CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Alpheus Field Wood

Canadian politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ4735304
Source-derived summary

Alpheus Field Wood (May 30, 1828 – January 22, 1910) was an Ontario merchant and political figure. He represented Hastings North in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1883 to 1894 as a Conservative member.

He was born in Jefferson County, New York in 1828, the son of Thomas Wood, who had settled in Bath, Upper Canada in 1810. He was educated in Upper Canada, taught school in Hastings County for three years and then opened a general store in Madoc. He later became involved in the hardware business and the trade in grain. Wood served in the local militia, becoming lieutenant-colonel, and was also a justice of the peace. In 1850, he married Eliza Ann Ross. He was reeve for Madoc township from 1857 to 1877 and during that period also served ten years as warden for the county. Wood was also president of the Belleville and North Hastings Railway and a director for the Grand Junction Railway and the Toronto and Ottawa Railway. In 1880, he was named government valuator for the Dominion of Canada.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Alpheus Field Wood” as canadian politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alpheus, Field and Wood.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1828, 1910, 1883, 1894—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1828-05-30. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Alpheus, Field and Wood providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alpheus Field Wood”, the useful work is to connect “canadian politician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4735304. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1828, 1910, 1883 and 1894.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alpheus Field Wood”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alpheus Field Wood primary sources, Alpheus Field Wood archive and Alpheus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alpheus Field Wood”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alpheus Field Wood” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.