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Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SC-MS-172

Scope and Contents

Papers of the Dr. T. F. Wood family of Wilmington, NC. Includes Dr. Woods's Civil War recollections, correspondence, writings of Dr. Edward Jenner Wood, and genealogy of the Wood family.

Dates

  • Creation: Undetermined

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is unprocessed and some material has been restricted to preserve the originals. Contact staff at the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History (csencah@uncw.edu) for information on access to this collection.

Copyright Statement

Copyright retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Biographical Note

The Woods were a prominent family in nineteenth century Wilmington, North Carolina. Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood was born in Wilmington in 1841, and studied botany. By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Dr. Wood joined the Wilmington Rifle Guards, which later became the 18th Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry. In the infantry, Dr. Wood served as a surgeon's assistant. In 1863 he became certified as a surgeon, and he served in this capacity until the end of the war. After the war, Dr. Wood became an influential local physician; he published the Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, printed in Wilmington, and started the city's Board of Health. He died in 1892 at the age of 51. Other prominent members of the Wood family include John Coffin Wood, born in 1809, and Robert Barclay Wood, born in 1815. They were two brothers and architects who were some of Wilmington's leading builders in the nineteenth century. The brothers built several churches, including St. James Episcopal Church, St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, and Front Street Methodist Church; five Italiante style houses: the Edward Savage House, the Donald McRae House, the Duncan K. McRae House, the H.B. Eilers House, and the Zebulon Latimer House. The Wood brothers also constructed the New Hanover County Jail and Wilmington's city hall and opera house, Thalian Hall. John Coffin Wood died in 1873, and Robert Barclay Wood constructed the Grace Street Methodist Church four years before his death in 1890.

Extent

19 Containers (Contains 13 document boxes, 5 oversize boxes, and 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

English

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated by the descendants of Thomas Fanning Wood.

Related Materials

The book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands by Mark Catesby from 1771 has been cataloged separately. You can access the catalog record for more information HERE.

Digital Access

Portions of this collection have been digitized and/or are born-digital. These items are identified by a black icon beside the item title when browsing via the collection organization hierarchy (to the right in desktop view; on the bottom in mobile view).

To view or access all of the digitized and/or born-digital materials in the collection directly, please select "View Digital Material" in the blue header above, just below the collection title.

Title
Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood Family Papers
Status
Partially Processed
Author
Colleen Griffiths
Date
2010 March
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:

910-962-7810