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…

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…

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…