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Chase County Kansas Obituaries
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Wood, Stephen Mosher
STEPHEN M WOOD, PIONEER AND PHILANTHROPIST, DIES
Elmdale Man was in Legislature in Early 60's
Donated Land to State Y.M.C.A. Camp, Served in Civil War and was KSAC Regent
Stephen M Wood, 89, one of the most widely known pioneers in this section of the state, died at his home in Elmdale last night, following a short illness from pneumonia. Mr. Wood had lived in Kansas since 1865. He was a member of the state legislature during the late 60's and also had served a number of years as regent of Kansas State Agriculture college. at Manhattan.
During the Civil War Mr. Wood was quartermaster in Sam Wood's regiment, Company A of the Sixth Missouri Calvary.
Several years ago when the state YMCA camp south of Elmdale was established, Mr. Wood was donor of the land upon which the camp is located and by honoring him for this gift the camp now bears his name.
The funeral will be held at the Wood home in Elmdale at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon. Interment will be in the Elmdale cemetery.
Mr. Wood is survived by a daughter, Miss Carrie Wood, a granddaughter, Miss Gracia Wood, with who he made his home, a son H. P Wood and a daughter, Mrs. James Thurston, all of Elmdale. Mrs Wood died last winter, following a short illness.
Chase County Leader News, Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, Dec 25 1920.
STEPHEN WOOD DEAD
Stephen Wood died at his home in Elmdale on Christmas Eve, following an illness as the result of pneumonia which had entended over several weeks. While his death was not unepected, yet it comes as a great shock to his children and relatives and many friends and the whole community in general for he was one of its most prominent men.
The funeral services were held at the Wood home in Elmdale at 2:30 o'clock last Sunday afternoon, after which interment was made in the Elmdale Cemetery.
Mr. Wood was one of the oldest settlers of Chase county as he came here in the year 1865. He served as a member of the State Legislature during the late sixties and was for a number of years a regent of the State Agricultural College.
A few years ago whent the State YMCA Camp was organized and the site selected, Mr. Wood donated land on which it was located south of Elmdale and in memory of the gift the camp now bears his name.
Chase County Leader News, Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, Dec 31 1920.
Obituary of Stephen M Wood:
Stephen Mosher Wood was born near Mt. Gilead, Morrow county, Ohio, June 10, 1832. His parents were pioneers of that country and in his boyhood he knew the hardships of a land so new that all things bought and sold must be transported by private conveyance a hundred miles to the lake at Cleveland.
In 1853 Mr. Wood was married to Caroline Breese, and shortly after they went to eastern Iowa, then the frontier and for years struggled with a new country. In 1862 he enlisted in the federal service in the war of the states and served until the fall of 1865.
A few weeks later he came to Cottonwood Falls to look after the land belonging to his brother, S N Wood who on a trip with a freight train to Santa Fe, had broken his leg. In April of 1866 Stephen Wood returned to Iowa, settled up his affairs and brought his family to Kansas. He had acquired some land in the Cottonwood Valley near where Elmdale now stands. He took a homestead on the uplands, and there built a home that endured for fifty years.
He was an industrious, frugal man; one to whom the best interests of his community in a moral and material way were very dear, his active life was spent in the fifty years between the Civil War and the world war, years showing the greatest development and advance for the United States. He always took a great interest in things political in the state and nation, twice he represented his county in the state legislature and once he served as state senator. He had a personal acquaintance with the men who were state leaders at that time, he was elected railroad assessor when there was such a position. He was appointed a regent of the State Agricultural College by Gov. John P St. John and was a member of the board of managers of the State Asylum for the blind.
He was actively a part of an army of young men who built up the great west and made it a desireable home land for the millions who now occupy it. Always a pioneer he had no patience with those who live by the sweat of others men's brows or those who exploit their fellow men. He was one of the last of his day and generation and the world will see his kind no more, for there are no new lands to open and there will develop no more of the hardy men and women who went fourth to conquor the wilderness. They built an empire, builded better than they knew, and we who come after inherit the fruits of their toil, hardships and self denial.
Mr. Wood's death occurred at his home in Elmdale on the evening of December 24, 1920 following an illness of three weeks, the first illness of his life. A little less than a year ago he had lost his wife who had been with him for almost sixty six years. He is survived by two sons W A Wood and C D Wood and by his daughter, Carrie Wood.
Chase County Leader News, Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, Dec 24 1920.
FORMER REGENT DEAD
Stephen M Wood passes on at Age 89
Strongly supported President Anderson and was Active in Advancing Cause of KSAC-- on Board 1877-1883
Stephen M Wood from 1877 to 1883 a member of the board of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College, died December 24 at his home in Elmdale. He was 89 years of age.
GAVE YMCA CAMP
Mr. Wood was born in Ohio, engaged in farming in Iowa, and became an officer in the Union army in the Civil War. At the close of the war he settled in Chase county and for years was prominent in agricultureal and civic affairs. He served successively in both houses of the Kansas legislature. He gave the land for the state YMCA camp.
Among his most conspicuous services were rendered on the board of regents of the college. He was president of the board for four years. He strongly supported President Anderson and upon the latter's resignation took an active part in securing Doctor Fairchild for the presidency. He was a powerful influence in securing adequate support for the college.
PROGRESS DUE TO HIM
"No small part of the progress of the college in those eventful days," writes Dr. J D Walters in his History of Kansas State Agricultural College, "was due to his clear insight in all matters of financial or practical nature and his earnest and energetic performance of the duties of his trust."
The Kansas Industrialist, Manhattan, Kansas, Dec 31 1920.
by Lorna Marvin
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