BIOS: William F. WOOD, Somerset, Somerset County, PA

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History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania; Bedford County by E. 
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; v.3, Pub. The Lewis 
Publishing Company, New York/Chicago 1906, ppg. 160/1

William F. WOOD.
William F. Wood, a contractor, of Somerset, was born in Syracuse, Onondaga 
county, New York, March 20, 1854, a son of I. G. and Helen O. (Phillips) Wood, 
whose family consisted of five other children, namely: Goerge E., Clinton R., 
Fredrick, Minnie B., and May. I G. Wood (father) was born in Auburn Cayuga 
county, New York, in 1831, died in Syracuse, New York, in 1902; he served as 
cashier in the Merchants' Bank in Syracuse for a number of years.  His wife, 
Helen O. (Phillips) Wood, was a native of Syracuse, daughter of George Phillips, 
who was also born in Syracuse, New Yrok, a descendant of a family of English 
origin, who, upon their arrival in this country, settled in Syracuse, New York. 
William F. Wood acquired his preliminary education in the common schools of his 
neighborhood, and later pursued advanced studies at the Courtland Preparatory 
School.  He then served an apprenticeship at the trade of carpenter, in the 
meantime learning the architect scroll work, and being thus well equipped has 
succeeded in his vocation of contractor, which he followed for several years in 
Kansas City, and which he is now following in Somerset, Pennsylvania.  He has 
superintended the construction of many large public buildings in the following 
states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, 
West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, including the court houses in Marion county and 
Clinton county, Iowa; the postoffice at Davenport, Iowa; the court house at 
Parkersburg, West Virginia; Stark county, Indiana; Ottawa county, Ohio; many 
large structures in Chicago Illinois; a court house at New Martinsville, West 
Virginia; the capitaol annex of West Virginia; hospital for the state of Ohio at 
Gallipolis; court house at Fairfield, Nebraska; the great horticultural hall of 
the St. Louis exposition; building at Kansas City, Missouri; and is now working 
on the Trust Company's building and the three hundred thousand dollar court 
house at Somerset, Pennsylvania.  He has also superintended many large 
structures in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and worked at various points in Colorado. 
He is a willing supporter of the Republican party, and in religious convictions 
both himself and his wife are adherents of the Universalist faith.  While a 
resident of Kansas City, Missouri, he was a member of the city council and 
chairman of the county central committee in 1886.  In civic society matters he 
is up-to-date, belonging to the Order of Elks, No. 198, at Parkersburg, West 
Virginia; is also a member of the Chicago Lodge No. 765, of the Masonic 
fraternity.  He is fully interested in all the measures that tend towards the 
growth and success of his adopted city--Somerset, Pennsylvania,--of which he is 
in all respects a representative citizen. 
Mr. Wood married (first), March 11, 1874, Louisa Cronk, the granddaughter of 
Hiram Cronk, who attained the extreme old age of one hundred and five years, and 
who, at his death, was the oldest veteran of the Revolutionary war.  By this 
union the following children were born: Emma J., wife of Ralph Young, of Kansas 
City, Missouri; Laura Nette, wife of George M. Petit, of Chicago, Illinois; 
Helen F., unmarried; Frace, wife of ______; Minnie B., wife of ______; Clinton 
R., unmmarried. Louisa (Cronk) Wood, the mother of these children, died 
September 20, 1900.  For his second wife Mr. Wood married, in 1902, Frances L. 
Miller, daughter of Emanuel Miller, of St. Joseph, Missouri.