George Wood was born in Malone, Franklin County, New York on August 19, 1815. At age 14 Wood began teaching so that he could raise enough money to attend college, which he did in 1831, enrolling at the University of Vermont. He graduated with honors in 1838 and subsequently taught for three years at Canton Academy and was principal of Franklin Academy for five years. He later attended Harvard Law School, although it is unclear if he received a degree (the papers do contain a certificate certifying his membership in the American Legal Association).
After law school Wood moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin and by 1851 he had embarked on a land speculation partnership with James S. Prentice. Wood and Prentice bought and sold land and acquired bounty warrants (land warrants issued to veterans) in the Green Bay area. James Prentice worked out of Menasha while Wood was in Green Bay. In 1852 Wood married his business partner's sister, Mary Candace Prentice (who often went by Candace) whom he had met while both were living in New York. James Prentice died in 1855, and the financial panic of 1857 caused the business to falter.
Wood began designing a rock drill and pulverizor for mining around 1852 and received Belgian and French patents in 1855 and an American patent in 1857. By 1861 he had given up his land speculation business and traveled to the Pikes Peak gold area in Colorado, leaving his family in Green Bay.
For reasons that are not clear, Wood was unsuccessful with mining in Colorado and returned to the Midwest by November of 1861. On his way back he met General George Armstrong who offered him an appointment as assistant postmaster in Cairo, Illinois. Wood accepted this position and soon thereafter moved to Cairo with his family. Cairo would turn out to be an important mail distribution point during the Civil War. The Woods lived next to the Army barracks and hospital, and Candace Wood worked with sick soldiers at the hospital. Wood served as postmaster until 1868 when he rejoined his family, who had sometime earlier relocated to Malone, New York. Wood died sometime during the late 1890s; by 1900 his wife is described as a “widow” in a deed.
George and Candace had four daughters: Katherine (“Day”), Candace P. (“Daisy”), Jessie Wilson, and Georgia Pangborn. Several if not all of the daughters lived on the East Coast after the Woods moved back to Malone, New York. Jessie married Sterling Wilson in the late 1890s. Georgia (1872-1958) married Harry Pangborn in the latter part of the 19th century and became a well-known writer of supernatural fiction in the early 20th century.
Hattie Pangborn was possibly either George Wood's sister (George Wood writes a letter addressed to Hattie as “Dear Sister”) or Candace's cousin (Hattie refers to Candace as “cousin Candace” in a letter). Hattie married Zebina Pangborn in the mid-19th century. Zebina Pangborn was an editor and president of The Evening Journal, a newspaper in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Family Chart
This chart is not a complete chart of the Wood family, but is a short guide to better understand some of the relationships of the people represented within the collection. There is correspondence in the collection from all of the family members listed below.
- George H. Wood (1815-circa 1888) m. Mary Candace Prentice
- ch. Candace P. Wood
- ch. Georgia Wood m. Harry Pangborn
- ch. Edgar Pangborn
- ch. Mary Pangborn
- ch. Jessie Wood m. Sterling Wilson
- ch. Katharine Wood
- Zebina Pangborn (Harry Pangborn's brother) m. Hattie (possibly Mary Candace's cousin)
