Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Wood, Willard 1808 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 6, 2007, 2:38 pm Author: Portrait & Bios Album, 1890 WILLARD WOOD, founder of Crete, bears the distinction of being one of the oldest settlers in this part of Will County. He came to this region about 1836, and first secured the southeast eighty acres on section 8, and the southwest eighty acres on section 9, which is now all included in the village limits and he likewise purchased other land. He encouraged people to emigrate hither by free donations to private parties and gave a lot to the Methodist Episcopal and the Congregational Churches, besides assisting in erecting the church buildings. He has been interested in the growth and development of the town since its organization and has proven no unimportant factor in promoting its material interests. Mr. Wood assisted in building the first schoolhouse in Crete Township, and officiated as the first pedagogue in this township, in the year 1838. He served as a Justice of the Peace from 1838 until sometime in the '50s and has been for the last four years a Police Justice, serving as such since the incorporation of the town in 1884. For fifty years he has been an attorney-at-law, being admitted to practice in Illinois, at Joliet, about forty-seven years ago. He was for a number of years the Postmaster of Crete, receiving his first appointment through the influence of the late Long John Wentworth, of Chicago, who was then serving his first term in Congress. About 1848 Mr. Wood erected the Crete Hotel, which was the first frame building of its kind in the place and the first public house in this part of the county. Within it he had a public hall in which at the opening of the house were entertained many of the notable men of Chicago, including Henry B. Clark, also Col. Fake, Dr. Allen and Robert Duncan of Joliet, together with their wives. The original hotel was later supplanted by the present one, which, with the exception of a few years, has also been conducted by Mr.Wood and is located on land which he purchased from the Government in 1838. At that time he was without means, and secured the land through the kindness of Mr. Charles Walker, a merchant of Chicago, to whom he paid 33 1-3 per cent, interest for three years. He has since owned considerable land in Crete Township, and has now one hundred acres besides property in the village. The summer of 1836 witnessed the first advent of Mr. Wood into Will County, to which he emigrated from Morristown, Vt., where he was partly reared and obtained his education. He studied law and taught school about five terms before his marriage. His native place was in Randolph, Vt., and the date of his birth August 28, 1808. He is therefore approaching the eighty-second year of his age. He comes of stanch New England stock and ancestry, being the son of Thomas Wood, a native of Massachusetts. His paternal grandfather, also named Thomas Wood, was born in Vermont and came of English ancestry. He followed farming all his life and died at Randolph at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Thomas Wood Jr., the father of our subject, grew to manhood in the Green Mountain State and after attaining his majority engaged in farming on his own account. Upon the outbreak of the War of 1812, he was one of the first patriots to enlist for a service of five years if necessary, and he participated in many a hard-fought battle. About the close of the war, while in the Burlington Barracks at Colchester, Vt., he contracted a fever from which he died in 1815. He was then in the prime of life, only about forty-three years old and presented a fine specimen of manhood both physically and mentally. By trade he was a blacksmith and worked at this in and around Middlebury, Vt., in partnership with a Mr. Denison. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Ruby Newland. She was a native of Massachusetts and after the decease of her husband was married to John Moxley and they settled in Morristown, Vt., where Mr. Moxley died at the age of sixty-seven years. He served as Quartermaster in a Connecticut Regiment during the Revolutionary War. By trade he was a tailor, which he followed before entering and after leaving the army. After his death Mrs. Moxley came to Illinois with her son Charles, and died at his home in Will County after attaining her three-score and ten years. Like Mr. Moxley she was a Universalist in religions belief. The subject of this notice was the youngest but one, of five sons and one daughter. He and his younger brother, Charles, the latter of Faribault, Minn., are the only survivors of the family. Willard was first married in Morristown, Vt., May 4, 1835, to Miss Diantha S. Boardman, a sister of the late Judge Boardman, formerly of Joliet. Mrs. Wood was of New England parentage and ancestry and English descent. She was born, reared and educated in Morristown, Vt., and for several terms was a teacher in the public schools of her native county. For a time during the earlier years of their acquaintance she was a pupil of her husband. She accompanied him to Illinois and assisted him in gaining a foothold remaining his faithful and devoted companion until her death. This occurred at her home in Crete, in 1865, when she was fifty-four years old, having been born in 1811. Her brother, Judge Boardman, also died at the home of Mr. Wood his decease taking place after that of his sister. Mrs. Diantha Wood was the mother of seven children, all of whom are living, married and have families. Sabina D. is the wife of Robert B. Miller and they live on a farm in Crete Township; Fidelia L. married Daniel E. Hewes, a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public of Crete; Lydia M. is the wife of Congressman Charles A. Hill, of Joliet, representing the Eighth District; Marian is the wife of A. H. Smith and they live on a farm in Crete Township; Williard S. married Miss Molly Moore, a fruit grower of Glendora, Cal.; William Irwin married Miss Elvia Hewes, the present proprietor of the Wood Hotel at Crete; Marcus M. married Miss Jessie Wood and is clerk and correspondent for an engine and mining machinery manufacturing company in Chicago. In 1869, Mr. Wood contracted a second marriage, in Batavia, N. Y., with Mrs. Eliza (Selleck) Northrnp, widow of Normal Northrup, who died in Monee, where he was engaged in trade. Mrs. Eliza Wood was born in Connecticut. She grew to womanhood in her native place acquiring a common-school education and was there married to Mr. Northrup. The two children born of that union are both deceased. This lady died at her home in Crete when nearty seventy-five years old. In religion she was a Universalist, belonging to the Church at Blue Island. Mr. Wood is liberal in his religious views and in politics an uncompromising Democrat. He preserves his faculties in a remarkable degree, being able to read without the aid of glasses and being remarkably bright and active for one of his years. He takes pride in the fact that he has twenty- three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Additional Comments: Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/wood1330nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 7.7 Kb