120 and 130 West Main Street – Wood or Creed Homes

  Thomas Woods was responsible for building much of the White Home’s fencing, brick chimneys, smoke house and more!

City Directories and History: 1906 RH PO Ledger: Ms. V.B. Wood, Ms. Vista Wood, Paulina Wood, Rhoda Wood, F.T. Wood, 1906 – @230 W. Main – B.W. Creed, Whitfield Creed, Town Creed, Paulina Creed, 1908 – Mrs. Paulina L. Wood (#120 West Main St.,), 1917 – NA, 1922/23 – Ms. B.V. Wood, B.W. Creed, Sewing Machines (#@ 130 West Main St), 1946 – Pauline Creed, Henrietta Creed, 1963 – Pauline K. Creed

His Grandfather Thomas and Uncle Henry Thomas and John’s father started a little tobacco business in Lawsonville, and John’s father came to Rock Hill, South Carolina and brought his family to live, while he peddled tobacco in the surrounding territory. His father built the house that is known as the “Woods house” on West Main Street, and lived there until he died in 1867. (Report from the Anderson Home at #227 Oakland Avenue)

R&R HISTORY LINK: the White Home’s history is linked closely to that of Thomas Wood the contractor.

The Rock Hill Herald announced on Oct. 28, 1886 – “The Thomas Wood family have moved into their new home on Main Street.” (According the historian Wm. B. White, Jr., the Creeds had lived on the west side of Watson’s Branch on what is today West Main Street.)

The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Jan. 20, 1892 – “Ms. B.V. Wood was removed from her position as Postmaster and Col. C.J. Pride was put in her place.  She had held the position since 1873.”

The Herald reported on Dec. 16, 1896 – “F.T. Wood is erecting a barn and stables at his residence on West Main Street.”

The Herald reported on March 3, 1900 – “Mr. B.W. Creed has gone to Florida for business via the Rock Hill Harrow Company.”

The Herald reported on July 16, 1902 – “this lot was offered for sale for the new federal building.  It was offered by Ms. B.V. Wood and was described as the Thomas Wood’s homestead on Main Street.”  (In 1908 this was #120 West Main Street.)

A receipt for payment dated May 3, 1856 to Thomas Wood for construction of a chimney. Records also show that he provided the foundation rock for the main house as well as built the brick outbuildings along what would become Elizabeth Lane. Courtesy of the White Family Collection – 2008

“We move now to that part of West Main that was near the Charlotte/Columbia rail line. On the north side of Main Street stood the house of the Wood family. The father of this family was Tom Wood, a brick mason and carpenter. His wife was Paulina Kerr, sister of Josephine Kerr, who married Miles Johnson. The Wood daughters who lived in this house were Misses Carrie, Nannie, and Buena Vista. Miss Nannie was the stenographer for the Equitable Life Agency for many years. Miss Buena was for nineteen years the postmistress of Rock Hill. Another daughter, Florence Wood, married Basil Whitfield Creed. They built a two-story house just to the west of the Wood house and lived there with their children for many years. The Wood and Creed lots are now a part of the property occupied by The Herald.” [Robbins – White Tour History]

The roofs of the family homes remained viable in this aerial image from the mid 20th century. The houses sat on West Black approximately where the Herald Newspaper offices are located in 2016.

Daniel Kerr, Sr., born c.1760, died c.1820, was married Oct. 24, 1790, to Elizabeth (―Betty‖) Rooker, born 1763, died 1854. Both Daniel and Betty Kerr were born probably in Virginia. They had four children: (1) James Kerr, a veteran of the War of 1812, who was married on July 27, 1815, to Nancy Jones (born Nov. 10, 1793), sister of Rhoda Jones. James Kerr was born in York County, S. C., in 1791. He and Nancy moved to Rome, Floyd Co., Georgia, in 1849. (2) William Kerr, also a veteran of the War of 1812. Born Jan. 26, 1793. Died Oct. 7, 1873. He was a native of York County, S. C. He was postmaster at Rock Hill, S. C., from 1870 to 1873. His was the third burial in Laurelwood Cemetery, Rock Hill, S. C. He married (–). Caroline Clark Kerr, his daughter, lived with Daniel and Betty (Rooker) Kerr.

She went to Indiana in 1826 with Betty Kerr and her company. While there, she married against her family‘s wishes. She lived in Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, and died when her baby was born. (3) Daniel Kerr, Jr. Born in York County, S. C., on May 13, 1795. Died Mar. 16, 1876. He was married on May 22, 1821, to Rhoda Jones, who was born on the Jones plantation on Turkey Creek in York County, S. C. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. Rhoda Jones was baptized by Lorenzo Dow, a widely known Methodist circuit rider. (4) Jennings Banks Kerr. Born Sept. 9, 1802, in York County, S. C. Died on June 17, 1865. He married Jane Walkup. Born May 7, 1804. Died Dec. 2, 1872. She was from Mecklenburg Co., N. C. They lived in Charlotte, N. C., and are buried in Elmwood Cemetery there. Our interest will center on the family of Daniel Kerr, Jr., and wife, Rhoda Jones.

