Wood County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Wood County, out here in East Texas, has a story worth sittin' with for a minute. It starts with a name, and the name starts with a man.

George T. Wood, born in 1795, gone in 1858, and in between those two years, he packed in enough history to earn a county named after him. The Texas Legislature created Wood County on February 5, 1850, and the county got itself organized by August 5 of that same year.

That's six months from creation to fully up and running, which, if you've ever tried to organize anything in the Texas summer heat, you'll appreciate. Now, who was George T. Wood, and why did he rate the honor?

Well. He served as a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas. That's not the United States Congress, mind you.

That's the Congress of a whole separate republic, a nation unto itself. He then went and served as an officer in the Mexican War. And if that weren't enough, he came back home and served as Governor of Texas from 1847 to 1849.

Member of Congress of a republic. Officer in a war. Governor of a state.

The man did not sit still. Quitman serves as the county seat, anchoring this patch of East Texas to this day. Wood County, created in 1850, named for a man who helped build the very world that county was born into.

What the marker says

Wood County Created February 5, 1850 Organized August 5, 1850 Named in Honor of George T. Wood 1795-1858 Member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas An officer in the Mexican War Governor of tExas 1847-1849 Quitman, the county seat