Asahel Wood

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriots of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Hatfield, Massachusetts(?)

Date of Birth:

Circa 1749

Place of Death:

Hardwick, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

December 16, 1822

The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

Asahel Wood was born circa 1749.^I He was the servant of Capt. Elisha Allis of Hatfield.^II

He enlisted from Hatfield (MA) on 8 May 1775 into the eight months’ service, in the company of Capt. Reuben Dickinson in Col. Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge’s regiment. His name appears on a 22 June 1775 receipt for advance pay, on the 1 August 1775 muster roll, on a 28 September 1775 company return ‘dated Prospect Hill’ and on a 26 October 1775 ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Prospect Hill.’^III A deponent describes him as ‘a Coloured Man’ and further relates:

[Wood] stated to me that he … was in the Battle of Bunker Hill.^IV

On 27 March 1781 he was engaged for a three-year term in the Continental Army, being paid a bounty by the town of Conway (MA). The descriptive roll states:^V

age: 32
stature: 5 ft. 5 in.
complexion: Black
occupation: Farmer

In June of 1781:

The said Wood came into the family of Col. Timothy Pickering Qmaster General where I [Primus Hall] then resided in the Capacity of Steward and the said Wood was in the course of that year drafted as a waggoner in the Staff Department and taken out of the Line in which he previously was - I [Primus Hall] also Depose that the said Wood continued in that Service with me Until the April following when I [Primus Hall] knew he then Joined his Regiment …^VI

For part of this tour, he served in Capt. Thomas Pritchard’s company in Col. John Greaton’s Regiment and on 19 October 1781 ‘was at the capture of Cornwallis.’ He was honorable discharged on 23 December 1783.^VII

Further details about him are provided, in a petition for relief filed with the General Court, by his former master:^VIII

To The Honorable Council and To the Honorable House of Representatives in General Court Assembled at Watertown the [ ] day November 1775 -----

The Petition of Elisha Allis of North Hampton Hatfield In the County of Hampshire ----- Humbly Sheweth ---

That your Petitioner had Two Negro Servants Inlisted Into the Army in April Last. By Your Petitioners Consent. And Cloathed them Extraordy. And fixed them with Arms and been at Great Cost for their Education and Said Servants have Remained in the Army Ever Since -----

Your Petitioner Prays Your Honors He may Receive the Wages of the Said Servants that he may not be A Sufferer by Consenting to their Service in the Present distressing Times and Your Petitioner as is Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray, &c -----

Elisha Allis

The statement of facts was as follows:^IX

In the House of Representatives Jan 2^nd 1776

The Commit. On the Petition of Capt. Elisha Allis beg leave to report the following State of Facts viz:

That Two Negro Servants Named Asel and Eber were born in his House, baptized at his Desire, and Schooled and educated in a christian Manner, that he paid £200 Old Tenor for the education of one of them from the Age of about 2 to 10 Years who can read well and wright a good hand & that the Sd Asel & Eber lived quietly in his family having never deserted his Service, until last April when they went from him and proceed to Cambridge that they were taken up and confined there that he the Sd Allis followed them and finding them desirous to inlist into the Provincial Army, and understanding that the Legislature permitted Servants to enter the Army with the Consent of their Masters, he consented that they Should be inlisted into Capt. Reuben Dickensons Comp[any] Coll Woodbridges Reg[iment] that he furnished them with two Suits of Cloaths & two Great Coats & Shirts apiece, one with & the other with four pair Stockings, that they have Since had of their Coll a pr of Buckskin Breeches for each, which the Sd Allis paid the Coll for, that they have in all reports been well cloathed, and provided with fire Arms, and each of them has drawn [---] of their wages for Spending Money by permission of Mr Allis, that the Sd Asel is 26 & the Sd Eber 24 Years of Age & are again engaged in the Continental Army. That the Sd Allis being required by the Assessors hath given them into the rate Bill the present year, and is liable by a Law of the Province for their Maintenance

Moses Gunn per order

In his application for a U.S. Pension in 1820, he was a resident of Hardwick and listed the entire inventory of his property, which had a total value of $27.59. He also stated:

My occupation is that of a Farmer, but I am troubled with the Rheumatism and can work but little. My family consists of a wife Tylea 58 years of age, in pretty good health; one pair twins 17 years of age named Asahel Hull and Patience Job neither of whom can do much for the family and one other daughter 15 years old named Ronna Augusta, who is unwell most of the time and unable to do much work.^X

He died in Hardwick (MA) on 16 December 1822, at the age of 73.^XI

He married Tylea Job in 1802 in New Braintree (MA).^XII Asahel and Tylea^XIII had at least three children:

• Asahel Hull: b. 4 January 1803 in New Braintree^XIV (twin of Patience)
• Patience Job: b. 4 January 1803 in New Braintree^XV (twin of Asahel)
• Ronna Augusta: bca. 1805^XVI

Footnotes:

1. Birth date backwardly-computed, based on age at time of death.
2. See Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, MA documents below.
3. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 17:718; listed as ‘Asel.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
4. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Roll 2625, Pension #S33947, Frame 608; 20 April 1818 affidavit of Joseph Williams.
5. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 17:718; listed as ‘Asahel.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
6. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 607; 28 September 1818 affidavit of Primus Hall, son of renowned Boston Mason Prince Hall.
7. Ibid, Frame 611; 23 April 1818 application of Asahel Wood.
8. Massachusetts States Archives, Boston, MA, 180:218, Petitions to General Court. On the cover sheet is written: “Ord to Subside.” NOTE: the Eber mentioned is Eber Wood.
9. Ibid 180:219.
10. Ibid, Frame 612.
11. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Hardwick, Deaths, 333; he is listed as ‘Negro.’
12. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, New Braintree, Marriages, 126. Asahel is listed as ‘of Conway.’ Tylea’s name is also listed as ‘Tiley’ and ‘Tilia.’
13. Tylea, a ‘widow,’ died of paralysis on 25 January 1846 in New Braintree, at the age of 84 (per Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, New Braintree, Deaths, 161).
14. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, New Braintree, Births, 57.
15. Ibid.
16. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 612.

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