Roane County, West Virginia Biography of HON. HARRY C. WOODYARD This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. 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. 571 HON. HARRY C. WOODYARD, whose service in Congress as representative of the Fourth West Virginia District has at once been characterized by repeated re-election and by extreme fidelity to the duties and responsibilities of his office, is a resident of Spencer, where for many years he was active in business affairs. He was born at Spencer, November 13, 1867, son of Wil- liam and Isabelle Woodyard. William Woodyard was born in West Virginia, spent the greater part of his life as a merchant at Spencer, was a Union soldier at the time of the Civil war, and died at Paris, Illinois, in 1896. His wife, Isabelle Chapman, was born at Great Barrington, Massa- chusetts, and died at Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Henry Chapman, was in his time a well known physician and sur- geon at Spencer. Harry Chapman Woodyard was reared and married at Spencer, and early took up a railroad career as a telegraph operator with the Bavenswood, Spencer and Glenville, now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system. While in this service he was station agent at Spencer several years. Following that he was in the wholesale grocery and lumber business at Spencer, became vice president of the Roane County Bank, and has had other extensive interests in this section. He has long been an influential figure in republican politics of the state. He was elected and served four years, 1896-1900, as a member of the State Senate from the Fourth Senatorial District. He was candidate for the 57th Congress in 1900 and treasurer of the State Committee of West Virginia that year. In 1902 he was elected to represent the Fourth West Virginia District in the 58th Congress, and served consecutively eight years, through the 59th, 60th and 61st Congresses. In 1910 he was defeated as a candidate for re-election by John M. Hamilton. Then, in 1916, he was chosen to fill the unexpired term of Judge Hunter H. Moss, Jr., in the 64th Congress, and is a member of the 65th Congress and has been re-elected in 1918 and again in 1920. Some of his most important work in Con- gress has been as a member of the committee on post offices and post roads. Harry C. Woodyard married Emma Douglas, who was born near Clarksburg in Harrison County in 1870. They have three sons. Edward Douglas, born October 13, 1896, was in the ordnance department of the military establish- ment at Washington during the World war, and is now asso- ciated with his brother, William, in the management of the Spencer Times-Record. The youngest son is Henry C., Jr., born June 6, 1899, manager of the Simmons Woodyard Automobile Company at Spencer.