In 1826 Betty (Rooker) Kerr, her son Daniel Kerr, Jr., his wife, Rhoda (Jones) Kerr, with two of their children, Jerome and Paulina, together with William Kerr, another son of Betty (Rooker) Kerr, and his daughter Caroline Clark Kerr, went in a covered wagon from the Jones plantation on Turkey Creek, near Yorkville, S. C., to Charlestown, Indiana. They camped out at night.

Thomas Woods requests Ann H. White pay one Robert Pearson $20., in 1871 – Courtesy of the White Collection/HRH 2008

They lived in Charlestown till Paulina Kerr was about twelve years old. Nancy Josephine Kerr, second daughter of Daniel and Rhoda Kerr, was born in Charlestown on June 12, 1828. Caroline Clark Kerr was married in Charlestown against her father‘s wishes (as stated above) and went to Louisville to live. She died during childbirth. On their trip back to South Carolina about 1838, they stopped in Mecklenburg County, N. C., at the plantation home of Jennings Banks Kerr, youngest son of Betty (Rooker) Kerr. Here they stayed, visiting Jennings for almost a year. They decided to return to Indiana. They got as far as the Cumberland Gap, and decided to return to York District, S. C. They settled in that county and lived there many years. Betty was living with her granddaughter Paulina (Kerr) Wood when Betty‘s death came in 1854, at the Spence place in York District. She was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Yorkville, S. C., beside her sister, Annie Alexander, just inside the cemetery gate. N. Josephine Kerr married Miles Johnson, of Yorkville.

Then Daniel and Rhoda Kerr came to Rock Hill to live with their daughter, Paulina. Daniel died on Mar. 16, 1876, and Rhoda died on May 28, 1887. William Kerr (1793-1873) also died at Paulina‘s in Rock Hill. His was the third burial in Laurelwood Cemetery. He was appointed

In 1845 Daniel Kerr was paid, $1.00 by the estate of David Hutchison for the repair of a clock. Courtesy of the White Family Collection – 2008

postmaster of Rock Hill in 1870 by President U. S. Grant, and he was ably assisted in his work by his grand-niece Buena Vista Wood, who became postmistress at his death three years later. Buena Vista Wood had as her assistant her younger sister, Florence Wood, till her marriage to Basil Whitfield Creed, on Oct 15, 1890. Miss Buena was postmistress until 1892. She died on Nov. 27, 1938. From this point onward we use the words of Paulina Kerr Creed, a granddaughter of Thomas Wood and Paulina (Kerr) Wood, his wife. The writer is indebted to the late Miss Creed for the use of her research notes from the 1960‘s and 1970‘s.

I have always deeply regretted that our grandfather Thomas Wood did not live to know any of us. He died about two years before Mamma and Dad were married. Thomas Wood was born Mar. 10, 1810 in Lexington, North Carolina. He never spoke to his wife or his children about his birthplace or his family. Consequently, very little was ever known about his early life. He came to Yorkville and married Granny on Apr. 22, 1842. He was a brickmason by trade, and he and Granny lived for a few months at the White Rose Hotel in Yorkville before they started housekeeping. Henrietta and I have their first dining table in the entrance hall or foyer of our new house, at 621 Hanover Court, Rock Hill. It is made of beautiful walnut wood and is a gateleg table with two drop leaves. It served as a kitchen table Downhome (130 West Main Street, Rock Hill) till we had it done over about 1956. We then let Tom Creed have it till his death in 1967.

Thomas Wood and his family lived in Yorkville till about 1850 or 1852, when they moved to the Spence place below Rock Hill, so Grandpa Wood could work on the old Land‘s-ford Canal, which was being repaired at the time, according to what we have been told by other family members. Several events occurred while the family was living at Land‘s-ford. Aunt Nannie Wood was born on Aug. 10, 1856, and Granny‘s grandmother, Betty (Rooker) Kerr, died there.

The Wood family moved into the new town of Rock Hill, South Carolina, about the year 1857-58, in time for my mother, Florence (Wood) Kerr, to be born on West Black Street on Feb. 11, 1860. There were eleven children born to my grandparents. Eight lived to maturity.
Grandpa Wood moved his family to West Main Street about 1870, when he bought property known as the Anderson place. This house was built west of the railroad tracks, near what became West Main Street, in the late 1860‘s by William H. Anderson, who was the father of the well-known Rock Hill manufacturer of buggies and automobiles, John Gary Anderson. Either the old Anderson house was enlarged and thoroughly remodeled about 1885 or Thomas Wood built an entirely new house in that year. The details about this matter are sketchy. We have no picture of Grandpa Thomas Wood, but I’ve heard him described as a tall, angular man, with a strong constitution. He volunteered for service to the Confederacy and was in a cavalry regiment till an attack of some kind forced him into a different type of service. He then drove an ambulance, and was on duty at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Illness finally forced Thomas Wood out of military service, except for Home Guard duty in Rock Hill. Granny always called her husband ―Mr. Wood‖, perhaps because he was fourteen years older than she. He had a very short ―temper‖ and had a hard time controlling it, but finally he was able to do so and was converted several years before his death on Dec. 12, 1888. On his deathbed he spoke of seeing angels waiting to take him to Heaven.

