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Matthew Cates Wood
Matthew Cates Wood was born Dec. 2, 1832, in Fentress County,
Tennessee; and died Jan. 10, 1910 in Casey County, Kentucky. His parents were John Wood,
who was born May 29, 1797 in North Carolina; and died in 1868 in Fentress County; and
Elizabeth Helm, born Aug. 6, 1804 in what is now Fentress County, and died there in 1863.
They married Oct. 13, 1824, in Fentress County. Matthew's paternal grandfather was Jesse
Wood, who was born about 1771, in Burke County, North Carolina, and died in Fentress
County, Tennessee. (Death date not known). Matthew's paternal great-grand father was Belfield Wood, who was born in 1752, in Orange County,
Virginia, and died Apr. 8, 1836, in Fentress County, Tennessee.
About 1859, in Fentress County, Matthew Cates Wood married Dillery F. Beaty, who was born
Aug. 25, 1834, in Fentress County, Tennessee; and died Mar. 17, 1915, in Casey County,
Kentucky. Her parents were William Beaty, Sr., (1794-1877), and
Martha (Westmoreland) Beaty, born in 1797, in what is now Fentress County, Tennessee.
Children of Matthew and Dillery (Beaty) Wood were:
- Diane, born Aug. 25, 1860, in Fentress County, Tennessee, and died
Dec. 23, 1879, in Casey County, Kentucky;
(plus the following, who all were born and died in Casey County,
Ky.):
- Victoria, born June 19, 1862; died Aug. 28, 1928;
- Mary, born Sept. 28, 1866; died Mar. 4, 1868;
- John William "Billy" born Sept. 1, 1868; died Oct. 24,
1961;
- Josephine, born Oct. 8, 1871; died Apr. 12, 1928;
- Loretta, born Oct. 21, 1873; died Feb. 16, 1951;
and twin boys,
- Henry Martin and
- Matthew Winfield "Wince" Wood, born in May 1877.
I have no death date on Henry M, but Matthew W. died in 1941.
Victoria Wood was married Apr. 29, 1886, to James H. Martin;
John William Wood was married Apr. 25, 1895, to Mary Catherine Warner;
Josephine Wood was married Dec. 7, 1899, to Calvin Crockett;
Loretta Wood was married Dec. 23, 1896, to Thomas J. Cooper.
Apparently, Matthew C. Wood, his wife Dillery, and their oldest daughter Diane migrated to
Casey County, Ky. about 1861. Dillery's parents, with their children, also moved to Casey
County, Ky. about that time. Or, at least, one son, William Beaty, Jr., and perhaps one or
two of the youngest daughters came along. Matthew Cates Wood, wife Dillery, their
daughters Diane and Mary Wood, Victoria (Wood) Martin, Josephine (Wood) Crockett, Loretta
(Wood) Cooper, husbands and some descendents of Victoria and Loretta, their son Winfield
Wood, and grandson Robert Wood, (son of John William Wood), all are buried in Hyder
Cemetery in Adair County, Ky., a mile or so from the Casey County line. John William Wood,
I, his wife Mary Catherine (Warner) Wood, (b. Oct. 28, 1880; d. Jan. 10, 1924), sons
Charles, John William, II, Elmer Irvine, wives of the 3 sons, daughter Dillery, and some
grandchildren are buried in Salem Cemetery, near Rheber, in Casey County, Kentucky.
John William Wood and his family were the only ones with whom I was personally acquainted.
They were a very friendly, jolly and closely-knit family. They greatly enjoyed getting
together with one another, or with relatives or friends, to talk, laugh and to have a big
time. The sons and daughters were:
Charles; (1896-1971);
Henry (b. in 1897);
John William, II, "Crippled John"(1899-1962);
Dillery (1902-1982);
Tom (b. in 1904);
Robert (1906-1921);
Nannie (b. about 1909);
Elbert (b. about 1911);
Woodrow (b. in 1913);
Luther (b. in 1916);
Irvine (1919-1976); and;
Dorothy (b. in 1923).
