Hill County Texas
TX BIOS: Dr. William W. Wood
Selected and converted. American Memory, Library of Congress.
Washington, 1994.
Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
For more information about this text and this American Memory
collection, refer to accompanying matter.
U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress.Copyright status not determined.
00011
[DEL: [Folklore?]--White Pioneer :DEL] Life History [DEL: Folklore
:DEL]
Miss Effie Cowan, PW
McLennan County, Texas,
District / 8.
NO. Of Words 2,500
File NO. 240
Page NO. 1.
Reference,
Interview with Dr William W. Wood, White Pioneer, Waco, Texas.
"I was born in Coosa County Alabama, October 7th, 1862. My father was
[DEL: r :DEL] Dr Eason B. Wood, a practicing physician and slave owner
and plantation operator in Alabama. My mother was Miss Sarah Barrett,
a daughter of James Barrett and wife. James Barrett died and my
grandmother came to Texas with her sons Frank, Reneau and Thomas.
Mother died in 1899, at the age of fifty years and father passed away
in December of 1907. Their children were, [DEL: myself, John H. Dixie,
a teacher, and Eugene. :DEL] William, John, Dixie and Eugene
"My father prepared for his medical profession in Jefferson Medical
College, in Philadelphia, graduating in 1856. He practiced in Coosa
County Alabama, only abandoning his profession when he retired to his
farm because of ill health, after coming to Texas. During the war
between the states he served in the Eastern Department of the
Confederacy as Captain, was captured and sent a prisioner to Johnson's
Island, Lake Erie. He was interested in education and belonged to the
Baptist church, of which he was an active member.
"I was a small boy when we left Alabama but I can remember crossing
the Missippi river at Vicksburg, and as we reached the opposite side ,
who should be standing there but one of our former slaves, on seeing
us he cried out "Hello Massa, dis de fust time I is see any of you'ns
[DEL: sice :DEL] since I lef' fur de war wid Marse Henry, I wuz wid
Mars Henry [DEL: [?] :DEL] when de Yankee's kill him, an' I see him
put away, jes' as I promise him I would".
NOTE: C.12 - 2/11/41 - Texas
00022"When we left Alabama we came by wagon train driving oxen and
mules, there were twenty -five families in the train. We reached the
Trinity river in about sixty days after crossing the [DEL: [?] :DEL]
Mississippi. The whole country was under water and we had to wait for
the water to recede before we could cross and made camp where we
remained for about two weeks. Then we drove into Athens Texas, where
we lived on a rented farm , near -by for two years. "My father
practiced medicine here with a Dr Gardner and my mother secured the
country school and taught for a time.
"About this time my [DEL: [?] :DEL] father decided to leave the timber
country and moved to Hill county and bought a farm of two hundred
acres , [DEL: si :DEL] six miles east of Mount Calm Texas. We children
attended the school at Hubbard which was also near us , until we were
old enough to attend college. Our father's brother-in-law , Mr Barrett
, also bought two hundred acres and lived near us.
"While we lived in the Navasota bottom Ben Wallace homesteaded land,
and no better man ever lived [DEL: and :DEL] had such a noble wife, we
called her Aunt Mary Jane. Now they are all gone, but we cherish their
memory, the children, also. While living there and making a crop the
men [DEL: would go :DEL] went to the prairie and built three log
houses, split rails and improved their homes, on the prairie
"I can remember how it began to snow while we were in camp before our
homes were built, and how one of the oxen froze to death in the night,
and the next day when we went back to our home in the bottom we rigged
up sleds and teams and sharpened our knives ready to skin dead cattle,
we dressed them for a week [?] skinned them and sold the hides for a
good / price and 00033it enabled me to purchase rations and supplies
which were so much needed, Turkeys were wild but were plentiful
everywhere. Grandmother Barrett's gandmother took a string and
fastened it to a crib door where she could see it, and when forty six
wild turkeys went into the crib for feed she closed the door on them
and we had plenty of trukeys to eat for some time.