A well-known landmark still standing in Rock Hill is the brick building of Ebenezer Academy. This structure was erected by Thomas Wood shortly after he moved to Rock Hill. The date of construction was probably c.1859-60.  John J. Biggers made the brick used for the building. (The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Jan. 23, 1889 – “Mr. John J. Bigger died at his residence one half miles east of Rock Hill.)  Thomas Wood‘s wife, Paulina Louisa Kerr, was born Nov. 12, 1824, on the Jones plantation several miles northwest of York (or Yorkville), S. C. Granny lived a full life. She was the middle child of three born to Rhoda (Jones) Kerr and Daniel Kerr, Jr., who attained maturity. A young brother, Hickson Napoleon Kerr, is buried in the old cemetery in York. Granny spent twelve years of her childhood in Charlestown, Indiana – from 1826 to 1838. In her sixteenth year she was married to Thomas Wood, from Lexington, N. C. She was married in a pink merino dress. They lived for several months in the White Rose Hotel in Yorkville. Five of Granny‘s children were born in Yorkville: Laura Josephine, Jerome Leonidas, Buena Vista, Thomas Foster, and Rhoda Elizabeth.

The roofs of the family homes remained visible in this aerial image from the mid 20th century. The houses sat on West Black approximately where the Herald Newspaper offices are located in 2016.

In the early 1850‘s Thomas Wood moved his family to Landsford, east of Rock Hill, where he had contracted to work on the canal around the rapids in the Catawba River. While they were living there at the old Spence place, Nancy Jane Wood was born on Aug. 10, 1856. Granny‘s grandmother, Betty (Rooker) Kerr, who came from Yorkville with the family, died at Land‘s-ford in 1854. Her body was taken back to Yorkville in a wagon and buried beside her sister, Annie (Rooker) Alexander. The family had moved into Rock Hill and was living on West Black Street when Florence Emma (my mother [meaning Paulina K. Creed‘s mother]) was born on Feb. 11, 1860. Anna Caroline was born on Mar. 29, 1862.

When Capt. Robin C. Jones organized a cavalry troop, Grandpa Thomas Wood joined the Confederate service on Jan. 9, 1862. His age on the official papers is given as forty-six, but according to his gravestone, he was born in 1810 and was fifty-two at the time of his enlistment. In the early 1870‘s the Wood family moved to West Main Street, having purchased two lots that had formerly belonged to William H. Anderson, father of the late John G. Anderson of Rock Hill. Here Grandpa Wood died in the year 1888. Uphome, as the house was named, was at the center of the family life for many years. And that life centered around Granny. The house seemed to be elastic, since any number of visitors could be accommodated. Cousin Mattie Kerr Glass from Spartanburg would bring several of her children for a week or so in the summertime. The Woods from Chester, Eunice McConnell from Yorkville, or Cousin Minnie (Johnson) Rudisil from Charlotte came often. The whole family connection loved Granny, and Aunt Rhoda Wood‘s cooking! As Granny grew older, Aunt Rhoda devoted more of her time to waiting on her and reading to her.

Granny was exceedingly fortunate in that she had her four unmarried daughters, ―Bune‖, ―Pug‖, ―Nan‖, and ―Cad, with her to the end. She had her own chair in the corner of her room near the fire. In the summer she wore a white barred muslin dress and occasionally sat on the front porch. She went once a year to spend the day with Aunt Laura Owens. After Aunt Jo Johnson became ill at Cousin Carrie Heath‘s, Aunt Rhoda took Granny to visit her several times in the afternoon with Old Tom hitched to the phaeton. Except for the two visits to Piedmont Springs and an

Mrs. Paulina Kerr Woods

occasional trip to Yorkville or Chester, Granny never left town. The deaths of Aunt Jo[sephine] in 1911 and Uncle Foster in 1912 had their effect upon her spirit and body. She died just before Christmas in 1915, as is buried beside Grandpa Wood in Laurelwood Cemetery. [Along the Lands Ford Road, Vol. I – William B. White, Jr.]

The Herald reported on Oct. 13, 1897 – “That A.D. Holler is to erect homes for B.W. Creed and T. Wood on Main Street.”

The Herald reported on July 19, 1899 – “Mr. F.T. Wood has returned to Rock Hill from Lancaster, where he has finished his contract to make a million brick for Mr. LeRoy Springs.”

The Rock Hill Journal in July 4, 1902 contained an ad for the S.W. Creed and Co., on Depot St., stating they were selling the New Home sewing machine.

Click on the More Information > link found below the picture column for additional data or pictures.  Click on Laurelwood Cemetery Tours for Paulina Creek’s gravesite.

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R&R HISTORY LINK: Florence Pauline Wood’s Autograph Booklet

R&R HISTORY LINK: Wood sisters die within days of each others…

R&R HISTORY LINK: ANDERSON HOUSE ON OAKLAND AVE

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