Elizabeth Eason

b. 28 December 1752, d. 21 March 1826
  • Elizabeth Eason was born on 28 December 1752 in North Carolina likely in Johnston County.
  • Court Minutes, Johnston County, North Carolina (28 May 1777): Returned into Court by John Wood an account current of the Estate of Marke Wood Des'd ordered that William Avera and John Rand Esquires be appointed to audit & settle the same, who in pursuance thereof returned a balance of £2 14.16.5 due from the said John Wood Executor in his own mony which acct. is ordered to be fild the said John Wood returned an Inventory & account of Sale of the said Estate ordered to be fild also;
         Ordered that John Wood be appointed Guardian to Ashley Wood orphan of Mark Wood Des'd who entered into the Bond & Security to wit: Wm. Wood Senior, Wm. Wood Junior Solomen Wood in the sum of six hundred pounds. Ordered that Elizabeth Eason be allowed twelve pounds for the maintenance & support of Ashley Wood orphan of Mark Wood Des'd sixteen months & that John Wood pay the same.
         Ordered that the following Persons be appointed Constables: John Oliver, Robert Gulley, John Wood, William Wood Jr, Nicholson Lee.
  • A bond for the marriage of Elizabeth Eason and Solomon Wood was secured on 29 December 1777 at Wake County, North Carolina, with bondsman Solomon's cousin Penuel Penny, and witness John Rice.
  • Research Note: Some family researchers report that Elizabeth Eason's name at the time of her marriage was "Elizabeth Eason Morton." It is likely that this was the result of an error introduced during the posthumous transcription by a typist of the handwritten manuscript of a memoir by her grandson Campbell Wood (1842-1914).
         The surviving original typescript reads "Elizabeth Eason Wood (Welsh) (Mrs. Morten was a Miss Bentley) wife of Gen. Solomon Wood, born December 28, 1757." Since Elizabeth Eason's mother was born Sarah Bentley, it appears that "Her Mother" was mis-transcribed by the typist as "Mrs. Morten." Thus the correct transcription would be: "Elizabeth Eason Wood (Welsh) (Her Mother was a Miss Bentley) . . ."
  • Court Minutes, Johnston County, North Carolina (May 1778): John Wood came into Court and Resigned his Guardianship to Ashley Wood Orphan of Mark Wood Desd, whereupon Soloman Wood was appointed Guardian to the said Orphan who entered into a Bond with William Wood Senr. and John Wood his Securitys in the Sum of One thousand pounds for the faithful performance of his Guardianship. Ordered that John Wood be allowed Ten pounds for his Expence in maintain-- Ashley Wood orphan of Mark Wood Desd. heretofore. Issued.
  • Based on information found in various deedbook and court minute records, it seems clear that Solomon Wood and his family (wife Elizabeth, daughters Nancy and Mary, and step-son Ashley Wood) relocated from North Carolina to Georgia about 1785.
  • On 2 March 1794, Sarah Bentley prepared a will, summarized as follows: (Johnston County, North Carolina) Eldest daughter Elizabeth Wood - Coat and 20 Sh; Daughter Mary Allen - Coat and 20 Sh; Grandson Ashley Wood - 1 gold ring and 1 note due me for $71 1/2 dollars, dated 30 Oct. 1790; Son John Eason - Negroes Sal, Mine, Amy, Tim & Letty. Exec: John Eason, David Bell. Signed Sarah (x) Eason. Wit: David Bell, Isaac Kindace, Thomas Lankford.
  • She accompanied Green Wood to Autauga County, Alabama, in circa 1818.
  • Elizabeth Eason died on 21 March 1826 at age 73 in Montgomery County, Alabama, at the home of Green Wood.
  • She was interred at the Brown plantation cemetery, Ware's Ferry Road, Montgomery, Alabama, later known as Brown-Oliver Cemetery, and more recently Winfrey Oliver Place Cemetery, next to Eastdale Baptist Church on Burbank Street in Montgomery. Also, her daughters Nancy Allen, Mary Mitchell and Elizabeth Mitchell erected a cenotaph memorial marker at Oakwood Cemetery.
  • On 13 May 1826, Elizabeth Eason signed the following will:
         I Elizabeth Wood, widow, do hereby make my last will and Testament in manner and form as follows that is to say
         1st - I desire to be decently buried on my son Green Wood's premises (after my death)
         2nd - I give and bequeath to my son Green Wood a certain negro man named Curtis and a certain young negro woman named Zilphy and six hundred dollars out of my Estate besides also one Grey mare called Silvy. I also wish my son Green wWood to have the five following negroes Moses, Dick, Dill, Milley & Ned belonging to me valued by three sober and discreet men and take them himself at the valuation and pay to cash if my Grandchildren as they arrive at age there Equal parts as I want the proceeds of the said negroes to be Equally divided between all my Grandchildren that may arrive at age and all my money in the same manner
         3rd - I also give and bequeath unto my Daughter Nancy Allen a certain negro woman named Cloe and another woman named Salley
         4th - I also give and bequeath to Green M Hollinger a small negro Girl named Pheraby and my bed and furniture if he should live to have any heirs of his body I wish him to have the property pointed out in the 4th Item and should he die before that event I wish the property divided to the said Green M. Hollinger or to be given to Sololon Wood son of Green Wood
         5th - I do hereby appoint my son Green Wood and Leonard Abbercrumbie Exors to this my Last Will and Testament and do hereby revoke all other Wills made by me. Enterlined with the name of the the five negroes before signed this 25th day of January 1726. Elizabeth Wood (Seal)
         Witness: A. Wood, Charles A Abbercrumbie, Sally Abbercrumbie.
