WALTER F. WOOD, the present prosecuting attorney for Sullivan county, was born June 27, 1878, at Pleasantville, Indiana, son of Jesse A. and Elizabeth (Jones) Wood. The father was born in Greene county, Indiana, January 8, 1845, and now resides in Sullivan. The mother was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, October 20, 1851, and is still living. Mr. Wood's paternal grandfather, Lacy Wood, was a native of Tennessee, and was born in 1808, dying in 1875, at Pleasantville, Indiana. About 1835, he came to Indiana, settling in Greene county, but moved to near Pleasantville in 1846. He was of English and Irish extraction. Grandfather Jones was of Dutch lineage, but born in Pennsylvania, going to Louisiana in the forties. He was killed while serving in the Confederate army.
Jesse A. Wood (father) has always followed agricultural pursuits, in which he has been materially prospered. Politically he is a stanch defender of Republican ideas. He served in the Civil war, from 1864 to 1865-from April to April inclusive-as a private soldier. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
Walter F. Wood was reared in the free and independent atmosphere of the farm, and attended the district schools, remaining at home until about nineteen years of age. He had the desire to become a lawyer, and read law at home a year, and then entered the office of Chaney & McNabb, with whom he read more completely. Subsequently he was a student in the offices of Buff & Stratton, and also with C. D. Hunt. When twenty-one years of age, he was admitted to the bar, and when twenty-three opened at office for the practice of his profession, which he is still occupying, having practiced alone, with the exception of one year, when he was associated with William B. Edmonds. Politically, he is a progressive Republican, and was elected by this party, in November, 1906, as prosecuting attorney, receiving a majority of 362 votes, and taking the office January 1, 1908, for the term of two years.
Mr. Wood is a member of the Odd Fellows Order and the Modern Woodmen of America. January 26, 1905, he was married to Miss Agnes McGuire, daughter of Rev. U. M. McGuire, who is now pastor of the Baptist church at Washington, Indiana. Mrs. Wood was born January 8, 1882, and graduated from the high school with the class of 1902. By this union two daughters were born to bless the home: Elizabeth and Margaret.