This post gives a brief overview of the Wood line … there is so much more behind all this but I hope this helps give context to my later posts. The Wood family line comes from Scotland, the Isle of Man, Cheshire and Flintshire in Wales.
My grandmother was born in Birkenhead in 1921; Ailsa Joyce Wood. She married Stanley Francis Kelly in 1949 in Birkenhead.
She was the daughter of Gladys Nelson and Benjamin Wood; who married in 1914 in Birkenhead. They had 5 children; 2 of whom died as children. Benjamin was a Clerk at the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.
Gladys Nelson (nan’s mother), the Johnsons and the Hibberts
Gladys Nelson was the daughter of Eleanor Johnson and John Nelson, a boilermaker. However, she and her sister Bessie were bought up by their grandfather John Johnson and his second wife Eleanor Tyson. Gladys and Bessie were both born in Redcar, on the north-east coast, but then moved to Birkenhead with their grandparents (who had been in Sheffield despite being born in Cheshire). What happened to Eleanor and John is a mystery; as is quite why their children were born in Redcar. Although John is listed on both their birth certificates I have not yet found a marriage record for Eleanor Johnson and John Nelson.
Eleanor Johnson was the daughter of John Johnson from Hawarden, Flintshire and Margaret Hibbert from Hoole, Chester, Cheshire; they married in 1864 and had 3 children. John Johnson was a boiler maker. Margaret died in 1875 and John remarried a widow with her own family – Eleanor Tyson.
The Hibberts come from Hoole in Cheshire which is now part of Chester. We can trace their line back a number of generations. They were agricultural labourers and one of them was the Gardener for Hoole Hall (now a hotel and spa).
The Johnsons come from the welsh border near Chester. They lived in Hawarden and went to the same church as the Gladstone family (as in prime minister Gladstone!). You can still see our direct line’s gravestones in the church graveyard. They went from agricultural labourers to working in collieries and iron.
Benjamin Wood (nan’s father), the Woods and the Corletts
Benjamin Wood was the son of George Wood from Paisley in Scotland and Ann Jane Corlett from Lezayre, Isle of Man; they were married in 1874 . According to the family George Wood moved from Scotland to the Isle of Man at some point in the early 1870s; Ann Jane then moved from the Isle of Man to Liverpool to work in service where she appears in the census in 1871. They were married in Liverpool in 1874 and then lived together in Birkenhead. They had 12 children; 10 of whom survived childhood. George was a grocer and general smith. They had a shop on Borough Road in Birkenhead.
Anne Jane Corlett came from a long line of Corletts from Glen Auldyn in Lezayre in the Isle of Man. The Corlett’s owned/leased a farm in the glen the ownership/lease of which has been traced back to the late 1600s passed down from father to son until 1908 when Ewan Thomas Corlett sold it. The Glen has archaeology dating back to prehistoric times so our ancestors could have been living in this part of the world for 1000s of years.
William Wood and Margaret McGeoch (nan’s great grandparents)
George Wood (nan’s grandfather) was the eldest son of William Wood and Margaret McGeoch both of Paisley, Scotland; they were married in 1848 in Paisley. They moved from Paisley to Greenock and had 10 children 5 of whom died in childhood; four in a fire. William Wood was a Caulker working on iron ships and his wife ran a grocers shop.
Margaret McGeoch was the daughter of James McGeoch and Margaret Craig both born in the late 1780s in Scotland. They were married in 1814 in Paisley.
George Wood and Grace Marshall (Nan’s great great grandparents)
William Wood (nan’s great grandfather) was the son of George Wood of Paisley, Scotland and Grace Marshall one of the Marshall travelers or Romani who traveled from Scotland down the west coast to Wales. They married in 1826 in Paisley. They had two children and then at some point shortly after the birth of their second child Grace died and George married Janet Muir with whom he had a further four children. George was a hand loom weaver; quite probably making the famous paisley shawls.
So far I have been unable to find definitive information on exactly whom George’s parents were; although there are some likely candidates in Paisley. Around this time many people migrated to Paisley to participate in the early years of the weaving industry which had, some years before, been kickstarted by the daughter of a local laird who had smuggled out some silk thread making technology from the continent! I have also failed to find any record of Grace Marshall’s birth or parentage; family lore says she was the daughter of one of the chieftains of the Marshall clan… More of which later.