1 20 2 https://archives.kentshill.org/files/original/10/37/Collection_RevWilliamWood_watch.pdf c4ee4aac8bf0168632c30504af798bb8 PDF Text Text %*• u 0* / ■ n �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rev.William Wood Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rev. William Woods Pocket Watch Description An account of the resource "This watch was presented to me by Dr. Henry P. Torsey at Kents Hill School in 1891. A fine time-keeper. - Wm.Wood Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1891 https://archives.kentshill.org/files/original/10/38/Collection_Rev.WilliamWood1892_CharlotteKillam1963.pdf a50a8ae41cc96b36b927d9f6d0855d0f PDF Text Text The Creator of The Kents Hill Hymn The Rev. William Wood, Kents Hill Class of 1892 By Charlotte Killam, Class of 1963 The Rev. William Wood was my great-uncle. He died before I was born but this information comes from my mother, (Mary Wood Killam, KH Class of 1936) and family documents. William Wood was born in Ryegate, Kent County, England in the fall of 1863. He was the second oldest of what would eventually be a total of 9 siblings. His parents, John and Mary Couchman Wood had lived in various small hamlets in Kent County when John's work as a shepherd and husbandman compelled him to find new work. Lured by the promise of land he could own, he came to Canada in 1871 to investigate farming property. He went back to England in 1872 and prepared to take the family to this new land they would call home. George (1861), William (1863), Fred (1865), Horace (1867), Lucy (1869) and twins Thomas and Edith (1872) comprised the family at the time. Sadly, the young Thomas died just as the family as about to embark on their journey and his sister Edith died just after they reached Ontario. Joining them was Mary's mother, Elizabeth Couchman, or "Grandma Couchman" as she is referred to in existing records. My mother recalls her father, Horace, remembering chasing lambs in Kent and being awed by the White Cliffs of Dover. The journey by ship in the fall of 1873 lasted more than five weeks. The family landed in a tiny town near Toronto that fall and stayed there for the first six years. John worked on various farms in that area and about 1880 he was able to buy land about 30 miles west of Toronto in a place called Luther, near the town of Grand Valley. �nd harvest crops, and split There the family worked hard to clear fields, plant a years on the rails for fences. Two more children were born during t ese farm; Charles in 1874 and John Wesley In 1876. The boys worked long their father on the farm and there are no educational recor s them going beyond Grade 6. The family had converted from Church of England to Wesleyan Methodis leaving England. The Wood family was instrumental in building a Wes ey Chapel in Luther and Rev. William Wood prided himself that he had preache there several times. Eventually the children grew and chose occupations. George became a celebrated apiarist in Grand Valley; Fred and Charles stayed in the farming business in Manitoba and Ontario; Lucy married John Henry Pearce and in the 1890's became some of the first settlers in Regina, Saskatchawan. It is the story of the three brothers who came to the States, William, Horace and John Wesley, that is of most interest to me. Before they left England, the Woods were good friends with a family by the name of A. W. Shaw. The Shaws left England about the same time as did the Woods and chose to settle in Lisbon, Maine. Mr. Shaw opened a cobblers business that was quite successful and eventually provided more work than he could handle by himself. According to family anecdotes, he wrote to John Wood in Ontario and asked if there was a son who would be willing to come to the States and work for him. George declined the offer but William snapped it up. He HATED farm work and apparently determined that anything would be an improvement. So he came to Lisbon, Maine sometime in the early 1880's. But, alas, he found that he equally detested the cobbler business! My mother, Mary Wood Killam, said "So he decided that being a minister would be much easier and started on the road to becoming a Methodist preacher." He had work in Vassalboro and Cornish ME before coming to Kents Hill in the Class of 1892. We have no records of how many years he was a student or how he compensated for the lack of previous education. But when he graduated he had his religious degree from Maine /' , I �___________ Wesleyan Seminary and Female College (aka Kents Hill). His obituary states that he attended Boston University but there are no family records indicating that. Again needing help in the shop, Mr. Shaw wrote to John Wood and asked if he had another son who would be willing to undertake the same kind of employment. Fred, the next in line, declined and my grandfather, Horace, set out for the States. He worked in the shop for several years before marrying and moving to Readfield, ME to take up farming. By 1890 John Wood had died and Mary Couchman Wood did not have the means to adequately support the two boys still at home, Charles and John Wesley. So when Mr. Shaw offered to take another boy on as an apprentice, John Wesley was sent to Maine in the care of the two brothers who were already here and the Shaw family. John Wesley "took to the shoe business like a duck to water"' (family quote!) and when, a few years later, Mr. Shaw died, he left him the business. John Wesley ran that business for a few years and eventually entered into a partnership in Auburn, ME with a Guy Smith to manufacture shoes for children. The company was very successful and John Wesley became quite wealthy. The family always maintained that Rev. William Wood was "wild with jealousy and regretted that he had passed up the best chance of his life"! Rev. Wood married Helena Sterling Snellgrove of Berlin, NH in 1895. They had one child, Paul, born in 1901, who died the same day he was born. As is the custom with the Methodist Church, clergy are frequently moved. Rev. Wood served in many pastorates in Maine and New Hampshire; Colebrook, NH in 1893, Boothbay Harbor in 1899, Berlin, NY 1900-02, Bridgton, ME 1906, Cape Porpoise, ME 1908-10, Kents Hill, ME 1910-15, Madison, ME 1918, Kennebunk, ME 1922-26, Bath, ME 1926-28, Wilton, ME 1928-30. He retired to Bath, ME where he served that church for two years. Rev. Wood was known as "The Poet of Maine Methodism" and his poems appeared frequently in Maine and Boston newspapers. He published one volume of verse, "Kennebunk and Vicinity in Poetry and Pictures", in 1927. �Itimes The most memorable was in He went back to his childhood home several times. Qod Ki||am/ he, 1936 when, as a graduation present for my mother, a week trjp tQ brother John Wesley Wood and wife Eula, and my mot er place" she Ontario. My mother said that although she enjoyed seeing home to see was much more interested in the stop that they made on the way the Dionne Quintuplets who had been born the previous year. It was while he was serving as pastor at Kents Hill that he introduced his brother Horace to my grandmother, Bertha Symmes, of Billerica, MA. Rev. Wood performed their wedding in the Kents Hill parsonage on November 9,1911. My mother graduated from Kents Hill in 1936. My father, Robert Killam, had lived in Readfield but his family had moved to Danvers, MA by the time he started high school. My parents were married in 1940 and lived in Readfield for the next 30 years. I graduated from Kents Hill in 1963. Rev. Wood died in Bath Maine, in 1937 and is buried in Berlin, NH. The Kents Hill Hymn has always been special to me I I am giving the Kents Hill archives two notebooks of unpublished poems and a notebook of poems published in various newspapers, plates that were owned by Rev. Wood, his pocket watch that was a gift from Dr. Torsey, a pen knife that he always carried and a spoon owned by his wife Lena. �SK lj,i[l6m hJc(,l sn kiiii t "in mn LS—□UL_J .I— ^E~3!ZZj _JOC~3' ‘I 1?^1A :rrxzaq I*V1 »iK! IS® n ■M ■Ju. w di ■^?W !%v. W ■ II yify^A % •.*> ■ w- S'; EHjahrk ,>’:/- i.- O'^-; ? i SO .-j'O'. ■ '-O ..-; ! f'lcrQcz,. Cl) cik4 to -s b <? n t ([Q LJtccl Iji ll i ^tV{ 4t e C. lY^O c"cL �S! 3 ET-' 6 i 0 -'•' r^- -ir-1 I ! I °r ! ' -------- 7>kq LCoed l^i (I a-W !}%&/. L^'t7l. I^DcA I ■ Ucicl. R>ii ftiecz f\£t/ tJi'A. C' 3<J) CLIlCif I o 1-J « Ktllam C^) Rei/. lAn. Ldc:cl �REJECTED a WGJOURNTdj^ STATE CHAT AN ALUMNI TRIBUTE TO J. O. N. (Prof. Newton of. Kents Hill) He had a vision, and a will Invincible! Stout-hearted, He hitched his wagon to a star. And on life’s journey started. Whither bound he scarcely hnew An inner urge commanded, He bade farewell to home and friends, His heart with hope expanded. His parents shared his youthful dreams. And, tenderly caressing, Assured him of their constant pray- [ ers And fond, abiding blessing. A Latin motto gripped his heart. Its simple English meaning, “Take no steps backward”,—Anti-, dote For all ignoble learning. Five decades have come and gone. Since that vision of the youth Urged him forth he knew not ■where. In search bf all-alluring truth. Now the man with tasks completed, Loved and honored far and wide By a host to whom those decades Made him Teacher, Friend, and Guide We crown, If tributes ever crown. And praise, if words can truly praise; Cents Hill and “J. O. N.” were one Through all those happy yester­ days, nd one they ever must remain Through all the days that are to be; heir noble deeds and. worthy aims Have made enduring history■William Wood, ’92 Written for the Boston Banquet, arch 19. j J A stranger s<bod at the gates of Hell And the devil hilnself answered the bell He looked at him from head to toe And said, "My friend, I’d like to know What you have done in the line of sin To entitle you to come within." smile Then Franklin D with his usual guile Stepped forth and flashed his toothy smile. "When I took over in thirty-three Anation* s fate was mine," said he. "I promised this and I promised that, And I calmed them down with a fireside chat. I spent their money on fishing trips And fished from the decks of their battleships. I gave them jobs on the W.P.A. Then raised their taxes and took it away. I raised their wages and closed their shops. I killed their pigs and burned their crops. . I double-crossed both old and young And still the fools my praises sung. I brought back beer, and what do you thinfe I taxed it so high they couldn’t drink. I furnished money with government loans, When they missed a payment I took their homes. If I wanted to punish the folks, you know I’d put my wife on the radio. I paid them to let their farms lie still And—imported-£oods±u£fs jfrom Brazil. I curtained crops, when I felt real mean, I shipped in wheat from the Argentine. When they’d start to wori*y stew and fret, I’d get them to chanting the alphabet. With the A.A.A. and the N.L. B. The p.W.A. and the C.C.C. With these units I’d get their goats And still I’d cram it down their throats. My workers worked with the speed of snails While the tax— payers chewed their fingernails. When the organizers needed dough I closed up their plants with the C.I.O. I ruined their jobs and I ruined their health I put the screws on the rich man’s wealth. And some, who couldn’t stand the gaff, Would come to me, and how I’d laugh. Whem they chased me up on certain things, I’d pack and leave for old Warm Spring. I ruined all they had and them I placed the blame on nine old men." Now Franklin talked both long and loud As the devil listened with his head bowed. At last he said, "Let’s make it clear, You’ll have to move, you can’t stay here. For once you mingled with this mob, I’d have to hunt another job." lcqn ! 1 �P5V sawd » Yests “ <3JSents &Mymn Tune: “Matema” The fathers name and viewed this land, These hills and valleys fain Its lakes, like precious gems, adorn The landscape rich and rare: Kents Hill, Kents Hill, the beautiful, Long may this vision stay, Of hills and dales and fertile fields To cheer us on our way. Here saints and seers and hopeful youth Commingle in the quest For life abundant and the power To be and do our best: Kents Hill, Kents Hill, the wonderful, What charm thy name recalls In vanished personalities Amid these stately halls. Here scholars breathed ambrosial air And tasted hallowed sweets While learning in these halls of light And mingling on these streets: Kents Hill, Kents Hill, though beautiful, — -A hidderTpower is 'thirie ~— “ * -~By God’s good grace above all else, A spirit all divine. The fathers saw beyond The Hill, And we that vision share: To Heights Beyond they led the way With faith and courage rare: Kents Hill, Kents Hill, we will pursue That star in Yonder Sky Thar leads to service here below And honors God on High. Kents Hill, Kents Hill, the Masterful To all who come and go, Implant thy spirit in our hearts For conquests here below: To thee. Kents Hill, we will be true, Enchanted by thy lure, Make good thy confidence in us • While Fellowships endure. —William Wood, *92 paster in i i of Maine i ■----- ~~Z ~ • 74. •‘:incn Vfflihun, ,5ains coni °xetilndist-Episcopal 18JJ3 Eference vid»iv kn&’vndied WedChurches and -fJhodisin," Poet. of Maine od nesday monJn=, . mg front| Washington st£*v. came j Rev. £«?««« jwas a boyand he came u> the’States in his late 'teens. Attending j>ravS Hill Seminary he graduated wiur .no class of 1332 and while a student a» • that institution he pres died at V'assalboro. He also attended Boston Uni­ versity. His career as a minister of the gospel included parishes in Cornish, Berlin. N. H„ Boothbay Harbor, Ken­ nebunkport. Madison, Kittery, South , Portland, Cape Porpoise, Kent’s Hill, Bridgton, Readfield Corner and Wil­ ton. His wife, the late Helen Sncllerovc Wood, died two years ago last March. A son died in his early years. ■ ‘ . Four brothers and a sister survive: ’ John W. Wood. Auburn; Horace Wood, I ■’.eadfield; Frederick Wood. Davidson,I skaicliewan; Charles Wood, Carman, Manitoba; and Mrs. Jarnos H. Pex-ce, Brora, Saskatchewan. The funeial will bc held at. 10.30 a.m.,. Friday m Eeaeon Street. Methodist-i Episcopal church where, durinp. his re­ tirement, he had preached on numer­ ous occasions. Rev. Arthur A. Callaghan, superintendent ol th* Au­ gusta district of the Maine ConforKel,-di’rdine, pastur ot ii.* church, will officiate. k.1”0 .COd? ’)e.liken to Berlin 1bi the family lot. I <137 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rev.William Wood Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Creator of the Kents Hill Hymn: The Rev. William Wood, Kents Hill Class of 1892 Subject The topic of the resource Brief essay and copied photos about Rev William Wood Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource written by Charlotte Killam, Class of 1963