Mrs. John Wood

Born into a theatrical family, Matilda Charlotte Vining travelled the country as a child actor.

The Woods played Boston for three seasons, and for the first three months of their third, appeared at the Wallack's Theatre in New York City.

T. Allston Brown, a contemporary historian of the theatre, offers this explanation for her fame: Mrs. John Wood was a very pretty woman, possessing a fine figure and an attractive face.

This season, Mrs. John Wood gained renown for her roles in Hi-a-wa-tha; or, Ardent Spirit and Laughing Waters and Love's Disguises.

On 2 April 1861, ten days before the outbreak of the American Civil War, Mrs. John Wood performed[2] "Dixie" for a concluding scene featuring a Zouave march in a production of the burlesque Po-ca-hon-tas in New Orleans.

Mrs. Wood continued her management career at the St James's Theatre in London from 1869 until mid-1872.