Ida Wood

Ida Mayfield Wood (born Ellen Walsh; 14 January 1838 – 12 March 1932) was a British-American socialite who was the third wife of politician and newspaper publisher Benjamin Wood. She is best known for spending the majority of her later life as a recluse in a New York City hotel suite with her two sisters.

Biography Wood was born Ellen Walsh in Oldham, in the historic county of Lancashire, on January 14, 1838, the daughter of Ann Crawford and Thomas Walsh. Her father, an Irish peddler who emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Massachusetts, died in San Francisco in 1864. Wood later changed her name to Ida E. Mayfield, claiming her father was Louisiana sugar planter Henry Mayfield, She boldly propositioned him in a letter on May 28, 1857 and soon became his mistress.

Benjamin was a three-time member of Congress and two-time member of the New York State Senate.

In 1907, Wood closed her bank account, taking out nearly $1 million (equivalent to $ in ). In the midst of the Great Depression, Wood's relatives and their lawyers battled to gain control of her wealth. The truth about her past emerged six months after her death, as told by lawyer Edward T. Corcoran and later confirmed by New York Public Administrator counsel Joseph A. Cox.