THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS LIBRARY

 

Col 922

John H. Wood Papers

1849-1898

 

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Collection information

 

Physical description: 1 document box

Acquisition: Gift of Richard Wood, 1948

Processed by: Warren Stricker, 1997

 

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Table of contents

 

 

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Biographical note

 

Born in New York in 1816 John Howland Wood came to Texas in 1836 as member of a battalion raised in response to the events of the Texas revolution.  He served in the San Jacinto campaign, and remained in the Texas Army after the war as Quartermaster in Victoria.  At the conclusion of his military service, he established a cattle ranch in Jackson County, later moving his headquarters to Victoria, and then to Refugio County, where he founded the Bonnie View Ranch at Black Point, on Copano Bay.

 

Wood was a political and business leader in Refugio County, serving with the county government and involving himself in the establishment of the towns of St. Mary’s and Rockport.  He was a partner in a mercantile business in St. Mary’s with his son, Richard H. Wood, and Francis M. Ellis, and was a promoter of railroad service to the Gulf coast.  During the Civil War, he served the Confederate government as a member of home guards and an officer of coastal defenses.

 

In 1842, Wood married Nancy Clark, also a native of New York, who had come to Texas in 1839 with her mother and brothers.  The couple had 12 children, several of them prominent in ranching, business and government.  A convert to Catholicism, Wood was a frequent contributor to church and educational ventures, including the construction of a Catholic church in Rockport.  He died in Rockport in 1904.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas. Austin: L.E. Daniell, n.d.

 

Daniell, L.E. Personnel of the Texas State Government, With Sketches of Representative Men of Texas. San Antonio: Maverick Printing House, 1892.

 

Huson, Hobart. Refugio: A Comprehensive History of Refugio County from Aboriginal Times to 1953. Woodsboro, Tex.: The Rooke Foundation, 1953. 2 vols.

 

Memorial and Genealogical Record of Southwest Texas. Chicago: Goodspeed Brothers, 1894.

 

The New Handbook of Texas. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996.

 

Wood, Alpha Kennedy. Texas Coastal Bend: People and Places. San Antonio: Naylor Company, 1971.

 

The Wood Family: Descendants of John Howland and Nancy Clark Wood. San Antonio, Tex.: The Creative Union, 1972.

 

Scope and content note

 

A journal, letters, deeds, legal documents, brand records, financial records and printed material are part of the John H. Wood Papers, documenting some of the business activities of Wood and his family.

 

A journal and memorandum book from 1867, probably belonging to Wood, records routine business and personal information and some general financial transactions dating to 1869.  Among the deeds are items recording the transfer of property in the town of St. Mary’s involving Wood, his son Richard H. Wood, and business partner Francis M. Ellis.  Registration certificates for marks and brands document Wood’s cattle ranching activities in a number of counties, and include the marks of Wood’s wife Nancy and other family members.  Financial records are generally miscellaneous in nature, consisting primarily of tax receipts for property in several counties, as well as more general receipts, including one item for the sale of livestock to the Confederate government.  Stock certificates found in the papers include two for the Texas Continental Meat Company of Victoria, Texas, in which Wood and another son, Tobias D. Wood, were shareholders.

 

 

 

Folder

 

1

Journal/Memorandum book, 1867-1869

 

 

 

 

 

Letters

 

 

2

Dyer H. Crowell, Rome, to Mr. Wood, 1874 July 28

 

 

3

S.A. Burns, Bridgeport, Conn., to J.R. Cook, Meriden, Conn., 1893 June 21

 

 

 

 

 

Deeds

 

 

4

Patrick Shelly, Assessor to John H. Wood, Refugio County, 1850 August 9

 

 

5

Francis M. Ellis to Richard H. Wood, Refugio County, 1867 December 4

 

 

6

Alfred M. Hobby to F.M. Ellis and Richard Wood, Galveston County, 1868 February 16

 

 

