Wood Furman was the third child born to Richard Furman (1755-1825) and his first wife, Elizabeth Haynsworth (1755-1787), on June 12, 1779 in South Carolina. Wood was named for his paternal grandfather Wood Furman (1712-1783).

Wood Furman graduated from Rhode Island College in 1799 with a BA and earned an MA in 1803. He was a teacher at the Woodville Academy, High Hills of Santee in 1818 and at one time was the head of what is now the Charleston (S.C.) College. He was also a professor in the Beaufort (S.C.) College. Furman's last position was the Principal of the Duffield Academy in Elizabethton, Tennessee. (Elizabethton Mirror, November 5, 1840). Furman was also a writer, being the author of A History of the Charleston Association of Baptist Churches in the State of South Carolina, 1811.

Furman married first Hannah Bowers (1782-1818) of Somerset, Mass. and their children were a son (1802-1803); David Bowers (1804-1817); Elizabeth Hannah (1806-1806); Ann Elouise (1808-1882); Sarah Haynsworth (1812-1821); Elizabeth (1814- ); Richard (1815-1883); and Hannah Bowers (1818-1843). Wood married second Laura Lyon, and their children: James Lyon (1823 – 1906); Thomas Baker (1825-1891); Laura Grant (1831-1927) and Henry Haynsworth (1828-1891).

Wood Furman died 7 Oct 1840 in Elizabethton, Tennessee at age 62.