Reuben Wood

Reuben Wood (1792/1793 – October 1, 1864) was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. He served as the 21st Governor of Ohio.

Reuben Wood
21st Governor of Ohio
In office December 12, 1850 – July 13, 1853
Lieutenant	Vacant William Medill
Preceded by	Seabury Ford
Succeeded by	William Medill
Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
In office February 6, 1833 – February 1847
Preceded by	Peter Hitchcock
Succeeded by	Edward Avery
Member of the Ohio Senate from the Cuyahoga & other counties district
In office December 5, 1825 – December 5, 1830
Preceded by	Jabez Wright Samuel Wheeler Aaron Norton
Succeeded by	John W. Willey
Personal details
Born	1792 or 1793 Middletown Springs, Vermont
Died	October 1, 1864 (aged 71–72) Cleveland, Ohio
Resting place	Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Mary Rice
Children	Loretta Wood Mary Wood
Signature

Biography

Wood was born near Middletown, Rutland County, Vermont in either 1792 or 1793. While living with an uncle in Canada after his father died, Wood was conscripted into the Canadian Army at the outset of the War of 1812, but escaped across Lake Ontario and briefly served in the Vermont militia.[1]

Career

Wood moved to Cleveland, Ohio – then a tiny village of 600 residents – in 1818 with his wife and infant daughter. He reputedly arrived with only $1.25 left to his name to work as a lawyer. He served in the Ohio State Senate from 1825 to 1830. In 1830, he was elected President Judge of the third judicial circuit.[2][3] He served on the Common Pleas Court bench from 1830 to 1833.[1]

Wood was elected in 1833 to the Ohio Supreme Court, and served two seven-year terms from 1833 to 1847.[4] He was defeated in a bid for a third term by a Whig candidate. He took office in late 1850 as governor. His first term was cut short by the implementation of a new state constitution, and he was re-elected in late 1851, re-inaugurated in early 1852. He resigned on July 13, 1853 to take a position as the American consul in Valparaíso, Chile. He remained there until 1855, when he retired to Cleveland.

Wood married Mary Rice, of Clarendon, Vermont in 1816 or 1817. They had two daughters.[3]

Wood was known as The tall chief of the Cuyahogas,[5] or Cuyahoga Chief,[2] or Old Cuyahoga Chief,[6] or Old Chief of the Cuyahogas.[3]

Death

Wood died at his farm, Evergreen Place, eight miles west of Cleveland, on October 1, 1864 from bilious colic.[6] He was initially interred on the farm, and was later reburied at Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland.[3][7]

References

1. "REUBEN WOOD". The Ohio Historical Society. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
2. Rice, Harvey (May–October 1885). Williams, William W (ed.). "Western Reserve Jurists". Magazine of Western History. Vol. 2. Cleveland. p. 203.
3. "Reuben Wood". The Supreme Court of Ohio and The Ohio Judicial System.
4. "Ohio Governor Reuben Wood". National Governors Association. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
5. Upton, Harriet Taylor (1910). Cutler, Harry Gardner (ed.). History of the Western Reserve. 1. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 521.
6. Cleave, Egbert (1875). City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County: taken from Cleave's Biographical Cyclopaedie of the state of Ohio. Cleveland: Fairbanks, Benedict & Co. pp. 35–36.
7. Wickham 1914, p. 217.

Bibliography

• "Wood, Reuben" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
• Wickham, Gertrude Van Rensselaer (1914). The Pioneer Families of Cleveland, 1796-1840. Cleveland: Evangelical Publishing House.

External links

• "Ohio Governor Reuben Wood". National Governors Association.
• Reuben Wood at Find a Grave