Guy L. Wood Biography


	This biography appears on pages 683-684 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	GUY L. WOOD. - Conspicuous among the successful business men and 
representative citizens of Grant county is the well-known financier 
whose name furnishes the caption of this review. G. L. Wood, for many 
years identified with the commercial interests and material growth of 
Milbank, and now president of the Farmers' Bank, is a native of Canada 
and one of six children who formerly constituted the family of Walter 
A. and Martha P. (Jacobs) Wood, the father born in Wales, the mother in 
New Hampshire. Mrs. Wood was descended from old colonial stock, her 
ancestors in an early day having been prominent in the annals of New 
England, and her grandfather fought in the war of the Revolution. Of 
the seven children, three sons and a daughter live in Milbank, South 
Dakota, one brother resides in New York, one brother in Minnesota and 
one brother is dead.  

	G. L. Wood was born November 5, 1860, and when about five years 
of age was taken by his parents to Wisconsin, and later to the southern 
part of Minnesota, where he spent his childhood and youth, receiving 
his preliminary education in the public schools. Actuated by a laudable 
desire for more "thorough scholastic training, he entered the 
University of Minnesota and while attending that institution devoted 
his vacations to teaching and to various other kinds of employment in 
order to defray the expense of his collegiate course. Leaving the 
university in the sophomore year, he went to Ortonville, South Dakota, 
where, in connection with his two brothers, he engaged in the hardware 
trade, establishing in 1878 a prosperous business which they conducted 
until 1880. In that year the firm added lumber and machinery and 
continued handling the three lines during the ensuing two years, at the 
expiration of which G. L. sold his interest to his brothers, and 
established a loan and trust business which he conducted in Milbank 
until the spring of 1891, when he organized the Farmers' Bank. Later 
this institution was incorporated as a state bank with G. L. Wood, 
president; J. C. Wood, vice-president, and J. C. Elliott, cashier, 
under which official management it soon became an influential factor in 
the financial and business circles of Grant county and vicinity, its 
prestige continuing with steadily growing interest to the present time. 
In addition to his connection with the bank, Mr. Wood has promoted and 
established various other enterprises, including the G. L. Wood Farm & 
Mortgage Company, which has extended its operations over Grant and 
other counties, and which now has several branch offices. The company 
has built up an extensive business, owning at the present time about 
four thousand acres of land in different parts of the country and 
handling over a quarter million dollars annually. The business is 
constantly growing in volume and importance, and it is not too much to 
claim for its energetic president the credit of the enterprise, as it 
has been largely the outgrowth of his fertile mind and its success is 
the result of his judgment, method and capable management. Mr. Wood is 
essentially a business man and as such easily ranks with the most 
energetic and progressive of his compeers in his adopted county and 
state. He keeps in close touch with the times in financial and general 
business matters, is familiar with economic and industrial conditions 
of the section of the country in which he operates and, realizing the 
wants of the people, he has supplied the same generously and 
unsparingly. 

	Like all good citizens and progressive men, he is deeply 
interested in his own community and few have contributed as freely as 
he to its material advancement, and none have been more active in 
promoting its social and moral welfare. His relations with his fellow 
men have been characterized by a high sense of honor.  

	Mr. Wood is a Methodist in religion, and at this time is on the 
official board of the church at Milbank. Fraternally he belongs to the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America, and in 
politics supports the Republican party.  

	On September 27, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wood 
and Miss Frankie L. Morrill, daughter of Jefferson and Helen E. 
Morrill, the father being connected with the Withington Tool Company, 
of Jackson, Michigan. Mrs. Wood is a native of that state and has 
presented her husband seven children, four sons and three daughters, 
whose names are as follows: Ray M., Helen E., Hugh J., Marion, Guy L., 
Wyant A. and Rosamond.