RICHARD WOOD JOURNAL
Submitted by: Robert D Wood
COPY OF RICHARD WOOD JOURNAL
Richard William Wood's Journal Oakland Aug. 10th 1935
As my predecessor, Mr. Bagley started in the good example of asking
the members of the Golden Wedding Club. to write some of reminiscences
of their life, I feel I should keep up the good work which I will do by
giving some of the high spots of my own life. My life has not been one
of very important events, except the Great Event which occurred Feb. 15,
1874. But I remember my father had some interesting experiences which I
would like to put on record. (Sig.) Richard William Wood
My father (William) and his father (Richard), uncle (William - brother
of Richard) and other relatives sailed from Worcester, England about 1820
to Cape Town, to colonize South Africa They were sent by the Queen. My
father was an infant when he arrived in Africa He lived in the wilds of
Africa until he was about 20, where from Africa he went to Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, where he met my mother, an Irish woman. I was born in Rio de Janeiro.
My mother was aboard the ship sailing Out of the harbor of Rio de Janeiro,
bound for Europe. My father hired a tug and overtook the vessel and brought
her back to Rio where they were married.
I was about four years old, when we left Rio. When my father was about
17, he had the contract of transporting supplies from the Coast into the
interior of Africa The British were then in war with the Natives. My father's
acquaintance with the African Chiefs, gave him an understanding with them
that others did not have. The mode of transportation was by oxcarts, drawn
by 2 oxen. Each train of carts had an old Tom ox, which is about the same
as the bell mare on our ranges. At night the oxen would follow the old
Tom ox who was the leader. One morning Tom ox was missing. My father started
out to look for Mr. Tom ox, with small riding whip in his hand He came
to a clump of bushes and saw what he thought was the tail of the Tom ox,
with whip in hand he jumped into the bushes and hollered Tom. Imagine his
surprise when an immense lion jumped up and roared My father stood his
ground and looked the lion in his eyes, the lion walked off and did not
attempt to do anything previous to this. The Natives had cautioned my father
not to go through this pass as a man eating lion had got away with several
men, but my father did not heed the warning.
My grandmother visited the King of the Zulu. One day when night came
to the Palace (a reed hut) was lighted by girls holding lighted reeds in
their hands. The next morning the Natives killed an ox. My grandmother
tore a piece of cloth from her underskirt, took one of the horns of the
ox, filled it with tallow putting the piece of ski through the tallow in
the horn, thus making a wick. This was the first artificial light made
in that part of the country.
One day, in a running fight with some of the rebelling natives, my father
and his father and uncle ran for their lives, to the edge of the river,
hoping to escape. My grandfather and grand uncle on each side of my father
were shot and killed, my father jumped into the river keeping under the
water as long as he could. He being a good swimmer is what saved his life,
although the arrows were raining fast and thick. My father used to say
he has seen elephants walking from sun up, to sun down without a break,
single file.
From Rio de Janeiro, we went to England to live. The first school I
ever attended was in Clonmel, Tipperary Co. Ireland. A girls school, about
200 girls, no boys, I was only about 5. An incident occurred there, the
oldest I can remember of any incident Miss Carroll was the owner of the
school and I always slept with her. In those days bath tubs were not very
plentiful. Miss Carrolls 2 maids would bring her up hot water every morning
for her bath and her bath tub was a sort of sit down bath, so one morning
I peeped out from under the bed clothes to see what was going on and Miss
Carroll spoke loudly Richard cover up your eyes. It seems I will never
forget that.
The next school I attended was in Bootle, a suburb of Liverpool. I remember
an incident occurred there which I do not seem to forget, I was about 7.
A boy named Harry Wright and I went out in the country, walking. When we
came to a creek I saw something shining in the water, I called Harry's
attention to it and it proved to be a beautiful stone attached to a watch
fob and on the end of the fob was a beautiful watch.