Charles married Linnie Patterson; Henry married Eliza Carter; John William, II married
Geneva Lucas; Dillery married 3 times; 1. Wiley Adams, 2. James L. Woodrum, 3. Elmer
Clements; Tom married Nellie Walls; Robert died young; Woodrow married Bessie Luster; and
Irvine married Violet Irene Randolph. I don't know who Nannie, Elbert, Luther or Dorothy
married; as they did not marry in Casey County.
I have been around these Woods, off and on, most of my life. One Sunday in 1921, my folks
spent the day with the John William Wood family. With his family and ours together, it was
a fairly large group. Woodrow, Luther, my younger brother Carl and I waded and played in
the creek together. In 1926, "Crippled John" spent a night with us. He was one
of my favorites - always so jolly and cheerful. He taught me a funny song about the
3-night experience of a drunk man; a 48-line song, of which I still remember every word.
In earlier years, one of his legs had drawn straight back; so he walked with crutches. In
1940 or 1941, I attended a candybreaking and took Dorothy into the neighbor's dining room
with me 2 or 3 times to break candy. Also, Eula Mills, another neighbor girl, who isa
great-great-granddaughter of William Crockett, Sr., who lived in Pentress County,
Tennessee about 125 years earlier. Both girls were 16 or 17 years of age and quite pretty;
Eula being one month and a half older than Dorothy. And, in November 1984, I attended the
Golden Wedding Anniversary of Tom and his wife Nellie. Their oldest daughter was hostess.
And their pretty, young daughter Patty came in, hugged her father, then me, then her
mother, then she went into the dining room and hugged her brothers. It was the second time
that I had met her. She is my favorite one of Tom's family; but all of his daughters and
sons are sorter nice. (There are 3 daughters and 3 or 4 sons). Tom used to chum with my
older brothers Poe and Al; and he told me of a little caper that he and Al pulled against
one of our neighbors. Guess what I took him as an anniversary gift? I took him 50 family
group sheets (filled out, of course) on his ancestors and relatives.
It appears that William Beaty, Sr. (1794-1877) was an older
brother to my great-great-grandfather Thomas Beaty (b. 1801). So, Dillery (Beaty) Wood
(1834-1915) was a first cousin to my great-grandmother Nancy Agnes (Beaty) King
(1824-1904); John William Wood, I; (1868-1961) was a second cousin to my grandmother
Elizabeth Ann (King) Wright (1854-1911); Tom Wood (b. 1904) is a third cousin to my father
James David Wright (1872-1928). So, Patty and her generation are fourth cousins to me,
Roscoe Hollis Wright, (b. in 1914), and others of my generation of Thomas Beaty
descendents. I told my older sister Eva that I had learned through my genealogy research
that we are kin to John William Wood and his descendents -- and, in fact, to all the
descendents of Matthew Cates Wood -- and she said that she already knew it, that our
father had told her so.
William Beaty, Sr., his wife Martha (Westmoreland) Beaty, their son William Beaty, Jr. and
perhaps a few other relatives are buried on a farm near the Casey-Adair County Ky. line.
Matthew Cates Wood's older brother Jonathan Ellis Wood (1827-1903), his wife Jane
(Williams) Wood (b. 1836), and their oldest son William also migrated to Casey County, Ky.
about 1864, where 9 other children were born to them. One of their granddaughters, Janie
Peck, married my uncle Peter John Wright, a grandson of Mathias Austin Wright, who lived
at Little Crab, Fentress County, Tennessee. Jonathan, Jane, their sons John and Luther,
and John's wife, Rosalie (Lewallen) Wood are buried in Salem Cemetery, Casey County, Ky.
Janie (Peck) Wright is still living, at Wheatfield, Jasper County, Indiana.
by Roscoe Hollis Wright
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