Susan Gerard Taylor Wood
(Mrs. Martin J. Wood)
PIONEER RESIDENT PASSES AWAY
Mrs. Susan G. Wood, widow of Martin Wood, one of Crown Point's early attorneys, in fact the second lawyer coming to Lake County in 1848, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Sohl, in Hammond, last Wednesday evening at the age of 92 years.The deceased prior to her marriage to Mr. Wood in 1849, was Susan G. Taylor of Porter County, although born in Shelby County, Ohio in 1828. She was a resident of Crown Point for over a half century and was widely known in the southern portion of Lake County by the older inhabitants. For quite a number of years before her death she enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest member of Lake County Old Settler's and Historical Society and during her later life furnished much data of the early history of the county.
For the past twenty years or more she had resided with her daughters, Mrs. Sohl and Mrs. Helena Amos in Hammond.
OBITUARY
Susan Gerard Taylor was born Jan. 21, 1828, in Shelby County, Ohio, coming to Indiana in 1845, where she was since resided. She was married to Martin Wood, one of Indiana's pioneer lawyers, Aug.28th, 1849. She was the mother of eleven children, seven of whom lived to maturity as follows: Mrs. Cordella Herick, Owen J. Benton and Fred Wood, of Kansas; Mrs. Helena Amoss and Mrs. Cynthia Sohl of Hammond, and Harvey Wood, who only recently passed away, as did Mrs. Herick a few years since.
Coming from Ohio in a prairie schooner, the trip occupying two week's time, thus it will be seen that her life has spanned a period of marked changes.
Being the daughter of a Methodist minister, it was natural that her church affiliations would be with her father's faith, and as a result, her life was interwoven with the affairs of the church of her choice in Crown Point, where she was a pillar of strength, but her influence for good could not be and was not confined to that church alone.
In the pioneer days of the W.C.T.U., she was a district manager and a prime mover, likewise believing that the temperance and other righteous causes would be advanced with the right of franchise given to women, she became a sponsor for that cause and it was much joy to her that she was spared to witness the fulfillment of her hopes and prayers.
In brief, the life story of a notable woman, but only those who knew her in the prime of her great mental and physical strength which embraced a period of half a century or more, can even in a small degree appreciate the extent of her usefulness to the community where she lived.
She not only gave to her large interesting and appreciative family the full measure of ideal motherhood but out of the fullness of her Christian life, she virtually showered upon all those about her fruits of a brilliant mind, a generous heart and a boundless energy.
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