56 JETHRO WOOD; 



" The last male heir to the invention was no 

 more. On settling the estate, it was found 

 that while not a vestige remained of the large 

 fortune owned by Jethro Wood when he be- 

 gan his career, less than Jive hundred and 

 fifty dollars had ever been received from his 

 invention. 



'- The after history of the case is a brief one. 

 Four daughters of Jethro Wood alone re- 

 mained to represent the family. In the win- 

 ter of 1848 the two younger sisters went to 

 Washington to petition Congress that a bill 

 might be passed for their relief, in view of the 

 inestimable services of their father to the agri- 

 cultural interests of the country. Webster de- 

 clared that he regarded their father as a 

 ' public benefactor/ and gave them his most 

 efficient aid ; Clay warmly espoused their 

 cause, and the venerable John Quincy Adams, 

 with his trembling hand then so enfeebled 

 by age that he rarely used the pen wrote 

 them kind notes, heartily sympathizing with 



