San Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN NEWTON WOODS
Highly honored among
the pioneers of San Joaquin County was John Newton Woods, extensive land owner,
capitalist, prominent lodge and church member, and public-spirited citizen, and
his eventful life was one which in every respect commanded the most profound
esteem and admiration of all with whom he came in contact. The family of which he was a member became
established in America
during the colonial period. An ancestor,
Henry Woods, who was born in Virginia,
followed the tide of emigration that drifted toward the West, and settled in
the wilds of Kentucky,
where he was killed by Indians in 1790.
Later the family became pioneers of Ohio, Where in Brown County,
Johnson Woods, the father of our subject, was born in 1815. During early life he removed to Indiana, where in 1834
he married Miss Louisa M. Eastes. The American progenitor of the family on the
paternal side was Rev. Robert Wooster, a native of London, England,
born in 1727, who crossed the ocean to the New World
and settled at Brownsville,
Pa. Renouncing his allegiance to the King of
England, he aided the colonies in the War of the Revolution. Afterwards he became one of the earliest
settlers of Fayette County,
Ind., and officiated as the first
minister of the Methodist
Church west of the Alleghanies.
It was
characteristic of Johnson Woods that he should display in his life the love of
pioneer scenes that had been inherited from his ancestors. During 1840 he removed from Indiana to what is now Savannah, Mo.,
where he built the first house in Andrew
County and engaged in
trading. When news came of the discovery
of gold in California
he determined to brave the perils of the unsettled West in an effort to find
gold and started on the long journey, arriving at Hangtown
on August 1, 1850. Soon after he began to
prospect on Woods Creek, which was named for him, and was already meeting with
success when he was killed on February 1, 1852, by a former friend whose enmity
he had incurred by testimony given against this man in a fraudulent claim case. Surviving him were three sons and two
daughters and his wife, who was born in Rush County, Ind., in 1820, and died in
Tulare County, Cal., on June 12, 1906, at an advanced age.
John Newton Woods
was born in Fayette County,
Ind., June 7, 1837, and when fourteen years of
age he began to work as a clerk in a general merchandise store in Savannah, Mo.,
where he gained a practical business knowledge. Five years later he returned to his native
state, Indiana,
where he spent eighteen months at Knightstown, Henry County,
and then came to California
via Panama,
landing at Stockton
December 2, 1857. For a time he made his home with his uncle,
Jeremiah H. Woods, the founder of Woodbridge, and in 1858 bought 320 acres of
land, on a portion of which the town of Acampo now stands, and was laid out by
him. In 1859 he embarked in the
mercantile business as Porch & Woods, but the following year he sold out
and went to Virginia City, Nev., to try his luck at mining. On his return to Woodbridge he conducted a business from 1861
to 1863 under the firm name of Woods & Davis, then
sold out his interest. In 1864 he sent
for his mother and two brothers, Albert and the late E.W.S. Woods, who came
hither from the old family homestead in Missouri. At this time he became actively engaged in farming
on his ranch at Acampo, enlarging it to 640 acres, and continued there until
1877. With his brother, E. W. S. Woods,
he became joint owner of about 8,000 acres in Tulare County, known as the
Buzzard Roost ranch and after operating it for some years they sold it and
purchased 8,700 acres on Roberts Island, so that they were among the largest
landowners in Central California and did much to develop the rich Delta
country, albeit suffering heavy losses at different times when the disastrous
floods broke through their levees.
From 1877 to 1882
Mr. Woods was manager and secretary of the Grangers Union in Stockton an in 1883-84 was deputy treasurer
of San Joaquin County.
He was made a Mason in 1858 in Woodbridge Lodge, No. 131, F. & A.
M., being the first member initiated, becoming a member of Stockton Chapter No.
28, R. A. M., and Stockton Commandery No. 8, K.
