William WOOD (11 Dec 1818-28 Feb 1898) +
Phoebe Jane McKEE (31 May 1816-17 May 1886)

Nancy A. (~1844-????)

Maria Antoinette (Oct 1846-1917) — m. John N. Douglass on 9 Nov 1862

Martin Luther (31 Jul 1849-20 Mar 1916) — m. Lucinda Elizabeth Teague in 1873

Phoebe Jane (5 Oct 1851-11 Nov 1931) — m. David Vance on 21 Jan 1875

Julia Roxanna (17 Dec 1853-6 Jan 1931) — m. Marion E. Corbet on 25 Dec 1876

William James (30 Jun 1856-21 Jan 1917) — m. Nancy C. Corbet on 30 Jan 1878; m. Savanah S. Bratcher/Brashears on 27 Sep 1896

Alice Leota (2 Mar 1859-4 Nov 1892) — m. Levi B. Newberry on 28 Dec 1881

William was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee to a father and mother from North Carolina and Tennessee respectively. Three of his children later said he was from North Carolina, and maybe they were right, but William himself always said Tennessee. Jefferson County is in the Smoky Mountains east of Knoxville, the same area the Corbet family came from. Family stories connect William to former Revolutionary War soldier Rev. Richard Wood from Virginia, a prominent frontier preacher in eastern Tennessee who married twice and had many descendants, but there’s no proof for this connection. If there is any truth to it, the Reverend was his grandfather, not his father.

Phoebe (or Phebe), reportedly born in Bristol, Tennessee on the border with Virginia, was one of 14 children of William McKee and Catherine Robinson, who married on 20 Aug 1804 in Carter County, Tennessee.

Phoebe’s first husband was Isaac Coffman, whom she married on 8 Mar 1834 in Jefferson County. Census records indicate they had three girls:

Frances Rowena (18 Feb 1836-21 Jun 1916) — m. William J. Burns on 5 Apr 1857

Sarah C. (~1841-????)

Rachel Elizabeth (Jan 1843-19xx) — m. George G. Vance on 19 Feb 1868

I can’t find much about Isaac. The 1820 census for Davidson County, Tennessee, the area of Nashville 200 miles west of Jefferson County, showed an Isaac Coffman household headed by a couple aged between 26 and 44, with a young man, three girls, and a boy. The 1830 census for Monroe County, 70-odd miles southwest of Jefferson County, showed an Isaac Coffman in his twenties as head of household for three boys in their teens, no women. One of these two could have been the one who married Phoebe in 1834, but the 1840 census for Tennessee found neither of them. It did find an Isaac Coffman couple in their twenties in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with a boy and girl under five, so that’s a possibility.

According to a myheritage.com account, Isaac and Phoebe divorced. A familysearch.org researcher found a 7 Jun 1841 record of a legal charge against William that he had gotten Phebe pregnant with a “base begotten child”, suggesting that Sarah and perhaps Rachel were his children, and throwing some light on the divorce. William and Phebe married on 11 Jan 1844 in Jefferson County.

The 1850 census of Grainger County, Tennessee just north of Jefferson County listed the Woods (sic) family consisting of Wm (27), Phebe (33), Roena (11), Sarah C. (8), Rachel E. (6), Nancy A. (5), Maria (4), and Luther (1). William was listed as a blacksmith. Neither he nor Phoebe could read, but the kids were in school.

The 1860 census listed “Wm Woods” and family back in Jefferson County: William (38), Phoebe (42), S.C. (19 – this is Sarah), R.E. (17 – this is Rachel), N.A. (15 – this is Nancy), M.A. (13 – this is Maria), P.J. (9 – this is Phoebe), J.R. (6 – this is Julia, incorrectly listed as a boy), J.W. (4 – this is William J.), and A. (1 – this is Alice). A farmer and trader from Virginia named John King (38) was staying with the family. Martin Luther (11) was living on the farm next door, which was headed by John King’s wife Rebecca (25). Odd arrangement.

The family appear to have lived in the Mossy Creek area, now part of Jefferson City. A minor Civil War battle occurred there on 29 Dec 1863.

The (August) 1870 census found them still there: William (52), Phoeby (50, four years off), Martin L. (21), Phoeby J. (18), Julia R. (17), J. William (14), and Alice (11). William was a wagoner, and the two boys were farm laborers.

Four of the five remaining children married and moved out during the 1870s. Rowena and her family, who had gone as far west as Indiana, settled in Greene County in northeastern Arkansas by the mid-1870s.

