Pinellas-Hillsborough County FlArchives Biographies.....Wood, Frank A. 1861 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 12, 2008, 9:56 pm Author: B. F. Johnson (1909) Frank A. Wood On the west side of the beautiful sheet of water known as Tampa Bay lies a peninsula which goes under the euphonious name of Pinellas Peninsula. Near the bottom of this peninsula with Tampa Bay in front and the Mexican gulf only a little way off at the back, stands the little city of St. Petersburg, one of the best located and most beautiful towns of Florida, which has grown in a few years from nothing to a modern city of 4000 people. One of the show places of this city is the handsome residence of F. A. Wood, President of the National Bank of St. Petersburg. Mr. Wood is a living contradiction of the old adage that "A rolling stone gathers no moss." Not only has he been a rolling stone during the greater part of his life, but he has gathered a very abundant crop of moss in the way of material possessions. He was born under the English flag at Brownsville, Ontario, Canada, March, 1861, and is a graduate of the Brantford Collegiate Institute, at Brantford, Ontario, and of the Ottawa Normal College, at Ottawa, Ontario. His first work was at teaching school, which he followed for some four years, and then, in 1881, he came to the United States, where he was engaged as bookkeeper for lumber firms in Big Rapids, Mich. Later on he became general manager of T. D. Stinson's large lumber interest. In 1888 he was attracted to the Pacific Coast by the remarkable growth being made there and engaged in the lumber business at Seattle, meeting with considerable success. In 1891 he became interested in silver and lead mining in British Columbia. In 1893 he moved to Los Angeles, Cal., where he remained for two years, when he returned to British Columbia, and became associated with E. H. Tomlinson and others in what is known as the Last Chance Mining Company. In 1900 he sold out his interests in British Columbia and came to St. Petersburg. His faith in the future of St. Petersburg was evidenced by his immediate building of the Wood block which is one of the best business properties in the town. Certain business interests then called him to Alaska, but he soon returned and built his handsome residence. Finally, in 1905, he organized the National Bank of St. Petersburg, of which he has been president since its organization. The Pinellas Peninsula is cut off from the rest of Hillsboro county by the main body of Tampa Bay and its northwest extension known as old Tampa Bay. This peninsula being nearly surrounded with warm water has a peculiarly delightful climate, and being in touch with the outer world, both by water and by a branch of the Atlantic Coast Line which runs to St. Petersburg, it is much more heavily settled than the other portions of Hillsboro county, outside of Tampa. Very naturally there has grown up a strong agitation for a new county to be created, to be known as Pinellas, and as a champion of this movement, Mr. Wood found himself, in 1908, a candidate for State Senator on a platform of county division. By descent he is of Scotch-Irish blood, and all men know the fighting qualities of that blood. Mr. Wood went into the contest with an overwhelming majority of the people in his county against him. He carried on one of the most active and effective campaigns ever seen in that section. His methods were vigorous, but absolutely clean. He was not successful, but he made such an impression and won so many friends from the opposition that he received 90 per cent of the entire vote of Pinellas Peninsula, together with 500 votes from Tampa, which had been supposed to be solidly opposed to division, and it is universally conceded that but for this question of county division Mr. Wood would have been elected to the State Senate by a large majority. When the old Chamber of Commerce of St. Petersburg was succeeded by the present Board of Trade, Mr. Wood became its first president, and made a most active and efficient leader in all matters pertaining to the interests of his town. In 1907 he was elected Vice-President of the Florida State Bankers' Association, and in 1908 was unanimously elected president. The record as given above, even without comment, would show that F. A. Wood is a man of unusual force and ability. He seems to have prospered wherever he stopped or whatever line he engaged in. All that might be due to mere unusual capacity, but when we see him settling in a town like St. Petersburg and in a few years forging to the front, taking the lead in public matters, almost winning in a hopeless cause in the most populous county of the State, made President of the State Bankers' Association after four years' connection, a very high compliment in itself, due to the known conservative character of the men who make up bankers' associations, it becomes evident that Mr. Wood is a man of most unusual force. He is yet in the prime of life, located in a town whose possibilities no man can venture to prophesy, and it is quite safe to believe that in coming years he will forge to the front as one of the most prominent and valuable citizens of his adopted State. June 21, 1899, he married Miss Annie B. Shepard, teacher of voice culture at Olivet College, Olivet, Mich., a lady possessing an unusual volume and quality of voice. Additional Comments: Extracted from: FLORIDA EDITION MAKERS OF AMERICA AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK BY AN ABLE CORPS OF WRITERS VOL. III. Published under the patronage of The Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville, Florida ADVISORY BOARD: HON. W. D. BLOXHAM COL. FRANK HARRIS HON. R. W. DAVIS SEN. H. H. McCREARY HON. F. P. FLEMING W. F. STOVALL C. A. CHOATE, SECRETARY 1909 A. B. CALDWELL ATLANTA, GA. COPYRIGHT 1909 B. F. JOHNSON Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/pinellas/photos/bios/wood83gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/pinellas/bios/wood83gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/flfiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb