John M. Woodring Biography


	This biography appears on pages 596-599 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JOHN M. WOODRING. 

	John M. Woodring is entitled to the honor which America pays to 
the man who has begun his business career with no capital and no 
influential friends to assist him and by dint of hard labor and good 
judgment has attained success in life. He started out in life for 
himself with no assets but his health and ability to work, but he now 
owns a farm of two hundred and forty acres situated on section 21, 
Prairie Center township, Spink county. 

	Mr. Woodring was born near Easton, in Northhampton county, 
Pennsylvania, on the 29th of August, 1838, and is the son of Daniel and 
Catherine (Zeller) Woodring. The father was a farmer and followed 
agricultural pursuits both in Pennsylvania and Illinois, to which state 
the family removed in 1856. He and his wife have passed away and are 
buried in the Eldorado cemetery of Stephenson county, Illinois. Mr. 
Woodring's paternal ancestors came presumably from England but the 
family was established in the new world long before the Revolutionary 
war. On the maternal side his ancestry is purely German and his great 
grandfather Lattig participated in the war for independence and his 
sons took part in the War of 1812. 

	John M. Woodring attended the public schools in Pennsylvania 
until he was seventeen years of age, after which he assisted his father 
in the work of the home farm until the outbreak of the Civil war, when 
he enlisted in the Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served 
principally in Tennessee until 1862, when he was honorably discharged 
on account of physical disability. After his recovery, however, he 
reenlisted, joining the quartermaster sergeant's department and serving 
mainly at Nashville. He was employed in the building of hospitals and 
like work and remained with his command until January, 1864, when his 
term expired. He reenlisted, however, in the Forty-sixth Illinois 
Regiment and this time saw trans-Mississippi service, taking part in 
the engagements at Mobile, Spanish Fort and other places. At different 
times during his army experience he was in command of his company, 
which had lost all its officers, and he was twice offered a 
lieutenant's commission in recognition of his ability and bravery but 
declined on both occasions. He remained in the service until 1866. 

	After his return from the front Mr. Woodring rented a farm near 
Winslow, Illinois, for one year and thence went to Green county, 
Wisconsin, where he farmed for two years, after which he removed to 
Mitchell county, Iowa, locating near Osage. He farmed there until he 
came to Spink county, South Dakota in 1883, and took up a soldier's 
claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he increased by purchase to 
three hundred and twenty acres but has since sold eighty acres Go his 
son, retaining two hundred and forty acres, which he now cultivates. He 
engages in general farming and stock raising, is an excellent worker 
and as he understands the best methods of farming, his land returns to 
him a good annual income. 

	Mr. Woodring was united in marriage in Monroe, Wisconsin, June 4; 
1868, to Miss Maria Runkel, a daughter of Jacob and Susan (Stemm) 
Runkel. In early life her father worked as a blacksmith and shoemaker 
but later became a farmer, cultivating land in Pennsylvania and 
Illinois. Both he and his wife are deceased, she being buried near 
Center Hill in Center county, Pennsylvania, and he in a cemetery in 
McConnell township, Stephenson county, Illinois. The Runkels are of 
Pennsylvania Dutch origin and Mrs. Woodring's grandfather, John Runkel, 
fought in the Revolutionary war. By her marriage she has become the 
mother of six children: Lida, the wife of Charles P. Brown, of Howard, 
South Dakota; Mamie, the widow of Fred P. Drayer, a merchant of 
Frankfort, this state; Roy, who is managing the work of the home farm; 
Clinton, who married Mabel Rashenberg, of Frankfort and is engaged in 
farming in Sumner township, Spink county; Blanche, the wife of Phillip 
Kraus, who is farming in Prairie Center township; and Edna, the wife of 
Allen Burgess, likewise a farmer of Prairie Center township. 

	Mr. Woodring is a stanch republican but has always refused to 
accept office. He keeps in touch with the other veterans of the Civil 
war through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. He has 
prospered since coming to South Dakota and has erected a comfortable 
residence upon his land and otherwise improved it so that it is now one 
of the valuable and attractive farms of Spink county. He has not only 
won material success, but his life has been so upright and open that 
all who know him hold him in high esteem for his sterling qualities of 
character.