Dr. Lorenzo Dow Wood
SITTER: Lorenzo Dow Wood (1807-1854) was born in Randolph County to John (1780-1851) and Eleanor (Walker) Wood (1775-1834). In 1831, at age 24, he matriculated to Transylvania Medical College in Lexington, Kentucky, and graduated in 1835. He returned to North Carolina, and on December 27, 1836, he married Rebecca J. Kennedy in Davidson County. Rebecca was the daughter of William Kennedy, Sheriff of Davidson County at the time. The couple, one child, and three enslaved individuals were listed in the 1840 Davidson County Census. Their marriage was not a happy one, however, and according to an 1845 divorce petition, Rebecca left Lorenzo in October of 1840 to live with her parents in Davidson County. The couple’s divorce was granted in 1845. In the 1850 Randolph County Census, Lorenzo was identified as a practicing physician living alone. He died on March 15, 1854, and his death was announced in the newspaper, North Carolinian, where his place of death was identified as Cedar Falls, Randolph County. He was buried in Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery where other family members were also buried. His estate inventory included “portrait of himself,” which was purchased by his younger sister Mary Wood (1812-1879), who never married. The portrait then descended in the family of their sister, Martitia (Wood) Coe.
