Margaret Walker (Lyon) Wood
Born: Lexington, Richland County, Ohio, October 15, 1830. Married: Samuel Newell Wood, October 3, 1850; they had four children. Died: Cottonwood Falls, Chase County, Kansas, April 27, 1919.
Margaret Walker Lyon was born to William and Elizabeth (Sinkey) Lyon in Lexington, Richland County, Ohio, on October 15, 1830. She grew up on the family farm with four sisters and two brother. Many in Richland County supported abolition, woman’s suffrage, and temperance, including the Lyon family.
Margaret married Samuel Newitt Wood in Richland County, on October 3, 1850. Three of their four children were born in Ohio, before moving to Kansas. Margaret’s parents and siblings departed for California in May 1854, while Margaret and Samuel delayed their departure west. When she and Samuel arrived on the route in Independence, Missouri, in June, they found the other members of the family had paused their journey. Margaret and Samuel decided to engage in the antislavery fight underway in Kansas Territory. Her parents and siblings joined the Woods arriving n a hotbed of activity, Wakarusa Township, near Lawrence, in Douglas County. Samuel was soon actively involved, taking part in the Wakarusa War in 1855 and serving as a delegate at the National Convention that created the Republican Party in 1856.
Friends recalled that Margaret’s home in Douglas County welcomed newly arrived individuals and fed hungry callers. Once, an ailing young man found refuge in her home when he had no other place. She was credited with tending to his care, yet she could not save his life.
The Woods settled at Cottonwood Falls, Chase County, in 1859. Samuel Wood began publishing the Kansas Press, Chase County’s first newspaper, and eventually gained financial and editorial connections with several other newspapers: the Kansas Tribune of Lawrence; the Council Grove Press, the Kansas Greenbacker in Emporia, the Topeka State Journal, the Woodsdale Democrat, and the Woodsdale Sentinel of Stevens County.
Samuel Wood served as a territorial legislator, state legislator, state senator, and judge. Wood introduced a bill for woman's suffrage in 1867 and formed the Kansas Impartial Suffrage Association toward the amendment’s passage. He was an original stockholder in the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. When the Civil War began, Wood immediately enlisted. He was captain of the Kansas Rangers, Company I, Second Kansas Infantry, then later transferred to a Missouri unit and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Leveraging some newspaper properties, Samuel Wood invested in cattle trade from Texas to Cottonwood Falls in Kansas to supply beef to buyers in the East. He was influential in shaping the Flint Hills cattle legacy. The Woods moved to Stevens County in the late 1880s.
Margaret continued to support the cause of woman’s suffrage. She contributed to a fund for a portrait of Clarina Nichols in 1881, which would be included in Susan B. Anthony’s book on women suffragists.
Lured by land speculation, politics, and cattle trade, Wood established the town of Woodsdale, which he proposed for county seat, angering many from Hugoton, a town already established in the county. Hugoton residents kidnapped Wood and I. C. Price, another Woodsdale founder. Further incidents led to the deaths of four men and tempers raged between the battling communities. James Brennan fired a fatal shot and Wood died outside the Woodsdale courthouse/church in 1891. Brennan was arrested and held in jail until the judge determined a fair trial was impossible in the county. Brennan was released and never tried. Margaret‘s depositions suggested that Brennan had been hired to kill Wood, and other were involved in the plot.
Samuel Wood was a Kansas State Historical Society board member from 1879 to 1889, then elected again in 1891. After his death. Margaret filled his position on the board in 1891, the first woman to join that body; her term ended in 1900. Samuel’s estate provided few accommodations for Margaret’s expenses. She published a memoir of her Samuel’s life in 1892, hoping that sales would generate some revenue. She was appointed postmistress of the senate in 1893, the first woman to hold that position. This appointment included a small stipend.
Margaret was living with her son, William Lyon Wood, and his family in Council Grove at the time of her death on April 27, 1919.
Entry: Wood, Margaret Walker (Lyon)
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: February 2025
Date Modified: February 2025
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