My father kept a hotel in LiverpooL Several hundred people would eat
there every day for dinner. The day after finding the watch, at dinner
time my father was telling of finding the watch when a gentleman listening
said he lost a watch in the same country. He was riding horseback and when
jump-ing across the Creek the watch fell out of his pocket. He said he
would like to see the watch, so I went to Harry Wright and had him bring
over the watch for the man to see. The watch proved to be the one he had
lost. He gave Harry and 15 sovereigns (equal to about $25), which Harry
and I divided.
We went from Liverpool to Antwerp, Belgium. While there I saw women
coming in from the country with their farm products for sale. They were
hitched up to the carts with a dog on one side of them. The Queen Victoria
of England was visiting Antwerp while I was there. I saw her going aboard
her yacht.
From Antwerp we went to New York, we sailed on the ship Mary Glover.
It took 30 days to go to New York. Nothing exciting occurred on this trip
except catching sharks. The Captain had a bull dog and there were frequent
fights between the shark and the dog. The shark did his fighting entirely
with his tail. The Prince of Wales was visiting New York shortly after
we arrived. The local troops were called out to do honors to the Prince,
but the colonel, Col. Corcoran, refused to call out his regiment which
were composed entirely of Irishmen. He was court marshalled and sent to
prison. When the war broke Out he was restored to the Army and served in
the Civil War.
Prince of Wales afterward became King of England, King Edward VII, succeeding
his mother, Queen Victoria. The election of 1860 was quite exciting, the
Republicans had their parade at night The marchers wore black oil skin
coats and caps and carried lanterns. I saw Abraham Lincoln make a speech
from the steps of the Astor House.
When my wife and I visited New York, I had her stand on the steps where
Lincoln made his speech. P. T. Barnum had his museum on Broadway opposite
the old City Hall Park. My father took me with him one day to the museum
The chief attraction was the exhibition of several South Africans, comprising
the Zulu Hottentot, Fingo and other tribes. My father could converse with
all of these Natives in their own language and he was as interesting as
the natives. Barnum came upstairs and introduced himself to my father.
This was a forerunner of a long and pleasant acquaintance with Barnum for
both of us. Of course you have all heard of Barnum, "The greatest showman
on earth." These natives had to be returned to Africa and Barnum made a
contract with my father to return them to Africa and return with wild animals.
My
father was fitting out a schooner for this purpose when one day news was
received that Fort Sumpter was fired upon. This was the staring of the
Civil War and the ending of the trip to Africa as contemplated When the
Civil War broke Out my father enlisted He wanted me to stay in New York
and go to school but I insisted on going with him I was only about 12,
too young to enlist. I was with my father for about 2 years during the
war, I was too young to carry a gun but I did good service attending the
wounded on the battlefield and giving them water out of canteens. I
remember seeing Abraham Lincoln during the war, I owned a small, blind
mule and was standing along side of it when Lincoln passed with all his
generals and gave me a smile.
My reminiscences during the war would be too lengthy to relate here.
I will relate one or two. At Fair Oaks, Virginia, about 4 miles from Richmond,
our objective point, which we never reached The soldiers dug a long trench
about 100' long, near the RR track and buried the dead soldiers who had
been killed. We were on the retreat then, no time to bury them any other
way. A few miles from there a place called Savage Station. During
the night I slept in large packing case. I was awakened the next morning
by the music of the Confederate Army, the ad-vancing army. When I looked
around I found my own Army, the Federals. had retreated, I did not want
to he captured so I hastened to try and join the Federal Army, who had
already retreated When I came to a river which had to be crossed I came
to a bridge which the Federals attempted to destroy to impede the march
of the enemy. To get across. the bridge seemed impossible, but I managed
to cross by straddling the timbers that were left. In this way I succeeded
in crossing the river and rejoining my own troops.
At the close of the War, we went to live in a small town called Oil
Springs, Canada There was considerable excitement about an oil man named
Brown who owned an oil well on top of a small hill, the creek was below
it, a school house on the opposite side of the creek. In those days they
drilled their wells by treadle power on the same principle as the sewing
machine. Two men would get on the treadle and pump the iron bit up and
down. Brown took up his drill and brought it to a blacksmith shop to be
sharpened, the only blacksmith shop in the place. The blacksmith said,
"Brown you owe me too much now for sharpening your bit. I can't do any
more work for you unless you pay. Brown said, "Well, I will have to put
back my dull bit" Which he did and a Half an hour after he put back the
drill, he struck a flowing well. He had no way of storing the oil and most
of it flowed down the Creek. There was no more school for sometime. The
children made as high as $15 or $20 a day, skimming the oil with a tin
cup. $8 a barrel at the well. Brown was offered a million dollars for the
well, but refused. He died broke. From this place we went to Saginaw Mich.
to live.
In Saginaw I worked as a telegraph operator. I was the first one in
the City to get the news of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I belong
to the Abraham Lincoln Assoc. of Berkeley. In those days the Fenian tried
to make trouble for the Canadian Government They made a raid into Canada
with several hundred men, all Irishmen, where they met with a body of English
or Canadian soldiers more in number than the Fenians. The Fenians seeing
this made a ruse which worked, the Fenians hollered to the men, "Tell those
Cavalrymen to hurry up to the front." The Canadian soldiers retreated.
There were no cavalrymen. While I was in Saginaw, Horace Greeley's advice,
go West young men was quite popular and it got me. I used to have a picture
of a tree in the Mariposa Grove of a stage driving through the tree, which
always seemed an inspiration to go West. I hope to see this tree some day
- Calaveras. I started for the West in 1868. From Evanston, Utah, I took
the stage for Salt Lake City, there being no rail communication into Salt
Lake City at that time. When we arrived at Bear River near Corrine, Utah
it was late at night The thermometer was about 40 below zero. The driver
attempted to cross the river on the ice, when we got half way across the
ice broke and the cold water came pouring in on us, in the stage. There
were four of us , when we got out of the stage our clothes were frozen
stiff.
We got in the stage again and headed for Salt Lake City. No sight was
ever so welcome as when we rounded the mountain and Salt Lake City, all
illuminated looked like a fairy land In our condition, cold, wet and hungry
, it was a welcome sight and arriving at the hotel we were not long getting
on some dry clothes and something to eat. Salt Lake City was lighted by
gas. Electric lights were not in use at that time in the West I think Salt
Lake City must have been the largest inland City having gas where there
was no rail communication. There were four of us in the party all under
19, and was no rail communication. There were four of us in the party all
under 19, and all telegraph operators. I saw Brigham Young when I was in
Salt Lake City. We went to the telegraph office to telegraph to the Superintendent
of Telegraph of the Central Pacific for free transportation. 
The
Mormon manager of the telegraph office wanted to charge us for the telegram
something we never did, so not to pay for a telegram, we foolishly purchased
ponies and started for Wells, Nevada, where the end of the C. P. track
was, a distance of several hundred miles. My pony looked pretty good but
whenever we had a creek to cross his knees would commence to shiver and
he laid down in the creek wetting all the blankets. That I country was
populated by Mormon farmers and at night a stack of hay was pretty good
for beds. We were glad to have a chance to hit the hay. The horses of my
companions proved to be better than mine and it was difficult for me to
keep up with them, although I had the best looking horse. When I reached
the top of the hill a man came up with a team of horses and wagon and said
he would like to trade horses with me. I did not close the trade until
I got to the top of the hill. I galloped up to my companions, they were
surprised to see me with such a fine horse. When we arrived at Monumental
Point, it was occupied by a lot of tough characters. They came to
this place because it was expected the tracks of the Central Pacific and
the Union Pacific RRS would meet here. I forgot to say when we passed
Cheyenne, 6 people were hung to telephone poles in one day. At Monumental
Point some of our horses were stolen, that left us on foot We made a deal
with a man who had a 4 horse team to take us to Wells, Nev. We paid him
in advance. Imagine our disgust, when he came to us the next morning and
said, "Boys, I lost my team of horses playing poker, and all the money
you gave me. "All I had, I think was $7.50. So we started off a foot to
go 200 or 300 miles, bound for Nevada. After a two weeks travel on foot
over the deserts of Utah and Nevada, we arrived at Wells Station, the end
of the track of the Central Pacific at that time.
