Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Woodruff, Charles E 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 12:14 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

CHARLES E. WOODRUFF, secretary and manager of the Joliet Pure Ice Company, and 
a director of the Will County Abstract Company, also the Joliet Warehouse and 
Transfer Company, is one of the influential business men of Joliet, where he 
has resided since 1884. The business with which his name is most closely 
associated was established by him in 1896, when a plant was built on Cass 
street, connected by a switch with the Rock Island Railroad. A large wholesale 
and retail business is transacted, which extends throughout central Illinois 
and is not limited to ice, but also includes all kinds of coal. Ice is 
manufactured from distilled water by means of the Empire ice machine, operated 
by two engines of one hundred and twenty horse power each. The plant has a 
capacity of forty tons a day, the business being the largest of its kind in 
Joliet. The members of the company are A. J. Bates, president, and C. E. 
Woodruff, secretary and manager, the former being the principal owner, while 
the latter has the entire supervision of the plant, and to him its success is 
largely due. The Woodruff family originated in England, whence John (or Jack) 
Woodruff crossed the ocean in the "May flower," settling in Massachusetts, 
thence going to Connecticut, where subsequent generations were identified with 
the world's activities. The grandfather, Simeon Woodruff, who was the son of a 
Revolutionary soldier, was born in Rutland, Vt., and married Rosa Adams, a 
great-niece of John Adams, second president of the United States; she lived to 
be one hundred years of age. About 1799 Simeon Woodruff removed to Jefferson 
County, N. Y., and settled on land now included in the city of Watertown. His 
oldest daughter was the first white girl baby born in the county. He was a 
typical pioneer, energetic, hard-working and hospitable, and through his 
industry he evolved a valuable farm from the wilderness. One of his sons, 
Theodore T., a man of great ability, was the first patentee of sleeping cars, 
but sold the patent to George M. Pullman. He became very wealthy through his 
inventions and manufactures. When his mother was a very aged woman she made 
her first trip out of Jefferson County, for seventy-two years, on which 
occasion she came west in a palace car owned by her son. This was, indeed, the 
only journey she ever made in all of her long life with the exception of the 
trip from Vermont to New York, when she traveled in a mud sleigh drawn by 
oxen. The ownership of the homestead at Watertown descended to Simeon's son, 
Charles T., who was born there, and who, through his active years, 
superintended farm property and also engaged in carpentering and the 
manufacture of brick. He died in 1894, when eighty years of age. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Mary Ann Clark, was born in Ellisburg, Jefferson 
County, N. Y., and died in 1885. She was a daughter of John Clark, a farmer of 
that county. Of her five children all but one are living. John holds a 
government position in Watertown; Rose Adams, Mrs. Henderson, is a widow 
living in Joliet; and Abba is the wife of Edward Irwin, of Chicago. The 
subject of this sketch was born October 9, 1859, at the old homestead in 
Watertown, which he how owns. In 1877 he graduated from the Watertown high 
school, after which he taught school for one year and then for two years read 
law in the office of Winslow & Smith. He received the appointment of chief 
clerk in the state treasurer's office at Albany, N. Y., from which he was 
transferred to the state insurance department in New York City, remaining in 
office until the Democrats came into power, when he resigned. In 1880 he 
married Jennie C, daughter of S. M. Robinson, M. D., one of the oldest and 
most prominent physicians of Watertown. After his marriage he engaged in the 
manufacture of woolen goods in Watertown until 1884, when he came west to 
Illinois and became interested with H. B. Scott & Co. in the manufacture of 
wire, establishing an office in Chicago, but maintaining his residence in 
Joliet. He continued with the company until he embarked in the ice business. 
In Illinois, as in New York, Mr. Woodruff continues his active support of 
Republican principles, and, as a member of the Will County central committee, 
he has been able to materially advance the interests of his party in this 
section. He is a charter member of the Union Club, of which he was elected the 
first secretary and for many years has been a member of its board of 
directors. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Modern 
Woodmen of America and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His wife is a 
member of Central Presbyterian Church, to the work of which he has 
contributed. They are the parents of one son, Glen C., who is being educated 
in the Military School at Knoxville, Ill.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/woodruff1031gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 5.6 Kb