The first aspect of family history I heard about as a child was that my paternal ancestors founded the town of Blue Hill, Hancock County, Maine. As the story goes, Joseph Wood (my ancestor) and John Roundy left Massachusetts in 1762 to explore what would ultimately become Maine. They created the town of Blue Hill out of the wilderness.

A long line of my paternal grandparents lived in Blue Hill, starting with Joseph (b. 15 Feb 1720, Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts; d. 20 Jun 1813, Blue Hill) and his wife, Ruth Haskell (b. 16 Nov 1721, Beverly; d. 6 Apr 1814, Blue Hill). They had Joseph Wood (b. 27 Dec 1750, Beverly; d. 18 Dec 1811, Blue Hill), who married Eleanor Carter (b. 19 Oct 1757, Harpswell, Cumberland, Maine; d. 5 Apr 1806, Blue Hill) on 11 Sept 1776 in Blue Hill.

Joseph and Eleanor had Andrew Wood (1786-1850) who married Hannah Ober (1787-1830). Their son, Benjamin Stone (sometimes listed as Stover) Wood (1826-1881), married Susan Whitmore (1828-1861), thus adding extensively to my dozens of Mayflower lines.

Their son, Lemuel Augustus Wood (b. 1845 and pictured at the start of this post), is my great-great grandfather. Lemuel married Susan Pickering in 1867, but she passed away in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lemuel was the last of my ancestors born in Blue Hill, and he and Susan didn’t appear to have any children. If they did, none of them lived to adulthood.

Lemuel then married my great-great grandma, Georgianna Winsor in 1884 (more Mayflower through there; maybe someday I will post about how my parents, all 4 of my grandparents, and most of my 8 great-grandparents are related to one another).

Georgianna was probably considered an old maid by then at the age of 33 (she was born in 1851). They had one daughter, who was born and died the same day. And then they had my dear great-grandpa Lewis Preston Wood in 1892 in Boston. My beloved great-grandpa passed away when I was 6, but I remember him very well.

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Wood (her maiden name was also Wood, but no relation) had 8 children. My grandfather, Vincent Wood, was the third-born, but the first to pass away in 1995. Grandpa, of course, gave me my dad, and here I am.