David Wood KWJW-3L2 and Catherine Crites Wood LR9W-XX2, a Midway Fort Family written by Jerry Duke. 

David Wood and Catherine Crites Wood are the great-great grandparents of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints president Dallin H. Oaks, and were residents of the old Midway, Utah Fort.

David was born in South Glengarry Township, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada on July 6, 1799. Catherine, maiden name, Crites, was born in  Osnabruck, Stormont Dungas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada on December 4, 1797. Both of their families were loyalists of King George during the Revolutionary War and moved from New York to Canada because they were no longer welcome in their neighborhoods during and after the war. One of the family members even escaped a death sentence and then fled to Canada during the war. It’s surmised that between sixty and eighty thousand former American Colonists became expatriates in Canada during and after the war. They were compensated to an extent for their losses by the British Crown.

David and Catherine were married on March 17, 1818, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario. They raised a large family in Canada and David was a prosperous farmer. They produced sugar from their forests of maple trees. On February 2, 1840, David and Catherine and some of the children who had reached the age of eight became baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Their daughter, Margaret Polly, married a member of the Church in 1839, but was still unbaptized until this date. Their daughter Sarah, though just thirteen at the time, was baptized the previous day. The other children were baptized at a later date or in some cases vicariously. It appears that some of the baptisms were not recorded when they occurred or perhaps recorded but lost thus requiring rebaptism.

They made the long trek from Ontario to Nauvoo, Illinois, in the spring of 1840, leaving a comfortable existence in exchange for life as religious outcasts filled with perpetual uncertainty. They had many tragedies happen to their family while in Nauvoo resulting in the death of several of their children in separate events. David toiled as a carpenter constructing the temple only to be forced out of their beautiful city by mobs in 1846. Through these trials Catherine was a rock. She has been described as “quiet, complacent, compliant, devoted companion and mother”. Some of these qualities may seem derogatory, but for Catherine they were not. David and Catherine received their endowments prior to their expulsion. They were endowed exactly sixteen years to the day from their baptisms on February 2, 1846. They moved just across the Mississippi River in Iowa for a short time and then on to Council Bluffs. The 1850 US Census found them in Pottawattamie County, Iowa with three of their youngest children. Church leadership became concerned with the number of members who were still in Iowa and encouraged members to renew their efforts to move west to Utah. For some there were financial concerns and health problems that had caused the delays, but some had grown comfortable in their location and were holding back perhaps lacking the commitment to again move on to an unknown future. Many made the move to Utah in 1850-1853. Some, not just a few, stayed and either later joined the reorganized church or just became disassociated with the Church altogether.

David made a trip to Utah to assist others while his family remained in Iowa. In 1852, he led a large group including his family to the Salt Lake Valley arriving on October 1, 1852. President Oaks and his wife June wrote a history entitled: “50 Pioneers- The Pioneer Ancestors of Dallin H. Oaks and June Dixon Oaks” in 1997. I quote them: Sarah’s parents, David and Catherine Crites Wood, who were prosperous property owners living in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, were converted to the Church and baptized in April 1840. They promptly uprooted from their home and journeyed to join the Saints, crossing the St. Lawrence River on July 4, and arriving in Nauvoo on October 1, 1840. David Wood worked on the temple as a carpenter. They received their temple blessings on February 2, 1846. David Wood was captain of the company of about fifty wagons during the trek across the plains. While they were living in American Fork, David was one of the men who helped rescue the stranded handcart companies in Wyoming in 1856, contributing a wagon and driver, four horses, and one hundred pounds of flour. In 1859-60 they followed members of their family to Midway in the Heber Valley, where they resided until their deaths in 1871 (David) and 1875 (Catherine).”

From 1866 to 1868 David and Catherine made their home in the southwest section of the Midway Fort with a daughter and her family living on either side of them. Another daughter, Amanda, the wife of Jesse McCarrel, had a cabin on the east side of the fort. These members were among the very first, and I do mean very first to settle in Midway.

 An ancestor, Rozena N. Oaks wrote: 
It was in 1859-60 that David and Catherine moved from the “big city” into Provo Valley (now Heber Valley), where there was a little more snow, a lot more water, pasture ground, and the weather was a little colder, more like Canada where they came from. They built a home as they had done in Canada, Nauvoo, and American Fork, and there they lived out the rest of their lives.

Children of David and Catherine Wood

Brief Life History of Benjamin George
Benjamin George Wood was born on 5 January 1819, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, his father, David Wood, was 19 and his mother, Catherine Crites, was 21. He married Christann Ann Duel on 20 July 1840, in Osnabruck Township, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada. He lived in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, in 1840. He died on 12 December 1841, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the age of 22, and was buried in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois.

Brief Life History of Sarah Catherine
Sarah Catherine Wood was born on 25 March 1821, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, her father, David Wood, was 21 and her mother, Catherine Crites, was 23. She died on 4 May 1821, at the age of 0. 

Brief Life History of Margaret Polly
Margaret Polly Wood was born on 5 December 1822, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, her father, David Wood, was 23 and her mother, Catherine Crites, was 25. She married David Levi Empey on 2 July 1839, in South Stormont Township, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 7 daughters. She lived in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States in 1839 and Kaufman, Kaufman, Texas, in 1860. She died on 6 March 1896, in Park City, Summit, Utah, at the age of 73, and was buried in Midway City Cemetery, Midway, Wasatch, Utah.

Brief Life History of David
David Wood was born on 8 January 1825, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, his father, David Wood, was 25 and his mother, Catherine Crites, was 27. He lived in Waterford, Waterford Township, Oakland, Michigan, United States in 1897 and Waterford Township, Oakland, Michigan, United States in 1897. He died on 14 October 1841, in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States, at the age of 16, and was buried in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States.

Brief Life History of Sarah Ann
Sarah Ann Wood was born on 8 April 1827, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, her father, David Wood, was 27 and her mother, Catherine Crites, was 29. She married Hyrum Oaks on 6 December 1846, in Winter Quarters, Washington, Nebraska. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 6 daughters. She lived in Provo, Utah, Utah, in 1860 and Timpanogos, Wasatch, Utah, in 1880. She died on 8 April 1906, in Vernal, Uintah, Utah, at the age of 79, and was buried in Maeser-Fairview Cemetery, Maeser, Uintah, Utah.

Brief Life History of Amanda
Amanda Wood was born on 2 September 1829, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, her father, David Wood, was 30 and her mother, Catherine Crites, was 31. She married Jesse Hughes McCarrel on 1 February 1849, in Honey Creek, Pottawattamie, Iowa. They were the parents of at least 8 sons and 4 daughters. She lived in Naples, Uintah, Utah, in 1900 and Vernal, Uintah, Utah, United States for about 10 years. She died on 8 February 1923, in Roosevelt, Duchesne, Utah, at the age of 93, and was buried in Vernal Memorial Park, Vernal, Uintah, Utah.

 Brief Life History of Delilah
Delilah Wood was born on 23 November 1831, in Cornwall, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, her father, David Wood, was 32 and her mother, Catherine Crites, was 33. She died on 14 October 1841, in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States, at the age of 9, and was buried in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois.

Brief Life History of William Osborn
William Osborn Wood was born on 11 August 1834, in New Johnstown, Stormont, Upper Canada, British North America, his father, David Wood, was 35 and his mother, Catherine Crites, was 36. He married Eliza Kettle on 8 October 1859, in American Fork, Utah. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 4 daughters. He lived in Provo, Utah, Utah, United States in 1860 and Wet Mountain Valley, Custer, Colorado, United States in 1870. He died on 11 July 1872, in Custer, Colorado, at the age of 37.

Brief Life History of Elizabeth Agnes
Elizabeth Agnes Wood was born on 11 July 1836, in Osnabruck Township, Stormont, Upper Canada, British North America, her father, David Wood, was 37 and her mother, Catherine Crites, was 38. She married Benjamin Mark Smith on 28 February 1855, in American Fork, Utah. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 4 daughters. She lived in Pottawattamie, Iowa, in 1850 and Utah, in 1870. She died on 4 February 1911, in Midway, Wasatch, Utah, at the age of 74, and was buried in Midway City Cemetery, Midway, Wasatch, Utah.

Brief Life History of Oscar Alexander
Oscar Alexander Wood was born on 30 September 1838, in South Stormont Township, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, his father, David Wood, was 39 and his mother, Catherine Crites, was 40. He married Mary Jane Robinson in 1860. He lived in Provo Valley, Utah, Utah in 1860 and Pinto, Washington, Utah, in 1870. He died on 9 October 1901, in Huntington, Emery, Utah at the age of 63, and was buried in Huntington, Emery, Utah. 

Heber Valley Heritage Foundation