Abiel Wood (July 22, 1772 – October 26, 1834) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

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Early life

Born in Pownalborough in Massachusetts Bay's

Province of Maine The Province of Maine refers to any of the various English colonies established in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, within portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and the Canadian ...

(now known as Wiscasset), he was the son of Gen. Abiel Wood (1743–1811) and Betsey Tinkham, both originally of

Middleborough Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 census. History The town was first settled by Europeans in 1661 as Nemasket, later changed to M ...

. He was the second of eleven children.

Education and career

Wood attended the common schools, then engaged in mercantile pursuits. He served as member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

1807–1811, and again in 1816. Wood was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1814 to the Fourteenth Congress, but served as delegate to the constitutional convention of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

in 1819. He was a Maine State councilor, after which he resumed mercantile pursuits and also engaged in shipping. He served as Bank commissioner for Maine until his death in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

on October 26, 1834. He was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wiscasset.

Personal life

He married Hannah Hodge on November 30, 1793, in Wiscasset. They had one child, a daughter named Helen, who married John Hannibal Sheppard.

References

*Davis, William T., ''Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth'', Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1883. *Knowlton, Charles Bowles, ''Marriage Notices For The Whole United States, 1785 – 1794'', Salem Mass.: 1900. *''Massachusetts: Vital Records to the Year 1850'', Boston, 1910.
England families, genealogical and memorial: a record of the Achievements of her people in the making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation''
Volume 1 page 281, (1914). Edited by William Richard Cutter. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Abiel 1772 births 1834 deaths People from Wiscasset, Maine Massachusetts Democratic-Republicans Maine Democratic-Republicans Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from the District of Maine Members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts