distance unaccompanied by a husband, but Johanna was a remarkable woman in many ways. It's also possible that she remarried shortly after 1764. She had not remarried at the time her father died.

Historical context

On August 30, 1776, General George Washington gives the New York Convention three reasons for the American retreat from Long Island. That same day, he rejects British General William Howe’s second letter of reconciliation.

With Howe and a superior British force having recently landed at Long Island—they handed the Continentals a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights on August 27—Washington gave these reasons for his decision to retreat: the need to reunite his forces, the extreme fatigue of his soldiers and the lack of proper shelter from the weather.

For his part, Howe had attempted to reconcile with the Patriots before blood was spilled, but had been rejected by Washington because he had failed to use Washington’s title of “general” when addressing the letter. Even after beating the Continentals at Brooklyn Heights, Howe looked for a peaceful resolution, allowing Washington and his army to escape by boat to Manhattan and sending yet another letter to Washington through American General John Sullivan. Washington refused to accept the missive, but gave Sullivan permission to deliver it to Congress in Philadelphia.

On September 11, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and other congressional representatives accepted Howe’s offer and reopened talks on Staten Island. The negotiations fell through when the British refused to accept American independence as a condition for peace.