Governor George Tyler Wood

(1795-1858) Born in Georgia and married there in 1837 to Martha Evans Gindrat (1809-63), a widow with 3 children, George T. Wood came to Texas with his family in 1839 and settled along the Trinity River near Point Blank. Wood studied law and was elected to the 6th Republic of Texas Congress, 1841-42, and the Annexation Convention of 1845.

As a state senator in 1846, he sponsored a bill creating Tyler County. Woodville, the county seat, was named for him, as was Wood County, created in 1850. Wood left the Senate in 1846 to fight in the Mexican War (1846-48). His military heroics helped make him the popular choice for governor in 1847.

Under Gov. Wood, the recently-organized state government faced the problems of recurring Indian hostilities and a boundary dispute in Santa Fe County (now part of New Mexico). Gov. Wood urged sale of public lands to pay the large public debt. His administration saw the establishment of a state library and a penitentiary.

Mrs. Wood, who raised silkworms and made her own silk cloth, did not accompany her husband to the State Capital at Austin, then a rough frontier town without an official governor's residence. After failing to win a second term in 1849, Gov. Wood returned to his home at Point Blank. He died at age 63 and was buried nearby.

(1976)