Union County, SD Biographies.....Wood, John R. 1820 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 28, 2007, 12:33 am

Author: Geo. A. Ogle & Co. (1897)

JOHN R. WOOD, the well-known and popular liveryman and sales stable proprietor
of Elk Point, is a native of Montgomery county, N. Y. He was born in 1820, and
is a son of John I. and Sarah L. (Cornue) Wood, also natives of Montgomery
county, N. Y. The father of our subject was a contractor and builder by trade,
and was engaged in that occupation all through his life with the exception of
four years when he was guard at the Auburn state prison of New York. Mr. Wood
died in New York State, and his wife after his demise, came to reside in
Walworth county, Wis., where she also passed away. They were the parents of
seven children, viz.: John R., Mary, Norman L., Jane A., Charlotte, Charles H.
and Harriet E.

    Our subject remained at home till he was eleven years of age, when his
father died, and then went to live with an uncle in the same county, for whom he
worked hauling lumber. etc., doing a man's work. He remained with his uncle for
three years when he hired out to drive a wholesale liquor wagon, which he
continued for six years. That was the first position he had had where he
received any pay for his services. Later on he went to the state of Arkansas
where he was to take charge of a plantation and slaves; there he remained for a
year and then went to Louisiana to another plantation which he conducted for
eighteen months. That plantation was near Charles City, and employed forty field
hands. When he finished in the south he returned to Montgomery county, N. Y.,
and in 1844 was married to Miss Eveline Palmer, a native of that county, and a
daughter of Henry Palmer who was a man engaged extensively in dairying in that
vicinity. After his marriage he came to Southport (now Kenosha), Wis., where he
started in farming and the next year purchased eighty acres of land on the Fox
river which, he farmed for six months. When he sold out he went to Columbia
county, Wis., and settled on a pre-emption claim of 160 acres at the head of the
Fox river, where he lived for ten years, and during that time he made some fine
improvements in the shape of a nice residence, orchard, etc. After selling that
farm he removed to Portage City, Wis., where he was engaged in conducting a
large livery business for four years, after which he came to Faribault, Minn.,
and engaged in farming again until 1860, purchasing two hundred acres of land.
From Minnesota he came to Dakota territory June 1, 1860, and took up a homestead
adjoining the city of Elk Point. This property he improved and lived on for
seventeen years, when he moved into the village where he has since resided.
While he was a resident of Elk Point township he served in the Civil war for
three years, enlisting as first lieutenant of company B, Dakota cavalry; he was
also commissioned a recruiting officer which position he filled for three years.
He participated in the battles of White Stone Hills and Falling Spring, Montana,
and during the latter engagement was slightly wounded. At the close of the war
he was honorably discharged at Sioux City, November 15, 1865, and returned to
his home.

   After his return from the war, Mr. Wood engaged in the hotel business for two
years, during which time he also conducted a livery, and the latter business he
has continued for the past twenty-five years. He has also dealt in real estate a
little and was quite extensively engaged in live stock and cattle trading. In
politics he is a Democrat, and was the first county commissioner appointed by
Gov. Jayne. He served as commissioner of Union county for eleven years, and
sheriff one year, having been appointed to fill a vacancy, and since the
incorporation of Elk Point he has served as city councilman for seven years. As
a citizen, he has been closely identified with the success of the city's
development. Socially, he belongs to the Stephen A. Hulbert post No. 9, G. A.
R., and he is also a trustee of the Baptist church, of which he and wife are
members in good standing.

   Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of the following children, viz.: Charles
H., Lorenzo L., Uriah, Harriet E., Margaret, Mary, Eveline, and Charlotte.

   The attention of the reader is invited to a portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Wood,
which will be found in another part of this volume.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
OF 
Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties,
SOUTH DAKOTA.

Containing Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of Prominent Old Settlers and
Representative Citizens, with a Review of their Life Work; their Identity with
the Growth and Development of these Counties; Reminiscences of Personal History
and Pioneer Life; and other Interesting and Valuable Matter which should be
Preserved in History.

ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO.
GEO. A. OGLE & CO.
Publishers, Engravers and Book Manufacturers.
1897.


Biography is the only true history.—EMERSON.

A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
generations.—MACAULAY.

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