In the 1880 census, William (60) and Phebe (63) were still in Jefferson’s District 13, with only Alice (21) still at home, although son William was next door. Not long after, they relocated to Greene County, Arkansas, possibly because of the 1880 death there of William Burns, the husband of Phoebe’s daughter Rowena. In 1881, Alice married in Greene County. Several more of the Wood family moved to the same part of Arkansas during the 1880s.

Phoebe died in Gainesville in 1886, and is buried in New Friendship Cemetery a few miles north of Paragould, Greene County. A Paragould genealogical society reconstruction of the lost 1890 census listed William Wood, Martin Luther Wood, and William J. Wood living in the same neighborhood in Paragould. William died in 1898 and is buried with Phoebe. Phoebe’s daughter Rowena is buried there as well.

Children of Phoebe and (Probably) Isaac

I’ve listed these three with the last name Coffman, but there’s no indication that they went by that name after their mother’s re-marriage. As noted above, there are grounds to suspect that the younger two were actually William’s children anyway.

Frances Rowena Coffman (1836-1916)

Rowena was born probably in Tennessee, although one census said North Carolina. She married William J. Burns (15 Sep 1831-30 Apr 1880) from North Carolina on 5 Apr 1857. They had 11 children. By 1900 only four were still living. Known children:

Elizabeth Frances (5 Feb 1858-17 Jul 1939) — m. Robert Anderson Corbett on 23 Dec 1885

John M. (1859-????) — m. Almeda M. Autrey on 21 Aug 1879

William M. (~1861-????)

Nancy B. (~1862-????) — prob. m. Samuel M. Pickens on 25 Nov 1880

Mariah (~1864-????)

James A. (~1868-????)

Charles Elmer (1 May 1875-4 May 1935) — m. Elizabeth Holleman on 19 Apr 1914

Nettie R. (25 Mar 1878-30 Mar 1911) — m. Pearl Sanders in 189x; m. Emory David Courtney in 1903

They were living in Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1860 with their first two children. They apparently lived for a time in Indiana, where their son James was born. They moved to Greene County, Arkansas by the time Elmer was born in 1875. William died there in 1880. The census for that year showed Rowena, widowed, living in Friendship, Greene County with seven children still at home: Elizabeth, William, Nancy, Mariah, James, Charles, and Nettie. Her recently married son John was living nearby.

The 1900 census showed Rowena in Greene County with son Elmer and widowed daughter Nettie. She was still with Elmer in 1910. Rowena died in 1916 and is buried with William Burns in New Friendship Cemetery, the same place as her mother and stepfather. Her findagrave.com page gives her maiden name as Vance, which was the married name of her sister Rachel and half-sister Phebe. Her daughter Nettie’s page seems to be saying her maiden name was Frances Roena Hill. I dispute these claims. Note that daughter Elizabeth married another of the Corbets.

Sarah C. Coffman (~1841-????)

Have not traced Sarah past the 1860 census. She presumably married or died in the 1860s, but Sarah Wood/Woods was a common name in 19th century Tennessee and I can’t find her as Sarah Coffman. The Sarah J. Woods (25 Sep 1838-27 Dec 1920) who married Vinson Pryor in Jefferson County on 3 Dec 1865 was not her. The Sarah Wood who married James H. Guire from Alabama in 1866 in Hamilton County... insufficient data.

Rachel Elizabeth Coffman (1843-19xx)

Rachel, who went by Elizabeth, married George G. Vance (~1834-11 Sep 1891) in Jefferson County, Tennessee on 19 Feb 1868. He had served in Company H of the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, a Union regiment. They had seven children:

Ida May (Sep 1871-26 Aug 1899) — m. Hervey Josiah Jackson on 8 Jan 1893

James W. (~1873-????)

John M. (~1875-????)

Phoeba R. (~1877-????)

Melvin David (9 Apr 1878-12 Feb 1919) — m. Edith Briggs in 190x

Porter Hood (23 Aug 1881-Aug 1969) — m. Pearl Allen on 31 Mar 1904; m. Hazel Olive Lewis

one other

They lived in Mossy Creek, Jefferson County until 1880, with some time in the early 1870s in Florida, where James was born. In late 1880 or 1881 they moved to Clay County, Arkansas. Porter was born there, although in 1910 he claimed Tennessee. Clay County is just north of Greene County, where others of Elizabeth’s family had settled.

George died in 1891. In 1900, Elizabeth, widowed, was still living in Clay County with two sons, a widower son-in-law (Ida’s husband), and two grandchildren. She claimed seven children, just three still living; that would be Melvin, Porter, and one other. Can’t find her after 1900. Son Porter moved to San Bernardino, California after 1910, and son Melvin moved to North Carolina.

