Family History: Who Is My Paternal Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather?

I began researching my family history in the mid-1990s, shortly after turning 30. In addition to basic genealogy, I tracked down and interviewed people who had known my parents either when I was a small child or before I was born (I'm the oldest of three children).

In researching the Wood line back into the past, however, there is a troublesome brick wall that I have been unable to break through for years.

In August 1794, my great-great-great-great-grandfather Ebenezer Wood bought a plot of land in northwestern Vermont, in the town of Georgia, from Richard Sylvester, one of the first white settlers in the area. Ebenezer's 17-year-old son Sardius witnessed the signing of the deed. The family moved from Pelham, Massachusetts, to Georgia, Vermont, and are listed as living in Georgia in the 1800 US Federal Census.

During his younger years in Massachusetts, it appears Ebenezer's last name was Woods. He married Sarah Williams on July 9, 1772, in Easton, Massachusetts. There are records of a daughter and son born (in Easton) to the couple, in May 1773 and December 1774, respectively, but I have found no other evidence of either of them.

I have information on eight additional children born from 1777 to 1789 (the most recent five, at least, born in Pelham, Massachusetts), and I can trace each of their descendants with varying success.

The Mystery: Who are Ebenezer's parents?

Ebenezer Wood died in Georgia, Vermont, on December 1, 1815. The information on the card registered by the Town Clerk is frustratingly scant, listing only his first and last names, age, first name of his wife, date of death, and where he is buried.

I have been to the Georgia Plains Cemetery and his gravestone offers no other information:

Families of Georgia, Vermont, a 900+-page door-stopper includes trees for 86 families, including 17 pages of "Wood" genealogy, but nothing before Ebenezer, who is listed as being born circa 1741 (taken from the gravestone info, I'm sure). I have found no record of a Massachusetts birth to match either 1741 or 1742.

I have a thick folder on possible parents, web printouts and numerous pages of my scratchy handwriting, with twisting lines connecting various people and dates. Over the years, I have ruled almost all of them out. I'll spare you the tedium of hearing how I narrowed my possibilities and simply present the evidence for a possible match:

1. As mentioned, on July 9, 1772, Ebenezer Woods and Sarah Williams, both of Easton, Mass., were married.

2. On January 1, 1778, Joseph Woods and Susannah Williams, also both of Easton, were married.

3. Sarah Williams and Susannah Williams were sisters, two of Silas Williams's daughters.

4. Joseph Woods was the son of John Woods and Priscilla Tinkham, of Bridgewater, Mass.

5. John Woods and Priscilla Tinkham had a son named Ebenezer, born in 1745, in Bridgewater, Mass.

6. Bridgewater is only about 10 miles east of Easton.

Also: The first recorded child of Ebenezer and Sarah was Susannah, possibly named after Sarah's younger sister, who may have married Ebenezer's younger brother seven months later.

This all sounds extremely plausible – brothers from one family marrying sisters from another family was probably fairly common in rural communities nearly 250 years ago – but that would mean Ebenezer (or his widow) misjudged his age (or the year of his birth) by four years. That seems like a lot, to me. But perhaps not.

My father's father, at a certain point in his life, began lying about his age. He was a local celebrity in Vermont, known for his rapid-fire delivery in television commercials for his three grocery stores. He was also in the newspaper for numerous infractions involving automobiles (speeding, clipping light poles, driving into parked cars) and boating accidents (crashing into rocks (possibly twice)).

In the 1960s, newspaper accounts (relying on information he gave them (or the police), no doubt) consistently underreported his age by at least five years. (One article shaved seven years off his age and eight years off my grandmother's age!) Although he died in 1967, his fibbing continues to this day. His gravestone lists his year of birth as 1913. He was actually born in 1908.

Ebenezer was probably not as concerned with appearances as my grandfather, but who knows?