Jackson was born on June 26, 1828, in Whitehall, Washington County, New York, to Nathaniel and Eunice Wood.  He was the last of six children born to Nathaniel and Eunice, of which only five lived to become adults.

Sometime after Nathaniel's death in 1852, Jackson left the family home in Whitehall to seek his fortune out west.  A letter written to him on December 28, 1857, from his cousin, Mary (Ann) Austin, daughter of Augustin Austin and Mary Ann (Draper (Eunice Draper's sister)) has been saved in the family documents.  It appears that Jackson received the Austin letter while staying with his sister Harriet and her husband Hubbard Pendleton, in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

By 1859, Jackson had settled in Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa, and on January 28, 1859, he married Hellen Louis Taylor (nee Hungerford) of Oneida County, New York.  Hellen came to the marriage with two children from her first marriage.  Jackson helped to raise Lizzie and Henry Taylor, and he and Hellen had a total of four children of their own: Rosa H. (possibly Hellen), Mary E., Benjamin A., and Ralph N. Wood.

They farmed during the years they raised their family, and when they retired from the farm, they moved into town where they owned other property, but they continued to rent out the farm.

Jackson died on March 21, 1902, of apoplexy (stroke) at the age of 74 and and was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Charles City.  This cemetery is located at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Hart Street, and the record of his burial there can be found in the Tombstone Records of Floyd County, on page 128.