    Witnesses likely were her son Ashley Wood and Leonard Abercrombie's son Charles and wife Sarah Comer. The will was probated in Montgomery County, Alabama, on 13 May 1826.
  • On 27 November 1805, Solomon Wood signed the following will:
         In the name of God, Amen. I, Solomon Wood, being of good health and sound memory at present, thanks be to God for it, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, and also that it is every man’s duty to settle his affairs, do make, constitute and appoint this to be my last will and testament, that is to say, first I will bequeath my body to the dust and my soul to God, Who gave it, in hopes that He who formed me will have mercy on me.
         Secondly:- I will and bequeath to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, six negroes to be her choice that are not named in my will, four horses and they to be her choice of all my stock, fifteen cows and calves, one yoke of steers and six steers for beef and all the hogs, sheep and geese.
         Six feather beds and furniture, including all household furniture to be hers forever and at her disposal with the plantation whereon I now live, with the tools belonging thereto to be hers during her natural life, also my stage wagon.
         Thirdly:- I will bequeath to my daughter, Elizabeth, four negroes, to wit:- Black Jenny; Cuffy, a fellow; Rachel, a girl mulatto and Delilah. One horse, bridle and saddle with one hundred and fifty dollars, ten cows and calves, one feather bed and furniture and household furniture equal to what has been given her sisters.
         Fourthly:- I will and bequeath to my three sons, namely, Green Wood, Mark Red Wood and John White Wood, all my lands and negroes, namely, Tony, Murphy, Bob, Guilford, Jim (a mulatto), David Turner, Dad Wright, Godfrey, Betty, Black Rachel, Patty, Jule and Fannie and three feather beds and furniture, thirty cows and calves and three horses, bridles and saddles to be worth one hundred and fifty dollars each and the said property is to be equally divided between them at Green's ariving at twenty years of age, also five hundred dollars for their education.
         Fifthly:- I will and bequeath that after my just debts are paid the remaining part of my property to be equally divided between my children, namely: Nancy, Polly, Elizabeth, Green, Mark Red, and John White.
         Sixthly:- I make and constitute and appoint Willis Brazial, Thomas Mitchell and Green Wood to be my executors of this my last will and testament.
         In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal, dated in Jefferson County, and State of Georgia, this the 27th day of November, 1805. (signed) Solomon Wood.
         Signed, sealed and acknowledged before us the day and year above written, Stephen Durowzeau and John Cowart.
  • The following appeared on 12 January 1947 in The Montgomery Advertiser: (in "The Days of Augusta, Alabama," by Peter A. Brannon): An advertisement dated February 10, 1821, in the Republican, announces that Dr. Thomas Brown "has removed to the town of Augusta in this county where he attends to the practice of medicine." Dr. Brown's dust is in the popularly known "Oliver Cemetery" (though it should be "Brown Cemetery") about five miles out on the Ware's Ferry Road near the old Ledyard property. In that small "half-acre" are some Mitchells, some Woods, as well as the family of Dr. Brown. On Dr. Brown's father's gravestone a lengthy inscription recites his Revolutionary War experience. This old veteran was from Culpepper County, Virginia, and was at King's Mountain with John Sevier and at Yorktown when Lord Cornwallis surrendered. He died at Augusta on January 9, 1827, of fever.
         In 1980, Montgomery Eagle Scout Troop 16 erected a monument at the cemetery, then known then known as the Winfrey Oliver Place Cemetery, naming eight of the individuals: Elizabeth Eason Wood, Leonard Abercrombie, Dr. Thomas Brown, Thomas Brown, Eliza Dixon Hall Brown, Edwin Brewer Brown, Henry Pollard Brown, and Thomas Bolling Brown. In August 2008, the Eagle Scout monument was broken off at its base, lying flat on the ground, and the only other monument remaining in the area was that of Leonard Abercrombie.
  • While it first appeared that Elizabeth Eason was the mother of Ashley Wood based on court minutes and Sarah Bentley Eason's will naming him a grandson, it seems more likely that Ashley actually was the son of Solomon Wood's brother Mark and a yet unknown sister (possibly Sarah) of Elizabeth Eason. Solomon and Elizabeth's grandson Campbell Wood wrote in a letter to his sister-in-law Mary Jane LeGrand Wood (July 1894): "Cousin Wood Spaight said [his] Grandfather Ashly Wood was a double first cousin of Pa's. Grandfather and Grandmother Wood raised him from infancy, as both his parents died when he was an infant."
  • Last Edited: 27 May 2016

Family: Solomon Wood b. 6 April 1756, d. 17 August 1815