Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 672–674; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
George Woodruff is the gentlemanly and efficient Postmaster of
Farmington, is pre-eminent in the business, social, religious and
political life of this part of Illinois, and no one has done more
towards building up its varied interests than he. Besides
attending to his official duties he conducts an extensive grocery and
meat business, and his name is connected with various enterprises that
have been inaugurated in this section.
Our subject is derived from a sterling ancestry. The
Woodruffs have been men of standing and business ability for
generations. They originally came from England and settled in the
Green Mountain State before the Revolution, when it was a part of
Massachusetts. The Burbridges, his mother’s family, were also of
English extraction and they settled in Virginia in Colonial
times. The paternal grandfather of our subject was in the War of
1812, and also served in two or three Indian wars as captain and at one
time was capture by the Indians; and grandfather Burbridge was also in
the War of 1812.
Hosea Woodruff, the father of our subject, was well-known to the
citizens of Fulton County, and especially in Farmington, where in early
years he was engaged in the dry-goods and grocery business. He
was born in Vermont among the Green Mountains of that State, and when
he was six years old, his parents, Anthony and Martha Woodruff, removed
to New York where he grew up. They later became pioneers of Ohio
where he learned the trade of a carpenter. In 1842 he came o
Illinois with his first wife, and the six children born of their
union. He settled at Farmington and was engaged as a general
merchant here for a few years, and after he had become a well-to-do man
he interested himself in the coal mining and wood business in Peoria
County. He operated a colliery, situated at Reed’s Landing, which
was one of the first coal mines opened in this Stat. His attempts
at mining ended disastrously on account of the high water in the
Illinois River in the spring of 1850, whereby he sustained a very heavy
loss which almost drove him to insolvency and he never fully recovered
his former financial standing. He died in Farmington in 1868, at
the age of fifty-nine years. His wife died at the age of
fifty-seven years at Canton, and is buried at Farmington,. By the
last union the father had two children – George and Luther. The
latter was killed when sixteen years old by the accidental discharge of
a gun. Of the six children of the first union two are now living
– Dr. J. Woodruff of Roseburg, Ore, and Mrs. Jennie Barton of Joseph,
Ore. The maiden name of the other of our subject was Mary J.
Burbridge, and she was a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Catlin)
Burbridge, both born in Virginia. They lived in Ohio awhile
before they came to Illinois.
The father of our subject was always opposed to slavery and was
a stanch Union man. He was very temperate in his habits and for
many years he was one of the leading officers in the Baptist Church in
Farmington. He was pronounced in his views and it was an easy
matter to find him, as he always stood bravely for what his reason and
conscience told him was right. He held various township offices
in Farmington. He was a man of uncompromising integrity, was
even-tempered and made a great many very warm friends; even now
twenty-two years since his death, the older citizens of Farmington
think of him with tenderness and regret. Only a few days ago Mr.
Henry Merrill, an old friend of his, remarked with tears in his eyes,
“if there was ever a man I loved, that man was Hosea Woodruff.”
The subject of this biographical review was born June 11, 1851,
at Reed’s Landing in Peoria County, while his father was engaged in the
coal business there. Shortly after his father returned to
Farmington where our subject grew up. He had all the advantages
to be obtained in the schools of this town, which he attended until he
was fifteen years old. At that age he was called on to assist in
the support of the family, and he worked at carpentering and at
whatsoever else his hands could find to do. His father took
building contracts for erecting houses and bridges and he also
contracted to furnish timber for railroads. George began to work
in the woods when but fourteen and learned to swing an ax with the ease
of a veteran lumberman. While getting out timber for railways the
father found it convenient to operate a steam sawmill and the son being
then fourteen or fifteen years old, and having considerable mechanical
genius was employed to attend to the machinery. After a year and
a half of experience around the stationary sawmill he became very
proficient in the management of the engine, and when but sixteen years
old he obtained a position as engineer in the wool carding factory of
Mr. L. Parish of Farmington, receiving in payment $40 per month for
about a year. At the age of seventeen he went to work for P. P.
Chapman as a laborer in his lumber yards, and was employed by him by
the day the ensuing year. Gaining the confidence of his employer
and his goodwill, he was appointed foreman of the extensive lumber
business and in the first year that he occupied that position he
handled two million feet of lumber.
