What Did His Paternal Great-Greats Die Of?

My latest family history photo book, just completed, covers the lives and social/historical context of my hubby's paternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and their siblings, spouses, and ancestors. This is a full-color photo book with bite-sized bios of the men, women, and children in this part of the family tree, part of my plan to keep family history alive for future generations.

In the process, I'm documenting what folks died of, if cause of death is documented in the records. The very youngest in the Wood family tree tended to die from diseases that are treatable today, such as diphtheria and diarrhea. Ancestors who lived to adulthood usually died from a variety of other causes, including typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, stroke, and heart disease, only very occasionally dying of cancer on this branch of the family tree.

Mary: Age and cardiac asthma

My husband's paternal great-grandma, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood (1831-1897) died of "age, cardiac asthma," which ultimately is caused by congestive heart failure. At top, an excerpt from the death records in a ledger in Lucas County, Ohio, showing her cause of death. 

Now consider that Mary was only 65 when she died, not nearly as ancient as her husband. On the other hand, she had 17 children, the first born when Mary was 15 years old (you read that correctly) and the last born when she was 44. This must have taken a toll on her health. Also, she saw the death of 10 children during her life, a handful from childhood diseases like diphtheria but also one drowned, others had health problems as adults. RIP, great-grandma Mary. 

Thomas: General debility from age

My husband's paternal great-grandpa, Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890), died of "general debility from age," as described in the ledger in Lucas County, Ohio. He was 80, and would have been 81 if he had lived just a few more weeks. 

Thomas was born into a family where many of the men were whalers, either owning ships or captaining ships or working on ships out of New Bedford, Mass. He became a carpenter, supporting his family by working on the railroad most of his life. In later years, he built coaches for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway out of Toledo, Ohio. 

Lots of years of physical labor could have both strengthened Thomas's body and slowly worn it down over the decades. When Thomas died in early 1890, his oldest son went to work as a laborer at age 17 to help support the household. A few unmarried adult children remained at home with the widowed Mary, who sometimes worked part-time as a nurse when her health allowed. RIP, g-g Thomas.

"Health" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for week 23 of her genealogy challenge.

Julia Wood and the Business of Claiming a Widow's Pension

In this month of Memorial Day, I've been looking closely at the military ancestors in my husband's family tree, both their lives and their families.

Lemuel Wood, master mariner

Hubby's great-granduncle Lemuel C. Wood (1792-1870) was a master mariner with controlling or partnership interest in whaling ships out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. After his first two wives died, he married Julia A. L. Sampson, widow of a whaling man who died at sea. Julia was 52 and Lemuel was 68 when they were wed in 1860. 

When the US Civil War broke out, Lemuel used his considerable knowledge and skill by serving in the Union Navy. He commanded the USS Daylight as part of the blockade against the Confederate states in late 1861 to early 1862. His military service ended about the time he turned 70 years old. Lemuel recorded his occupation as "mariner" on the 1865 Mass. Census and the 1870 US Census. He died on Sept. 16, 1870 at the age of 78. According to the Census, his real estate was then worth $8,000 and his personal estate was worth $12,000 (in all, the equivalent of $340,000 in today's dollars).

Julia A. Wood, widow seeking pension

Julia had no obvious source of income other than her late husband's land and personal property. She outlived him by many years and even living frugally, could eventually find herself short of money. In 1880, she was enumerated as a widow alone on Martha's Vineyard, not a fancy vacation area as it is today but quite a rural area and  not an expensive place to live. In 1890, she was living in New Bedford ... which I was able to find out because she was named in the Veterans' and Widows' Schedule! 

At top, two excerpts from the 1890 schedule, showing her as Lemuel's widow, his 8 months' service commanding the USS Daylight, and Julia's listing of her late husband's US military service. She said Lemuel served in the War of 1812 (I haven't yet found evidence of this), the Mexican War (again, not yet found evidence) and the Union side of the US Civil War (lots of evidence). More military research is in my future.

Importantly, in June of 1890, Congress passed and the President signed the Dependent and Disability Pensions Act, which made Lemuel eligible for a pension based on his Union Navy service. In his stead, Julia filed for his pension. She was nearly 83 at the time and she hired a Washington, D.C. lawyer to manage the multi-step process, I know from the lengthy file I found on Fold3.com. 

Prove marriages, prove deaths, prove need

To claim the pension, Julia had to produce numerous documents that would prove that her first husband died, that she married Lemuel (where and when), that he died (where and when), and finally proof of her desperate need for expediting this pension application. 

Her lawyer provided not one but two affidavits attesting to Julia's lack of income except help from her son "on whom she has no legal claim" meaning he had no legal obligation to continue his financial assistance. The goal of these affidavits was to provoke "special" status so Julia's claim would be reviewed more quickly, taking care of business when most needed.

Claim approved, eventually dropped

Finally, in early 1891, Julia was approved for $8 per month in a widow's pension. She collected the pension until September of 1891, fell ill, and died in November, 1891, at age 84. 

After all that time and trouble and expense to prove eligibility, Julia collected the pension for less than seven months. No one seems to have notified the pension authorities about Julia's death because the file remained open until 1895. Then, as shown below, she was "dropped from rolls" due to "failure to claim pension."

"Taking care of business" is the week 20 genealogy prompt for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge.