CHARLES E. WOODS

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. Woods

In connection with the stock-raising interests of Cedar county mention should be made of Charles E. Woods who, as owner of two large stock farms, is doing an extensive and profitable business in that direction. One of Cedar county’s native sons, he was born in Center township on the 1st of December, 1869, a son of Richard M. Woods, who was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The father was a young man of twenty years when, alone, he came to Iowa and cast in his lot with the early pioneers of this district. The journey was made by way of the river route as far as Muscatine, Iowa, from which point he traveled overland to Cedar county, where he located on a farm about five miles west of Tipton in Center township. There he became the owner of two hundred acres of farm land, besides some valuable timber land, and on the place where he had originally located he spent his remaining days, passing away in April, 1906, when he had reached the ripe old age of eighty-three years. He has been twice married and by his first union became the father of six children. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Anna M. Darger, the widow of a farmer, who by her previous marriage had three children. Mrs. Woods, who was in her maidenhood Anna M. Sheets, was born in Virginia and died in Wyoming, Iowa, July 31, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years, one month and eleven days. By the second union were born four children, as follows: Hattie, the wife of Emery Meyers, of Wyoming; Charles E., of this review; John, a resident of Garden City, Kansas; and Edith, the wife of Arthur Coffin, of Tama county, Iowa.

No event of special importance came to vary the routine of life for Charles E. Woods during the period of his boyhood and youth, which were spent on the home farm in Center township, amid the busy activities of rural life. His time was passed in the usual manner of the country lad of that day, acquiring his education in the district schools of the neighborhood and when not engaged with his text-booksassisting his father in the cultivation of the fields. He remained under the parental roof until twenty-two years of age, when he laid the foundation for a happy home life of his own by his marriage, on the 3d of December, 1891, to Miss Bessie M. Shank, who was born on the farm which is yet her home on the 22d of March, 1872. She is a daughter of Henry Shank, of whom extended mention is made on another page of this volume.

The young couple began their domestic life on their present farm, which Mr. Woods rented from his father-in-law for about three years, and then purchased the property, consisting of the northeast quarter of section 7, Red Oak township. The farm, which is known as the Maple Knoll Stock Farm, is well equipped with substantial buildings, all the improvements having been made by Mr. Woods. In February, 1909, he extended his interests by the purchase of another property consisting of three hundred and sixty acres in Linn township, one-half mile west of the home farm. This place, also well improved and known as Brook Side Stock Farm, is an ideal place for stock-raising purposes and especially for feeding cattle, containing five large barns and other substantial buildings for the accommodation and shelter of live stock. Attention is given to the raising of cereals, about two hundred acres of corn being planted, all of which is fed to the stock, and Mr. Woods also buys considerable. His time is chiefly given to the buying, raising, feeding and shipping of live stock, and in the year 1909 alone he marketed twenty-one carloads of stock, consisting of cattle, sheep and hogs. The extent of his transactions and the good grade of stock handled have gained him prominence throughout the district as one of the foremost stock-dealers in Cedar county, his wise management of his interests gaining him a high place among the substantial and representative business men of the county.

With the passing of the years the home of Mr. and Mrs. Woods has been blessed by the birth of five children, Glenn, Clair, Weldon, Ruth and Frank, and the family circle remains unbroken by the hand of death. Mr. Woods is a member of the United Brethren church of New Olivet, and the teachings of that institution have ever proved the guiding influences in his life. Essentially a home man, his interests and ambitions are centered in the family circle, wherein he finds his greatest happiness and contentment. In politics he is a republican but has never cared for official honors. His business record has ever been characterized by strict integrity and honorable methods, and the course which he has ever pursued in attaining his present success has been such as has won and held the respect and esteem of all with whom he has had business dealings, while his personal characteristics constitute him a valued citizen in the community where he resides.