I proceeded to Elko, Nevada, RR division headquarters, where I procured
employment right away a telegraph operator. One day Supt. Campbell asked
me to go out and see if I could find the Engine San Jose. "It should have
been here an hour ago." I reported. I made several trips to find this engine.
I finally said, "There is no engine out there by the name of SAN JOSE."
The laugh was on me. I first went to work at a little station called Peko,
east of Elko. The second day after I arrived there I took a walk. I had
not gone far when a call, "Halt," was made and the guard said, "Don't you
know where you are? Well this is the smallpox camp." Superintendent Vandenberg
arrived shortly after from Elko, bringing a doctor and a boy with him,
whose arm was vaccinated and the doctor vaccinated me with the vaccine
taken from the boy's arm. A few day's after that the crew of a freight
train which was a train of flat cars loaded with lumber brought in a dead
man, who they said they found alongside the tracks. They asked me where
they should put him. Outside of the section house, my office a small, portable
building about 8'x8' was the only building. I said, "Bring him here." They
thought that was bad for me, to put him alongside my bed, where I was sleeping.
"Well," I said, "he is dead, he could not hurt anyone." My army experience,
I presume made me indifferent to the sight of dead men. From Peko I was
transferred to Halleck Station, I was stationed here about two years, the
coldest place in Nevada. In winter, every night, the thermometer registered
40 degrees below. While out walking the next morning I went to the place
where the train crew said they had picked up the dead man. Within an arms
throw I found a short heavy club. I picked it up and saw some hairs sticking
to it. I brought the stick back to the office arid laid the stick alongside
the dead man's head. His hair and the hairs on the club were identical.
I always will think he was stealing a ride and was knocked on the head
with this stick.
Notes: The GWC on the first page stands for Golden Wedding Club.
Grandma and Grandpa Wood were members for several years. I believe Grandpa
was president, when he wrote these notes. The date is August 10th, 1935.
Grandpa died in Oakland, June, 1936. He was 87 years old. The great event,
which occurred Feb. 15th, 1874 (first pg) is the day Richard Wood and Martha
Jane Crowley were married in Winemucca. Nevada. The Wood family lived in
Wimnemucca where Elbertine, Richard, Clarence, Rose, Walter, and Mary were
born. The family moved to Tombstone in 1890. Frank and Marjorie were born
there.
All of the above is from the copyrighted book: "A Long Journey"
by Martha Fabrique Hisey.
-
A Long Journey: The Story of the Wood-Crowley
Family 1830-1900
-
By Martha Fabrique Hisey
$20.00 paperback spiral bound
8.5 X 11
20 illustrations and photos
112 pages
Recently I was contacted by a gentleman, Robert Wood, who told me he
might have some information pertaining to my research on Chief Winnemucca
of Nevada. He said his grandfather had befriended Winnemucca and wrote
about the Chief in his journal. He sent me a book written by Martha Fabrique
Hisey based on the journal of Richard Wood.
As I started reading the family history called "A long Journey", I didn't
want to put it down. The story was exciting and adventuresome. The family
story came alive with its every page, telling the family story from the
point of view of someone who had really been there: In the jungles of Africa,
England, South America, the American Civil War and along the Transcontinental
Railroad in early Nevada.
The family stories are alive and the marriages are told in a romantic
wonderful way. This would truly make future generations of this family
proud of their heritage. I highly recommend this publication.
To get the book contact: Robert Dean Wood 1742 Orchard Way Pleasanton,
CA 94566 or email at No1carver@comcast.net The price is $20 which includes
postage and handling. Check or Money Order made out to Robert Dean Wood.
