Wood, Frank L., 1864-1945.

Frank L. Wood was born in Machester, Indiana, in 1864. His early childhood was spent in Malden, Illinois. His family moved to Chicago when Frank was ten years old. The remainder of his he lived on Chicago's west side, his last address being 306 S. Hamlin. As a teenager he worked as a clerk for various companies while going to night school. He was graduated from Chicago's Kent College of Law. He was editor of the west side weekly Enterprise and from 1883 to 1894 was business for himself. He was assistant chief clerk of Cook County Probate Court from 1894 to 1898 and practiced law until 1903 when he was promoted from this post to assistant probate judge, a position which he held until 1906. After a brief stint as secretary and treasurer of the Commercial Life Insurance Company he became the editor of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin from 1909 until his retirement in 1937. In politics he was a Republican. Wood's avocations were the West Side Historical Society, of which he was treasurer and president in turn, and the Wesleyan Bible Class. This class was organized in 1880 at the Western Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, with Wood as one of the original members. He was instrumental in reorganizing the class in the late 1890s, and he spearheaded the class until his death half a century later. Wood was also a collector of Abraham Lincoln material. He published one volume of poetry, Khaki and Blue, and numerous single poems appeared in newspapers. He married Isabel O. Watson, daughter of a pioneer west sider, on March 26, 1889. The couple had one son, Elmer W. Wood, and three granddaughters. Frank Wood died at Wesley Memorial Hospital February 7, 1945, of complications from surgery. He was buried in Forest Home Cemetery.