My Genealogy Hound

WOOD, BLATCHLEY C. REV., M. D. Carrollton. Blatchley Wood is a native of Truedell County, North Carolina; was born on the 5th of November, 1797, and is the eldest son of Miller Wood and Malinda M. Campbell, the former a native of Long Island, N. Y., and the latter of Culpepper County, Va. The family was first represented in America by his paternal grandfather and brothers, who emigrated from England about 1690, and settled on what is called Wood’s Neck, on Long Island. About the same time Dr. Ebenezer Blatchley, one of his paternal great-grandfathers, emigrated from Scotland and settled in the same place. He was a Presbyterian, and left his native land that he might enjoy civil and religious liberty, a motive which prompted Adam Campbell, also the maternal grandfather of our subject, who settled in Culpepper County, Va., and there married Elizabeth Morgan, and reared a large family. While the subject of our notice was yet an infant his parents moved to Warren County, Ky., where his father was for many years a planter, in good circumstances. He was a man of excellent character, upright and true, and used every means for the moral development of his family. Blatchley passed his early life in agricultural pursuits, and imbibed there those habits of industry and frugality that have marked his entire subsequent career. His educational advantages however, were meager, there being few schools in Kentucky at that time; but being an apt and careful student, he availed himself of every opportunity of acquiring knowledge, and thus, largely by his own private study, gained a good English education. His life has always been pure and exemplary. In his own words: “I do not recollect of ever swearing an oath in my life, yet conscious of the prevalence of passion from my earliest recollection, of a heart disposed to wickedness, so that, notwithstanding the restraint by which I was kept within the bounds of respectable morality, my heart was not right in the sight of God.” In 1817 he united with the M. E. Church, having been baptized in infancy; his mind was directed toward the ministry. Following the promptings of duty he began preparing for his work, and was greatly aided in his studies by both Presbyterian and Methodist ministers. After learning the Hebrew alphabet from the 116th psalm, he was compelled to await further progress in the study until he could procure a book. He read theology under the direction of Rev. John K. Daly, of Marion County, Ky., and in September, 1822, was ordained to the ministry, and during the next nine years preached in Kentucky and Tennessee, traveling over ten large counties in his circuit, many of his stations being from ten to twenty miles apart. Owing to the scarcity of physicians and the great suffering which he encountered in his travels, it occurred to him that to combine the practice of medicine with his ministerial duties would be to greatly enhance his power for good. Accordingly he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. J. E. Cook, of Kentucky, and later studied with Dr. J. Brady, of Tennessee, and in 1829 began his practice, prescribing for the sick whenever he found time, in his circuit. In 1834 he removed to Greene County, Ill., where for fourteen years he was engaged in the practice of his profession, and at the expiration of that time, resumed the ministry, in which he continued until 1878, when he was placed upon the superanuated list. In all he has devoted over twenty years to the practice of medicine, and thirty years to the ministry. He has preached in Jersey, Morgan, Madison, Bond, Montgomery and other counties, and has at different times been pastor at Jacksonville, Alton, Greenfield, Hillsboro, Exeter, Manchester, and Carrollton. Though not a classical scholar, Dr. Wood gained a good knowledge of the Hebrew language. As a preacher he was clear and logical; large-hearted and self-denying, his humanity was touched with sympathy for all. He was married, in 1822, in Pulaski County, Ky., to Miss Nancy McCaw, daughter of David McCaw, a native of Ireland. Dr. Wood is a man of decided principles and a true friend of progress, and has ever given to temperance and education a hearty support. His life has been one of loyalty to noble purposes, and now, as his record approaches its close, and he nears the morning land, its gray light beams upon his pathway, betokening to him the happy dawn of a new and brighter day.