Wood

Common Vetch WoodCommon Vetch
compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2011
"Common Vetch", block print by Anne E. G. Nydam, copyright 1996, used by permission

         This page traces the short line from George Wood (ca. 1625-1705)
to his daughter Mary Wood (ca. 1650-1698) who married Richard Bonsall in ca. 1676

If you have corrections or additions, please contact me via e mail at .



         In the seventeenth century our Wood family lived in the village of Bonsall, Derbyshire. The village is in a "deep sided dale beneath Masson Hill, a mile east of Matlock Bath and a mile north of Cromford". The area had been involved in lead mining since Roman times.[1] We start with George Wood1, thought to have been born ca. 1625. For an explanation of the superscript C following his name, see the Numbering System used on this web page. George was listed on the 1670 Bonsall village hearth tax with one hearth. Of the 103 households listed, 77 of them had a single hearth. Our George was the only Wood, which might imply his family had not lived there for multiple generations, or that he was one of a string of only surviving sons.[2]

         George Wood married twice in England, first Anne __, then Hannah __. George and Anne's daughter Mary married Richard Bonsall ca. 1676.

         At some point the Woods became Friends, members of the meeting that met in Monyash. Monyash is southeast of Manchester in the Peak District. The meeting house was converted around 1711 from a cottage, then enlarged in the mid-nineteenth century.[3] When the Woods worshipped there it would have been a simple cottage. In the earliest days they would have met in someone's home.

         George Wood was a First Purchaser of land in Pennsylvania. He not only bought 1,000 acres for £20 on Third Month 22, 1682, he subscribed £50 to the Society of Free Traders, a joint stock company that was supposed to earn profits while financing settlement.[4].

         The Woods emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1683 with their adult children, including the Bonsalls. They carried a certificate of removal from Matloch, Monyash and Ashford Monthly Meeting.[5]

detail of Darby Township from Thomas Holmes's 1687 map of Pennsylvania

         They, with six other families, all but one from Derbyshire, were the first European settlers in Darby Township, just over the line from Philadelphia County in Chester County (now it is Delaware County).[6]

         As a First Purchaser, George was granted a lot in Philadelphia, that was surveyed in 1683. His name appeared among those given lots on High Street, but no lot number was assigned to him at the time the map was made. George's other land was located in two tracts in Chester County the same year.[7] When the Radnor-Darby Road "betwixt Hartfoot and Darby" was laid out by the "grand Jury and other neighbours" in Twelfth Month 1687, it crossed land of George Wood.[8] The bounds of his 655 acre tract were traced by Ashmead ca. 1884 as starting "At a point a trifle west of Lansdowne Station, a line drawn to the New Jerusalem Church, and thence due west to the old Marker Paper-Mills, on Darby Creek, and then following the creek to the bend above the lower Darby line, and thence due east to the post a short distance west of Lansdowne Station". The 200 acres "of the lower part" were conveyed to his son-in-law Richard Bonsall March 1, 1697/8. In the Chester County Court "George WOOD acknowledged a deed to Richard BONSALL for two hundred acres of land the deed bearing date of sixth day first month Anno Dom 1697/8".[9] This divided the grant the two men had received together that is shown on this detail from Holme's Map of 1687. There were other real estate transactions recorded by the Chester County court, as well.

         George was a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1682-83, where he played "an obscure role". He was a Justice of the Peace and served on several grand juries in Chester County, including the June 1683 grand inquest presided over by William PENN.[10]

         George and Hannah (__) Wood helped start Darby Meeting. Some of the others who belonged to the Meeting, who had all come from Derbyshire (hence its name), were their daughter Mary and her husband Richard Bonsall, John and Michael BLUNSTON, and John BARTRAM (grandfather of the famous botanist). At Darby Fourth Month [June] 8, 1687 George Wood was "ordered to keep the deed of the meeting house until further order."[11]

         Hannah died in 1687.

