John M. Rood was born on a farm near Quincy, Illinois,
May 14, 1858. All of his earlier life was passed at his birthplace,
and he acquired an education in the district schools of his home
country. He taught school three years at Payson, Ill., after
leaving school, after which he took the commercial course at the Gem
City Business College in Quincy. When he had completed his
course of study he went into the lumber business as a
book-keeper. He left Quincy in 1880, going to Carrollton, Mo.,
where he engaged in general merchandizing in the employ of the firm
there. He came to Kansas City in the spring of 1867, and soon
after his arrival here helped organize and became secretary of the
Midland Lumber Company. He sold his stock, but retained his
employment with the firm for several years, when he went with the
Deardorff Lumber Company in 1893 in charge of the firm's local
business. In April, 1902, Mr. Rod left the Deardorff company to
become the vice-president and local manager of the Current River
Lumber Company, in which he is a large stockholder.
Mr. Rood is active in politics, having been
elected a member of the upper house of the Council in 1900 for a term
of four years, and in 1902 was the unanimous choice of the Jackson
County Democratic Club for its president.
Mr. Rood married Miss Sarah Atwood of Carrollton.
They have four children, Mary L., Wilhelmina, Florence, and Josephine.
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