Charles Wood, (1845-1916)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown

Birth: 1845, Finland

Death: 7 May 1916, Port Orchard, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

The SCRP team sadly can’t locate much information about the life of Charles Wood who is buried in an unknown location in Seabeck Cemetery. We do know he was seventy-one years old when he died on May 7, 1916 in Port Orchard at the Poor Farm from acute endocarditis (infection in the heart). We also know he was originally from Finland, but have no records about any family, when he came to the U.S., or what he did for a living before coming to the Poor Farm.

History about the Port Orchard “Poor Farm” is written about in the book “Kitsap County. A History.” In 1877, Kitsap County created the office of Overseer for the County’s Paupers where the county called for bids for room and board for the county’s paupers on the basis of so much per head per day. For the next 40 years, the contract was taken over by private individuals and families all over the County. At one point, the Sidney Hotel was used to house the poor residents. In 1911, the contract was taken over by Alfred and August Larson who enlarged their property on Mitchell Hill near where South Kitsap High School currently sits to have room to build small cottages to house the residents. The younger daughter of the Larsons was interviewed in 1974. She said the number of inmates at the Poor Farm was seldom above twenty, most were men, and several appeared to have been mentally ill or chronically ill. 

In 1914, the contract was leased to J.A. Lundberg who ran the institution until 1917 when the County took it under direct management. J.A. Lundberg signed Charles Wood’s death certificate. He told late historian Fred Just that Charles was a frequent resident at the Poor Farm.