Mary Ramsey Wood - Oregon Pioneer

Oregon Pioneer

This section is based mainly on two 1908 obituaries for Mary Ramsey Wood. Those obituaries were likely mistaken about her being born in 1787, as described below; thus, many of the age-related facts may be inaccurate.

At the time of her death, Mary Ramsey was reported to have been born on May 20, 1787 on a farm near Knoxville, Tennessee. The child of brick maker Richard Ramsey and his wife, Kate, Mary grew up in Tennessee. Her parents were born in England and immigrated to North America after they were married. In the American Colonies they settled in Tennessee and raised ten children. Mary was the sixth child. Her mother was reported to have lived to the age of 110, while her father lived to be a few years younger. Richard built the first brick home in Knoxville, and the family was wealthy and owned slaves. In her early years she danced with General Andrew Jackson, for whom her father fought in the War of 1812.

At the age of 12, Mary joined the Methodist church, and at 17 married Jacob Lemons in Tennessee in 1804. The couple would raise four children on their farm in that state. The children were Mary Jane Lemons, Isaac Lemons, Nancy Lemons Bullock, and Mrs. Catherine B. Reynolds. In 1837, the family moved to Alabama followed by Georgia the next year. In 1839 Jacob died, and Mary moved to Missouri in 1849.

In 1852, Lemons moved to the Oregon Territory with her youngest daughter Catherine. She rode horseback the entire journey at the age of 66, and the family brought 12 slaves with them to Oregon. She named her horse Martha Washington Pioneer. The family arrived in Oregon in 1853 after following the Barlow Road into Oregon City, and settled in Washington County at Hillsboro in the Tualatin Valley. She married John Wood on May 28, 1854, in Hillsboro. He built the first frame hotel in Hillsboro, in which Mary tended bar at the in-house saloon.

Around 1865, the couple sold the hotel to Mary’s daughter Catherine, and John Wood died in the 1870s. Mary then served as postmaster before retiring to her daughter’s residence. In 1879, she suffered from typhoid fever and lost the sight in her left eye. In 1904, she testified in a trial concerning a 40-year-old land deed, where she was noted for having a "keen" memory. In 1907, Wood was crowned as the "Mother Queen" of Oregon by former Oregon Senator George Henry Williams and the president of the Oregon Pioneer Association, J. D. Lee.

Still according to contemporary obituaries, Mary Ramsey Wood died at the age of 120 on January 1, 1908, at five o’clock in the morning. At the time of her death she was thought to be the oldest living person in the United States. She was also referred to as the "oldest Methodist in the world". She was buried at the Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery. The Hillsboro Civic Center was built at the former site of Wood's hotel, and there is an informational plaque in the plaza of the center about Wood. In 2005, it was proposed that a fountain at the civic center be named for Wood.

January 1, 2008 was named Mary Ramsey Wood Day by the City of Hillsboro. Local historian James Andrew Long advocated for this recognition of Wood.