Ohio County, West Virginia         Biography of Homer B. WOODS

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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. 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.