Merced-Sonoma-Stanislaus County CA Archives Biographies.....Wood, Mirabeau Dallas 1846 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com February 5, 2006, 11:49 pm Author: John Outcalt (1925) HON. MIRABEAU DALLAS WOOD A pioneer of 1868 in California and one of the early settlers and among the most representative men of Merced County is M. D. Wood, manager of the Security Savings Bank in Merced. He was born May 22, 1846, in Gadsden County, Fla., a son of Igdaliah and Eliza (Dixon) Wood, both born in South Carolina. The father was educated for the law, and after his admission to the bar practiced for a time in his native state. He later moved to Florida and purchased a plantation and there was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, at the age of seventy-two. He was of English ancestry, his paternal grandfather having been an early settler of South Carolina in colonial days. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Abel Dixon, was of Scotch descent and served in the War of the Revolution, also in the War of 1812. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Igdaliah Wood there were thirteen children born, of whom twelve grew to years of maturity; four sons served in the Confederate army. The mother died in Florida. M. D. Wood was the youngest of thirteen children. He grew up on the home plantation and was educated in private schools and Mount Pleasant Academy. In 1863 he enlisted in Company K, Sixth Florida Confederate Volunteer Infantry as a private, serving under General Bragg and participating in many engagements in Kentucky and Tennessee, covering the retreat of the soldiers out of Kentucky after the battle of Perryville, and being at the front at Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga. He took part in the Georgia campaign, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and at Kenesaw Mountain had charge of Company F, whose officers had nearly all been killed. July 22, at Peachtree, Lieutenant Wood was captured and sent as a prisoner to Johnson's Island, remaining until paroled the following spring, when he returned to his Florida home. In 1866 Mr. Wood became superintendent of a sawmill, and two years later, in 1868, he was elected to the Florida State Senate. Resigning at the close of the session he started for California and arrived in Sonoma County, October 22, 1868, the day of the big earthquake. The same fall Mr. Wood embarked in ranching in Stanislaus County. Removing to Merced County the following spring he purchased 600 acres on Bear Creek, and for ten years successfully farmed, then returned to Sonoma County and at Santa Rosa completed the normal course and taught there for some time. Returning to Merced in 1882, Mr. Wood served as deputy county assessor for a year, and that same fall he was nominated for county treasurer on the Democratic ticket, was elected and served two terms, from January, 1883 to January, 1887. He was elected county assessor in the fall of 1887 and filled that office until January, 1891. The next two years he was in the grocery business. In February, 1893, he was appointed by the board of supervisors, superintendent of the county hospital and gave his entire attention to that position until in February, 1897, when he engaged in the grain business. He was agent for Balrour, Guthrie Company in Merced and for several years had entire charge of their grain-buying, warehouses and lands in Merced County. He also carried on a successful insurance business. In 1907 he became first vice-president and manager of the Merced Security Savings Bank, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversay on March 9, 1925, giving a banquet the following Saturday evening. In Merced County Mr. Wood married Annie Rucker, born in Missouri, the daughter of A. G. Rucker. She bore him three children: George Marvin, who died in Merced; Lou, who became the wife of Bert Crane of Turlock and died in April, 1925; and Jesse D., who was associated with his father in the insurance and grain business and is now the agent for Balfour, Guthrie & Co. Mrs. Wood died in Sonoma County. For his second wife Mr. Wood married in Sonoma County, Maron L. England, a native of Missouri but reared and educated in Sonoma County. Seven children blessed this union: Bessie, who became the wife of J. G. McKerty, of Merced; Dallas England who is part owner and editor of the Palo Alto Times; Marjorie, who married L. G. Mackie of Berkeley; Barton Dixon, who saw service in the World War and is now an architectural engineer in Detroit, Mich.; Kenneth Eugene, an assistant cashier of the Security Savings Bank; Carol V., who is at home; and Melville, who is connected with the San Joaquin Light and Power Co. at Merced. Mr. Wood has always been active in Democratic circles; he was a member and president of the first board of trustees of Merced, and for one term was a member of the county board of education. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and served for years as one of the trustees. He has been a member of the Knights of Pythias for almost fifty years. He is a man of solid worth and his well-directed intelligence and worth-while abilities have met with due recognition from his fellow-men, by whom he is conceded to rank among the most prominent citizens of Merced County. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH A Biographical Review OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY JOHN OUTCALT ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1925 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/merced/bios/wood420bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 6.0 Kb