From A Biographical History of Central Kansas, Vol. II, p. 1387
published by The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago & New York, 1902

T. J. WOOD

   As a representative of the class of substantial builders of a great commonwealth who has served faithfully in the enterprising west, we present the subject of this review, who is a pioneer of the Sunflower state and has nobly performed his duty in establishing and maintaining the material interests and moral welfare of his community and has exerted a strong influence throughout his adopted state as an agriculturist.

   Mr Wood was born in Bracken county, Kentucky, May 23, 1850, a son of T J Wood, Sr, a native of Bourbon county, that state.  His father, William Wood, a native of Virginia, was a son of Robert Wood, who was born in England, and was a ship carpenter.  His sons became prominent in professional life in the United States, two of whom were successful medical practitioners in St Louis, Missouri, and one was a Methodist Episcopal minister.  William Wood, the grandfather of our subject, was a cabinet maker by trade.  He married a Miss Ellis.  Their son, Thomas J, Sr., followed various occupations during his active business career, being a carpenter, mason and a boot and shoemaker.  He was united in marriage with Miss Mary R Clark, a lady of intelligence and culture.  She was born in Bracken county, Kentucky, a daughter of Walker and Sarah (DeCut) Clark.  Mr and Mrs Wood became the parents of the following children:  William W, who was a successful physician of Mt Olivet, Ohio (Kentucky), but is now deceased; Jeremiah, who was accidentally killed at Lagrange, Kentucky; Thomas J, our subject; Robert T, a well known physician of Paris, Kentucky; J B, who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Mt Olivet, Ohio (Kentucky); and Mrs Elizabeth Jay, who died in Robinson (Robertson Co) Kentucky.  The father of this family was called to his final rest at the age of forty-eight years.  He was a man of fine physique, weighing two hundred and fifty pounds.  He affiliated with the Democratic party.  Mrs Wood was called to the home beyond at the age of seventy-three years, and both were worthy members of the Baptist church.

   T J Wood, whose name forms the caption of this review, was reared in the state of his nativity, and there received a good common-school education.  In February, 1879, he came to Kansas, taking up his abode in Raymond township, Rice county, where he has since been known as one of the enterprising and successful farmers and stock-raisers.  His fields are under a high state of cultivation and the place is neat and thrifty in appearance, indicating to the passer-by the careful supervision of a progressive owner.  The place comprises one hundred and sixty acres, and is improved with a good residence, a large barn, windmill and a beautiful grove and orchard.  The United States observatory station is located within a few rods of his house.

   In 1874, at the age of twenty-four years, Mr Wood chose as a companion for the journey of life Miss Cynthia A Burden, who was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, but was reared and educated in Mt Olivet.  Her father, C E Burden, was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, but subsequently became a resident of Rice county, Kansas, where he remained for eighteen years.  He is now a resident of Rogers, Arkansas, but still owns three hundred and twenty acres of land in Rice county.  He married Nancy D Wells, a native of Harrison county, Kentucky, and they became the parents of four children:  W C, a successful publisher of Sterling, Kansas; Walter Scott, a blacksmith of Chase, Kansas; Mrs Cynthia Wood; Bertha, wife of James Booth, of Washington county, Arkansas.  Two children grace the home of our subject and wife:  Bertha, the wife of Leonard Proffitt, of Raymond township; and Emmett R.  They also lost two children, Artie Bell, the first born, dying at the age of three and a half years, and Willis, the third in order of birth, departed this life at the age of nine years.  Both Mr and Mrs Wood are worthy and active members of the Baptist church, and he is a Democrat in his political affiliations.  For sixteen years he served as a member of the school board.  Mr Wood possesses the enterprising spirit of the west and he has steadily worked his way upward until, having long since left the ranks of the many, he today stands among the successful few.