Department of Michigan Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War   Rocke R. Wood Department Commander 1935-1936

Rocke R. Wood, was born April 15, 1872, and was employed by the United States Postal Service as a postal carrier. He was a member of Robert Finch Camp No. 14 of Grand Rapids, and was elected Department Commander in 1935. He was the son of James M. and Elvira (Sprague)Wood, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former being born in Erie County in 1841 and the latter in Meadville in 1849. With the outbreak of the Civil War, James M. Wood enlisted in the 111th Pennsylvania Infantry and after his discharge from that regiment, he journeyed to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, where he enlisted in the cavalry. He engaged in several campaigns against the Indians. In that service, he was promoted to the rank of quarter-master, but soon thereafter he was discharged for medical reasons. He engaged in farming in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. In 1888, he settled at Grand Rapids where he continued to live until his death in 1916.