Life

His family was from Cramond

Cramond

Cramond is a seaside village now part of suburban Edinburgh, Scotland, located in the north-west corner of the city at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth....

, near Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. Though deaf-mute

Deaf-mute

For "deafness", see hearing impairment. For "Deaf" as a cultural term, see Deaf culture. For "inability to speak", see muteness.Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was both deaf and could not speak...

 from early childhood, he held for many years the office of auditor of excise in Scotland. Wood died at Edinburgh in December 1838. He was a friend of Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

, who called him ‘honest John Wood,’ and the brother-in-law of Robert Cadell

Robert Cadell

Robert Cadell was a bookseller and publisher closely associated with Sir Walter Scott. He was born at Cockenzie, East Lothian, Scotland, the fifth son of John Cadell, a Laird of Cockenzie, and Marie Buchan, his wife....

, the business partner of Archibald Constable

Archibald Constable

Archibald Constable was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer.He was born at Carnbee, Fife, as the son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie. In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to Peter Hill, an Edinburgh bookseller, but in 1795 he started in business for himself as a dealer in rare...

.

Works

In 1791 he published A Sketch of the Life and Projects of John Law of Lauriston, Comptroller-general of the Finances of France (Edinburgh). A new and enlarged edition, entitled Memoirs of the Life of John Law, appeared in 1824, speculation and John Law

John Law (economist)

John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade...

 (a native of Cramond) being topical. which the extravagance of contemporary commercial speculation aroused.

Wood brought out in 1794 the first parochial history attempted in Scotland, The Ancient and Modern State of the Parish of Cramond (Edinburgh). His major work was his edition of the Peerage of Scotland, by Sir Robert Douglas, printed at Edinburgh in two folio volumes in 1813. He had originally intended to bring out a separate peerage for the period between 1707 and 1809, but was persuaded to incorporate his collections with Douglas's work. He made contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine, and communicated to John Nichols

John Nichols (printer)

John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...

most of the biographical notes to poets in ‘The Muses Welcome to King James,’ printed in the Progresses of King James I.