John Wood and Hannah Pattee Wood, from Danvers, Massachusetts, entered a claim and built a log cabin in 1835, brought their family in 1836, erected the first grist mill in Lake County in 1838, set aside this commons, and planted elms. They advocated and practiced honesty, morality, temperance, liberal religion, and industry, and John Wood was a charter member of Masonic lodges at Valparaiso, Crown Point, and Wheeler. They reared their family here, died here, and were buried in the cemetery they established in 1836.