George Warren Wood

The elder Reverend George W. Wood as pictured in his 1901 obituary in the Missionary Herald.
This article is about Presbyterian missionary in the United States. For first mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, see George W. Wood.

George Warren Wood (known professionally as George W. Wood) (1814-1901[1]) was a Presbyterian Minister and missionary who became the secretary of the Congregationalist American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was an early missionary to Armenia under Cyrus Hamlin.

His son, also named George Warren Wood, was also a Presbyterian reverend and missionary. G. W. Wood Jr. (born in 1844 in Turkey, died Jan. 21, 1924 in Fairhope, Alabama) served Presbyterian missions in Charlevoix, Michigan (1870s), the Montana Territory(1880s), and the Michilimackinaw area (1890s) before retiring to Alabama in 1901 to help start the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.

Early life

Dr. Wood was born February 28, 1814 to Samuel and Mehitable (Peabody) Wood in Bradford, Massachusetts, near Haverhill, Massachusetts. Wood attended Bradford Academy and then graduated from Dartmouth College in 1832.[2] After teaching in a religious school in Elizabeth, NJ for four years and studying theology, Dr. Wood entered Princeton Theological Seminary for 6 months before being licensed and ordained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of Elizabethtown.

Career in missions

Mission work in Constantinople and elsewhere

Bebek was a small village 10 miles north of Constantinople on the Bosphorus. Owing to its location (next to the Rumelihisarı on the top right corner of the map shown), the Bebek Seminary provided outreach to the local Greek and Armenian population through skilled trades and manufacturing. (map produced by Joseph von Scheda between 1860-70)

Bebek was a small village 10 miles north of Constantinople on the Bosphorus. Owing to its location (next to the Rumelihisarı on the top right corner of the map shown), the Bebek Seminary provided outreach to the local Greek and Armenian population through skilled trades and manufacturing. (map produced by Joseph von Scheda between 1860-70)

He was ordained a Presbyterian missionary, at Morristown, N.J., on May 20, 1837.[3] With his wife Martha, he served in Singapore East India (May 1838 - June 1840);[4] Smyrna (1842), eight years at Constantinople(March 1842 - July 1850),[5] and associated with the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin in the Bebek Seminary.[6][7] He became in charge of Bebek's Theological department, the first of its kind in Asia Minor[8][9]

Return to the United States and work for the American Board

In 1850 he returned to the United States.[10] In September [11] 1852 he was elected Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions in New York City,[12] and continued in this position until 1871.[13]

In Spring 1855, the ABCFM sent Dr. Wood to visit Choctaw Mission in Oklahoma to resolve a crisis over the abolition issue.[14] After arriving in Stockbridge Mission, Wood spent over two weeks days visiting missions including the Goodwater Mission, Wheelock Academy, Spencer Academy, and other mission schools. He met with missionaries to discuss Selah B Treat's June 22, 1848 letter permitting them to maintain fellowship with slaveholders.[15] Ultimately, the crisis was not resolved, and by 1859, the Board cut ties to the Choctaw mission altogether.

In addition to his other secretarial duties, Wood assisted in presiding over the historic closure and relocation of the original Broadway Tabernacle in New York City in 1857.

In December 1862, Dr. Wood sailed from New York on his way to assist the Western Turkey Mission with his skills in the Armenian language.[16] He stopped in London for several weeks to meet with the Turkish Missions Aid Society and arrived in Constantinople on March 7, 1863. During this time he also visited the Syria Mission. He returned to the United States June 6, 1864.[17]

Return to missions in Turkey

When the New School Presbyterians withdrew from the American Board, Dr. Wood resumed his missions work in Constantinople for another 16 years from 1871 to 1886.[18]

Personal life

Marriages

Dr. Wood had four wives over the course of his life.

Death

Dr. Wood and his 4th wife (S.A. H. Wood) both died in 1901 and are buried together in the Mount Morris City Cemetery in Livingston County, New York.[24][25]

Children

Dr. Wood was survived by one son and one daughter.[26]

George Warren Wood, Junior

Dr. G.W. Wood's son, also named George Warren Wood, was also a Presbyterian reverend and missionary.

Early life

G. W. Wood Jr. was born in 1844[27] in Turkey [28] as his father was a misisonary there. After graduating from Hamilton College in 1865, he taught and pursued advanced studies at the college of the City of New York.[29]

Early missionary career in Michigan

Wood, Jr. ministered in Charlevoix and Petoskey from 1872 to 1879. During this time period, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad opened its line north to Petoskey. He returned to Northern Michigan from ~1893 to 1901, where he published the Mackinaw Witness in Mackinaw City.

Wood, Jr. ministered in Charlevoix and Petoskey from 1872 to 1879. During this time period, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad opened its line north to Petoskey. He returned to Northern Michigan from ~1893 to 1901, where he published the Mackinaw Witness in Mackinaw City.

Rev. Wood, Jr became ordained as a presbyterian pastor in the Saginaw Presbytery[30] and domestic missionary for the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions in Au Sable and Oscoda in January 1872.[31] He married Harriet Snyder in May 1872 in Iosco County[32] and then arrived in Charlevoix, Michigan in late November 1872.[33] to be appointed a Home Missionary in that place in 1873.[34][35] Wood, Jr. ministered in Charlevoix, Michigan and Bear River, Michigan from January 1874[36] to 1879.[37][38] During 1877-1879, he worked as a colporteur in the same region (reaching mainly homesteaders throughout Emmet County and Charlevoix County)[39] for the American Bible Society rather than for the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions.[40]

Missionary work in Dakotas and Montana

Wood, Jr. ministered in Wolf Point and Poplar Creek in northeastern Montana Territory from 1880 to 1889. In 1878, the Fort Peck Indian Agency had been relocated from what is shown on the map to its present-day location in Poplar because the original agency was located on a flood plain, suffering floods each spring.

Wood, Jr. ministered in Wolf Point and Poplar Creek in northeastern Montana Territory from 1880 to 1889. In 1878, the Fort Peck Indian Agency had been relocated from what is shown on the map to its present-day location in Poplar because the original agency was located on a flood plain, suffering floods each spring.

He was a missionary at the Dakota Mission (Fort Peck/Wolf Point)[41][42] from 1879[43]-1889.[44][45]

Later missionary career in Northern Michigan

In 1892, Wood, Jr. was in Boyne, Michigan publishing a newspaper called "The Ensign"[46] From 1892 to 1893 Wood, Jr. was a home missionary in Lakefield, Michigan in the upper peninsula of Michigan.[47] Starting in 1892,[48] Wood was the editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper at Mackinaw City called the "Mackinaw Witness. In 1894 Wood's Witness was listed as the sole newspaper published in Mackinaw City,[49] and continued to be published by him in 1897. "[50]

Retirement in Alabama

Wood, Jr. moved to Fairhope, Alabama around 1900[51] and became a charter member (in 1903)[52] of Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. He was its treasurer from 1908 to at least 1912 [53] and lived in Fairhope as late as 1919.[54] George Warren Wood Jr. died in 1924.[55] Harriet Snyder bore Wood, Jr. two sons and five daughters.[56]