7

Francis M. Ellis and Richard H. Wood to John H. Wood, Refugio County, 1870 January 24

 

 

8

Rafael Aldrete to John H. Wood, Refugio County, 1872 March 7

 

 

9

John Ireland to John H. Wood, Refugio County, 1873 June 25

 

 

10

Unknown owners to T.D. Wood, Victoria County, 1883 May 1

 

 

 

Unknown owners to T.D. Wood, Victoria County, 1883 May 1

 

 

11

Samuel D. Mayer et al., to John H. Wood, 1884 February 9

 

 

 

 

 

Contract

 

 

12

Lovenskiold, O’Doharty and McCampbell and John H. Wood, Corpus Christi, 1869 April 27

 

 

 

Bill of Sale

 

 

13

J.M. Niel to John H. Wood, Refugio County, 1878 June 28

 

 

 

 

 

Brand records

 

 

14

Certificate of registration, John H. Woods, Cameron County, 1862 November 24

 

 

15

Certificate of registration, John H. Wood, Karnes County, 1867 January 19

 

 

16

Certificate of registration, John H. Wood, Wilson County, 1867 April 15

 

 

17

Certificate of registration, John H. Woods, Bexar County, 1867 April 26

 

 

18

Certificate of registration, John H. Wood, Victoria County, 1870 March 16

 

 

19

Certificate of registration, Nancy and John Wood, Medina County, 1872 April 5

 

 

20

Certificate of registration, John H. Wood, Nueces County, 1873 January 20

 

 

21

Certificate of registration, Nancy Wood, Bee County, 1875 February 17

 

 

22

Certificate of registration, John H. Woods, Goliad County, 1876 June 9

 

 

23

Certificate of registration, Nancy Wood, San Patricio County, 1879 October 30

 

 

24

Certificate of registration, T.D. Wood, Bee County, 1898 June 10

 

 

25

Certificate of registration, R.H. Wood, et al, Bee County, 1898 June 10

 

 

 

 

 

Road Overseer’s Commission

 

 

26

Henry Mueller, Goliad County, 1877 June 18

 

 

 

 

 

Stock certificates

 

 

27

San Antonio Mutual Aid Association, 1863

 

 

28

Texas Continental Meat Company, 1883 (2 items)

 

 

 

 

 

Bills and accounts

 

 

29

Edward Linn to Daniel Hourd, Victoria, 1854 February 7

 

 

30

Edward Hickey to ________, New Orleans, 1857 January 2

 

 

31

John H. Woods to Confederate States of America, 1865 May 12

 

 

32

John McKinnon and Co. to J.H. Wood, Victoria, 1884 January 14

 

 

33

List of accounts, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

Receipts

 

 

34

Bee County taxes, 1881-1887 (9 items)

 

 

35

Coleman County taxes, 1879, 1886 (2 items)

 

 

36

Goliad County taxes, 1881-1887 (5 items)

 

 

37

McCulloch County taxes, 1886-1887 (2 items)

 

 

38

Refugio County taxes, 1850-1883 (7 items)

 

 

39

San Patricio County taxes, 1882

 

 

40

Victoria County taxes, 1879-1886 (10 items)

 

 

41

Confederate taxes, 1864

 

 

42

Occupation taxes, 1870-1871 (3 items)

 

 

 

 

 

Receipts

 

 

 

General

 

 

43

Peter Doren to John H. Wood, Black Point, 1849 August 30

 

 

44

W.N.  Black to John H. Wood, St. Mary’s, 1869 April 30

 

 

45

F.M. Ellis to John H. Wood,  St. Mary’s, 1870 May 30

 

 

46

Mathew Kiolin to John Wood, Black Point, 1876 April 13

 

 

47

State Land Board to J.H. Collett, Austin, 1884 February 20

 

 

 

 

 

Clipping

 

 

48

“An Old Texan”

 

 

 

 

 

Menu

 

 

49

Manhattan Café, Victoria