Edward J. Wood

Who was Edward J. Wood?

Edward James Wood was a prominent local leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Alberta, Canada and was the founder of Glenwood, Alberta and Hill Spring, Alberta.

Wood was born to Mormon parents in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. At age 21, he was sent to Samoa as a missionary for the LDS Church, where he served from 1888 to 1892. In 1891, he reportedly raised his missionary companion Brigham Smoot from the dead after Smoot had drowned in the ocean. Upon returning to Utah in 1892, Wood married Mary Ann Solomon. In 1896, Wood was again sent to Samoa, this time to be the president of the Samoan Mission of the church.

After Wood returned to Utah in 1898, Charles O. Card invited him to move to Canada in order to take over management of the management of Card's mercantile store in the Latter-day Saint settlement of Cardston, in the Canadian North West Territories. Wood accepted and moved to Cardston with his family in September 1901. In 1903, Wood married his wife's sister Addie who had been engaged to his brother before the brother died. She lived in Salt Lake City.