References

  1. ↑ Greene, Joseph K. (1916). Leavening the Levant. Boston New York Chicago: Pilgrim Press / Rowland & Ives, New York. p. 89. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Robinson, C.S. (1891). Necrological reports and annual proceedings of the Alumni Association Volume 3: 1875-1932 (Volume 3: 1875-1932 ed.). Princeton, N.J: Princeton Theological Seminary. pp. 134–135. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Chapman, George Thomas (1867). Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College. Cambridge: Riverside PRess. p. 265. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Robinson, C.S. (1891). Necrological reports and annual proceedings of the Alumni Association Volume 3: 1875-1932 (Volume 3: 1875-1932 ed.). Princeton, N.J: Princeton Theological Seminary. pp. 134–135. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Robinson, C.S. (1891). Necrological reports and annual proceedings of the Alumni Association Volume 3: 1875-1932 (Volume 3: 1875-1932 ed.). Princeton, N.J: Princeton Theological Seminary. pp. 134–135. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Proceedings of the ABCFM for the year 1850 (The Missionary Herald at Home and Abroad, Volumes 46-47). Boston: T.R. Marvin. 1850. p. 6. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Chapman, George Thomas (1867). Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College. Cambridge: Riverside Press. p. 265. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  8. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=FT99CAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA25&ots=KyHVGaFxH4&dq=George%20W.%20Wood%20Bebek%20Seminary&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q=George%20W.%20Wood%20Bebek%20Seminary&f=false
  9. ↑ Todd, Thomas (1901). The Missionary Herald, Volume 97. Boston: Beacon Press (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)). pp. 357–360.
  10. ↑ "Personnel records for George W. Wood". Digital Library for International Research -- American Board Personnel Card and Photo Collection. American Research Institute in Turkey-Istanbul / Amerikan Bord Heyeti (American Board), Istanbul. Retrieved 24 August 2016. Ret. USA 1850-1852
  11. ↑ Robinson, C.S. (1891). Necrological reports and annual proceedings of the Alumni Association Volume 3: 1875-1932 (Volume 3: 1875-1932 ed.). Princeton, N.J: Princeton Theological Seminary. pp. 134–135. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Personnel records for George W. Wood". Digital Library for International Research -- American Board Personnel Card and Photo Collection. American Research Institute in Turkey-Istanbul / Amerikan Bord Heyeti (American Board), Istanbul. Retrieved 24 August 2016. Elected Sept 1852 Corresp. Sec'y Board, for N.Y. City
  13. ↑ Chapman, George Thomas (1867). Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College. Cambridge: Riverside PRess. p. 265. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Spring, Joel (1996). Books on Google Play The Cultural Transformation of A Native American Family and Its Tribe 1763-1995: A Basket of Apples. New York, London: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). ISBN 0-8058-2303-4. in 1855, the American Board decided to send George Wood to investigate the situation in Indian Misisons... While visiting the Choctaw Nation, Wood spent 3 days each at the Wheelock and Spencer Academies, and 9 days at other schools)
  15. ↑ Cassity, Michael; Goble, Danney (2009). Divided Hearts: The Presbyterian Journey Through Oklahoma History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 77–80. ISBN 978-0-8061-3848-0. Retrieved 24 August 2016. members of the mission met Wood at Goodwater Mission, a school that had been suspended since 1853 ... Part of the key [to cordial discussion] was Wood's decision at the outset to 'drop for the present' the contentious letter from the American Board of June 22, 1848
  16. ↑ Annual Report of the American Board of Commisioners for Foreign Missions (1863). 42 Congress Street, Boston: T.R. Marvin & Son. 1863. p. 36. Retrieved 24 August 2016. "As Dr. Wood was previously located there, and still retained his knowledge of Armenian, ... he sailed from New York ... December 6, 1862 ... Turkish Missions Aid Society detained him in England, a few weeks... did not reach his destination till the 7th of March
  17. ↑ "Personnel records for George W. Wood". Digital Library for International Research -- American Board Personnel Card and Photo Collection. Amerikan Bord Heyeti (American Board), Istanbul. Returned to Cons'ple Mar 7, 1863, as Secy, &visited [illegible] & Syria Mission... ret to USA June 6, 1864
  18. ↑ The Missionary Herald at Home and Abroad, Volume 97. Boston: Beacon Press. September 1901. pp. 357–360. Retrieved 13 April 2016. On account of the withdrawal of the New School Presbyterian body from the support of the American Board"... "In the second period of his missionary life at Constantinople (1871 - 1886)
  19. ↑ http://www.pcmorristown.org/about-us/graveyard/alphabetical-index-of-interments/w-alpha-grave-yard
  20. ↑ "Personnel records for Martha Briggs Wood". Digital Library for International Research - American Board Personnel Card and Photo Collection. American Research Institute in Turkey-Istanbul. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  21. ↑ Williams, Hermine Weigel (2005). Thomas Hastings: An Introduction to His Life and Music (e-book ed.). New York Lincoln Shanghai: iUniverse, Inc. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-595-81089-5. Retrieved 13 April 2016. footnote #6: Their daughter Mary was married first to Rev Daniel Bond... then to the Rev. George W. Wood
  22. ↑ General Catalogue of the Auburn Theological Seminary. Auburn, NY: Daily Advertiser and Weekly Journal Printing House. 1883. p. 208. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  23. ↑ Chapman, George Thomas (1867). Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College:. Cambridge: Riverside PRess. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  24. ↑ "George W. Wood". Find a Grave. Retrieved 22 August 2016. "George W. Wood, Minister, Missionary" on the gravestone
  25. ↑ "Sarah A. Wood". Find a Grave. Retrieved 22 August 2016. "S.A.H. Wood, Wife of Rev. G.W. Wood" on the gravestone
  26. ↑ Robinson, C.S. (1891). Necrological reports and annual proceedings of the Alumni Association Volume 3: 1875-1932 (Volume 3: 1875-1932 ed.). Princeton, N.J: Princeton Theological Seminary. pp. 134–135. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  27. ↑ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living. Chicago, IL: Successful Americans. 1912. p. 453.
  28. ↑ http://charlevoix.migenweb.net/births/birth033.htm
  29. ↑ Tompkins, Hamilton Bullock (1877). Biographical Record of the Class of 1865, of Hamilton College. p. 77. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  30. ↑ Minutes of the Synod of Michigan. Detroit: Tribune Book and Job Office. 1883. pp. 42–43. Retrieved 4 May 2016. The Sagniaw Presbytery reports... Geo. W. Wood has received ordination
  31. ↑ The Presbyterian Monthly Record of the PCUSA Volume 22. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication. 1871. p. 70. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  32. ↑ Dibean, Jack; Dibean, Marianne. "Iosco County, Michigan Dibean Marriage Index". files.usgwarchives.net. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  33. ↑ "Rosa Nettleton excerpts from the Charlevoix Sentinel for the year 1872". Charlevoix Public Library. Retrieved 4 May 2016. The Presbyterian Society of this place have secured the clerical services of Rev. Geo. W. Wood, late of Au Sable, who arrived lately with his family and household effects. He will preach at the school house at 7 P.M.
  34. ↑ The Presbyterian Monthly Record of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America: Being the Organ of the Boards of Home Missions, Education, Foreign Missions, Publication, Church Erection, Relief for Disables Ministers, Missions for Freedmen, and Aid for Colleges and Academies, Volume 24. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication. 1873. p. 78. Home Mission Appointments made in January 1873...Rev. Geo. W. Wood, Charlevoix ch., Mich.
  35. ↑ Nettleton, Rosa. "Highlights of Charlevoix History 1869 to 1906 from the Charlevoix Sentinel". http://www.charlevoixlibrary.org/sites/default/files/RogerGowell/Nettleton/nettleton-main.htm. Retrieved 14 April 2016. The work of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions in this field twenty or more years ago, should not be confounded with the origin of the present Congregational Society. Back almost as far as local history reaches, the Presbyterians had a mission here. The pastor in charge of the work was Rev. George W. Wood. He labored here about six years, when, for some cause unknown to the writer that denomination abandoned the work here; but, unquestionably from that early Christian movement sprang the present prosperous Congregational Church of Charlevoix. External link in |website= (help)
  36. ↑ Presbyterian Monthly Record of the PCUSA Vol 25. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication. 1874. p. 70.
  37. ↑ Minutes of the General Assembly of the PCUSA - United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., Volume 5, Part 2. New York: Presbyterian Board of Publication. 1879. p. 888. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  38. ↑ Tompkins, Hamilton Bullock (1877). Biographical Record of the Class of 1865, of Hamilton College. p. 77. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  39. ↑ Sixtieth Annual Report of the American Bible Society. New York: American Bible Society. 1876. p. 59. Retrieved 12 July 2016. Charlevoix and Emmet Counties... have been throughly explored by Rev. G.W. Wood, who was employed as a colporteur by the American Bible Society... The people are extremely impecunious at present, being mainly homesteaders...the colporteur has gone on foot... [with] his Bible laden knapsack, in paths where no vehicle could go, and by boats on the lakes and rivers
