125th Year Observance - part 7: Allen Wood, first Master of the Chico Lodge

Allen Wood

Recently it has been possible to learn more about the first Master of Chico Lodge 111, Allen Wood.  He was named Master on December 31, 1856, by the Grand Lodge of California for the period of dispensation.  He was succeeded by General John Bidwell as the first elected Master a few months later, and then followed General Bidwell as the first elected Master to serve on full year.

He was a dynamic leader.  Having been born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1812, General Wood was raised in Connecticut, lived briefly in Indiana, and settled in Arkansas in 1839.  He was twice elected to the Arkansas legislature.  In the war with Mexico, Wood was given a captain's commission and raised a company of volunteers who were attached to the twelfth infantry.  He "fought in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco on August 18 and 29, 1847.  On the latter day, he took command of the regiment, Colonel Bonham having been wounded the night before...For his gallant conduct in these engagements, he was made a brevet major." (From History of Plumas, Lassen and Sierra Counties, Fariss & Smith, 1882)

General Wood came to Butte County, California, in the fall of 1856.  He immediately became a part of that group which asked for a dispensation for Chico Lodge No. 111.  Within two years, General Wood moved to Plumas County, where in 1863 he was affiliated with Sincerity Lodge No. 132 at Rich Bar.  In 1872, he affiliated with Lassen Lodge No. 149 at Susanville and remained a member of that Lodge until his death in 1890.  If he was in a place where there was no Masonic Lodge, he was the sort of man to put it together.  He was the founder of the Royal Arch Chapter at Susanville, the first High Priest of Lassen Chapter No. 47, R.A.M. at Susanville on July 23, 1875, and the first Eminent Commander of Lassen Commandery No. 13, K.T. at Susanville on April 23, 1878, as well as the initial organizer of this Commandery.

In Plumas County, he erected a fine, large hotel, which unfortunately burned, nearly bankrupting him.  In 1860, he was elected on the Douglas ticket to the California Assembly continuing in his life of leadership and service.