Webster County, West Virginia    Biography of BANTZ S. WOODDELL

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@trellis.net>, March 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 86-87

BANTZ S. WOODDELL has shown naught of apathy or des-
ultory interest in his prolonged service as a public execu-
tive in Webster County, and is giving a most circumspect
and effective administration as county clerk, to which office
he was elected in November, 1920, and the duties of which
he assumed January 1, 1921. In 1908 he was appointed dep-
uty sheriff of the county, and after serving four years in
this position he was for six years the incumbent of the
position of deputy county clerk, in which connection he
made a record that marked him as a most eligible candi-
date for the office of county clerk, to which he was elected
on the democratic ticket.

Mr. Wooddell was born at Greenbank, Pocahontas County,
West Virginia, on the 8th of February, 1871, and is a son
of William J. and Mattie J. (Gum) Wooddell, who removed
to Webster Springs, judicial center of Webster County,
when he was a lad of nine years. In the attractive village
that is now his home Mr. Wooddell was thus reared to
adult age, his educational work having in the meanwhile
been carried forward in the public schools. Here also he
served a practical apprenticeship to the printer's trade, the
intricacies and mysteries of which he compassed in due
course. After working for some time in the offices of the
Webster Springs newspaper which had afforded him his
training in the "art preservative of all arts," he was em-
ployed at his trade in the City of Charleston. Later he
returned to Webster Springs, where he acquired a financial
interest in the Webster Echo, with the publication of which
he continued his active association until 1908, when he
was appointed deputy sheriff, as previously noted in this
context. He has been continuously in public service in the
county since that year, and this fact in itself bears signifi-
cant evidence of his executive efficiency and his personal
popularity. As may be inferred from a previous statement,
Mr. Wooddell is a stalwart advocate of the principles of
the democratic party, and in the Masonic fraternity he is
affiliated with Addison Lodge No. 116, A. F. and A. M.;
Sutton Chapter No. 29, R. A. M.; and Sutton Commandery
No. 16, Knights Templars.

April 18, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Wooddell
and Miss Gertrude Curry, and she passed to the life eter-
nal in 1912, four children surviving her: Craddock C.,
who was born in April, 1900, and who is now in the avia-
tion service of the United States Government at Manila,
Philippine Islands; William B. is, in 1922, attending the
Webster Springs High School; and the younger children
are Ruth and June. For his second wife Mr. Wooddell
wedded Miss Sallie M. Killow, of Oakland, Maryland, and
they have three children: Mary Helen, Kathryn and Jo-
seph Hopwood. Mrs. Wooddell is a popular figure in the
social life of her home community, and is an active mem-
ber of the local Methodist Episcopal Church, South.