         George wasn't on the 1693 tax list in Darby. There was a Joseph Wood and a John Wood. The latter was presumably George's son, owing 8/4d.[12]

         George signed his will Fifth month 20, 1696. He died Second Month [April] 27, 1705. His personal estate was valued at £10.10.0. and included his "purse" (meaning cash on hand), apparel, and "some books". So he was literate. John BLUNSTON served as one of the overseers of George's will.[13]

         Children of George and his first wife Anne (__) Wood (may be incomplete):[14]

 i. Mary Wood2, b. ca. 1650 in Derbyshire; d. 6 mo. Richard BONSALL Richard Bonsall.

ii. Elizabeth Wood, b. ca, 1655 in Derbyshire; m (1) ___ Bonsall; m(2) 9 mo. [Nov.] 10, 1686 James HUNT at the house of John BLUNSTON.[15] There was an Obadiah Bonsall, who might have been her son, born about 1669 in Mouldridge, who later married Sarah BETHELL, but whose parents have not been proved. It is often written that Obadiah was our Richard Bonsall's half-brother whose mother, Elizabeth Wood, was the sister of Richard's wife.[16] All of this is total conjecture, quite unproved, and conflates generations, but is much copied and circulated on the internet.

iii. George Wood, b. ca. 1656 in Derbyshire; d. 10 mo. 7, 1682.

iv. John Wood, b. ca. 1658 in Derbyshire; d. May 18, 1728; m(1) 10 mo. 1, 1687 at the house of William HOWELL in Haverford Jane BEVAN; she was b. ca. 1667; d. 10 mo. 12, 1703, daughter of John and Barbara (AUBREY) Bevan. John was taxed in 1693 in Darby 8/4d; served in Penna. Assembly 1704-1717; 7 children:[17]
a) Ann Wood, b. 9 mo. [Nov.] 17, 1688; d. Feb. 4, 1742/3; m. Feb. 23, 1713/4 Owen Owen.[18]

b) George Wood, b. 1 mo. [Mar.] 12, 1690/1; d. June 2, 1750 in Darby Twp.; m. Dec. 1, 1715 Hannah Hood, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Blakley) Hood; in 1715 he settled in Darby, and had two large plots on the eastern side of Darby Creek. 6 children, including George who m. Margaret Fisher, daughter of John and Mary (Hodge) Fisher, granddaughter of our John and Sarah (__) Fisher; and Jane who m. 7/28/1737 Samuel Sellers, son of Samuel and Sarah (__).[19]

c) William Wood, b. 11 mo. [Jan.] 17, 1691/2; m. 1718 Mary Hood, their marriage reported to Darby MM on 8 mo. 8, 1718; a William Wood received cash, £18, Dec. 24, 1759 for providing a wagon or team to the Seven Years War military supply effort. A William Wood was disowned from Darby MM for "privateering" 8 mo. 2, 1745.[20]

d) John Wood, b. 12 mo. [Feb.] 14, 1693/4.

e) Barbara Wood, b. Mar. 11, 1695/6 [she is not included in the transcription of Darby MM Births]

f) Aubray Wood, b. 9 mo. [Nov.] 22, 1698; d. Feb. 6, 1726/7.

g) Abraham Wood, b. 1 mo. [Mar.] 2, 1702/3; m. Ursula Taylor.
John mar. (2) 12 mo. [Feb.] 5, 1705/6 or 1707 Rebecca (FEARNE) Faucet, widow of Walter FAUCET of Ridley; [Walter's first wife was Grace]; John requested a certificate from Darby MM 11 mo. 1, 1706/7[21]; had 2 more children: 34
h) Joseph Wood, b. 5 mo. [July] 19, 1708.

i) Hannah Wood, b. 7 mo. [Sept.] 2, 1713; d. July 29, 1757 in Philadelphia; m. Oct. 23, 1735 at Darby MM Jacob LEWIS, carpenter of Haverford, son of Henry Lewis, Jr. and his second wife Catherine (Byron).
John wrote his will 4 mo. 27, 1728 and it was witnessed by his brother-in-law Benjamin Bonsall. It was pr. August 9 that year.[22]

