It's been a hot minute!

 It's been a long time since I've written on this blog.  I was recently inspired by a friend to start writing again.  I am thankful for that!  With that I am inspired to revisit a topic I covered 15 years ago.  The murder-suicide of my three times great grandparents, Joseph and Maria Wood.  

On October 23 Joseph Wood murdered his wife Maria Wood nee Wardell with an axe, before taking his own life with a razor.  Their young son, my two times great grandfather, George, slept in his crib in the next room.  

The newspapers covered this terrible event in pretty graphic detail, even by today's standards.  Speculation revolved around alcohol and jealousy being the motivation behind the deaths.  Recently I have been inspired to dig further. To tell their story.  So that I what I am setting out to do.  I plan to tell Joe and Maria's stories.  Through my research I want to find out more about what happened over 150 years ago.  They were more than just this one event.  Joe was a Civil War veteran.  Maria was a daughter and a sister.  

I have a lot of work ahead of me in researching and finding the documents that I need to tell their story.  I look forward to sharing my adventures with my readers and telling the story of my ancestors.  

What happened to Baby Louise?



Louise Mary Valley abt six months old

Up until recently I had a little girl, Louise Mary Valley, living with my Great Grandparents, Stanley and Lillian Lardie.  That's how Louise showed up on the census.  I had one of those moments where it finally occured to me that Louise's last name was Valley, not Lardie, not to mention I knew she wasn't my grandma's sister...or at least I hadn't heard of her from Grandma.  When I asked my Grandma about her, all she could remember was vague details.  So I set off to find out who Baby Louise was.

Louise as a toddler

I actually discovered who Baby Louise's parents were when I came across the article about John Peter Valley's death.  John was killed from injuries resulting from a car accident on 26 October 1917.  In the article is lists that John is survived by one daughter, Louise.  I found John and Louise's death certificates online at Seeking Michigan.  Louise's death certificate lists her parents as John Valley and Mildred Evans.  I also found that Louise was born 10 January 1912 and died 23 December 1920.

I knew from previous research that Mildred, or Millie as she is frequently listed, was John Peter Valley's wife.  Another search of Seeking Michigan's website revealed the Millie died from complications due to childbirth seven days after Louise was born.  Again this information was obtained from Millie's death certificate online at Seeking Michigan. 

Louise about age 8, I believe this was taken the summer before she died

So the sad death of both parents explains why baby Louise came to live with my Great Grandparents.  Sadly Louise contracted diptheria and died at eight years old.  At the same time my Great Grandparents, Stanley and Lillian's oldest son, John George, also died of complications of diptheria.  Baby John died on 18 Decemeber 1920, only seven months old.   Louise and John George were both laid to rest in St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Mapleton, Grand Traverse County, Michigan in the family plot. 

The Lardie/Valley family plot in St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Mapleton, Michigan

A closeup of the plaque on the center of the cross with the names of the family members buried in the plot. 

Wordless Wednesday

Lillian H. Lardie

My Great Grandmother as a small girl.  The photo was found in a box of old family photos.

Shocking Family Stories

Have you ever come across something so shocking in your research that it makes you say, “WHOA!” I think we all come across shocking family stories, but I think this one takes the award for the most shocking for me.


Recently I was researching and came across a Joseph and Maria Wood in the 1870 mortality schedule. Now if you don’t remember from awhile back, I found that Maria is the daughter of Eliakim Wardell (my 4th GrGrandfather. I had obtained Eliakim’s probate record from Ulster County, New York Surrogate Court. This is significant because I had information that Maria’s name was actually Mary. I can understand the difference of information with the name. From the same information I have, Joseph’s name is given as George. Maria and Joseph’s son, George Cornelius is my 2nd Gr Grandfather. Maria and Joseph had been a brickwall for me for sometime now.

So I had always know that George C. is found as a very young boy living with his Grandfather, Eliakim, and Aunts in the 1870 census. What puzzled me for a long time was why. My likely conclusion was that his parents had died. In the box of ‘stuff’ that my Great Aunt has (which I have referred to in the past) was George C’s obituary stating that he had lived with his Grandparents and Aunts as a young boy….but didn’t say why. It is also in the obit that his parents names are given as George and Mary. There was also a subpoena for George in the box of stuff for the reading of Eliakim’s will when he died in 1892. That is where I got the information to get the surrogate court file, which told me Mary was really Maria and that she was deceased.

So the other day I was searching on Ancestry and I searched for Maria Wood who died before 1870. I came across a couple Marias, but the one that struck me was the 1870 mortality schedule that lists Maria Wood 29 years old born in New York state died in October 1869 (seems the Schedule was done in June); her cause of death listed that she was murdered by her husband. The next line down was Joseph Wood age 45 years, born in New York state, occupation as a ship carpenter, also died in October 1869. Joseph’s cause of death is listed as suicide-cutting throat. I was a little taken aback and then felt bad for the people that are their family. I was curious though about this Joseph and Maria Wood. Perhaps they were some sort of relation after all. I made a post on Ancestry’s website to see if there was anyone who could help me as well as requested some research assistance through Random Acts of Genealogical Kindess (RAOGK).

A couple of weeks after posting to ancestry I got a search suggestion/help from another Ancestry member that had searched for Joseph and Maria on the Fulton County History website. Ok so I cut and pasted the search string "maria wife joseph wood october 1869 rondout", and searched……I found an article on the crime all right , but I got more than I bargained for!

Joseph Wood in a suspected fit of suspected rum induced jealousy killed his wife with a hatchet. His wife’s father’s testimony is given, his name Eliakim Wardell from Dutchess County, New York (WHAT?!) his testimony states that his daughter’s name is Maria Wardell (WHAT?! OMG!) She was the wife of Joseph Wood (I think you get what was going on in my head at this point). Later in the article it says that Maria and Joseph have one surviving child, a son named Georgie!

My GrGrGr Grandfather murdered his wife….my GrGrGr Grandmother. I immediately called my Dad and told him the story. WOW! I then called my Grandma (George is her Grandfather) and told her about my find. She told me she doesn’t think her Dad even knew about this. Probably not something that came up at dinner conversation.

I shared my find with some regulars on the GenealogyWise website chat room. Then drifted off onto more research which led me to a total of 4 articles about the event, one in the New York Times! Each one gives me a few details about my GrGrGrGrandarents that I didn’t have before. I have attached links to the articles online at the end of this post, but be forewarned, some of the details are rather graphic…even by today’s standards.

So I have some answers, but , of course, now I have more questions. Where are Maria and Joseph buried? Does the records from the Coroner’s inquest still exist? How do I get a coy? And of course some doubt that is this really my family…the evidence is hard to dispute here.


Links to the Articles:
New York Times "The Rondout Horror"
The New York Times "Crimes and Criminals"
The [Hudon] Evening Register "The Rondout Tragedy!"