T. He became a 32 degree Scottish Rite
Mason, was a member of the Shrine, the Eastern Star, and was one of the early
members of the Stockton Elks. In
recollection of his identification with early events in this locality he held
membership with the San Joaquin County Pioneers and greatly enjoyed reunions
with these early settlers to whose energy and fortitude the present generation
is so greatly indebted. Mr. Woods was
prominent in the Democratic Party and was an active political worker,
representing the local organization in some of the most important conventions
and for twenty years or more was a delegate to every state convention. For many years he was a member of the State
Central Committee and represented his district as a delegate to the national
Democratic convention held in Kansas
City in 1900.
For five years he was a member of the board of managers of the State Hospital
at Stockton and
in this as in all things, he discharged his duties wit efficiency and fidelity.
The marriage of
Mr. Woods took place on December
22, 1864, and united him with Miss Annie Victoria Farmer, who was
born in Greenfield, Mo., January 24, 1843, and came across the plains to California with her
parents in 1859. They first settled in Sacramento but later
moved to Amador County and it was there that the
marriage was solemnized. Two daughters
blessed this union: Jessie Lee married the late George E. Wilhoit
and sketches of their lives appear elsewhere in this history. Mary L. was Mrs. McDonald Douglass, who was
born on Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1869, and who passed away July 4,
1919, her birth and death being on patriotic days. She always showed a keen patriotic spirit and
during the late war was an enthusiastic worker for the various Liberty loan and other war drives. During the first Liberty loan drive, she sold one million
eight hundred thousand dollars of Liberty
bonds. The death of Mrs. John N. Woods
occurred at Stockton
on April 7, 1900. Mr. Woods greatly mourned her passing and
only survived her until December
4, 1906, when he passed away after a brief illness. A devout Methodist, he was one of the
stewards and trustees of Grace
Methodist Church
at Stockton
from 1872 and did much for the furtherance of Christianity. He willed this church its present site,
75x100 feet, on the northwest corner of Channel and Stanislaus streets, and
with it a legacy of $25,000 to build a new church as a memorial to his wife, a
bond of unusual affection and devotion existing between them. This bequest was faithfully carried out by
his two daughters, who followed their father’s desires in every particular and
also added another $9,000 to complete and furnish the present beautiful
church. His life was so clean, so
devoted to those whom chance or circumstance drew near him, so benevolent, that
it will ever remain worthy of emulation.
____________________________________
MRS. JOHN NEWTON WOODS
An estimable and
greatly loved woman whose long years of residence at Stockton had made her much
endeared to a large circle there, was Mrs. John Newton Woods, the wife of one
of San Joaquin County’s honored pioneers, whose life history is give in a
proceeding sketch. Mrs. Woods, who was
in maidenhood Miss Anne Victoria Farmer, was a native of Missouri, born at Greenfield on January 24, 1843. In 1859, she left her studies at the Moravian Academy, Salem-Winston, N. C., to accompany her parents across the plains to California and though
but a young girl at the time she ever carried a vivid picture of that long,
toilsome journey of over five months.
The family settled at first in Sacramento County,
then removed to Amador
County, and later took up
residence at Woodbridge,
San Joaquin County, where her father became a
well-to-do stock raiser and farmer.
In 1864, while
the family were residing in Amador County,
Miss Farmer was united in marriage with John Newton Woods, and they took up
their residence on the larger ranch he had purchased in 1858, the year after he
came to California,
and part of this place is now the site of Acampo. This remained the family home until 1877,
when they took up their residence in Stockton,
where Mrs. Woods resided until her death on April 7, 1900, survived by her devoted husband
and two daughters, Mrs. Jessie Lee Wilhoit and Mrs.
Mary L. Douglass; the latter passed away on July 4, 1919. Mrs. Woods was one of Stockton’s best known women, occupying a
leading place in social circles, where she numbered her friends in the
hundreds. She was a member of Homo
Chapter O. E. S., Stockton. A prominent
member of Grace Methodist Church, her many charitable acts and kindly deeds
will ever make her memory revered.
Transcribed by:
Adrian Welling.
Source: Tinkham,
George H., History of San Joaquin
County, California , Pages 344-347.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic Record Co., 1923.
© 2010 Adrian
Welling.
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