Bailey WOOD Sr. of Woodville, Virginia (present-day Ansted, West Virginia)
b. bet. 1755-1758 d. bef. 21 Sep 1826
On November 24, 1781, Pastor John Alderson of the Greenbrier River area organized the Old Greenbrier Church at Alderson, the first Baptist organization west of the Alleghenies. Bailey WOOD, Ann WOOD, and James WOOD were three of the twelve original members.
At this time he had been married about five years and lived with his wife Nancy and several children in a cabin near the foot of Keeney’s Knob near Alderson where wild game hunting was so plentiful.
The relationship between him and Ann WOOD and James WOOD is not known. Could they have been his parents or siblings?
In 1788 he was granted 450 acres of land on the south side of Greenbrier River. It is possible that he also acquired 280 acres in 1785. Bailey was seen on tax lists in Greenbrier County from 1782 until 1799 when the area that he lived in became Monroe County.
Around 1792 he was one of a group of “squatters” who were the first settlers in the Ansted area. In 1796 Bailey WOOD was instrumental in organizing Hopewell Baptist Church, the first Baptist Church in the area of Woodville, now known as Ansted, (Fayette County, West Virginia). The initial membership of the new church included members who had been dismissed from the Greenbrier Baptist Church, most likely due to a westward migration of families. The Woodville area fell in Nicholas County in 1818 and then in Fayette County in 1831 when the counties were formed. The family moved only once, though they appeared to move several times due to the changing of county boundaries.
By 1804 Bailey had disposed of 450 acres of land. In 1826, after his death, his heirs sold 100 acres on the south side of Greenbrier River, then in Monroe County, to John Alderson.
The search is on for the parents of Bailey WOOD.
© 2013, copyright Cathy Meder-Dempsey. All rights reserved.
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Bailey Wood is my great great great grandfather. I have been working on the Wood genealogy . This blog was very interesting and very helpful. My wife and I want to make a trip to Ansted, West Virginia (formerly Woodville, Virginia) and see Marshall Wood’s grave. Bailey Wood is Marshall’s grandson. I want to go back further than Bailey Wood in the Wood line. James Wood is a possible father of Bailey. Has there been any further information found since this blog started?
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Did you mean Bailey Wood is Marshall’s grandson or grandfather?
My latest post on Bailey WOOD was written this past January. You can find it here: The Ancestors: Bailey WOOD and Nancy, his wife (392 & 393)
Unfortunately, I don’t have any leads of the parents of Bailey WOOD and I wouldn’t want to speculate on James WOOD being his father. One day…
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Bailey Wood is Marshall Wood’s grandfather. Bailey Wood Jr is Marshall Wood’s father.
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Thank you for the clarification. I wasn’t sure if it was a typo in your comment. I have Marshall as a son of Bailey Jr. but have not followed up on his marriage, children, or descendants.
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