He spent his last days in Ames, in Story county, at the home of his son Henry F., passing away here in 1898, at the age of eighty-two years. His father, John Woodruff, was a soldier of the Mexican war, who was wounded in battle and died a few years later. Henry F. Woodruff has a sister, Emma J., who is now the wife of Austin Burbank, of Ypsilanti, Michigan. He also has a half-sister, Mrs. Ruth McClay, who is living in Rockford, Illinois.
Henry F. Woodruff was but four years old when the father removed to Michigan and was a youth of fourteen when the family home was established in Ann Arbor, where he attended the high school. In 1868 he came to Story county and purchased a farm in Washington township on the Boone county line. There he actively engaged in general agricultural pursuits until about two years ago, when he erected his present beautiful residence at No. 1215 Lincoln avenue in Ames and took up his abode in the city. He retains the ownership of the home farm and has other property, making him one of the large landholders of this part of the state. He owns a farm on section 24, Colfax township, Boone county, the southwest quarter of section 18, Washington township, this county, and also land on section 19, Washington township, his total possessions aggregating eight hundred and seventy-four acres, divided into four farms and improved with four sets of buildings. The land, however, is all in one body and constitutes a very valuable and productive property, from which Mr. Woodruff derives a substantial annual income. For thirty years he engaged extensively in feeding cattle and also bought and sold cattle, his live stock interests constituting an important branch of his business. His success has come through judicious investment and the wise management of his affairs and is well merited.
In 1872 Mr. Woodruff was united in marriage to Miss Libby Lambert, who was born in Jackson county, Michigan, and died in Story county, Iowa, March 15, 1891, at the age of forty-two years. Their children were : Laura Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Perry and died in 1907, leaving five children ; Minnie, who died in 1894.; Effie, who died in the same year of typhoid fever, as did her sister; Benjamin, a resident of British Columbia; and Theressa W., the wife of Hiram H. Powers, a professor at the experimental station at Crookston, Minnesota. In the fall of 1892, in Michigan, Mr. Woodruff married Theressa Lambert, a sister of his first wife.
In his religious faith Mr. Woodruff is a Methodist. He manifests a citizen's interest in public affairs, giving his aid and support to many measures and projects for the general good. He finds great delight in travel and has visited all of the world's fairs held in this country. On the 10th of February, 1910, he left San Francisco for a tour around the world, reaching Ames on the 20th of July after a six months' absence. It was a most enjoyable trip and his mind is today stored with many interesting memories of the lands and people that he visited. His is the notable record of a successful business man, who owes his progress to his recognition and utili-