Samuel Newitt Wood

Samuel Newitt Wood
Member of the Kansas Senate from the 26th district
In office
1876
Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 86th district
In office
1875–1877
Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 73rd district
In office
1871
Member of the Kansas Senate from the 15th district
In office
1867
Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 68th district
In office
1866
Member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 69th district
In office
1864
Member of the Kansas Senate from the 13th district
In office
1861–1862
Member of the
Kansas Territorial Legislature from the combined district of Chase, Morris, and Madison counties
In office
1860–1861
Personal details
BornSeptember 30, 1825 (1825-09-30)
Mount Gilead, Ohio, US
DiedJune 23, 1891 (1891-06-24) (aged 65)
Hugoton, Kansas, US
Manner of deathAssassination
Political partyRepublican
NicknameThe Fighting Quaker
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
Union
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Union Army
Years of service1861–1864
Rank Brigadier General
Commands2nd Kansas Infantry
Kansas Militia
6th Missouri Cavalry Regiment (Union)
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Samuel Newitt Wood (December 30, 1825 – June 23, 1891) was an American attorney, newspaper editor, and member of the Kansas House of Representatives. He was also a Free State advocate in Kansas and an early supporter of Women's Suffrage. Wood was a speaker at the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Convention in 1856 that established the Republican party. He was assassinated in 1891 in a bitter fight over the naming of a new county seat in the state's southeastern corner.

A native of Ohio, Wood settled in Kansas in 1854 following its establishment as a U.S. territory. He represented Chase, Morris, and Madison[1] counties in the Kansas Territorial Legislature in 1860 and 1861. Wood was subsequently elected to the first Kansas State Senate in 1861, the year the state was admitted into the Union, and completed another term as State Senator in 1867. As a member of the House, he served in 1864, 1866, 1876, and 1877, being speaker during his final term.[2] In the 1850s and 1860s, Wood owned and operated several newspapers and was editor of several other Kansas papers in the 1870s and 1880s.[3]

  1. ^ Madison County was one of the original 36 counties of the Kansas Territory. It was dissolved in 1861 to form Breckenridge County (renamed Lyon County) and Greenwood County.
  2. ^ "Chronicles of Oklahoma - Digital Collections". Oklahoma State University. 1940. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "Samuel N. Wood". Kansaspedia, Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved November 14, 2022.