  40. ↑ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living. Chicago, IL: Successful Americans. 1912. p. 453. He was under the American bible society in 1877, 78 and 79
  41. ↑ Crawford, Suzanne; Kelley, Dennis (2005). American Indian Religious Traditions, An Encyclopedia: A-I. Santa Barbara, California / Denver, Colorado / Oxford, England: ABC-CLIO. p. 536. ISBN 1-57607-517-6. Retrieved 13 April 2016. In 1880 George W. Wood established a Presbyterian mission at Fort Peck
  42. ↑ The Church at Home and Abroad, Volume 2. Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work (General Assembly of the PCUSA). 1887. p. 71. Wolf Point, Montana Territory: On the Missouri river... 1883; missionaries, Rev. George W. Wood Jr., and his wife.
  43. ↑ Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). The American Blue Herringshaw's American Book of Biography: Prominent Americans of 1914. Chicago, Illinois: American Publishers' association. p. 1005. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  44. ↑ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living. Chicago, IL: Successful Americans. 1912. p. 453.
  45. ↑ The Foreign Missionary (containing particular accounts of the work of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church and selected articles and facts from the missionary publications of other protestant societies) Volume 44. New York: Mission House (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions). 1885–1886. p. 59.
  46. ↑ "About The ensign. (Boyne, Mich.) 1892-1???". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Title:The ensign... Publisher:George Warren Wood...Frequency:Monthly
  47. ↑ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living. Chicago, IL: Successful Americans. 1912. p. 453.
  48. ↑ Rowell, George (1893). Rowell's American Newspaper Directory. New York: Geo P. Rowell & Company. p. 377. Retrieved 31 May 2016. Mackinaw City, Cheboygan County"... "WITNESS: Saturdays; four pages 16x22; subscription $1.50; established 1892; Rev. G. W. Wood, editor and publisher.
  49. ↑ Donaldson, W. H. (1894). The Donaldson, Guide: Containing a List of All Opera-houses in the United States and Canada. Cincinnati, OH: Donaldson. p. 167. Retrieved 31 May 2016. Newspaper -- Witness, Rev. G.w. Wood, editor
  50. ↑ Clark, C.F. (1897). Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1897 (Volume 13). Detroit: R.L Polk & Co. p. 1138. Retrieved 10 May 2016. "[Mackinaw] has a weekly newspaper, The Mackinaw Witness" ... "George H. Wood, publr... Wood, Rev George W (Presbyterian)
  51. ↑ "George W. Wood papers (ID#02878)". Detroit Public Library. Burton Historical Collection. Retrieved 14 April 2016. Biographical/Historical note:Born in Constantinople to missionary parents, George W. Wood became a Presbyterian minister and missionary to the Native Americans in Michigan, the Dakotas and Minnesota. He lived in Fairhope, Alabama about 1900 and was treasurer of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. George W. Wood died on Jan. 21, 1924.
  52. ↑ Huntington, Charles White (1922). Enclaves of Single Tax or Economic Rent: Being a Compendium of the Legal Documents Involved together with a historical description. Boston: Warren Fiske / Merrymount Press. p. 23. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  53. ↑ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living. Chicago, IL: Successful Americans. 1912. p. 453.
  54. ↑ Wood, G.W. (1919). Haines, Lynn, ed. The Searchlight on Congress, and on the Democracy which Gives it Existence, Volumes 4-5 (The Searchlight newsletter) (Volume IV, Number 4 (August 1919) page 29 ed.). United States. p. 29. Retrieved https://books.google.com/books?id=iCo4AQAAMAAJ&lpg=RA3-PA29&ots=Oebf_Knoj5&dq=%22Mackinaw%20Witness%22&pg=RA3-PA29#v=onepage&q=%22Mackinaw%20Witness%22&f=false. 1 column editorial entitled "Where Blanton Blundered","Fairhope, Ala, 11 July 1919.", signed by "G.W. Wood" Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  55. ↑ "George W. Wood papers (ID#02878)". Detroit Public Library. Burton Historical Collection. Retrieved 14 April 2016. Biographical/Historical note:Born in Constantinople to missionary parents, George W. Wood became a Presbyterian minister and missionary to the Native Americans in Michigan, the Dakotas and Minnesota. He lived in Fairhope, Alabama about 1900 and was treasurer of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. George W. Wood died on Jan. 21, 1924.
  56. ↑ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living. Minnesota / Chicago IL: Successful Americans. 1912. p. 453. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
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