Child of George and his second wife Hannah (__) Wood:[23] 36 v. Elinor Wood, b. in Derbyshire ca. 1670; d. 11 mo. [Jan.] 28, 1744 in Merion Twp.; m. l1m [Jan.] 9, 1693/4 at Darby MM Evan BEVAN, batchelor of Haverford, son of John Bevan, and brother of Jane Bevan who m. Elinor's brother John Wood. Among the witnesses were John, John, Jr., Ann and Elizabeth Bevan; George and John Wood.[24]



Second Generation in Pennsylvania


         Mary Wood2,daughter of George and Hannah, married Richard BONSALL of Mouldridge, Derbyshire, in England ca. 1676. The Bonsalls emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1683 with Mary's parents, and settled in Darby. Mary died Sixth Month 24, 1698 and her husband died the following year, leaving seven orphans. Mary's brother John Wood straightened out the deed for 100 acres in Kingsessing left to his nephews Jacob, Benjamin, and Enoch Bonsall, the sons of Mary and Richard, by their father.[25]

         Children of Mary and her husband Richard Bonsall:

 i. Rachel Bonsall2, b. 1677 in England, m. 6/8m (Oct.) 1697 Daniel HIBBERD; d. ca. 1739 in Chester Co., with 5 children:
a) Hannah Hibberd,
b) Mary Hibberd (b. 22 May 1698 in Radnor Twp.)
c) Aaron Hibberd (b. 1 Feb. 1700)
d) Moses Hibberd (b. 14 Feb. 1702)
e) Phebe Hibberd (b. 28 Dec. 1703).[17a]
ii. [Mary] Ann Bonsall, b. in England; d.[June 1744] 1749; m. 9/9m (Nov.) 1698 to Josiah HIBBARD before John BLUNSTON, Esq., out of unity with Friends. Her father objected to the marriage, as mentioned above. It is not clear whether Josiah and Daniel (who married Rachel) were brothers. They settled in Darby. In addition Josiah purchased 500 acres in Willistown. They had 11 children:
a) John Hibbard (b. 18/11m/1699, d. 25/9m/1766, m. Deborah LEWIS);
b) Joseph Hibbard (b. 20/11m/1700, d/ 11/6m/1737, m. Elizabeth FEARNE);
c) Josiah Hibbard (b. 28/7m/1701, d. 13/11m/1727/8, unmar.);
d) Abraham Hibbard (b. 28/9m/1703, d. y. or unmar.);
e) Mary Hibbard (b. 29/6m/1705, d. 12/12m/1782, m. Benjamin LOBB);
f) Benjamin Hibbard (b. 27/2m/1707, d. ca. 1785, m. Phebe SHARPLESS);
g) Elizabeth Hibbard (b. 11/12m/1708/9, d.19/3m/1738, unmar.);
h) Sarah Hibbard (b. 19/3m/1711, d. 24/2m/1795, m. SamuelGARRETT);
i) Isaac Hibbard (b. 16/1m/1712/3, d. ca. 1797, m. Mary LOWNES);
j) Ann Hibbard (b. 12/3m/1715, m. John ASH);
k) Jacob Hibbard (b. 21/2m/1718, d. ca. 1750, m. Jane GARRETT).[18]
iii. Abigail Bonsall, b. 5 Apr. 1680 in Derbyshire; d. 9/11m/1750 in Pennsylvania; m. 8m (Oct.) 1701 or 2/7m/1702 Joseph RHOADS, son of John and Elizabeth of Marple. Joseph was b. in Derbyshire 5/2m/1680; d. 1732. They owned 400 acres in Marple.[19] They had 9 children:
a) John Rhoads,
b) Mary Rhoads (m. Robert POWELL),
c) Elizabeth Rhoads,
d) Abigail Rhoads,
e) Rebecca Rhoads (m. Mordecai MASSEY),
f) Joseph Rhoads,
g) Jane Rhoads,
h) Benjamin Rhoads (m. Katharine PUGH),
i) James Rhoads (m. Elizabeth OWEN).
iv. Jacob Bonsall, b. 9/10m OS (Dec.) 1684 in Radnor Twp.[19a] Pennsylvania; d. 10/5m/1739; m. 16/3m/1716 Martha HOOD; resided on 245 acres in Darby; 8 children.

v. Benjamin Bonsall, b. 3/11m OS (Jan.) 1686/7 in Pennsylvania; d. 6 Mar. 1752; m(1) 27 Nov. 1712 Martha FISHER, 7 children; m(2) Elizabeth SERASE, 1 child.

vi. Enoch Bonsall, b. 2/11m OS (Jan.) 1691/2 in Pennsylvania; d. 6/5m/1769; m. Ann HOOD at Darby MM; he had a "new settlement" in Lower Darby in 1744; 11 children.[20]

vii. Eleanor Bonsall, b. 8/9m OS (Nov.) 1694 in Pennsylvania; m. 23/6m 1718 Isaac JAMES.

To continue the story of this family, go to the Bonsall page.


 Common Vetch

         These Wood and Bonsall narratives are part of a larger Price family story, with two dozen of its collateral lines, that has been expanded into a hard copy book. To learn more about the times in which these family members lived, you might want to read The Price Family in History. It gives a lot of social, religious, economic, and political context for the lives of these ancestors. The book is available on lulu.com. The price is the cost of printing and binding, plus shipping. I make nothing on it. If you would like to be notified when lulu.com has a sale, drop me an e mail.

         This larger Townsend/Price story connects with condensed web versions of Ashbridge, Bonsall, Borton, Cox, one David/Davies, the other (Ellis) Davies, England, Fisher, Haines, Harry/Harris, Holliday, John, Jones, Kirk, one Lewis, the other Lewis, Malin, Morgan, the main Price, another Price (Richard), a third Price (David), Sharpley, Schumacher/Shoemaker, Taylor, Thomas, Townsend, Warner, White, Williams, and this Wood branch. In time others may be posted, too.

Corrections and additions are welcome, please contact me at .

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Go to the Paxson family home page

This page was updated most recently on 1m/5/2012.


Common Vetch



Notes and Sources


The full bibliographical citation is given the first time a source is mentioned, but is not always repeated each time that source is cited. Scroll up till you find the first mention and there you will find the complete citation.


  1. "Bonsall History", on http://www.peakdistrictonline.co.uk/content.php?categoryId=735, seen 3m/10/2010.


  2. Thomas Allen Glenn, Lloyd Manuscripts: Welsh Records from the Collections of the Late Howard Williams Lloyd (1909), 341, on the web in facsimile at http://www.archive.org/stream/lloydmanuscripts00byulloy#page/ n341/; Hearth Tax Assessments 1670, from D.G. Edwards, Derbyshire Hearth Tax Assessments 1662-70 (Chesterfield: Derbyshire Record Society), on the Bonsall History Project website.


  3. Glenn, Lloyd Manuscripts, 341. The "Quaker Chapel" is now a Grade II listed building. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-80574-quaker-chapel-monyash, seen 2/18/2011.


  4. Richard S. Dunn and Mary Maples Dunn, eds., The Papers of William Penn (Phila.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 2:657; Penna. Archives 1:39-40, 45.


  5. George Smith, History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Henry B. Ashmead, 1862), 511.


  6. J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Phila.: Louis H. Everts, 1881), 485; Scharf & Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1:100.


  7. Dunn and Dunn, eds., The Papers of William Penn, 2:657; Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., ed., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684, Publications of the Welcome Society, No. 1 (1970), 208. See also Blackwell's Rent Roll, as transcribed in Futhey and Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1:31ff.


  8. Record of the Courts of Chester County Pennsylvania 1681-1697, 121; Ashmead, History of Delaware County, 507.


  9. Lapp, trans., Records of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 2:19, citing p. 16 in the original court book.