I recall my Uncle building a turkey pen of rails with a tunnel leading
into it, he baited the roads leading to the pen and caught a pen full,
I can remember how, in his haste he hurried into the trench and the
turkeys gave him quite a [DEL: lash :DEL] lashing. When we went back
to work on the prairie houses we left a servant girl to sprout the
ground ready for planting, she heard the dogs barking at something,
and they had a deer cornered in the creek bed. She took the wooden
rake and helped the dogs to kill the deer. This goes to show that we
reached Texas in time for the wild turkeys and deer.
"Another incident of my youth which impressed me was my father sending
me to Waco to purchase a cog for our sorghum mill. He had given me a
pony and I rode him over to Waco ( a good ride ). The foundry was
located on the bank of the Brazos river and I spent the night in a
hotel on Franklin street, I can remember how a live oak tree grew up
thro' the porch of the hotel, and have often wondered what became of
this place. When I went back home I tied the cog to the saddle, and
the [DEL: ion :DEL] motion of the horse ruined the cog as well as
blistering the horse's shoulder.
"In 1879 father sent mother and myself down to Waco to place me in
Baylor University, paying my tuition with a load of bacon we took with
us. / I went home for the holidays, so happy with so, much to tell.
[DEL: when :DEL] When I returned the 00044first of January , I rode
horseback to Waco and on arriving I turned the horse loose with a note
pinned to the saddle saying" Please let this horse with saddle pass to
farm of [DEL: r :DEL] Dr E. B. Wood unmolested". Three weeks later
father came down and said the horse had not returned and on making
inquiry we found him in East Waco, just as he had left.
"In the summer father sent me to Louisiana with horses we had bought
in Mexico, we had 117 head. We went down Jacksons trail and came to a
house where we camped that night, I had some corn for the horses, and
found a man just [DEL: returnin :DEL] returning from a drive with a
big buck. I traded the corn for a whole ham of the buck, carried this
to camp and with a long pole passed 'thro' the ham-string, I barbecued
it and today I can say it was [among?] the best barbecue I ever ate.
"We cooked at the camp and made clothes out of wagon sheets that
served us well, but they sometimes became so full of grease and dust
they almost stood on end,( after being removed. ) I recall the night
after the heavy snow I mentioned , when the cattle froze. I could not
find my socks and shoes while trying to make the fire so had to
proceed to a neighbors, by name of Bob Fane , barefooted. When we
returned [DEL: hom :DEL] home Mrs Fane made me wear her stockings and
shoes, after giving us a lovely dinner. Long after-ward when I was
practicing medicine I often reminded her of her kindness in lending me
her foot wear. This also reminds me of the fate of our yoke of oxen
which brought us from Alabama. We would hobble them at night together
so they could not stray far from camp. One morning / when we found
00055them they were both dead from eating frozen mustard; Oh, how sad
we were and lonely with Buck and Bill gone," what shall we do !" was
our cry. Father made the best of our hard luck and said "we will skin
them and buy coffee," which we did , and things took a turn for the
better.
Another time my father was out of tobacco, it was 25 miles to the
nearest market, Mexia, I had instruction to start to town but if I met
any one who had any tobacco to ask for some, I met another old-timer
and [DEL: ighbor :DEL] neighbor Bill Powell, and secured an abundant
supply and thus thro' the neighborly kindness was saved the trip.
"Time passed on and I completed my course at Baylor University at
Waco, Texas, taught, a year , then attended my fathers Alma-Mater, the
Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and completed my course
there in 1887. I graduated from Baylor in 1885. Afterwards took post /
graduate work in the New [DEL: york :DEL] York Polyclinic, in the New
Orleans Polyclinic and two courses in the Chicago Institute of that
class.
"In January of 1910 our firm of Wood and Wood purchased the property
of the Hubbard Hot Well and Sanitarium, which represented the
investment of thirty-five thousand dollars, and at the time was one of
the leading health resorts of the state. As all of the medical
profession , [DEL: have :DEL] , I have stored in my memory many
amusing incidents connected with my profession. One of the most
impressive incidents was when I first commenced the practice of
medicine and meeting an older doctor in consultation, 00066a man whom
I loved honored and respected. After discussing the case before us he
/ said "I would give him this and that ", remedies for the particular
case, to which I consented; then I suggested something else to meet
another symptom. The old doctor said "No, we have given him enough
lets give him a chance to get well".
