William Wilson Wood, III., vice-president and treasurer of The Wood Shovel & Tool Company and one of the sound and stubstantial business citizens of Piqua, was born in this city March 19, 1878, a son of Harley Kirk Wood and a grandson of William Webster Wood. The Woods form an old Colonial family who came to New England from England in 1637 and established themselves in New Hampshire, whence several members of the family enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war. William Webster Wood came from Hollis, N. H., to Piqua, Ohio, in 1837, and became prominent in the early affairs of the community, both as a citizen and a business man. He was a seeker for gold in California during the early fifties, but returned to Piqua and here rounded out an eminently successful and honorable career. His son, Harley Kirk Wood, has long been a leader in business life, as president of The Wood Shovel & Tool Company, president and member of the board of directors of the Piqua National Bank and former president and general manager for many years of The Piqua Electric Company. He has also been a leader in church, educational, fraternal and social circles. He married Frances Adelaide Wilson, a daughter of Judge William Martin Wilson, and granddaughter on the maternal side of Major James Maxwell Dorsey, the first treasurer of Miami University. The only child of his parents, William W. Wood attended the Piqua High School and Phillips Academy, at Exeter, N. H., from which he was graduated with the class of 1898. Returning to his home, he entered the employ of The Piqua Electric Company, with which concern he was identified until December, 1899, when he became associated with The Philadelphia Clay Manufacturing Company, at Carlisle, Pa. Two years later he severed that connection and returned to Piqua and soon afterward became one of the incorporators of The Wood Shovel & Tool Company, of which he became secretary and treasurer. The, industry is one of importance and Mr. Wood possesses the energy, influence, enterprise and capability to make it one of the leading concerns of its line in the country. In politics Mr. Wood is an ardent Republican and stands high in the councils of his party. He has served as chairman of the Republican County Central Committee and the County Executive Committee, and has the tact and diplomacy which are so necessary to make these offices effective in maintaining party harmony and securing tangible results in the way of success. In 1920 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention held at Chicago which nominated Warren G. Harding, of Ohio, for the presidency, and thereafter worked energetically in behalf of the senator's candidacy. He was an alternate-at-large to the national convention of 1912 and a delegate as well in 1916. Mr. Wood is an interested member of the Piqua Club and a prominent Mason. He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Ohio, Society of New York. His religious connection is with the St. James Protestant Episcopal Church, to which also belongs Mrs. Wood, who prior to her marriage was Miss Aileen Frederick Boal, of Piqua, a daughter of William King Boal and Eliza Van Bibber Boal.