Lewis E. Wood Biography


	This biography appears on page 1458 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	LEWIS E. WOOD, auditor of Spink county, was born near Bourbon, 
Marshall county, Indiana, on the 15th of August, 1853, and is a son of 
Daniel R. and Lydia E. (Wickersham) Wood, both of whom were born in 
Ohio. Daniel R. Wood was of Welsh and English extraction and the 
original ancestors in America were early settled in Virginia, which was 
the theater of so important a portion of the historic events of our 
nation. The mother of the subject was a representative of the old 
English Quaker family of Wickershams, who settled in Pennsylvania as 
colonists of William Penn. The parents of the subject removed from Ohio 
to the densely timbered region of Marshall county, Indiana, in 1851, and 
there literally hewed out a home in the midst of the virgin forest. 

Lewis Edwin Wood, the immediate subject of this review, was reared 
under the sturdy discipline of the old homestead farm. His rudimentary 
education was secured in the district schools and was supplemented by 
effective courses of study in the public schools of Rochester, Indiana. 
He taught in the schools of his native county for three years, after 
which he was engaged in farming in that county until 1883, when he came 
to South Dakota, in company with his brothers, Joshua F. and Joseph T. 
He entered a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres, near the 
present town of Doland, Spink county, and here developed a valuable 
farm. He assisted in the organization of the first school districts in 
the county and in the erection of the first school buildings, while his 
efforts in looking to the educational interests of the new county were 
freely given and did not lack for popular appreciation. In 1896 he 
located in Doland, where he was engaged in the drug and jewelry business 
until 1900, disposing of his interests there upon his election to his 
present office. He has ever been found a staunch advocate of the 
principles of the Republican party, and has striven to maintain the 
honesty of the party and to defend it against corrupting influences. In 
1895 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, and 
was re-elected in 1898. Before the expiration of his second term he was 
elected to his present office of county auditor, removing with his 
family to Redfield in 1901. He gave a most able and satisfactory 
administration of the affairs of this office and was honored with 
reelection in the fall of 1902. Fraternally he is identified with the 
Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. 

	In June, 1876, Mr. Wood was united in marriage to Miss Mary T. 
Kirk, who was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of their 
home county in Indiana. She was summoned to the life eternal in January, 
1895, and is survived by her two children, Roscoe, who is now a 
commercial traveler for the Jewett wholesale drug house, of Aberdeen, 
this state, and Elma, who was graduated in shorthand and typewriting in 
Redfield College, and who now finds her services much in demand in the 
various offices in her home town. In May, 1897, Mr. Wood consummated a 
second marriage, being then united to Miss Eliza Richards, who was for 
seven years a teacher in the primary department of the graded schools of 
Argos, Indiana, in which state she was born and reared.