Benjamin Wood

Benjamin Wood (October 13, 1820 – February 21, 1900) was an American politician and publishing entrepreneur from the state of New York during the American Civil War. Life and career Wood, the son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Lehman) Wood, was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, on October 13, 1820, and was the brother of US congressional representative and New York City Mayor Fernando Wood. The Wood family moved from Kentucky to New York City, and Benjamin Wood was educated in New York City. He entered the mercantile and shipping business, and in 1860, he purchased the New York Daily News (not to be confused with the current New York Daily News, which was founded in 1919), of which he was the editor and publisher until he died in 1900. In 1861 the federal government effectively shut down the paper by suspending its delivery via the postal service as being sympathetic with the Confederacy. During the interval, he wrote a novel, Fort Lafayette or, Love and Secession (1862).