Henry Wood: where he lived, and who his parents were

1. Where in Buncombe County did Henry live?

The strongest evidence is a household headed Henry Woods in the original 1830 Buncombe County census. Turkey Creek/Sandy Mush, northwest of Asheville near the later Buncombe/Madison border, is a Freeman-related geographic lead. No recovered record places this Henry on an exact tract, farm or homesite. County evidence is stronger than the creek-level suggestion.

Evidence:

The original household: page 260

The 1830 census, Buncombe County, page 260, NARA M19 roll 118, Internet Archive image n509, lists Henry Woods immediately after Aaron Freeman. Henry’s household contains one male under five, one male aged 20–29 and one female aged 15–19. The image was visually inspected, including an enlarged row. The surname is Woods; no middle name appears. [HW.CENSUS1830]

Evidence:

Why this is a strong candidate, not a settled identity

The young 1830 family fits the reported Sarah Alabeth Freeman and son Lorenzo. The newly inspected 1850 and 1860 Missouri households strengthen that identification: Henry is North Carolina-born, and Aaron Freeman and Alabeth appear nearby in 1850. Neither census states the relationship between the households. The 1830 household remains a strong candidate, with an original marriage or kinship record still needed. Consecutive enumeration does not establish adjoining land.

Evidence:

How far the census search went

The surname index’s five Woods page references—214, 241, 243, 246 and 260—were checked against original images. Pages 214 and 246 show William; 241 shows John; 243 shows Elizabeth; Henry is at 260. Several intervening frames were examined, but not every household in Buncombe County. [HW.CENSUSINDEX; HW.CENSUS1830]

Evidence:

Why Turkey Creek and Sandy Mush are leads

A published family transcription places an older Aaron Freeman’s 1803 purchase on the ridge between Turkey Creek and Sandy Mush: Buncombe Deed Book 9, pages 48–49. A later Freeman research account identifies Zachariah Candler’s 1827 entry no. 2440 in that watershed and says he bought land from Aaron Freeman Jr. Neither original instrument was recovered. The older and younger Aarons must remain distinct, and neither account establishes Henry’s property. [HW.FREEMAN1803; HW.FREEMAN1827]

Evidence:

Land-grant clues—and a different Henry to avoid

The NC land-grant index lists three Buncombe grants under Henry Wood and two under Aaron P. Freeman, the latter dated 1834–1839 in the index. Detail pages yielded no usable content; descriptions and identities remain unverified. Separately, an 1811 Haywood deed abstract names a Henry Wood of Buncombe buying 100 acres at Scotts Creek/Rockhouse Fork. The older Henry associated with Ann York and Margaret Bryson has a Haywood/Macon trail and has not been connected to Sarah Freeman’s husband. Scotts Creek must not be presented as this Henry’s home. [HW.GRANTINDEX; HW.FREEMANGRANTINDEX; HW.HAYWOOD1811; HW.OLDERHENRY]

Evidence:

2. Do we have proof of Henry’s parents?

No. Two different couples are attached in derivative trees, and no recovered original record names this Henry as their son. The preserved Geni export itself explicitly acknowledges the missing firm evidence. Neither parent assignment should be presented as established ancestry.

Evidence:

Candidate parents: John/Jonathan Wood and Nancy Ann Phillips

This is the family attached in the preserved October 19 Geni export for the exact Henry profile, 6000000009286981418. Both Henry’s and John’s notes say firm evidence for Henry’s parents has not been found. The live Geni page was blocked during the investigation, so this describes the preserved export rather than a verified current live profile. [HW.GED]

Evidence:

Candidate parents: John Thomas Wood and Mary Ann Greenfield

WikiTree Wood-362 attaches this couple, principally citing a memorial and inherited GEDCOM or other-tree material. The proposed father’s Wood-31625 profile supplies a Missouri probate lead, not recovered original proof of parentage. It reports death on September 6, 1824, in Boone County, Missouri, and probate on October 7, 1824, while citing an 1835–1850 abstract volume. That bibliographic mismatch needs resolving before the original heirs and distribution records can be assessed. [HW.WIKITREE; HW.JOHNTHOMAS]

Evidence:

Why repeated pedigrees are not independent confirmation

The Albert Wayne Wood compilation uses John Henry Wood in the preceding generation with Nancy Ann Phillips, but gives a different death narrative from Geni. It supplies no parent-naming original for Henry. Patricia Callahan was still asking for Henry’s parents in an April 10, 2000, forum post and suggested Henry and Hiram might be siblings or cousins. The compilation names Callahan as a contributor, so these accounts may share one unresolved research tradition. Her post attributes parental birthplaces to an 1850 census, which did not have those columns; the intended record must be identified. This citation problem does not disprove either proposed couple. [HW.COMPILATION; HW.COMPILATION4; HW.CALLAHAN2000]

Evidence:

What would count as parental proof?

No baptism, Bible entry with verified provenance, parent-naming marriage, will, estate distribution, guardianship or deed proving either couple was recovered in this pass. Each proposed father needs a separate probate and deed investigation; the Tennessee John/Nancy Phillips family must not be equated with the Missouri man without evidence.

Evidence:

The birth-year conflict: originals now correct the compilation

The original 1850 census reads Henry 44; the original 1860 page reads 53, not the compilation’s 59. With the likely 1830 tally of a male aged 20–29, these support a working birth estimate around 1806 rather than the inherited March 7, 1795. The two later ages do not increase by a perfect ten years, so this is an approximate chronology, not an exact replacement birthday. The reported 103-year lifespan needs independent verification. No contemporary middle name William is supplied by these pages.

Evidence:

Best next records for his home

The original 1840 Taney page now links Henry to a repeated Freeman and Wood neighborhood. Follow this group backward through Crawford/Meramec land and court records. In Buncombe, retrieve the actual 1827 entry 2440, the 1803 Freeman deed and the 1834–1839 Aaron P. Freeman grant files. Compare tract descriptions and distinguish the Aarons. No original record yet identifies Henry’s Buncombe parcel.

Evidence:

Best next records for his parents

Obtain the original Boone County probate and heirs/distribution pages for the proposed John Thomas Wood, resolving the 1824 versus 1835–1850 citation first. Separately examine probate and deeds for John/Nancy Phillips in Tennessee. Test the candidates against Henry’s corrected chronology rather than choosing a pedigree because it is repeated.

Evidence:

Named family histories still to retrieve

The cited originals remain unread: Moses Johnson, “History,” Douglas County journal, May 1989, pages 16–20; “Pioneer Settlers in Early Douglas County,” Ozar’Kin 10/1, Spring 1988, pages 13–16; and Barbara DeVore, “The Aaron Freeman Family,” December 1990, pages 5–15. Their earliest testimony and source attributions may help, but the citations are leads rather than newly established evidence. [HW.XENON]

Evidence:

Research limits and present conclusion

Updated October 29, 2026. Original 1830–1880 census evidence and the son’s 1903 testimony is distinguished from copied family histories. The Missouri households support a firmer chronology and repeated Freeman association. No recovered original names Henry’s parents or identifies his Buncombe parcel. The answer remains: strong Buncombe household candidate, exact home unproved, parents unproved.

Evidence:

New: the complete 1850 household

Ozark County, District 45, manuscript page 45 / stamped 23, dwelling and family 294, was enumerated September 28, 1850—not September 8 as copied in the compilation. It lists Henry 44, Martha 27, John 16, Alabeth 14, William H. 10, Andrew J. 8, Mary 6, Joel 3 and Jonathan 1, followed by a 38-year-old laborer surnamed Shipley whose given name remains uncertain. Henry is born in North Carolina, Martha in Alabama and the listed younger Woods in Missouri. Relationships are not stated. Jonathan and Shipley were omitted from the abridged compilation; Martha and John’s ages were miscopied. Marks in the marriage column are too inconsistent across these pages to establish a wedding year.

Evidence:

New: Aaron Freeman and Alabeth nearby

The next page lists Aaron Freeman 67, Alabeth 63 and Elvira 30, all North Carolina-born, at family 301. Samuel Wood 50 and Lavina 37 follow at family 302. Henry is family 294: six numbered households intervene before Aaron’s. This reinforces the earlier Freeman association but does not state kinship, geographic distance, adjoining parcels or a shared migration date. L. Wood 20 also appears on Henry’s page; identifying him as Lorenzo remains a correlation to test.

Evidence:

New: the 1860 household and its missing children

Howell County, Willow Springs Township, page 59, dwelling and family 388, July 19, 1860, lists Henry 53, Martha 37, Joel 13, Ozias 9, Wesley 7, Martha 5, Mary 2 and Sarah 5/12. Henry has $150 real estate and $250 personal estate reported. The compilation collapsed Martha 5 and Mary 2 into one child and gave Sarah six months. John Wood 26 appears at family 386 on the same page, consistent with John 16 in 1850, but no father–son relationship is written. Both censuses used June 1 as their reference day; visit dates do not establish exact birth dates.

Evidence:

New: the 1840 Missouri bridge

The original Jackson Township, Taney County census, manuscript No.14, row 14, lists Henry Wood with eight people: males 5–9 (one), 10–14 (one), and 30–39 (two); females under 5 (two), 5–9 (one), and 20–29 (one). Aron Freeman, Iry Freeman and Samuel Wood appear on the same page. These repeated associations strengthen the 1830 Buncombe → 1840 Taney → 1850 Ozark research chain, without proving kinship or a joint journey. No wife, child or second adult man is named; the latter must not be called Hiram. The age bracket fits the working circa-1806 chronology if this is the same Henry. [HW.CENSUS1840.ORIGINAL]

Evidence:

His son names Henry and Sarah

In sworn testimony dated January 16, 1903, William H. Wood names his deceased parents Henry Wood and Sarah Wood. He also names grandmother Alabeth Ball, wife of Aaron Freeman, while expressly distinguishing family knowledge from hearsay about claimed tribal ancestry. Commission pedigrees repeat Sarah Freeman married to Henry, but derive from the same related applications. They do not name Henry’s parents or independently prove every earlier generation.

Evidence: E217, E218, E219

An 1880 blacksmith and a sharper land lead

A strong 1880 candidate is Henry Wood, 70, a North Carolina-born blacksmith whose parents were reported born in Virginia. An unusual page/household arrangement prevents simply assigning him to Joel’s household. An 1848 survey transcription and an overlapping 1859 patent candidate place a Henry farm near the North Fork in sections 31–32, township 27 north, range 11 west. They are promising Missouri property leads, not a proved homesite or a Buncombe tract. The inherited 1898 death date still needs the original newspaper notice.

Evidence: E220, E222, E223

The application’s final outcome is now documented

The April 21, 1905 Interior Department decision affirmed the Commission’s June 1904 refusal; a May 8 notice informed William. All 128 published Wood/Bennight jacket images and two cards were reviewed. A contemporary index pinpoints six supporting Wood exhibits at consolidated pages 251–256, but those instruments are absent from these published jacket sequences. The administrative refusal neither establishes claimed ancestry nor genetically disproves it. Henry’s parents remain unproved.

Evidence: E289, E290

INSPECT THE EVIDENCE

The recovered original pages

1850 household · full-size image ↗

Freeman neighborhood · full-size image ↗

1860 household · full-size image ↗

1840 household and neighbors · full-size image ↗

1840 associated panel · full-size image ↗