Born in Pownalborough in Massachusetts Bay's Province of Maine (now known as Wiscasset), he was the son of Gen. Abiel Wood (1743–1811) and Betsey Tinkham, both originally of Middleborough.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1814 to the Fourteenth Congress, but served as delegate to the constitutional convention of Maine in 1819.
He was a Maine State councilor, after which he resumed mercantile pursuits and also engaged in shipping.
They had one child, a daughter named Helen, who married John Hannibal Sheppard.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress