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Hugh Wood Letter to His Mother, Isabella Dated 15 May 1858 Camp Scott, Utah Territory
Background It is sad to me that we were told that Hugh Wood left home and was never heard from again. This is untrue and paints an unflattering portrait of the young man. What I have found, is that he loved his family. He had hopes and dreams for his future. Hugh had a sweetheart back home in Texas who he hoped to marry. While his end was tragic, Hugh’s letters show how much he cared for and longed to be with his family and how strong his faith in God was. He was a beautiful soul. This letter tells of his initial time in the Utah Territory. Upon writing…
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Hugh Wood’s Letter to His Mother, Isabella Dated 13 May 1857
Background Not long after arriving in Texas, James and Isabella’s eldest son, Hugh, left home in search of either adventure or work or possibly both. In this letter, he is in New Orleans waiting to go to Nicaragua as a mercenary. He never went to Nicaragua as the action there ended before he could leave New Orleans. When I transcribe a letter, I leave dashes if I can’t make out a word, and I try to leave the original spelling…but sometimes spell check corrects it anyway. The Letter New Orleans May 13, 1857 My Dear Mother, I write once more to you from this place and it is uncertain when…
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The Colony of Kent
Background The following is a newspaper article about the Colony or City of Kent. I believe that this article pertains to the Wood family for the following reasons: 1, The organizer of the colony was Sir Edward Belcher. In a letter from Hugh Wood to his brother, James, Hugh states that he has heard that money previously invested in land in Texas can be returned if James petitions Sir Edward Belcher after he returns from South America. Our family history states that James and Isabella arrived in Texas to find that they didn’t own the land they had paid for and that they had been swindled. Well….not exactly. I believe…
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Isabella Wood 1851 Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Smith in Scotland
Background I search the Internet all the time for information about my ancestors. For months, there will be nothing new and I will believe that I have all that there is to find. And then something new will show up. Jerry did a Google search for “James and Isabella Wood” and that search found a newly created website called “Heart of Texas Tales“. This website is a project done by the Ft. Graham Chapter, Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (of which I am a member!). The ladies who built this website received an email after its launch from a man in Scotland who asked if they would…
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Jana’s Top Genealogy Sites For Researching Ancestors
Now that we are back home, I can go to the courthouse and local cemeteries to do some genealogy research. But no matter where we live, primarily, I use genealogy sites to research my ancestors. There are so many sites out there to help with genealogy research. Some store your information so that you have pretty little charts to show your friends. Others are hard core “you have to know what you are looking for to find anything” sort of sites. Here is a break down of the ones I use, the ones I fight with, and the ones that have made all the difference in the world. The Cemetery…
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Single Board Walls Can’t Last Forever
Wonkie Mystery House When we bought the house, there was so much trash inside of it. You couldn’t really tell much about the structure of the house. We didn’t know if it was leaning, sinking, collapsing and so on until we removed the trash and sheet rock and could actually see the house. What we found was a wavy floor, with high spots and low spots. We could see ceilings that drooped in the center and doors that would no longer close. My motto was “only do what we must…keep it original!”. Jerry and I first addressed the foundation issues so that we could level and raise the house. The…
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Built To Last: Original Sill Logs and Floor Joists
Old Construction Techniques The house was build in 1846 and certainly has outlasted any expectations for modern construction. The house was soundly built, but time had illustrated that there were some significant issues with the structure. For example, the front of the house was moving away from the main part of the structure. You can read about that little fiasco on my blog post entitled Structural Issues in Our Dog Trot House. In this post, I’ll tell you a bit about the floor joists and sill logs and how we kept the house as original as possible. The Floor Joists The original floor joists and sill logs fit neatly…
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Another Unexpected Guest: The Appearance of the Coachwhip
Clearing Around the Well Benny Melton was going to come and clear the land so the foundation guys could get busy. The old well is still in the back yard, but the back yard was super overgrown. It was bad when we bought it and by this time we have been in the house working for five months. Yard work is hardly a thing for us to concern ourselves with. In the picture above, you can clearly see the well at the bottom. You can also notice that the season is winter by Jerry’s long-sleeve shirt and by the lack of green growth. By the time we were ready for…
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A Plan for the Addition of Space to the Original House
The Art of Addition Common thought among the experts in home renovation is that if you are putting an addition onto an old house, you need to make the addition appear that it had always been there. Some old houses are boxy and asymmetrical by nature. An addition didn’t significantly alter the look of the house. Houses with non-rectangular floor plan have room for an addition to be added without the house being changed into something it wasn’t. Our plan for an addition need to add space while maintaining the original house. Ours was a very simple dog trot cabin. Period. They only really have one variety. Pens divided…
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Instant Pot: Poached Pears in a Mulled Wine Reduction
First Time Amazement I am not a huge fan of cooked fruit. Pineapple on a pizza? Nope. Apples and pork? No, thank you. Fruit pies are hit or miss with me as well. I do love a cobbler, though. I just made poached pears in mulled wine in my Instant Pot. They were incredible and didn’t remind me of any of the cooked fruits I had had before. They were super sweet. The mulled wine reduction was what made them so good. The spices (cinnamon, bay leaf, and cloves) did their job by adding depth and complexity to the wine. The wine gave the dish an extra level of fruitiness. …