Frank L. Wood Scrapbooks

Abstract

Frank L. Wood was a lawyer and judge who was active in the West Side Historical Society and was one of the original members of the Wesleyan Bible Class. He spoke frequently at organizations and churches, predominantly on Chicago’s West Side, but also further afield, and the scrapbooks in this collection document many of his speaking engagements.

Biographical/Historical

Frank L. Wood was born in Manchester, Indiana, in 1864. His early childhood was spent in Malden, Illinois. His family moved to Chicago when Frank was 10 years old. The remainder of his life he lived on Chicago’s West Side, his last address being 306 S. Hamlin Boulevard. As a teenager, he worked as a clerk for various companies while going to night school. He graduated from Chicago’s Kent College of Law. He was editor of the West Side weekly Enterprise. From 1883 to 1894, he was in business for himself. He was assistant chief clerk of Cook County Probate Court from 1894 to 1898 and practiced law until 1903 when he moved to assistant probate judge, a position he held until 1906. After a brief stint as secretary and treasurer of the Commercial Life Insurance Company, he became the editor of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin from 1909 until his retirement in 1937. In politics, he was a Republican.

Wood’s avocations were the West Side Historical Society, of which he was treasurer and president in turn, and the Wesleyan Bible Class. This class was organized in 1880 at the Western Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, with Wood as one of the original members. He was instrumental in reorganizing the class in the late 1890s, and he spearheaded the class until his death half a century later. Wood was also a collector of Abraham Lincoln material. He published one volume of poetry, Khaki and Blue, and numerous single poems appeared in newspapers.

Wood married Isabel O. Watson, daughter of a pioneer West Sider, on March 26, 1889. The couple had one son, Elmer W. Wood, and three granddaughters. Frank Wood died at Wesley Memorial Hospital February 7, 1945, of complications from surgery. He is buried in Forest Home Cemetery.

Scope and Contents

Scrapbooks 1-9 contain correspondence, flyers, news clippings and programs concerning Frank Wood’s numerous speaking engagements in and around Chicago and further afield. These speaking engagement scrapbooks were apparently created in one, or possibly two, projects rather than being added to over the years. There is one folder of similar, loose material from 1941. Scrapbook 10 contains several published poems of Wood’s authorship.

The scrapbooks show the speaking engagements of Frank L. Wood and often include photographs of the churches or venues where he spoke. Organizations represented include the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Association, the Epworth League and temperance and prohibition clubs. The activities of the Wesleyan Bible Class are particularly well represented after 1920.

Arrangement

The nine scrapbooks that document Wood’s speaking engagements are arranged chronologically, followed by the single scrapbook of his poetry.

Related Collections

• American Civil War Documents, Manuscripts, Letters and Diaries and Grand Army of the Republic Collection
• West Garfield Park Community Collection
• Wesleyan Bible Class Records
• West Side Historical Society Records
• West (Near West) Side Community Collection
• West Side Newspaper Collection

Subject Headings

• Wood, Frank L., 1864-1945
• West Side Historical Society
• Wesleyan Bible Class (Chicago, Ill.)
• Religious institutions—Illinois--Chicago
• Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Association
• Epworth League

Collection Inventory