Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Irving Francis Wood

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person

Overview

Irving Francis Wood (1864–1934) was a Hamilton alumnus (class of 1885) who became a clergyman, biblical scholar, and educator. After graduating from Hamilton he served as a missionary in Ceylon, earned a B.D. from Yale (1892) and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1903), and received an honorary D.D. from Hamilton in 1915. He spent his later career as professor of Bible Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Relevance to Research

The 1885–86 catalog lists him as a graduating senior (B.A.). The 1915–16 catalog shows him as “Irving Francis Wood, ‘85, Ph.D., Northampton, Mass.” in a list of honorary degree recipients (D.D. from Hamilton, 1915). The March 1915 Hamilton Life reports that he is collaborating with Dr. Elihu Grant of Smith College on a series of books titled “The Bible as Literature.” The October 1934 Hamilton Life publishes an obituary noting his death during the summer, tracing his career from his 1885 graduation through his missionary work in Ceylon, his graduate degrees, and his long tenure at Smith College.

Notes

The 1934 obituary in Hamilton Life is the primary biographical source in the corpus. His honorary D.D. from Hamilton in 1915 aligns with the 1915–16 catalog listing.