Mr. Woodruff acted as foreman in the lumber yard until 1874, and
then became the manager of Mr. Chapman’s coal business. For
three years prior to his superintending the mines they had not paid
their owner, but under our subject’s skillful management Mr. Chapman
derived a handsome income. Mr. Woodruff was superintendent of the
mines for ten years and during that time he had a wonderful experience
with the miners. He went through the strikes of 1877, and at
times his life was threatened by the KuKlux or Mollie Maguire miners of
Pennsylvania, who unfortunately had been brought from there to work in
the mines of Farmington, because laborers here were very scarce and the
managers were driven to make use of any class of men they could
obtain. Our subject worked so long and faithfully in the
interests of his employer that his health gave way in the constant
excitement and strain necessitated by the responsibilities of his
position, and he was obliged to resign. He took a trip for he
purpose of recreation through the West and Northwest, and spent some
two months in Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin. In 1882, while
yet acting as superintendent of mines, he invested in the harness
business, becoming a partner with S. Barstow of Farmington. The
next year he sold his interest in that, and the following year he and
Dr. Gove bought the drug business of Reiley Bristol of Farmington, and
conducted it until 1886 when they disposed of it, having lost $4,000 by
that venture. It was concluded strictly in accordance with our
subject’s high principles of morality and right on a temperance basis,
no liquors being sold over or behind the counter for fever and ague, or
any other disease, so that it is not surprising that financial success
did not result.
One of the greatest enterprise with which our subject’s name is
connected is the Duck Island Hunting and Fishing Club, incorporated
under the laws of the State of Illinois in 1885. He it was who
first conceived the idea of laying out a hunting and fishing park, and
he devoted all his energies to the task, he having inherited a natural
taste from his father and grandfather for the chase and other manly
sports. He secured the organization of a stock company, with a
capital stock of $15,000 and the holders of the stock are principally
the prominent business men of the city of Peoria. H. H.
Fahnestock of Peoria, is President of the company; George Woodruff,
Vice President; C. E. Snively, of Canton is Secretary; F. Luther of
Peoria, Treasurer; O. L. Nichols, of Banner, Superintendent. The
company owns and controls four thousand acres of land along the western
bank of the Illinois River in Fulton County, adjacent to copperas Creek
and lying in Banner and Liverpool Townships. Mr. Wooodruff spent
a year and a half in fencing, improving the land and in erecting
suitable buildings. It is enclosed by a wire fence; has a neat
two-story club house, well fitted up with beds and other conveniences
for sporting men; and there are barns and stables and an ice house that
holds two hundred tons of ice. A reliable man is in charge of the
club house and park, and everything is well managed. The park is
conceded by sporting men to be the best ducking ground in the State of
Illinois, and is fast becoming a very popular resort.
In February, 1888, Mr. Woodruff established himself in the
grocery business in Farmington, in the Mason Block, where he is
conducting an excellent trade in that line. The same year he
formed a partnership with Charles Howard, and under the name of
Woodruff & Howard, is carrying on an extensive meat business.
In 1890, on the 24th of March he was appointed Postmaster at
Farmington, and into this office he carries the energy, business
ability and tact that has characterized his whole career. At the
time of his candidacy for the position there were four competitors in
the field, and the struggle by which our subject won was sharp and
decisive, but it was acknowledged by all that Mr. Woodruff won by fair
means. He served as a member of the Board of Education of
Farmington one term; was City Councilman a term of two years; Police
Magistrate two terms; and May or of the city one term, occupying that
position in 1884. He is an important member of the Republican
party in this county, and has been a delegate to State, County and
Congressional conventions.
Mr. Woodruff and Miss Ella Webster were united in marriage
January 4, 1871. Mrs. Woodruff is a daughter of the late Alpheus
and Lucy (Haskins) Webster. Her father was born in New Hampshire
and his father was an own cousin to Daniel Webster. Her mother
was born in Massachusetts. She is now living in Media, Douglas,
County, Kan., at the age of sixty-two years. She and her husband
came to Fulton County from their Eastern home in 1856 and settled in
Canton Township. Mr. Webster served in the late war, and
contracted a disease which made him an invalid. He farmed in
Illinois until his removal to Douglas County, Kan., where he died May
6, 1882.
Mrs. Woodruff was born in Boston, Mass., but was reared and
educated in Canton, this county. She came from there to
Farmington with her parents, and here made Mr. Woodruff’s
acquaintance. Her happy wedded life with our subject has been
blessed to them by birth of three children – May, a student in
Farmington High School; Katie, who manages the Farmington news-stand,
and keeps books for her father; and Luther, a school-boy at home with
his parents. Mr. Woodruff has built as many as six residences in
Farmington, and has sold them at a good profit. He at present
resides in an attractive dwelling on Park Street. He and his
estimable wife are among the leading members of the Baptist Church, of
which he is Treasurer.
