Ohio County, West Virginia Biography of Homer B. WOODS This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the sketch subject. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. 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. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 259-260 Ohio County HOMER B. WOODS, a leading citizen of Harrisville, Ritchie County, is presiding on the bench of the Circuit Court of the Third Judicial Circuit, comprising Pleasants, Ritchie and Doddridge counties, and he has made a splendid record both as a lawyer and a jurist. Judge Woods was born on a farm in Ritchie County, near Harrisville. July 16 1869, and is a son of Rev. Philip A. and Salina (Wells) Woods. Rev. Philip A. Woods was born in Pennsylvania, January 4, 1828, and was about eighteen years old when the family came to what is now West Virginia and settled in Ritchie County. He gained his edneation principally in Pennsylvania, where he at- tended a private school and also Allegany College, after which he was ordained a clergyman of the Baptist Church. He continued in the service of the ministry during the remainder of his active career, and held various pastoral charges in the central part of West Virginia. He became a staunch advocate of the principles of the republican party, and his memory is revered by those who came within the compass of his benignant influence. Both he and his wife were well advanced in years at the time of their deaths. They became the parents of six children. Judge Homer B. Woods gained his youthful education in the public schools of the various places in which the family resided in connection with his father's pastoral charges in the central part of the state, and he was but sixteen years old when he initiated his career as a teacher, his service in the pedagogic profession having been suc- cessfully continued several years. In the meanwhile he attended Marietta College, and in preparation for the legal profession he took a course in the law department of the University of West Virginia. While pursuing his studies in the law school he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Ritchie County, and after having served two terms in this office he continued his services as a teacher for several years, within which he was prin- cipal of the Harrisville High School and later of that at Pennsboro, likewise in Ritchie County. He was admitted to the bar in 1892, and thereafter continued in the private practice of his profession at Harrisville until 1896, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of his native county. He held this position two successive terms and retired therefrom in 1904, in which year he was elected to the bench of the Circuit Court. Judge Woods was unanimously nominated by the repub- lican party, in August, 1920, as a candidate for the third term as judge of the Third Judicial Circuit. His splendid "previous record on the bench is not only attested by this nomination but also by the action of the democratic party which met in convention in the same month and made no nomination to oppose him, and at the same time unani- mously adopted the following resolution: "Whereas, at the Republican Judicial Convention, the Honorable Homer B. Woods was nominated for the Judge of this judicial circuit, and "Whereas, we, the legally constituted delegates and representatives of the Democratic party in and for the third judicial circuit, in convention assembled, believing that the judiciary should be composed of able and honor- able men, well versed in the law and experienced in court procedure, and who would wear the ermine untarnished by partisan prejudice or political influence, and we, hav- ing confidence in the ability, integrity and fitness of the said Honorable Homer B. Woods for the high office of Judge; and to the end that the judiciary may be removed from and elevated above partisan political contests; be it resolved, that this convention doth decline to nominate a candidate for judge of the third judicial circuit." Judge Woods was. therefore, unopposed at the polls in the November election in 1920, and is now serving his third term on the bench. Judge Woods is a stanch republican, and he and his wife are active members of the Baptist Church. He is affiliated with Harrisville Lodge No. 98, A. F. & A. M., and Odell Chapter No. 28, B. A. M., is a past grand of the local lodge of Odd Fellows, his wife being a member of the adjunct organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, and he is an influential member of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he has served as counsel of the local camp and also as counsel of the head camp of the organ- ization in West Virginia, in which he is now a member of the committee on appeals and grievances. September 10, 1892, recorded the marriage of Judge Woods and Miss Winifred Davis, daughter of the late Thomas E. Davis and a representative of one of the oldest and most highly honored families of Ritchie County. Of the six children of Judge and Mrs. Woods five are living: Ralph D. is a graduate of the law department of the Uni- versity of West Virginia; Homer B., Jr., who graduated in the high school and who became a successful teacher, received appointment to the United States Naval Acad- emy, Annapolis, Maryland, and was attending that institu- tion at the time of his death, at the age of twenty years; Miriam graduated in the Harrisville High School and in 1922 is a student in the Cincinnati (Ohio) Conservatory of Music; Robert J. is a high school student; and Samuel T. and Winifred are grade pupils in the public schools. The eldest son, Ralph D., entered the nation's military service in connection with the World war, gained the rank of first lieutenant, and was in service in turn at Camp Dodge, Iowa, the Central Officers' Training Camp at Waco, Texas, and the Second Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana. The war came to a close before there came a call for his command to enter service overseas. He is an active member of the American Legion, and is now engaged in the practice of law at Harrisville.