Anson County NcArchives Biographies.....Wood, Eliza Griggs ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Anson NCGenWeb n/a September 4, 2009, 4:21 pm Source: The Messenger and Intelligencer Author: Unknown 1932 - In Memoriam - Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Eliza Griggs Wood and Some of her Ancestors While it was not my good fortune to have a personal acquaintance with the late Mrs. Eliza Griggs Wood, whose consecrated life came to a close August 14, 1932, at the request of her family I deem it a privilege to pay this imperfect tribute to her memory, interwoven as it is with interesting items of colonial history and subsequent events leading up to the present time. From the manuscript at hand I find that James Wesley Griggs, great-grandfather of Mrs. Wood, was born in 1757. In early manhood he was married to Miss Fannie Ruskin, who was three years his senior, and both died in 1855. These dates show them to have been very advanced in years, and their lives probably overflowed with usefulness and good works. They were staunch members of Long Pine Methodist church, which in this day and time would be considered in easy reach of the ancestral home, near the hospitable portals of which they were buried. James Wesley Griggs was a revolutionary soldier and was the first of his name to settle in North Carolina, choosing a farm in Anson county as a home site. Clement Griggs, one of the sons born at the old home place to James W. and Fannie Griggs, was the grandfather of Mrs. Wood, and was first married to Mary Stroud, who became the mother of fifteen children, and after her death to Mary Gardner, who added five more to this number. In this age of stress and hurry we can but dimly imagine the patient self-denial and unending toil it must have required to do justice to such a large family. In his early married life, Mr. Griggs located in Chesterfield county, just over the South Carolina line, and, after a long, useful sojourn there he rests beneath the sod at the family burial ground. Of the children born by his first marriage there were four sons who bore the good, old fashioned names of Peter, John, Calvin and Clement. Due to the saintly influence of their mother, and wise counsel of their father, these four brothers developed into valuable church workers and a potent influence for good in the community, with the ultimate result that Peter and John Griggs became licensed exhorters of the gospel. In addition, we find it stated that Peter Griggs was one of the founders and largely instrumental in the building of New Hope Church, which will always be a sacred shrine in the communitiy of well to do, God-fearing people. By dint of hard work and close application the church was finished within twelve months, and Peter and John Griggs both had the happiness of preaching there a number of times. The name "New Hope" was selected as a symbol of what the founders hoped and prayed it might mean to that entire section, and by God's mercy and manifold blessings, it seems to have lived up to the name, and the older members enrolled there will always recall with pride and gratitude the dedication ceremony on the fourth Sunday in August, 1890, when the Rev. R.T.M. Stevenson was in charge. In addition to their zeal and earnestness in the cause of Christ, the Griggs brothers also enlisted in the Confederate cause and our manuscript tells us that as their mother invoked the divine blessing for them at home, through this silent influence some of them were converted on the battlefield. Though many a time in danger of shot and shell, Peter Griggs escaped injury and came home, where he was afterwards married to Frances Rayfield. Among their children was Eliza Griggs, who was born in Chesterfield county, August 27, 1867, was a dutiful, obedient child, gave her heart to God at New Hope church at an early age, grew to womanhood amid wholesome surroundings and was married April 18, 1886, to William Thomas Wood, a trustworthy citizen of the Bethel neighborhood. He is left to mourn her loss with the following children: Mrs. J.M. Mauney and Mrs. C.M. Ratliff of Ansonville; Mrs. W.L. Richardson of Charlotte; Mrs. G.R. Jarman of Wadesboro; W.M. Wood of Gambrills, Md.; P.A. Wood of Morven; Paul Wood of Gulledge township, and Thomas Clayton Wood of Nogales, Arizona. Fortunately, they could all gather for their mother's impressive funeral and interment at New Hope church with the exception of the latter, who could not reach here in time owing to the distance that intervenes between the two states. He fought in France with the 113th field artillery during the World War, and was so badly wounded at one time that his health was seriously impaired. In closing this sketch we come now to speak a parting word in regard to Mrs. Wood's superior qualities of hand and heart, her neighborly kindness, her gentle motherly ways, her beautiful devotion to a large family circle and the steadfastness of her faith. This did not waver during a long, painful illness, which was made easier by every comfrot it was possible to bestow, and she was laid to rest with the blessed hope of everlasting life, which only an unseen power can give. Grant her eternal rest O Lord, May light perpetual shine upon her. E.N. Leak From newspaper clipping found in the Griggs family file at the public library in Wadesboro, The Messenger and Intelligencer File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/anson/bios/wood29bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ncfiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb