George W. Wood

WOOD, VAN BUSKIRK, SNYDER, JONES, ADKINSON

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 5/18/2009 at 13:59:10

1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO

pages 775-776

GEORGE W. WOOD, a farmer of Lincoln
Township, was born in Mercer County,
Illinois, April 1, 1862. He is the young-
est of six children of John and Caroline (Van
Buskirk) Wood, who were early settlers of
Pickaway County, Ohio, which was their na-
tive State. They removed to Wisconsin, and
thence to Mercer County, Illinois, in 1861;
they made that their home until 1866, when
they went to Poweshiek County, Iowa, and
settled on a farm near Grinnell. At the end
of one year they moved to Madison County,
Iowa, and settled near Winterset; there they
continued to reside until 1874, when they
came to Audubon County, Iowa, and located
on a farm in section 35; the land was new and
unimproved; the first purchase contained 240
acres, a part of which was afterward sold.
The father died in Poweshiek County, Iowa,
and the mother was married to Joseph Sny-
der. They lived on their present farm for
several years and then rented the place and
removed to Nebraska, where the mother died
June 16, 1888. There were no children born
of the second marriage; the children by the
first husband were -- Sarah (deceased), wife of
E. W. Jones; Grandval, died at the age of six
years; Emily (deceased); Laura, wife of Albert
Adkinson; Willis G., and George W., the
subject of this notice. He was reared to the
occupation of a farmer, and in 1885 he went
with his mother and step-father to Nebraska,
devoting his time to hunting and trapping on
the waters of the Ponca Creek; the game was
otter, beaver and coon; during the season he
shot prairie chickens for the Omaha market,
which he made quite profitable. In the fall
of 1888 he returned to Lincoln Township,
and settled on the farm of 120 acres which
his mother had willed to him. Mr. Wood
devotes his time to general farming pursuits,
and is one of the enterprising young agricult-
urists of the township. His grandfather, on
his mother's side, was John Van Buskirk, an
early settler of Pickaway County, Ohio, of
Hollandish descent.