Children of Phoebe and William

Nancy A. Wood (~1844-????)

Could not track Nancy. Like her ?half?-sister Sarah, she had a fairly common name, and likely either married or died in the 1860s. The Nancy A. Woods who married William M. Cooper on 15 Feb 1868 in Jefferson County was more than a decade too old. The Nancy Emmeline Woods who married Chesley Jinkins (sic) on 14 Oct 1864, also in Jefferson County... insufficient data.

Maria Antoinette Wood (1846-1917)

Maria married John N. Douglass (~1839-1907) on 9 Nov 1862. They had either 10 or 11 children, depending on whether the youngest really was Maria’s biological child, which is unlikely but not impossible:

William T. (18 Oct 1863-6 Dec 1931) — m. Eula L. Buchanan on 14 Apr 1889; m. Martha E. “Mattie” Eads on 26 Jul 1899

Aurora C. (25 Jul 1867-18 Jan 1888)

Walter/Walton (Dec 1869-????)

Claudius H. “Claud” (Dec 1871-9 Jun 1932) — m. Bertha A. Teel on 8 Oct 1899

Neva (1874-189x) — m. Elias Meredith Childress on 21 Dec 1890

Bertie (~1877-????)

Nellie (~1879-????)

one other

Osmer Ulves (20 Jan 1887-Oct 1963) — m. Alice V. Cox Mellinger on 25 Jan 1916

Zora O. (3 Apr 1893-3 Nov 1965) — m. Truston Frank Harmony in 1916; m. William Robert Glenn in 1935

Eula Maria (1901-1901) — relationship unverified

The 1870 census listed Mariah (23) and John (31) with children William T. (6), Arrora C. (3), and Walter (8 months) in District 8 of Jefferson County. Around 1873 they moved west, possibly following Maria’s half-sister Rowena. The 1880 census found Mariah (33) and John (41) in Knox County, Indiana with children William (16), Aurora (12), Walton (10), Claudius (8), Neva (6), Bertie (girl, 3), and Nelly (1). The latter three were born in Indiana. In the 1880s they moved to Arkansas. They were probably in Greene County at first, like others of the family, since Aurora died there in 1888.

The 1900 census found them in Columbia & Ingram Townships, Randolph County, Arkansas with children Osmer (13) and Zora (7), both born in Arkansas. This census recorded Zora’s year of birth as 1883, but her age as 7, consistent with later censuses. It recorded John as born in 1848, a decade off. The census said that Maria was the mother of 10 children, 5 still living.

The family were in Black Rock, Arkansas by the time John died in 1907. He’s buried in Oak Forest Cemetery there. The 1910 census showed Maria (63) in Black Rock with her two youngest and working as a dressmaker, while Osmer worked as a miner. Maria died in 1917, and is buried with John and several of their children. Her tombstone gives year of birth as 1841, but her ages in census records from 1850 through 1910 make clear that’s a mistake. For that matter, son Claud’s tombstone lists year of birth 1865, which clashes with his age in census records.

Findagrave.com lists an infant named Eula Maria Douglass (1901-1901) as the child of Maria and John, although Maria would have been about 55 when Eula was born. Eula was probably a grand-daughter.

Martin Luther Wood (1849-1916)

Martin married Lucinda Elizabeth Teague (17 May 1857-4 Feb 1924) from Indiana in 1873. Probably he had gone west with his half-sister Rowena when she and her husband moved to Indiana. Their children:

Lillie Dove (1874-1943) — m. Christian Culver

Minnie Love (9 Dec 1876-4 May 1939) — m. William M. Watson

Marshall Lester (18 Sep 1879-10 Sep 1909) — m. Irene Byers on 14 Feb 1900

Pride Naurelton (15 Sep 1884-9 May 1932) — m. Mary Emma Hardy in Oct 1905

Matthew Laurel “Jack” (31 Aug 1886-1 Mar 1944) — m. Sudie B. Dunbar

Tressie Amelia (20 Mar 1889-22 Aug 1984) — m. Lee Paul Mankin

Bessie Gertrude (Feb 1894-????)

Luther Craig (Oct 1898-1948) — m. Lola Clarice Grissette

Mosco Alvarado “Boss” (1900-????)

William (1902-????) — died very young

By the early 1880s they, like other Woods, moved to Arkansas. They were living in Paragould in 1890, near Martin’s father. Martin died in 1916, and Lucinda in 1924. They’re buried in Riverside Cemetery, Mammoth Spring, Fulton County, Arkansas.