"I recall another instance which impressed me in one of my patients.
He had a malignant type of trouble and I told him so , also that it
was unnecessary for me to call every day, but he insisted and his good
wife always had the best of eats, such [DEL: s :DEL] as fritters,
chicken, steak, pease and cakes , with something hot to drink. The
minute she entered with a platter of these eatables he would begin ,
"Mollie I am a very sick man your [DEL: uantity :DEL] quantity takes
my appetite" Then I would try to go and he would say "I do love to see
you come and / hate to see you go", but I thought it time to go [!?]
[DEL: ne :DEL] One day he said "Bring your bill tomorrow, I want to
see you paid before the triggers fall, you know I have some sons-in
-law ! "I knew them and decided to present my bill as requested. Once
before he insisted on paying me with twenty-seven pigs and said "You
know that a man with twenty-seven pigs and nothing to feed them is
broke, and convinced me it was my duty to accept the pigs!
"I married on the 4th / of April 1888, Miss Nina Lynn Jameson , a
daughter of Dr [DEL: James :DEL] Jameson who came to Texas from
Georgia. We lived at Hubbard, where I practiced medicine with my
father until our children were ready to enter college. It was with a
feeling of sadness that we left this little town of good people which
had been our home for so long. 00077"Our children are Nina Lynn Wood
Friley (deceased). She died of / Influenza at College [DEL: Stat :DEL]
Station, Bryan, Texas in 1918. Her husband was Chas. E. Friley, who is
now President of Iowa State University at Ames Iowa. Our other
daughter was Hallie Byrd who died at the age of four years. My sons
are William Maxwell who is in the live-stock business at Gallup New
Mexico. James Kenneth Wood and family of two children, Kenneth and
Lydia Lynn, live at Corsicana, he is in the investment business. David
Eason Wood and wife Cecil live at [DEL: hiro :DEL] Shiro and both are
teachers. Eugene Carroll Wood lives in Seattle Washington and is a
lawyer. Walter Putnam Wood lives in Waco and is in the investment
business.
"In 1904 to lessen my expenses and place my children in Baylor
University I sold out my Sanitarium and other holdings at Hubbard and
moved to Waco, Texas, where I am now living. When the World war
included our Country and the army camp and base hospital were located
at Waco, there were around fifty thousand soldiers at one time. During
the winter the influenza epedemic was raging and civilians and
soldiers alike were dying like sheep. We held a medical convention and
discussed what steps could be taken to reduce the death rate. We had a
regime prescribed by one of the army men, but it did not stop the
epedemic.
"At the meeting I could not keep silent and arose and [DEL: sd :DEL]
said "It is not customary to digress from the visiting doctors
prescribed treatment, but if I am allowed the privilige of speaking,
if you will open the doors and windows and give them plenty of fresh
air, I will be responsible for 00088the reduction of the death rate".
There were cries from all over the house of "Amen, Amen". The
suggestion was adopted and after the treatment was changed in favor of
fresh air, the death rate began to subside.
"In the year 1914 I attended the American Surgical Convention which
met in London, my wife accompanying me. We boarded the Celtic, leaving
New York and arrived at Cherbourg France our first stop. I had a
peculiar experience on the vessel. My friends had filled my valise
with good cigars to enjoy on the trip . Before arriving in France
[DEL: e :DEL] we were advised that we should pass our smokes around to
our friends on the boat because the duty on them was so great that it
would be prohibitive to smoke American tobacco abroad. I did not like
the European tobacco's so I quit smoking and have not done [DEL: s
:DEL] so since.
"When we arrived in Paris the mail carrier at our hotel brought our
mail and said, "I bring you geetings from home, I hope it is good
news". We later learned that this was the only English that he could
speak. After seeing France we went to Vienna, and in crossing the
Danube river, a man with a megaphone called / out to us to, "Look
[DEL: ook :DEL] to our left and see the Sarcophaygi that tommorrow
would contain the remains of Ferdinand and Sophie who were murdered at
Sarijari ". And [DEL: and :DEL] this is said to be the cause of the
world war.
