'INVENTOR OF THE MODERN PLOW. 9 



husband, John Wood, was a man of ster- 

 ling worth, calm, self-poised, strong willed, and 

 eminently influential. Jethro was their only 

 son. On New Years Day, 1793, he was mar- 

 ried to Sylvia Howland, at White Creek, 

 Washington County, New York. The fruit of 

 this marriage, every way a happy one, was a 

 family of six children, namely: Benjamin ; 

 John; Maria, wife of Jeremiah Foote; Phoebe; 

 Sarah, wife of Robert R. Underbill; Sylvia 

 Ann, wife of Benjamin Gould. Of these chil- 

 dren the only survivor is Mrs. Gould, who 

 with her sister, Phoebe, were the Misses 

 Wood of the Adams note. So much for the 

 domestic setting of this diamond of inventive 

 genius. 



Even as a boy, Jethro Wood showed plainly 

 the drift and trend of his mind. The child 

 was indeed " father of the man," and almost 

 from the cradle to the grave, he was an in- 

 ventor. In his childish plays he seemed bus- 



