Born in Georgia, George Tyler Wood fought in Indian Wars, worked as a merchant, and served in the state legislature before moving with his family to Texas in 1839 and settling in this area. He served in the 6th Congress of the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1842, was a delegate to the 1845 Annexation Convention, and was a member of the first Senate of the state from 1846 to 1847. He resigned from the Senate to raise a regiment and fight in the Mexican War. While a senator, he introduced a bill to create Tyler County, and Woodville, the county seat, was named for him; Wood County, created later, also took his name. As governor of Texas from Dec. 21, 1847 to Dec. 21, 1849, he rallied state defenses against recurring Indian depredations, particularly around Corpus Christi, in Navarro County, and along the Red River. Boundary disputes arose in Santa Fe County, then in Texas and now in New Mexico. He advocated sales of public lands to liquidate the public debt, urged the establishment of public schools, requested that Texas laws be coded, established the state library, and had the state penitentiary built. In 1837 in Georgia, he married Mrs. Martha Evans Gindrat, a widow with three children, and George and Martha Wood had several other children.