Yolo-Sonoma-Mendocino County CA Archives Biographies.....Wood, John Davenport 1828 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2005, 7:10 pm

Author: Tom Gregory

JOHN DAVENPORT WOOD

    J. D. Wood, of Capay valley, was born in Nashville, Ill., December 24, 1828.
When he was eight years old the family moved to Green county, Mo., where he made
his home for about seventeen years. Then, at the age of twenty-five years, he
went to Santa Fe as a teamster with Keith & Livingston, the celebrated
freighters. The far west pleased him and on his return home he made arrangements
for removal to California. A portion of his journey across the plains was made
in company with the survey party of Gen. John C. Fremont and Kit Carson. The
great Pathfinder and the equally great scout were again hunting and marking
roads across the American continent—this being Fremont's fifth and last labor in
the west, and the last time he ever came over the ground made memorable by his
work as an explorer.

    The ox train was under the command of Colonel Hagen, afterwards of Sonoma,
and consisted of twenty-three wagons, ninety-six persons and eleven hundred head
of cattle. They traveled along the old beaten way via Fort Laramie, Chimney
Rock, Sweetwater, North Platte, Green River, Sinks of the Humboldt, and after
being six months on the road, their trip ended at Petaluma, Cal. Not
withstanding their large string of cattle they had few losses except from their
stock getting sore feet, which seemed to be epidemic in the band. They
successfully ran the gauntlet of hostile Indians except in one instance, when a
big armed band appeared and demanded the surrender of one of the white men whom
they accused of having shot a squaw. The fellow was guilty as charged, and he
was given up to the Indians who put him to death, and no further molested the
train.

    Mr. Wood's sphere of activity during the next dozen years was in the
vicinity of Mt. Shasta, Eureka Flat, Diamond Springs and the mining camps of
that portion of the state. He was a worker and his industry in those well-paid
times brought him good wages, consequently he was always "flush" and knew no
hardships other than the hardship of hard work. A part of his occupation was
hunting wild game in the great forests of that time and place. Animal pelts were
well worth seeking and his good rifle and traps brought him much profit. He
cruised Humboldt and Mendocino counties, and during the twelve years he
slaughtered numerous bears, panthers, foxes, deer and smaller game. He finally
settled on his present home place of one hundred and thirty-four acres in Capay
valley and has taken to the life of the quiet rancher. His marriage united him
with Miss Malinda S. Alexander, whose parents came across the plains in 1857.
The children of this union are Cyrus V. and John C.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]

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