"The next day we proceeded to Vienna on our way to the hotel after
driving for some time in a taxi, I inquired of the driver as to the
extent of the trip. He advised me that he was making a circuitous
route of fifteen miles to avoid contacting the Royal Funeral, to be
held at midnight, I told him not 00099to carry us to the hotel but let
us see the funeral. He drove us on and put us out just in front of the
procession / which contained two hearses, one for Ferdinand and the
other for Sophie, followed by Frances Joseph, the Emperor.
"This was the first time we realized that war was impending, for
Francis Joseph constantly remarked to his subjects on either side, "I
was in hopes that I would be spared seeing my people thrown into
another war". The city was in total darkness, as was the custom at
Royal funerals. Only long torches were carried by the footmen who were
guarding the two hearses. We Americans were restless and of course
began to whisper, but were hushed immediately by the crowd. [DEL: t
:DEL] It was not long thereafter until some one else began to whisper
and again the crowd signaled to us to hush.
"We were so impressed by their loyalty that we remained silent from
then on during the procession, it was so [DEL: uiet :DEL] quiet that
one could almost have heard a pin fall. We could not but respect them
for their loyalty. Much the Americans could learn from them. We stood
for three hours as the procession passed by. After it was over the
lights were turned on and one of our crowd had imbibed too freely.
Across the street there were two life size statues on a three story
building and on looking up , the one who had been drinking saw the
figures and said, "Dont jump, we will rescue you". However we were so
impressed by the procession that we did not joke him about his
utterances. We were thinking seriously of the outcome of this funeral
and well we might have in view of the [DEL: conseuences :DEL]
consequences!
"From Vienna we went to Brussels and from there twelve miles down to
visit the battle of Watterloo, the monument was built by cutting down
001010twenty acres of earth and as there was no elevator we had to
climb the steps to get to the top. On reaching the top we found a
large bronze lion surmounting it. [DEL: t :DEL] It was a beautiful
vision in the evening, I said to the guide when he showed us where
Blutcher, Grutcher and Wellington met, that it was the prettiest thing
the eye ever looked upon. W He said, "Yes, Yes," I said "the world is
in peace, the whole world over". and we walked down the 365 steps to
the panorama of the battle of Waterloo, and both agreed that it was a
fine reproduction of the thing we had just viewed.
"There we met the Lord- Mayor of [London?]. Mrs Wood secured his
signature telling him we would be in town soon. He assured us we would
have a good time. Instead of going back to Brussels by train we went
by taxi and on approaching the main street, we found the army,
cavalry, and rapid fire guns drawn by dogs and following was the King
and his children. We went across the street and made inquiry as to
what it was for and they informed us that it was merely a review which
was passing before the King. We had heard this so much until we
believed it. But in a few minutes we could hear the guns firing at
Liege. We could see that something terrible was happening without
being told.
"It was not long thereafter that we were told that we were in war. We
were advised to return to our English speaking people and we returned
to London, crossing that night through the hook of Holland. I was
disgusted with the newspaper reports and happenings of the hour, so I
inquired of a policeman as to the war and he replied, "Go home, and
remember this, that after the war is over, the Englishman will have
fought / fifteen minutes 001111longer than any one else". "We took his
advice and attempted to return to our country but were detained
thirteen days before we could secure passage, on account of there
being such a rush of Americans trying to do the [DEL: se :DEL] same
thing. And the demand for room on the steam-boats.
"We secured passage finally and came home with portholes covered and
[DEL: saiing :DEL] sailing like a stack of blakc cats in the darkness
with no lights, fearing any minute that we might be sunk by a
sub-marine. When we arrived in New York, three miles out, I saw tears
of thankfulness for our safe return to our loved ones, more than I
ever saw on any other occasion in my whole past life. Now this
twenty-four years later, from somebody's indescretion it begins to
look as if we were going into the same maelstrom of war again.************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/Thanks to the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/txcat.html
***********************************************************************
Back © 2010-Present Patsy Vinson TXGenWeb, Hill County Coordinator