Francis Marion Wood was born on May 17, 1833 in Independence Missouri, subsequently of historic note as the place where John and Mary Truman moved in 1894 and raised their son, Harry, who became the 33rd president of the United States. . At the age of 17, in 1850, he sojourned with others seeking gold to California and initially settled in Hangtown, since known as Placerville, east of Sacramento. He later moved to the Napa area and in April 1858 married Mary Elizabeth Vines, born in 1843, a daughter of Bartlett and Frances Yount Vines, also of Missouri. Mary’s grandfather was the very early pioneer George Calvert Yount, after whom the town of Yountsville in Napa County is named. Mary’s younger sister, Ellen, was the first full-blooded American child born in California, her parents having arrived in 1844. The town of Glen Ellen, near Yountsville, is named after her.
Francis and Mary Wood and five of their eleven children came to the San Bernardino Valley in 1869 and settled in the Rincon area in Chino Township. They moved to Colton in 1882. He served as a deputy sheriff for Rincon from 1873 to 1875. While still residing in Chino Township, Mr. Wood was elected to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, representing the Second Supervisorial District and served from September 24, 1875 until October 1, 1877.
In Colton, Mr. Wood and his family lived on their ranch near Agua Mansa. They raised fruit and vegetables which they delivered to markets in the nearby towns.
Mr. Wood was a member of the San Bernardino County Pioneer Society.
Later, the Woods purchased a home in Colton, where Mrs. Wood preferred to live. It was here that F.M. Wood died on January 18, 1906, of a sudden heart attack. Mr. Wood was survived by his wife and eight of their 11 children. Mrs. C.A, Johnson, Fred, Robert E., Frank B, and Fenton Wood of Colton; Mrs. Bessie Reber of Redondo; Mrs Ada Harris of Beulah in Inyo County; and Earl Wood of Humboldt County.