BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.


Pages 563-564.

JOEL WOOD, of Martin's Ferry, one who has by the promotion of various
important enterprises, rendered this part of the Ohio valley great
service, was born in Smithfield, Ohio, August 22, 1814. He is the
grandson of William Wood, a native of Pennsylvania, who was for
some time a resident of Frederick county, Md., and settled in Jef-
ferson county, Ohio, about 1810, becoming the first merchant of
Smithfield. About 1815 he engaged in farming, and his death occurred
June 3, 1844. This well-known and worthy pioneer was the father of
eight children, all now deceased. His son, Joel, Sr., the father of
the subject of this sketch, was born in Maryland, and there received
his education. He soon after removed to Ohio and engaged in business.
He died in 1814. By his marriage in 1804, at New Market, Frederick
Co., Md., to Elizabeth Poultney, who died February 8, 1844, he had
five children, all of whom are deceased but the subject of this
sketch. Both parents were members of the Society of Friends. Joel
Wood, the subject of this sketch, spent his early years in Smith-
field, Ohio, receiving such education as the various private schools
afforded, there then being no public schools provided bylaw. During
1829 and 1830 he attended the boarding school of Joseph Gibbons at
Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and in 1831 and 1832, the school or college of
John Grummerre, at Burlington, N. J. The years following, before
location in Martin's Ferry were spent in teaching school and in
merchandising in Baltimore, Md. On the 4th day of July, 1837, he
came to Martin's Ferry and went into the mercantile business. On
the 30th day of August, 1837 he was married to Elizabeth Carr
McGrew, granddaughter of James Carr, first settler and proprietor
of Smithfield, Ohio, in Friends meeting house at Smithfield,
according to the customs of Orthodox Friends, of which society
they were members. About the year 1843 he sold out his mercantile
business and engaged extensively in the nursery and fruit growing
business until 1852, when he became interested in railroad enter-
prises, and was appointed right-of-way solicitor for the Cleveland
& Pittsburgh railroad; remained with that road as their representative
in Martin's Ferry, until 1871. In that year he associated with
himself Joseph Bell and Chester Hubbard, of Wheeling, and several
other gentlemen of Ohio, and organized the Wheeling & Lake Erie
railroad company. Elected as its first president, he served in
that capacity for five years, and afterward as a director for many
years. He was the pioneer of this road, which is now building into
Martin's Ferry, and it will be a monument to his forethought and
enterprise. Mr. Wood has always been prominently identified with
the material advancement of Martin's Ferry, being an early advocate
of plank roads and turnpikes. He was also one of the incorporators
and a director, continuously until 1890, of the Wheeling &
Harrisburg railway, subsequently called the Wheeling Bridge & 
Terminal railway company. From early life he has taken a deep
interest in the cause of public schools, and in the moral reforms
of the day; especially those of anti-slavery and temperance. Soon
after coming to Martin's Ferry, he was made a member of the board
of education and inaugurated the first steps which resulted in the
establishment of the union, or free school system, in 1853, and
which position he held for over thirty years. While yet a very
young man his interest was deeply enlisted in freeing the slaves,
and in 1837 he became a member of that hated organization, the
abolitionists, and at once took an active part in the work. He
cast his first vote for James G. Birney. Was made one of the vice
presidents of the Ohio Anti-Slavery society, and was sent as a
delegate from Belmont county, Ohio, to the national convention
held held in Buffalo} N. Y., in 1848, where was formed the Free
Soil party, and Martin Van Buren nominated for president. Both
before and after coming to Martin's Ferry, he was the agent of the
Underground Railroad, and helped many slaves to gain their freedom,
oftentimes at great personal risk. In 1830 he become interested in
the temperance work; took an active part in the Washingtonian move-
ment, and has been ever since interested in all movements for the
suppression of the liquor traffic. For the past ten years he has
been identified with the prohibition party, and was a delegate to
the national convention held at Indianapolis in May, 1888, which
nominated Clinton B. Fisk for president. Five children were born
to Mr. Wood: George R., Mary C., William H., Oliver Russell and
Lucy J., the first and the last being deceased. Mr. Wood has always
enjoyed the highest standing for honesty and integrity. Although
starting in life with little, he has by strict integrity and
attention to business, accumulated a considerable portion of this
world's goods.