Phebe Jane Wood (1851-1931)

Phebe married David Vance (10 Dec 1835-8 Dec 1917) on 21 Jan 1875 in Jefferson County. David was the younger brother of George Vance, who married Phebe’s half-sister Rachel. Like George, he had served in the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, a Union Army unit. I can’t find them between 1875 and 1900, but it appears they had no children. They were living in the area of Gainesville, Arkansas in 1900, the same area as other members of the family, and that census listed their number of living children as 0.

They were in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas in 1910. David died in 1917 in Mountain Grove, Wright County, Missouri. Phebe filed for pension benefits as a widow on 21 Dec 1917. She appeared in the 1920 and 1930 census for Mountain Grove before dying in 1931. David and Phebe are buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, Mountain Grove, Missouri.

Julia Roxanna Wood (1853-1931)

Julia has her own entry in the family tree.

William James Wood (1856-1917)

William married Nancy Caroline Corbet (10 Sep 1856-26 Jan 1896) on 30 Jan 1878 in Jefferson County. She was the daughter of John W. Corbet and Elizabeth Eudaley, making her a first cousin to Julia’s husband Marion, and a grand-daughter of Clark ancestors James Corbet and Polly Grisham. They reportedly had six children:

Herbert Roscoe (13 Dec 1878-15 Aug 1937) — m. Nannie Paralee Page on 1 May 1899

L. C. (5 Mar 1883-26 Jan 1885)

W. W. “Willie” (5 Sep 1886-26 Feb 1918) — m. E. Lula Dukes on 11 May 1908

Clarence Napoleon (5 Oct 1887-5 Dec 1960) — m. Ethel J. Taylor on 20 Nov 1912

Albert Jackson (25 Dec 1891-3 Feb 1965) — m. Margaret Florence “Maggie” Wilson on 6 Mar 1910

1 other?

In 1880, they were living in Jefferson County with son Herbert, next door to William’s parents. In the early 1880s they moved to Paragould, Greene County, Arkansas. The son with the initials L. C. is buried in New Friendship Cemetery near Paragould. Nancy died in Paragould in January 1896, and is buried in Linwood Cemetery there. On 27 Sep 1896, William married Arkansas native Savanah S. Bratcher/Brashears (1872-1932). The wedding record had her name as “Mrs. S. S. Hatcher”, but I think that was a mistake. This was her second marriage too – she later had a grandson born about 1912, and claimed her first marriage was about 1890. She did not have children with William.

The 1900 census showed William and Savanah in Roanoke & Water Valley Townships, Randolph County with his sons Willie, Clarence, and Albert. In 1910 he was in Oil Trough, Independence County with Savanah and son Albert. William died in 1917. He’s buried in Linwood Cemetery with Nancy. Savanah died in 1932 and is buried in Linwood also.

Point of confusion: There was a William Watson Wood or Watson William Wood (7 Feb 1885-8 Jun 1950) who lived in Greene County and married Lula Mosby/Moseley, but he was not this family’s Willie W.

Alice Leota Wood (1859-1892)

Alice married Levi Boswell Newberry (2 Feb 1859-18 Mar 1917) from Arkansas in 1881. I was tripped up for a time by the (June) 1880 census, which appeared to show the couple already married and living in Greene County, Arkansas, and yet simultaneously living separately with their respective parents in Tennessee and Arkansas. I have since concluded that the married Newberry couple in 1880 were just a coincidence of names, ages, and locations. Anyway, Levi and Alice went on to have five children born in Arkansas:

Lelia Bertha (18 Sep 1881-10 May 1910) — m. James Robert Lee on 12 Sep 1899

Orville Paxton (10 Feb 1883-22 Jan 1937) — m. Clyde Simpson

Nola Roberta (28 May 1884-9 Feb 1975) — m. James McCoy Hendricks on 6 Feb 1903

Maude (8 Jan 1886-19xx)

Esther (1 Apr 1888-29 Mar 1960) — m. Joseph Pinkney Wilson on 13 Dec 1907

They moved to Texas around 1890. Alice died in 1892, and is buried in Zion Hill Cemetery, Callahan County, Texas. Levi remarried to Sarah Frances “Sallie” Karl from Kentucky, who already had at least one child of her own. Levi and Sallie had two more children, Blanch (~1896-19xx) and Sammie (1897-1903). The 1910 census showed the blended family in Jones County, Texas. Levi died in 1917 and is buried in Midway Cemetery, Hodges, Jones County with Sallie.

Links

Isaac?

Nope