Wood, Marquis Lafayette, 1829-1893.

Marquis Lafayette Wood was a Methodist clergyman, missionary, and educator. He served as President of Trinity College (Randolph County, N.C.) from 1883 to 1884.

Born 23 Oct. 1829, Randolph Co. N.C. Wood was a clergyman in the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Educated at Normal College (Randolph Co., N.C.), receiving his A.B. in 1855. He was a missionary in Shanghai, China from 1860-1866, and served as President of Trinity College (Randolph, Co., N.C.) in 1883-1884. Died in Gibson, N.C., 25 Nov. 1893.

When Braxton Craven died in 1882, the Trustees turned to Marquis Lafayette Wood (1829-1893). Although he served as president only a year-and-a-half, his leadership proved critical during the period following Craven's death. A minister and Craven's close friend, Wood was a graduate of the school--the only president who was an alumnus in Duke's history. He worked diligently for the college, was the first president to raise money for endowment, and remained on the Board of Trustees the rest of his life, even submitting the resolution in 1889 to move the college from his beloved native Randolph County to Durham, N.C. His one-sentence definition of the college presidency was that "All great enterprises require time and patience and labor and suffering and money." After Wood left in 1884, the college was run for three years by a Committee of the Board of Trustees.