Hood, Benjamin S. (Benjamin Smith), 1832-1904

Benjamin S. Hood, a teacher in Jerseyville, Ill., & later a newspaper editor in Litchfield, Ill.; Humphrey H. Hood (1823-1903), Benjamin's brother, a physician, Civil War veteran, & businessman in Litchfield; and their brothers, sisters & descendants.

Of the Hood family, originally from Philadelphia, all but one had settled by the late 1850s in or near Litchfield, where the Hood brothers' business interests over the years included a drugstore, newspapers, insurance, real estate, and banking. The Litchfield Hoods were abolitionists; their brother, John L. (1825-1865), who lived in Virginia, was pro-slavery. During the Civil War, John served in the Confederate Army and died in a POW camp, Benjamin served 3 months with the 7th Illinois Infantry, and Humphrey served with the Union Army at Fort Pickering, Tenn., as a surgeon assigned to the 117th Illinois Infantry, & later to the First Tennessee Heavy Artillery, African Descent (later renamed the Third U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery). Benjamin and Humphrey were both active in Litchfield politics and civic affairs. Another brother, J. G. (1827-1855), a teacher, was a nationally published poet.