Born in Minisink, New York, Wood attended the common schools.

He engaged in railroad construction in New Jersey and moved to Portland, Maine, in 1846.

He was one of the contractors in the construction of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, and he also engaged in banking.

He was the contractor for building the Air Line Railroad between Woonsocket and New Haven, Connecticut.

Wood died while on a visit in Boston, Massachusetts, and was interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.