Nathan Wood was the 3rd great-grandfather of my great-grandmother, Mary E. (Harvey) Reese. He was the son of Samuel Wood and Jerusha Abbey. Nathan was born on the 16th of April, 1761, in Mansfield, Tolland County, Connecticut, and had ten brothers and sisters, namely: Mary, Eunice, Ann, Hannah, John, Mary, Sybill, Gideon, Nathan, Ziba, and Samuel. Nathan married Lucy Johnson on the 18th of January, 1781, in Mansfield. Together they had seven children. He served as a soldier in the American Revolution. He bought land in Lisle in 1806. Lucy died in 1824 and Nathan may have married a woman named Mary after. He died in 1836 in New York, and although some sources say he was buried in Bemis Cemetery in Lisle, Broome County, New York, the headstone furnished by the U.S. government is in Arkwright Summit Cemetery in Arkwright, Chautauqua County, New York. (Excerpt from Reese Family Record).
Nathan Wood served in the American Revolution, fighting through the entire battle at the taking of Burgoyne, in which he was severely injured by a Hessian’s bayonet. Within two minutes after, he took the lives of three Hessians with the same type of weapon. He enlisted in a Company of Light Horse at Mansfield and was employed to carry dispatches and papers to officers in various places. He was at the Battle of Bunker Hill (named so in error, as the actual location of the battle was called Breed’s Hill), and was said to have been present when Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington. Click here to see his handwritten testimony.
For more on Nathan Wood and his family, see the Harvey Family.
Photo of Nathan's stone by Ron Kinney, also contributed at findagrave.com.
