Chauncey Lynch Wood Biography


	This biography appears on pages 216-218, 221 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HON. CHAUNCEY LYNCH WOOD. 

	Hon. Chauncey Lynch Wood, lawyer and prominent pioneer of Rapid 
City, ranked with its leading and valued residents from the days of its 
early development until his death. He was born April 21, 1851, in Jones 
county, Iowa, of which his parents were pioneers. His father was a 
native of St. Lawrence county, New York, and the mother of Tennessee, 
while both dated their American ancestry back to colonial days. The son 
acquired his early education in Jones county, in the meanwhile working 
with his father upon the home farm. He afterward attended Cornell 
College at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and, thinking to make the practice of 
law his life work, entered upon preparation for the bar in the Iowa 
State University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1875. 

	Mr. Wood then taught school for a time but in 1877 began practice 
at Anamosa, Iowa, where he remained until April, 1878, when he arrived 
in Rapid City, Dakota, where he joined the Hon. J. W. Nowlin, who had 
made his way to the Black Hills the previous year. According to an 
agreement of their college days that they would practice in partnership 
as soon as the opportunity offered, they formed the firm of Nowlin & 
Wood and continued together successfully, their practice growing 
rapidly, while they advanced in prominence until they reached a 
foremost place at the bar of their county. Their relationship was 
maintained until Mr. Nowlin was selected for the position of first 
judge of the seventh circuit court of South Dakota in 1889. Mr. Wood 
was then alone for a time but was afterward joined by Judge C. J. Buell 
in a partnership that was maintained for twelve years. In 1902 he again 
resumed practice alone and was found on one side or the other of most 
of the important litigation coming before the courts in the western 
part of South Dakota and also practiced extensively in the United 
States courts. He won distinction as a most capable advocate and a 
trial lawyer of unusual skill, and he was noted for the eloquence, 
terseness and logic of his pleas. 

	From 1895 until 1900 Mr. Wood was special assistant United States 
attorney and in that capacity had charge of the litigation arising out 
of timber claims in which the government was involved. In 1883 he was a 
member of the voluntary constitutional convention and also of the 
convention of 1889, which framed the present state constitution. In 
those connections he gave most thoughtful and earnest consideration to 
the grave questions and problems which came up for settlement and his 
influence was always on the side of the general public looking to the 
further development and welfare of the state. 

	A life long democrat, Mr. Wood was many times honored by his 
party with the candidacy for various important public posts. In 1893 he 
was the democratic nominee for judge of the supreme court and in 1892 
was candidate for United States congress. His party being in the 
minority, however, he was unsuccessful in the contest. In 1894 he was 
elected mayor of Rapid City, was reelected in 1899 and in 1898 was 
chosen state's attorney for Pennington county. In 1910 he was his 
party's candidate for governor of South Dakota and his opinions always 
carried weight in the democratic councils, while many of the opposition 
recognized the integrity and public spirit of his citizenship. During 
his service as mayor of Rapid City the plan of paying the expense of 
the city government from a special fund was devised and in other 
connections his ministration was most businesslike, progressive and 
beneficially resultant. Outside of his professional interests he had 
large property holdings and was extensively engaged in the raising of 
cattle. He also had large investments in ranch lands, in mining 
properties and in city real estate. 

	In 1885 Mr. Wood was married to Miss Ruth Robinson, and to them 
were born two sons, Ben M. and Buell R. Mrs. Wood passed away July 4, 
1887 and Mr. Wood died in Seattle, Washington, January 16, 1911. He was 
a member of the Masonic fraternity, prominent in lodge, chapter, 
commandery and Mystic Shrine He loved and believed in Rapid City, the 
Black Hills country and the great state of South Dakota and worked 
untiringly for public benefit. He devoted his time, money and energies 
to the advance and promotion of the interests of his city, county and 
state, and few men took a more prominent or helpful part in the 
upbuilding of the Black Hills district. He was a generous and loyal 
friend and ever held friendship inviolable. He was a genial, generous, 
kindly and inimitable story teller and was the life of any social 
gathering in which he was present. When death called him the deepest 
regret was manifest on every side. His funeral was the most impressive 
ever held in the history of Rapid City and was a fitting expression of 
the high regard in which he was held by the host of friends who had for 
so many years looked upon him as their ideal of manhood.