Charles L. Wood, one of the leading business men of Piqua, who also has been identified with the civic, educational and religious affairs of the city for many years, was born at Hollis, N. H. and traces his ancestry back to fine old New England stock. His great- great-great-grandfather was Stephen Wood, a native of Massachusetts, where was born also the latter's son, Benjamin Wood. Benjamin Wood's son, Abijah Wood, the great-grandfather of Charles L., fought as a soldier of the Revolution, and his son, Philip, married Dorthy Davis, whose father, Joshua Davis, was likewise a soldier during the Revolutionary war. C. A. Wood, the father of Charles L., was born at Hollis, N. H., in 1820, a son of Phillip and Dorothy (Davis) Wood, and married Hannah French Washer, a daughter of John and Mary (Robinson) Washer, the former a grandson of Stephen Washer, a soldier of the Revolution. Mary Robinson was a daughter of Peter Robinson, who was a Revolutionary soldier and lost his right hand at the battle of Bunker Hill, when struck by a cannon ball. To C. A. and Hannah Wood there were born three children: Charles L., George Philip and Marcus Davis. Charles L. Wood was educated at Piqua, and after graduating from high school began to teach. Later he went to Hollis, N. H., his birthplace, and for a time taught school there while engaged in reading law. Admitted to the bar in 1865, he at once entered partnership with judge W. N. Foster, of Piqua, but one year later when judge Foster was elevated to the probate bench of Miami county, Mr. Wood entered business with his father, and has continued to center his activities in commercial affairs to the present time, having been proprietor of the Wood Planing Mill since the death of the elder man. This enterprise has always enjoyed an excellent trade and is accounted one of the concerns of Piqua which have contributed materially to the city's prestige. Essentially a business man, Mr. Wood has not found himself too occupied to engage in other lines of activtity. For twelve years he served as president of the board of education, was formerly president of the Young Men's Christian Association, for thirty-five years was president of the board of trustees of the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church and for ten years was president of the Third Building & Loan Association. At this time he is a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association and president of the Piqua Memoriil Hospital board of trustees, a Mason, and holds membership in the Piqua Club, the Piqua Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Society, and Sons of the Revolution, of which last named he has served as a member of the board of managers several times. Mr. Wood married Julia A., daughter of William and Martha (Hawthorne) Miller, and they have three children, as follows: Miss Martha H., who resides with her parents at Piqua; Mrs. Nellie E. Taylor, of Cincinnati, and William Washer, of Kokomo, Ind.