Wood's interests reach beyond plow

Jethro Wood, a pioneer inventor, storekeeper and farmer, moved with his family to Cayuga County in 1799 and completed his home on Poplar Ridge Road by 1805. Wood invented a cast iron plow in 1813, which became the model for the “modern” plow. Frank Gilbert in his book on Wood wrote, “Jethro Wood was a model man - although a consistent member of the Society of Friends; he was extremely liberal in his religious views, and did not conform to the peculiar dress of the sect. He had that truly Catholic spirit of the great Quaker poet John G. Whittier. Not even the cruel wrongs he sustained at the hands of dishonest (patent) infringers could turn the sweetness of his kindly temper - Physically; his was the highest type of manly beauty, six feet two inches in height.”