Samuel Newitt Wood facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Samuel Newitt Wood
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Samuel Newitt Wood
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| Member of the Kansas Senate from the 26th district | |
| In office 1876 |
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| Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 86th district | |
| In office 1875–1877 |
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| Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 73rd district | |
| In office 1871 |
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| Member of the Kansas Senate from the 15th district | |
| In office 1867 |
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| Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 68th district | |
| In office 1866 |
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| Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 69th district | |
| In office 1864 |
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| Member of the Kansas Senate from the 13th district | |
| In office 1861–1862 |
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| Member of the Kansas Territorial Legislature from the combined district of Chase, Morris, and Madison counties |
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| In office 1860–1861 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | September 30, 1825 Mount Gilead, Ohio |
| Died | June 23, 1891 (aged 65) Hugoton, Kansas |
| Political party | Republican |
| Nickname | The Fighting Quaker |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States of America Union |
| Branch/service | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1864 |
| Rank |  Brigadier General |
| Commands | 2nd Kansas Infantry Kansas Militia |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Samuel Newitt Wood (born December 30, 1825 – died June 23, 1891) was an important American lawyer, politician, and newspaper editor. He was a strong supporter of making Kansas a Free State, meaning he was against slavery. Wood also believed in women's right to vote long before it became law. He was killed in 1891 during a big disagreement about where a new county's main town (county seat) should be located in Kansas.
Born in Ohio, Wood moved to Kansas in 1854 when it became a U.S. territory. He served in the Kansas Territorial Legislature from 1860 to 1861. Later, he was elected to the first Kansas State Senate in 1861, the year Kansas joined the United States. He also served another term as a State Senator in 1867. Wood was a member of the Kansas House of Representatives several times, even serving as its speaker in his last term. He owned and edited many newspapers in Kansas throughout his life.
Contents
Early Life and Family Background
Samuel Newitt Wood was born on December 30, 1825, in Mount Gilead, Ohio. He was the fifth child of David and Esther Ward (Mosher) Wood. His family were Quakers, a religious group known for their peaceful beliefs.
Wood's family strongly opposed slavery. Their home was even a stop on the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom. In 1849, while helping runaway slaves, Samuel met Margaret Lyon, who he married on October 3, 1850. They had four children: David, William Lyon, Florence, and Dearie.
Fighting for a Free Kansas
After the Kansas–Nebraska Act was passed in 1854, Samuel Wood moved his family to Lawrence, Kansas. This act allowed people in new territories to decide if they would allow slavery, which led to a lot of fighting in Kansas. This period became known as "Bleeding Kansas" because of the violence between those who supported slavery and those who opposed it (Free-Staters). Wood was a strong Free-Stater and took part in important events to protect people who were against slavery.
Newspaper Work
Samuel Wood was very involved in newspapers. In the 1850s, he was part owner of the Kansas Tribune in Lawrence. He also started the first newspapers in Cottonwood Falls, called The Kansas Press, and in Council Grove, called The Council Grove Press. Later, in the 1870s and 1880s, he was an editor for several other Kansas newspapers, including The Kansas Greenbacker and The Kansas State Journal.
Military Service in the Civil War
Wood served in the American Civil War. He started as a captain of a company called the "Kansas Rangers" in the 2nd Kansas Infantry. This unit fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Later, he became a major and then a lieutenant colonel in the 6th Missouri Cavalry Regiment. He fought in battles in Arkansas and was later made a brigadier general in the Kansas State Militia in 1864.
Supporting Voting Rights
Samuel Wood and his family were strong supporters of equal rights. His mother, Esther Wood, was the president of the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 1852.
In 1860, Samuel Wood introduced a bill in the Kansas House to ban slavery in Kansas. This bill faced a lot of opposition, but it was eventually passed into law, showing his strong commitment to ending slavery.
In 1866, Wood was one of the leaders who wanted to change the Kansas State Constitution. He proposed removing the words "male" and "white" from the voting requirements. This would have given both women and African Americans the right to vote. In 1867, he helped organize the Impartial Suffrage movement in Topeka, Kansas. He invited famous speakers like Henry B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony to speak about voting rights.
Political Life
Samuel Wood was involved in politics from a young age. In 1844, he was a leader in the Liberty Party, which was against slavery. He became a lawyer in Ohio in 1854. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, he moved to Kansas and joined the Free State Party, which opposed slavery in the territory.
In 1856, Wood was a delegate at the convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that created the Republican Party. He also served as a judge in Kansas in 1867.
The Stevens County Seat Conflict
Samuel Wood founded the town of Woodsdale, Kansas. He strongly believed that Woodsdale should be the main town, or "county seat," of Stevens County. This put him in a fierce competition with the nearby town of Hugoton, which also wanted to be the county seat.
This disagreement led to violent events, including the Hay Meadow Massacre, where some Hugoton supporters killed four Woodsdale supporters. Wood tried to bring the killers to justice, but it was decided that no court had power in the area where the event happened. Today, Woodsdale is a ghost town, and nothing is left of Wood's settlement.
Death
Because of the intense county seat conflict, Samuel Wood was killed outside the Hugoton courthouse on June 23, 1891. He was buried in Prairie Grove Cemetery in Cottonwood Falls.
Legacy
Woods County, Oklahoma was named in honor of Samuel Newitt Wood.
Images for kids
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Rank insignia for a Union Army brigadier general.
See also
- List of assassinated American politicians
