Henry L. Wood Pickens Co., SC has spawned many Blount Co. AL families including the family of Henry Lawrence Wood and Ida Mauldin. Henry was born Sept. 26, 1873 to Jennie Wood, daughter of James M. and Elizabeth Mauldin Wood of Pickens Co., SC. During the 1880’s the Wood family began a migration south through DeKalb Co., GA and over into Cleburne Co., AL by 1886. Henry attended school in the historic Shoal Creek Church in what is now the Talladega National Forest. His mother, Jennie and aunts and uncles are buried in the Rabbit Town Cem. in Cleburne Co. In early 1900 Henry decided Cleburne Co. wasn’t the place for him and headed for greener pastures. He had big dreams and schemes for a better life. He’d heard Blount Co. was good farm land so he headed in that direction. When he got to the Hendrix community, he asked Wilkie Mauldin if he needed a farm hand. Mr. Mauldin said he did and Henry stayed for 2 years. The second year he was with the Mauldin family, he was able to buy a small cart and horse with his share of the crop money. Wilkie and Idella Moses Mauldin had a young daughter named Ida Lenora, born Aug. 1, 1886. Henry’s daughter Edna remembers her daddy saying “I’d look at her and say to myself --She’s going to be mine even if I have to steal her.” Mr. Mauldin thought Henry was a good farm hand but wasn’t too enthused about him as a potential suitor for his daughter. Henry and Ida decided to elope to Gadsden so they left a note under the flower tray so her folks wouldn’t worry. After leaving Gadsden, Henry took his new bride back to Cleburne Co. to meet Jennie. The farming hadn’t improved in the area so after a couple of years they moved back to Blount Co. They bought some land on Newsome Branch and built a home that remains in the family today. Twelve in all, their children were Susie (Mrs. J.W. Allred), Annie (Mrs. Clifton King), Agnes (Mrs. W.B. King), Roy, Lawrence, Edna (Mrs. Dexter Cobb), Lorene (Mrs. Floyd Murphree), Melvin, Delphine (Mrs. Velpo Smith), Deward Levine and two stillborn children. After Ida’s sister Agnes and her husband Richmond Townley died with the measles in 1907, Henry and Ida took in their son Alvin to raise. Ida died in an Oneonta nursing home March 5, 1966. Henry had been active until well into his seventies when failing eyesight relegated him to the front yard beneath his beloved shade tree. He followed Ida on January 29, 1967. Their children buried them in the Center Methodist Church Cem. next to two field stones and a plain granite marker that reads “Our little darlings”.