John Wood was born in Moravia, New York on December 20, 1798.
His father, Daniel was a surgeon during the Revolutionary
War. At the age of 20, John decided he wanted to go west into
the frontier. He settled at Atlas, IL about 40 miles south
of Quincy, and started to farm.
The land between the Illinois and Mississippi River was Bounty
Land. As part of the Illinois Military Tract, this was land
given to veterans who fought in the War of 1812. There was
1,400,000 acres of land in the Military Tract and the government
was anxious for people to settle there. In 1822, a Mr. Flinn who had been a soldier had received 160
acres of Bounty Land. As Mr. Flinn was traveling northward
to locate his land, he met John Wood. Wood decided to go with
Flinn to see his land. Flinn did not want to live so far from
St. Louis and agreed to sell the land to Wood for $60.00.
This was about 38 cents an acre. John Wood built his first house, a log cabin at the foot of
Delaware Street near the river. His cabin was 18 feet by 20
feet and only one room.As
more settlers came into the area, he met Ann Streeter. They
were married in 1826 and John built his second log cabin at
12th & State (west side). It was two stories and much
larger than the first. John was acquiring land that soldiers
from the East did not want and was selling it to farmers coming
from Kentucky and Tennessee and making a profit.By
1835, John started building a Mansion at 12th & State
next to the log cabin. It took three years to build it, from
1835-1838. He had gone to St. Louis and New Orleans and gotten
German immigrants that were craftsmen (carpenters, bricklayers,
stone masons, plasterers, etc.) to construct this Greek Revival
style house.John
Wood was a very well liked man and was elected mayor of Quincy
three different times. In 1856, he was elected Lt. Governor
of the State of Illinois.
While he was Lt. Governor, John started building an even larger
house in the middle of the block on State Street between 11th & 12th. This was an Octagonal building (eight sided) and
would take six years to build.Unfortunately,
during this time, Governor Bissell died and John became the
Governor. The year was 1860. John petitioned the Illinois
Legislature asking if he could stay in Quincy to oversee the
construction of his new home. They agreed, and his Greek Revival
style house became the Governor’s Mansion for the State
of Illinois. That is its historical significance. John Wood was Governor for only ten months (until the term
ran out). He did not seek re-election because of commitments
in Quincy.In
1861, the Civil War broke out and Wood was named Quartermaster
General of the State of Illinois. A quartermaster is a person
who secures goods for the army such as blankets, food, ammunition,
horses, and other items. Wood is 63 years old at this time.In
1863, Ann, his wife of 37 years died. They had had eight children,
but only four of them lived to adulthood – a daughter
and three sons.
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When
John’s Octagonal house was completed in 1864, he gave
the Greek Revival style house to his oldest son, Daniel. John
wanted it moved to the east side of 12th Street. What had been
an apple orchard was now changed to a yard. The house was cut
in half and the chimneys were taken down so the house could
be moved across the street. John also had an Osage Orange hedge
along the street that he did not want to cut down.He
had the movers to make a 12 foot high ramp over the hedge. It
took 20 teams of horses to move each half of the house across
the street. Logs were used to roll the house along. Originally
the house faced the south (as was the norm for Greek Revival
style houses – they could take advantage of the summer
breezes better). When the house was moved, the foundation was
cut so the house now faces the west.
John lived in his Octagonal house on one side of 12th Street
and his son Daniel lived on the other. His Octagonal house had
cost over $200,000 to build. It was the most expensive house
in Illinois at the time. In 1873, the country had an economic
downturn and many people lost a lot of money. John had not paid
off all the debts for the construction of his new house and
his creditors wanted their money. It became necessary for Wood
to sell his new home for $40,000. John and his second wife,
Mary Ann Holmes (married in 1863) moved into the Greek Revival
style house with his son Daniel in 1875. John spent the last
five years of his life in this house. John died in the Mansion
on June 4, 1880.After
John’s death, Daniel sold the Mansion and moved to Galena,
Kansas. The house became a boarding house with many different
families living in its various rooms. In 1906, some businesses
on the corner of 12th & State wanted to tear the building
down so they could have an alley put in through the block. This
would have been through the middle of the meeting room. The
Historical Society purchased the house to save it from destruction.
At first they used it as a museum with many people going through
it. Unfortunately, they did not have the money to maintain it
very well and by the early 1970’s the house was in disrepair.
At that time, the Historical Society decided to restore the
house to its original look.To
date over $500,000 has been spent on restoring the house. |
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