MSS 302 Reuben Wood Papers

              OHIO MSS 302
H I S T O R Y Reuben Wood P a p e r s
1 - 1 / 4 c u b i c f e e t
S t a n d a r d i n v e n t o r y
C o l l e c t i o n S y n o p s i s
P r o v e n a n c e : The Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y a c q u i r e d t h e Reuben
Wood Papers from t h e Ohio G o v e r n o r ' s O f f i c e i n 1 9 2 9 . The WPA
H i s t o r i c a l Records Survey p r e p a r e d a c a l e n d a r ( R 016.091 Oh3c)
o f t h e c o l l e c t i o n i n t h e 1930s. R i c h a r d W . Arpi p r o c e s s e d t h e
c o l l e c t i o n i n J u l y 1984.
P r o p e r t y r i g h t s : The Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y e x e r c i s e s c u s t o d i a l
r i g h t s o v e r t h i s c o l l e c t i o n .
C o p y r i g h t s : P u b l i c r e c o r d s a r e not governed by c o p y r i g h t
r e s t r i c t i o n s . C o n s i d e r a t i o n of t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s of c o p y r i g h t
i s t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of t h e a u t h o r and p u b l i s h e r .
A-. ccess: Access t o t h i s c o l l e c t i o n i s RESTRICTED. R e s e a r c h e r s a r e -.,~ i i -.. . l-"..'-.,. s~,..--.- -,+. -* '..,. ~ **. ". -.".- ~ . I.. - .-.. . - .<. . .
r e q u e s t e d t o use t h e m i c r o f i l m copy, MIC 9 9 9 , r o l l s 10- 13. '- v .5. " m' ^ F-. ., F. ig - 7- ri' n-- K Z TlFl, z, m~ r'e. rrrri . t~ t'F *" F d-&.- F..,. f. iii.
C i t a t i o n : R e s e a r c h e r s a r e r e q u e s t e d t o c i t e c o l l e c t i o n name,
c o l l e c t i o n number, and t h e Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y in a l l f o o t n o t e
and bib1 i o g r a p h i c r e f e r e n c e s .
Note t o r e s e a r c h e r s : A f i r e a t t h e S o c i e t y i n 1951 d e s t r o y e d and
damaged many of t h e g o v e r n o r s ' p a p e r s . R e s e a r c h e r s a r e a d v i s e d
t o h a n d l e f r a g i i e i t e m s w i t h c a r e . '
B i o g r a p h i c a l s k e t c h : Reuben Wood was born i n Middletown, R u t l a n d
County, Vermont, in 1792. His f a t h e r d i e d when Wood was f i f t e e n
a f t e r which he moved t o Canada t o l i v e w i t h an u n c l e . Wood was
d r a f t e d i n t o t h e Canadian army d u r i n g t h e War of 1812 b u t e s c a p e d
t o t h e United S t a t e s and s e r v e d as c a p t a i n i n a l o c a l Vermont
mi 1 i t i a company.
A f t e r t h e w a r , Wood worked on h i s m o t h e r ' s f a r m , t a u g h t s c h o o l ,
and s t u d i e d law u n d e r James Clark in Middletown. I n 1816 Wood
m a r r i e d Mary Rice and two y e a r s l a t e r moved t o C l e v e l a n d w i t h h i s
w i f e and d a u g h t e r . Wood s e r v e d as a s t a t e s e n a t o r from 1825 t o
1830 when he was a p p o i n t e d common p l e a s judge f o r t h e t h i r d
j u d i c i a l c i r c u i t . In 1832 and 1839 he s u c c e s s f u l l y r a n f o r t h e
s t a t e supreme c o u r t b u t was d e f e a t e d i n 1846 by t h e Whig p a r t y
c a n d i d a t e .
Mood became govei- nor of Ohio in 1850 on t h e Democratic p a r t y t i c k e t .
Due t o a change i n t h e Ohio c o n s t i t u t i o n , however, h i s f i r s t term
l a s t e d o n l y one y e a r ; he won r e e l e c t i o n i n 1851. During t h e Demo-c
r a t i c n a t i o n a l c o n v e n t i o n in 1852, Wood n e a r l y became t h e c o m p r o n i s e
p r e s i d e n t i a l c a n d i d a t e , h i s nomination b e i n g b l o c k e d by one v o t e
w i t h i n t h e Ohio d e l e g a t i o n .
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