My Genealogy Hound

George R. Wood, senior member of the firm of Wood Bros. & Southmayd, general merchants, was born in this county and town in 1853, and is son of James M. and Sophronia (Clyman) Wood. The father was born in Sevier County, Tenn., attended the State University of Georgia two years, and in 1849 came to Crawford County, Ark. In 1851 he married, and then farmed until 1854, when he embarked in the mercantile business, continuing in the same until his death in 1880. He was the mayor of Van Buren two years, and one of its successful business men. The mother was born in Danville, Vermilion co., Ill., in 1834, and is a daughter of Bennett H. and Matilda (Lancaster) Clyman, natives of Virginia, born in 1793 and 1799, and who died in Van Buren, in 1849, and Danville, Ill., in 1840, respectively. Mr. Clyman was a packer, who came to Van Buren in 1845. George R. Wood is the eldest of a family of ten children, seven of whom are living: G. R., Margaret E., Anne E. (wife of T. W. Edmondson), James M. (of the firm of Wood, Edmondson & Britt), John J. (of the firm of Wood Bros. & Southmayd), Henry C. (of the same firm) and Norma. Our subject first attended school at Van Buren, and then passed two years at St. John’s College, in Little Rock. He then worked in his father’s store until 1878, when W. H. H. Shibley, D. W. Moore and himself became partners in the general mercantile business. Mr. Moore sold his interest in 1880, to Shibley & Wood, and in January, 1887, the firm began business under the firm name of Wood Bros. & Southmayd. They carry one of the largest stocks in Van Buren, and occupy a building 30x115 feet, two stories high. In 1876 Mr. Wood married Sarah E., daughter of L. C. and Susan R. Southmayd. Mrs. Wood was born in Van Buren in 1854, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the mother of five children: Susan, Clyman, James, Mattie and Annie. Mr. Wood is a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Samuel J. Tilden, and in June, 1888, was a delegate from his congressional district to the National Convention held at St. Louis. He is a good business man, and has very recently been elected president of the Citizens’ Bank, of this town. He is also president of the Van Buren Ice and Coal Company. He is a Master Mason and K. of P.