The original Wood family had it's beginning in Pettigoe,
Fermanagh County, Northern Ireland, where the Father,
Jared Wood had a flour mill. There were eight children
born to him and his wife and this made ten mouths to
feed when the famine came to Ireland and it was more
than Jared could take care of. The decision was made
that four of the children should leave Ireland for
America. Leaving for America were William, 26 years
old; Ann, 23 years old; James, age unknown; and John,
12 years old. In 1851, the four young Wood children
took a ship for New York and landed in Brooklyn. They
stayed in the East for three years, part of the time in
Connecticut, where young John learned the trade of
pattern making. By 1854 they had heard of the gold
discovery in California and set off for the gold fields
together.
They traveled around the Horn on the steamer "George
Law", transferred to another steamer, "The John L.
Stevens" for the trip up the coast to San Francisco.
They headed north, spending six months in Toulumne
County, California and by 1855 they were in Yreka,
Califorina where they remained only a short time before
they traveled down the Klamath River where three of
them would spend the remainder of their lives.