Hartshorne.] -L^^ [Oct. 11, 



a great city which might rival Philadelphia. Before 

 that time, as early as 1683, the same design had been 

 formed by John Fenwick, who became Proprietor of 

 West New Jersey by conveyance from Lord Berkeley, 

 successor to the Duke of York, afterwards James II., 

 who was grantee of the Crown. Fenwick left a will, 

 directing a city to be erected near the Cohansey, which 

 he willed thereafter to be called Caesarian river. All 

 that followed this large project, however, has been the 

 growth of the small town or agricultural village of 

 Greenwich. 



Dr. Wood kept in his possession a deed, signed by 

 the agent of William Penn, who acted as executor of 

 John Fenwick, conveying a lot of ground forming a 

 part of his Greenwich farm. 



In each generation, the heads of this family in New- 

 Jersey have been men of consideration and local dis- 

 tinction. Richard Wood, the father of the subject of 

 this memoir, was a man of superior mind and strong 

 character, much respected by all who knew him. He 

 was described by an acquaintance, speaking of him to 

 Dr. Wood, as "a prince of a man." He married twice. 

 His second wife, mother of George Bacon Wood, was 

 Elizabeth Bacon, of Bacon's Neck, New Jersey. Of the 

 early settlement of her family in that part of the coun- 

 try, evidence is preserved. One or two memoranda 

 may be here Interesting: " 1683, June 25th, Shank-a- 

 num and Et-hoe, Indians, convey to John Nichols, of 

 Nichols' Hartford, near Cohansey, 100 acres of land. 



