Zebedee Wood (1745-1824)
Buried at Shiloh Methodist Church | Liberty, Randolph County, North Carolina
You’ve probably never heard the name Zebedee Wood, but he played an important part in the American Revolution, and I think his story is worth sharing. He was born in Massachusetts, married in New Jersey, and buried in North Carolina. By the time he died in 1824 at nearly eighty years old, Zebedee Wood had outlived a king’s rule, a revolution, and the founding of the republic he had helped defend.
His is grave 8 of 250 for the 250 Graves Project, celebrating America’s 250th birthday by sharing the stories of the people who built and defended it.
A Massachusetts Beginning
Zebedee Wood was born on February 14, 1745, in Berkley, Bristol County, Massachusetts. His father, John Wood, was a native of Middleborough, Massachusetts, and his mother was Sarah Clements of Freetown. But the family did not stay put. Sometime after Zebedee’s birth, John Wood uprooted his household and moved to the town of Mendham in Morris County, New Jersey. There, Sarah passed away, possibly in childbirth, leaving John with several young children. He remarried a woman named Sybil Wilborne and fathered more children, including a son named Reuben, born around 1755. Reuben and his half-brother, Zebedee, became close partners in Randolph County, NC, politics and law…