Drew-Ashley County ArArchives Biographies.....Wood, Carroll D. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 August 25, 2009, 2:55 pm

Source: See Full Citation Below Biography
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

CARROLL D. WOOD.
    Carroll D. Wood, judge of the supreme court of Arkansas, is recognized as a
peer of the ablest members who have sat in the court of last resort in this
state. His steady advancement has come as a result of laudable ambition,
persistency of purpose and untiring industry—qualities which are just essential
in the attainment of professional prominence as in the acquirement of success
along industrial or commercial lines. Judge Wood was born on a farm in Ashley
county, Arkansas, his father being the Rev. John S. Wood of Hamburg, this state.
The mother died in early womanhood, leaving five young sons and a daughter to be
trained and educated. Some time later the father wedded a school mistress from
New England, a lady of rare intellectual accomplishment and of most kindly
spirit. She proved, indeed, a mother to the children, who thus came under her
fostering care. Of this family three became members of the bar and from 1875 to
the time of his death Judge J. B. Wood, a brother of Judge C. D. Wood, was a
distinguished representative of the profession in Hot Springs.

    Judge Carroll D. Wood, like his elder brother, acquired his preliminary
education under the guidance of his stepmother and through attendance at the
common schools of Hamburg, Arkansas. His stepmother impressed upon his mind that
years of integrity and usefulness are open to all and that laudable ambition
intelligently directed may hope to gain the desired end. The training of the
stepmother, as well as of the father, had its full effect upon the lives of the
boys. When seventeen years of age Judge Wood of this review went from Hamburg to
Fayetteville to attend the university. He carried with him thirty-five dollars
in money; and his entire wardrobe aside from the clothes which he wore, was
contained in a gripsack. He made the entire distance of three hundred and
eighty-five miles at slow stages. Occasionally some fellow traveler on the road
would give him a lift in his wagon or on horseback. When he had reached his
journey's end he had expended six dollars and seventy-five cents of the precious
sum with which he had started. He knew that he must find work in order to meet
the expenses incident to his college course and after reaching Fayetteville he
was employed at work on the campus grounds at ten cents per hour. This task,
however, lasted only for a month and on the expiration of that period he engaged
to wait on tables and wash dishes in a hotel at Fayetteville, in return for his
board and lodging. During his second collegiate year he obtained a similar
position in a private family, and in the vacation period between his sophomore
and junior years he was employed in a dry goods store. During his senior year he
acted as secretary to the president of the university and received a small
salary therefor. He "messed" with the boys in the steward's hall during the last
two years of his university study and at the commencement of his junior course
he was awarded the medal for the best original oration in a contest between the
junior and senior classes. Completing a thorough classical course, Judge Wood
was graduated in 1879, after which he went at once to Hot Springs, Arkansas,
where he read law with his brother. His thorough preliminary readings had
qualified him for admission to the bar in August, 1880, and in the fall of that
year he removed to Monticello, where he entered upon a partnership relation with
his brother, Z. T. Wood, and thus he initiated a professional career which has
brought him to notable prominence. No dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost
immediately he secured a liberal clientage and with the passing years his
practice constantly increased. In 1882 he became a candidate against Col. Robert
H. Deadman for the office of prosecuting attorney in the tenth district and in
the contest won the election by a majority of nearly six thousand votes. His
strength and popularity was so great that in 1884 he was reelected to the office
without opposition. In 18S6 he became a candidate for the office of judge of the
tenth circuit, at which time the position was sought by such veteran members of
the bar as Norman of Ashley, Simms of Chicot, and Duffie of Dallas. While Judge
Wood thus received the democratic nomination the incumbent in the office, Judge
John M. Bradley, made an independent race for the office, but again Judge Wood
triumphed, winning the election by a majority of five hundred. The law requires
that one must practice at the bar for six years before being elected to the
bench. Judge Wood had practiced but six years and one month. His course on the
bench was marked hy a masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution
and his decisions were at all times strictly fair and impartial. In 1893 he
became a judge of the supreme court of the state and is now sitting on the
bench, his decisions indicating strong mentality, careful analysis, a thorough
knowledge of the law and an unbiased judgment. He is a man of well rounded
character, finely balanced mind and of splendid intellectual attainment and that
he is regarded as one of the eminent jurists of Arkansas is a uniformly accepted
fact. His service as prosecuting attorney of the tenth district for two terms
beginning in 1882, well qualified him for his preliminary judicial service when
in 1886 he was elected circuit judge. Again his fidelity and capability during
his first term won him reelection and then in 1893 he was elected a justice of
the supreme court and has since sat upon that bench, covering a period of
twenty-eight years. He is one of the oldest jurists in point of years of
continuous service that Arkansas has known and his name is carved high on the
keystone of the legal arch. His mind is analytical, logical and inductive. With
a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental principles of law he
combines a familiarity with statutory law and a sober clear judgment, which gave
him the distinction while on the district court bench of having few of his
decisions revised or reversed, while his record on the supreme court bench has
received the endorsement of contemporaries and colleagues in the profession.

    On the 4th of November, 1886, in Monticello, Arkansas, Judge Wood was united
in marriage to Miss Hattie Reola Thompson, who was born in Monticello, in 1863,
a daughter of Professor Woodville Thompson, now deceased. Judge and Mrs. Wood
became the parents of three children: Major John Shirley Wood, who was graduated
from the West Point Military Academy in 1912 and is now in the United States
army, being professor of military science and tactics at the Wisconsin Military
University; Claudia M., the wife of James L. Murphy; and Roy Win ton. The first
seven years of the their married life Judge and Mrs. Wood spent in Monticello
and in 1893 came to Little Rock, where they have since resided. He has always
given his political allegiance to the democratic party, while his religious
faith is that of the Baptist church. He is a loyal member of the Scottish Rite
and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his fidelity to every cause
he espouses or to every organization with which he becomes identified has ever
been one of his marked characteristics. He does not hold himself aloof from his
fellows but is a man of democratic spirit and the simplicity and beauty of his
daily life as seen in his home and family relations constitute an even balance
to his splendid professional acquirements.


Additional Comments:

Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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