  10. Craig Horle & Marianne Wokeck, eds., Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), 1: 765; Record of the Courts of Chester County Pennsylvania 1681-1697, 26, 33, 37; Browning, 169; Ashmead, History of Delaware County, 273. See also Browning, 169; Ashmead, History of Delaware County, 273.


  11. John Bartram (d. Sept. 1, 1697) and his wife Elizabeth came from Derbyshire. Their son William mar. Mar. 27, 1696 Elizabeth Hunt, and had John Bartram (1698/9-1777) the "father of American botany". See http://www.pennock.ws/surnames/nti/nti05522.html; "Monthly Meeting Records: Darby, Sadbury, & Nottingham Chester Co., Pa." transcribed on http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/chester/church/marriages/darbymm01.txt


  12. As transcribed by Futhey and Cope, History of Chester Co., 1:33.


  13. Philadelphia County Will Book C, p. 37, Will # 28; Smith, History of Delaware County, 511; Horle & Wokeck, Lawmaking and Legislators in Penna., 1:766. Glenn, Lloyd Manuscripts, 342, notes "some books".


  14. Glenn, Lloyd Manuscripts, 343.


  15. Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/marriages/darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011; George Englert McCracken, The Welcome Claimants, Disproved and Doubtful: with an Account of Some of Their Descendants, Publications of the Welcome Society of Pennsylvania, No. 2 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970), 114; Ashmead, History of Delaware County, 273; Glenn, Lloyd Manuscripts, 343.


  16. The Obadiah data can be found in Futhey and Cope, History of Chester County, 485; the IGI and Smith, History of Delaware County, 447-8, name another child, Obadiah. This needs further verification. Sheppard suggests children named Elizabeth and Obadiah, along with Rachel, Ann, and Abigail, came with their parents in 1682. Sheppard, Passengers and Ships, 117. The 4 children born in Pennsylvania are listed in Richard T. Humphrey, Pennsylvania Births Delaware County, 1682-1800 (Washington, DC: Humphrey Publications, 1995), 6.


  17. John Wood and Jane "Bevins" declared their intentions of marriage at Darby MM 8 mo. 12, 1687. Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/marriages/ darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011. Births of their children from Darby MM Records as transcribed on http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/births/darbymm.txt, seen 2m/19/2011.


  18. On 2m/7/1713 the marriage of "Orvin Owens late of Merion" and Anne Wood reported to Darby MM, Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/marriages/ darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011.


  19. The marriage was reported to Darby MM 1m/7/1716, Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/marriages/darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011"Darby Township Book" as printed in Sheppard, Passengers and Ships, 183; See sketch map, Ibid., 179-80. Glenn, Lloyd Manuscripts, 343, holds that George d. in Darby 10m/7/1682, the first burial in Darby Meeting books [I think this is his son]. The marriage of Jane and Samuel Sellers reported 8m/5/1737 to Darby MM, Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/marriages/darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011.


  20. Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/ marriages/darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011.


  21. Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/ marriages/darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011; the two children are from Darby MM Records as transcribed on http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/births/darbymm.txt, seen 2m/19/2011.


  22. Browning, 169; Futhey and Cope, History of Delaware County, 511; Abstract of Wills of Chester County, 1:80, citing A-278.


  23. Horle & Wokeck, Lawmaking and Legislators in Penna., 1:765, say Elizabeth's mother is undetermined, but suggest it may have been Hannah. The other children were all Ann's.


  24. Harvey, "The Incompleted Burial Records of Merion (PA) Meeting Grave-yard" on the web. "Evin Bevin" and Elinor Wood gave their first intentions of marriage at Darby 10 mo. 6, 1693, Darby Monthly Meeting records as transcribed on the web at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/church/marriages/darbymm01.txt, seen 2/18/2011.


  25. Penna. Archives, series 2, 19:389-90.




Common Vetch

"Common Vetch", block print by Anne E. G. Nydam, copyright 1996, used by permission



If you have corrections or additions, please contact me at