While living with an uncle in Canada after his father died, Wood was conscripted into the Canadian Army at the outset of the War of 1812, but escaped across Lake Ontario and briefly served in the Vermont militia.

[1] Wood moved to Cleveland, Ohio – then a tiny village of 600 residents – in 1818 with his wife and infant daughter.

[1] Wood was elected in 1833 to the Ohio Supreme Court, and served two seven-year terms from 1833 to 1847.

His first term was cut short by the implementation of a new state constitution, and he was re-elected in late 1851, re-inaugurated in early 1852.

[3] Wood died at his farm, Evergreen Place, eight miles west of Cleveland, on October 1, 1864, from bilious colic.