First Generation  

1. William James WOOD [51986] was born in 1809 in Kent England and died on 29 Apr 1874 at age 65.

General Notes: In an eMail, dated March the 13th, 2008, Anthony Wood said:
Regarding Preston and Preston River,
Preston or Preston river is the river that runs through a town now called Donnybrook, Western Australia (once called Minninup and also callled Preston) Donnybrook is situated between Boyanup <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyanup,_Western_Australia> and Kirup <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirup,_Western_Australia> on the South Western Highway <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Western_Highway>, located on the Preston River 206 km south of Perth Western Australia.
In 1842 five Irish immigrants, with four servants, arrived in the district \endash Wellington location 55 - intending to establish farms on the 130 hectares they had been granted. The farms were short lived. The men tried their luck with horses, cattle and sheep but all failed and they abandoned their settlement by February 1843.
They called their property Donnybrook after the suburb of Dublin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin>, Ireland <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland> from where they came. At that time the name referred to the immigrant's property \endash Donnybrook - and not a town site.
Many of the Wood family have been born at Preston. The reason Preston is recorded rather than Donnybrook has an interesting development.
After 1850, a number of Europeans arrived in the district to take up land for farming and pastoral leases.
In the late 1850s, William Ramsey of Minninup, near Capel, drove his cattle to a property he had taken up on the north side of the Preston River. He camped at a creek where it entered the Preston River and the place became known as Minninup.
A memorandum of 7 November 1877, from 'settlers and landowners on the Preston River and in the vicinity of the Minninup Police Station on the Blackwood River' requested the provision of a post office and mail service. They suggested that if a post office were established it should be named Preston 'as there is a Minninup on the Vasse Road.'
In 1892, as the town and district had developed considerably, the Post Office became the Preston Post and Telegraph Office.
The townsite of Donnybrook was gazetted on 12 October 1894. In 1895, the railway opened through from Boyanup; the rail station, formerly known as Minninup, was named Donnybrook despite opposition from the Central Preston Progress Association (formed 1894) which had wanted it named Preston. At this date the school was still Minninup but the Post office was Preston as was the Preston Roads Board.

William married Sarah HURST [51987] [MRIN: 18541] on 23 Aug 1844 in Bunbury Colony of Western Australia. Sarah was born in 1827 in Claybrook Leicestershire England and died on 08 Aug 1901 at age 74.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 2 M    i. William Henry WOOD [51988] was born on 12 Apr 1846 in Australind Colony of Western Australia and died on 20 Aug 1924 in Gore Southland New Zealand at age 78.

+ 3 M    ii. Alfred WOOD [51992] was born on 10 Dec 1847 in Australind Colony of Western Australia, was christened on 01 May 1848 in Bunbury Colony of Western Australia, and died in 1927 at age 80.

+ 4 F    iii. Mary Ann WOOD [51993] was born on 20 Jul 1849 in Brunswick River Colony of Western Australia and died in 1893 at age 44.

+ 5 M    iv. Basil WOOD [51991] was born on 26 May 1851 in Bunbury Colony of Western Australia and died in 1907 in Wellington Wellington New Zealand at age 56.

+ 6 M    v. George WOOD [51994] was born in 1853 in Preston River Colony of Western Australia and died on 05 Aug 1933 in Northcote Auckland New Zealand at age 80.

+ 7 M    vi. Abraham WOOD [51995] was born in 1855 in Bunbury Colony of Western Australia and died in 1910 at age 55.

+ 8 M    vii. William James WOOD [51996] was born in 1857 in Upper Preston Colony of Western Australia and died on 28 Sep 1934 in Donnybrook WA Australia at age 77.

+ 9 M    viii. Anthony WOOD [51997] was born on 21 Jul 1859 in Bunbury Colony of Western Australia and died on 20 Dec 1936 in Donnybrook WA Australia at age 77.

+ 10 M    ix. Richard WOOD [27386] was born on 05 Sep 1861 in Donnywongup Farm Nr. Donnybrook Colony of Western Australia, died on 23 Jan 1930 in Feilding Manawatu New Zealand at age 68, and was buried on 25 Jan 1930 in Feilding Manawatu New Zealand.

+ 11 M    x. Thomas WOOD [51998] was born in 1863 in Perth Colony of Western Australia and died in 1933 at age 70.

   12 M    xi. Walter WOOD [51999] was born in 1865 and died in 1866 at age 1.