WOOD, Fernando (1812-1881)
Democrat of New York 
9th congressional district
Served in House 1841-1843 , 1863-1865 , 1867-1881
Biography
Representative from New York; born in Philadelphia, Pa., June 14, 1812; attended the public schools; moved with his father to New York City in 1820; was engaged in business as a shipping merchant in 1831; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1843); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Twenty-eighth Congress in 1842; appointed by Secretary of State John C. Calhoun dispatch agent for the State Department at the port of New York; reappointed to the position by Secretary of State James Buchanan and served from 1844 to 1847; unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York City in 1850 and in 1867; retired as a shipping merchant in 1850; mayor of New York City in 1855-1858, 1861, and 1862; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress in 1864; elected to the Fortieth and to the seven succeeding Congresses and served until his death (March 4, 1867-February 14, 1881); censured by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 15, 1868, for use of unparliamentary language; died before the beginning of the Forty-seventh Congress, to which he had been reelected; chairman, Committee on Ways and Means (Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses); died on February 14, 1881, in Hot Springs, Ark.; interment in Trinity Cemetery, New York City.Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
