Richard Jackson Woods Biography


	This biography appears on page 1830-1832 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.


	RICHARD JACKSON WOODS, assistant general manager of the 
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, with headquarters at Sioux 
Falls, was born January 17, 1863, in Belfast, Ireland, while his 
parents, whose home was in Louisiana, were on a visit to that city. His 
father, Arthur Woods, is an Irishman by birth; though for many years a 
citizen of the United States and a resident of Louisiana, and his 
mother, who before her marriage bore the name of Charlotte Bullidick, 
was born in Mississippi and reared in the South. Richard J. spent his 
boyhood days at the family homestead in Louisiana, and after receiving 
his preliminary education in the schools of that state, took an 
academic course in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he made 
substantial progress in the higher branches of learning. On quitting 
school, he decided to seek his fortune in the west; accordingly, in 
1878, he came to South Dakota and for some time thereafter worked as a 
farm hand near Sioux Falls, in addition to which he also drove team a 
few months for a gentleman by the name of Quigley. To these and various 
other lines of endeavor he devoted his attention during the ensuing 
five years, or until 1883, when he was appointed guard at the 
penitentiary, which position he held until the summer of 1887. 
Resigning his place on June 2d of that year, Mr. Woods, one week later, 
was united in marriage with Miss Anna Davis, of Sioux Falls, and 
immediately thereafter engaged in the real-estate business, which he 
continued with encouraging success until 1890, when he was appointed 
special agent of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, of 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He entered upon his new field of labor under the 
most favorable auspices and from the beginning his success more than 
met his expectations. It was not long until he commanded the largest 
insurance business in the city of Sioux Falls and this prestige he has 
easily sustained to the present time, being considered one of the most 
successful solicitors in the United States, not only by the large 
company he so ably represents, but by other companies, that for years 
have held out liberal and tempting inducements to secure his services. 
Some idea of the magnitude of his work in this line may be inferred 
from the fact that from June, 1892, to June, 1893, he wrote seven 
hundred and twelve thousand dollars of insurance, and four times during 
that year, as his monthly reports went to the home office, he was 
notified that he stood number one in a list of twenty-five thousand 
active agents in the employ of the Northwestern Mutual, a record 
perhaps without a parallel in the history of his own or any other 
company in this country.

	He possesses a winning, as well as a powerful personality, 
understands thoroughly the art of managing men, and being born a leader 
with unlimited faith in his own ability, he experiences I little 
difficulty in carrying to successful issue any undertaking to which he 
addresses himself.

	Mr. Woods is now general district agent of twenty-two counties, 
through the central part of the state, and with a large force of 
experienced subordinates, to each of which he imparts no small share of 
his personal magnetism and enthusiasm, it is not at all strange that he 
commands the bulk of the insurance business of South Dakota, or that 
the extensive work under his vigilant management is continually on the 
increase. He is also, at the present time, president of the National 
Association of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company Special Agents, 
a position requiring not only a resourceful mind and superior business 
talent, but a high order of executive ability as well.

	In 1889, and again in 1890, Mr. Woods was president of the State 
Firemen's Association, and in the former year he was appointed by 
Governor Mellette, chief of engineers and ordnance, with the rank of 
colonel. Since coming west he has been an influential factor in local 
and state politics, and from that time to the present his ability as an 
organizer and leader in the Republican party has been duly recognized 
and appreciated throughout the state. He has been a prominent factor in 
county, district and state conventions, dominating many of these 
bodies, besides being elected, in 1894, president of the Republican 
State League, in which capacity he bore an active and efficient part in 
the campaign of that year. In the Republican National League 
convention, held at Cleveland, Ohio, in June, 1885, he was elected one 
of the vice-presidents of the league and appointed chairman of the 
committee on credentials, and in 1896 he was nominated by the state 
Republican convention as a presidential elector, and his name placed at 
the head of the ticket.

	In a preceding paragraph incidental reference is made to Mr. 
Woods' commanding position in the fraternal and benevolent work of 
South Dakota. While an active worker in every branch of the Pythian 
brotherhood, it is as a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks that he has especially distinguished himself and in which he 
has achieved not only a state but a national reputation. He has been 
prominent in all the varied interests of this popular and rapidly 
growing fraternity; has attended a number of sessions of the grand 
lodge, in all of which he served as chairman on returns and 
credentials, and it is needless to say that he has long been considered 
one of the most popular members of that honorable body. July 22, 1903, 
Colonel Woods was elected by the grand lodge of Elks, at Baltimore, 
grand esteemed loyal knight.

	In speaking of Mr. Woods, the Dakota Ell: of November, 1902, 
contains the following appropriate references: "It is no idle thought 
to predict that Brother Woods will some day occupy the highest position 
in the gift of the order, a position he is eminently qualified to 
fill." "He is a natural born organizer, a leader, and his advice and 
counsel are considered essential on many perplexing propositions that 
come before the officers of the grand lodge." "He is as popular at home 
and in his home state, as he is elsewhere and his friends are legion." 
"He is in the true sense of the term, a self-made man and those who 
have known him longest, love him best." "With a heart as deep as a well 
and as broad as barn door, he distributes charity without ostentation, 
but with a liberal hand, and all who come within the range of his 
influence pronounce him the embodiment of hospitality and a prince of 
good fellowship."