William Wood (banker)

William Wood (October 21, 1808 – October 1, 1894)[1] was a Scottish-American banker.

William Wood
President of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York
In office
1865–1867
Preceded byRobert Gordon
Succeeded byJohn Taylor Johnston
Personal details
Born(1808-10-28)October 28, 1808
Glasgow, Scotland
DiedOctober 1, 1894(1894-10-01) (aged 85)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Harriet A. Kane
​
​
(m. 1830; died 1846)​
Children10
Alma materUniversity of St Andrews
University of Glasgow
OccupationThe Glasgow Academy

Early life

Wood was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 21, 1808. His father was a prominent Glasgow merchant and banker who could trace his lineage back to Admiral Sir Andrew Wood, a hero of the British Navy.[2]

At age 7, he went to William Angus' Grammar School in St Mungo for two years, followed by the Glasgow Grammar School and Dr. Duncan's School at Ruthwell. In October 1821, he entered The Glasgow Academy until age sixteen, when he matriculated at the University of St Andrews, where he took the second and third mathematical prizes. After St Andrews, he attended the University of Glasgow where he took the highest prize in Natural Philosophy.[3]

Career

Shortly after his graduation, he began working in the family mercantile business J. & R. Dennistoun & Company. On November 3, 1828, he came to the United States for the firm, remaining only a short time before he returned to Scotland. In 1830, he returned to New York on Hibernia, married there, and returned to Glasgow, where he stayed until 1832 when he relocated to Liverpool to manage the branch of the business there. While in Liverpool, "in conjunction with Richard Cobden, he canvassed South Lancashire in the interests of the senior partner of Brown Brothers, the eminent banking house, who was about to seek the votes of that constituency for election to Parliament."[2]

In 1844, Wood returned to the United States and opened Dennistoun, Wood & Co., remaining a partner until his retirement from the firm on December 31, 1860. In 1863, he assumed the management of the British and American Bank, where he worked until 1869.[2]

Public office

In May 1869, Mayor A. Oakey Hall appointed Wood a Commissioner of Public Instruction and in May 1870, he was made a Commissioner of Docks and Ferries,[2] serving through the administration of Mayor William F. Havemeyer until May 21, 1873.[4]

In June of 1870, he was appointed to the commission to expand Broadway to succeed Alexander Turney Stewart who retired. Wood served on the Board of Education until April 4, 1873 "when the Reform Party legislated him out of office."[2] He was reappointed by Mayor William H. Wickham as a Commissioner of Education and eventually became President of the Board, serving almost twenty years where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Normal College for the training of teachers.[2]

Social and club life

Wood was a member of the Century Association and served as an elder of the Collegiate Dutch Reformed Church, although a member of the Congregational Church. In December 1828, he was elected a member of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York and served as president of the society from 1865 to 1867.[2]

Personal life
Wood's daughter, Elizabeth Kane, c. 1872.

On September 15, 1830, he was married to Harriet Amelia Kane (1810–1846), daughter of John Kane and Maria (née Codwise) Kane.[2] Together, they were the parents of six children, including:[5]

After his first wife's death giving birth to their seventh child, he remarried to Margaret Lawrence (1823–1871), the daughter of James Van Horne Lawrence and Emily Augusta (née Kane) Lawrence. Together, they were the parents of four children,[2] including:[9]

  • Dennistoun Wood (d. 1904),[10] who married Edith Phillips, daughter of Howard C. Phillips, on January 2, 1875.[9][11]
  • Chalmers Wood (1856–1924), who married Ellen Appleton Smith, daughter of John Cotton Smith.
  • Henry Duncan Wood, who married Ellen E. Pulsifer, daughter of William H. Pulsifer of St. Louis, Missouri, on April 24, 1878.[9]
  • Van Horne Lawrence Wood (b. 1860), who married Bessie Dora Biggs.[7]

After the death of his second wife, he married thirdly to Helen Mason, daughter of Henry Mason and Lydia (née James) Mason, on December 6, 1883.[2]

Wood died on October 1, 1894 at 4 West 18th Street, his home in New York City.[1] After a funeral at the Collegiate Reformed Church, he was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.[12][13]

References
  1. "The Obituary Record. William Wood" (PDF). The New York Times. 3 October 1894. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  2. Morrison, George Austin (1906). History of Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York, 1756-1906. Order of the Society at Press of the Evening Post Job Printing Office. pp. 138-140. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  3. Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Mann, Conklin; Maynard, Arthur S. (1916). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. pp. 241-244. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  4. "A New Commissioner of Docks". New York Times. January 4, 1872. p. 8. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  5. Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 1158. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  6. Shields, Charles (2009). Philosophia Ultima. Applewood Books. p. 42. ISBN 9781429017886. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  7. Wood, John Walter (1916). William Wood (born 1656) of Earlsferry, Scotland and Some of His Descendants and Their Connections. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. p. 15. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  8. Wood, William (1895). Autobiography of William Wood. J. S. Babcock. p. 389. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  9. Aitken, William Benford (1912). Distinguished Families in America, Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke. Knickerbocker Press. p. 129. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  10. "Death List of a Day. Dennistoun Wood" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 January 1902. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  11. Leonard, John William; Downs, Winfield Scott; Lewis, M. M. (1922). Who's who in Engineering. John W. Leonard Corporation. p. 1410. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  12. "WILL OF WILLIAM WOOD FILED.; An Autobiography One of the Bequests Left to a Daughter" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 December 1894. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  13. "WILLIAM WOOD'S MEMORY HONORED.; Address to Normal College Graduates on the Founder of Their Institution" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 October 1894. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
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