| Notes |
- from "Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois" Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890
MAJ. ROBERT MANN WOODS, editor and publisher of the Republic and Sun, has for many years been a prominent figure among the various interests of Will County, and especially of the city of Joliet. He is a gentleman of fine abilities, possessing great energy and enterprise, and is in the habit of making a success of whatever he undertakes. He was born April 17, 1840, in Greenville, Mercer County, Pa., and is the son of William J. and Sarah (Mann) Woods. The parents were natives respectively of Western New York and Maryland. This branch of the Woods family is of Irish extraction, and as far back as the records go, were in religion Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The father of our subject was a cabinet-maker by trade, and politically a life-long Abolitionist, being the only man in Pike County, this State, who voted for James G. Birney for President. For a number of years he published a Free Soil paper in Galesburg, Ill., having come to the State in 1842. In 1855, in company with others, he formed the Western Industrial and Scientific Institution, which established a still flourishing college at College Springs, Iowa. He is still living, a hale and hearty old man, making his home in Sheridan County, Kan., where three of his sons also reside. He was married the third time at the age of eighty-two years and is now eighty-five years old. He preserves much of his old time energy and activity, and at the present writing, April, 1890, is engaged in setting out an orchard and maintains that he expects to gather fruit from it for several seasons to come. To William J. Woods by his first wife, the mother of our subject, was born a family of ten children, of whom Robert M. was the fifth in order of birth. Marilla S., the first child, Mrs. Young, is living in Cameron, Mo.; the second child, Newton, is farming in Sheridan County, Kan.; Addison is a resident of Sheridan County, Kan.; Narcissa, Mrs. Cox, resides in Quincy, Ill.; John is engaged in the real-estate business at Joliet; Sarah J., Mrs. Maj. A. R. Anderson, died in Sidney, Iowa. Her husband was for several terms a member of Congress; Isaac, a gallant soldier of the Fourth Missouri Cavalry, died in Washington, Ind., in 1889; William P. is a grocer at Villisca, Iowa; and Williston B. is a farmer in Sheridan County, Kan. The subject of this notice was taken to Pike County, this State, in 1842, when a child, and lived there until 1848. Then going to Galesburg, he attended Knox College, and lived there for a period of ten years. In 1858 he crossed the Mississippi, and until 1861 taught school in Iowa and Missouri. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed by Gov. Yates to a position in the Quartermaster's and Governor's offices, which occupied his time until June, 1864. He was then appointed Adjutant of Yates' Sharp-shooters, which formed the Sixty-fourth Illinois Regiment. He served in this through the Atlanta campaign and was then detailed as a mustering officer. Subsequently he served on the staff of Maj. Gen. Giles A. Smith, participating in the march to the sea and the campaign through the Carolinas, when he was commissioned Captain of Company A, Sixty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and was twice brevetted for gallant and meritorious service as Captain and Major. At the close of the war he went with his regiment to Washington, and was present at the Grand Review. He then proceeded with his regiment to Louisville, Ky., where he was mustered out, and as a mustering officer signed the discharge papers of over ten thousand soldiers. After leaving the army Maj. Woods was summoned to Springfield by Adj. Gen. I. N. Haynie, and there he wrote the histories of all the Illinois regiments for the Adjutant-General's report, these making nine volumes. In the spring of 1866, he wrote the constitution and by-laws, charter, etc.. for the Grand Army of the Republic, which was originated by Dr. B. F. Stephenson, and of which Maj. Woods was the first Adjutant-General. Soon afterward he organized the various departments throughout the Northwest. The original charter of Decatur Post, No. 1, has his name upon it. In 1868 Maj. Woods repaired to Chicago, Ill., where he was variously engaged, and for four and one-half years officiated as chief clerk during the construction of the United States Custom House and post-office, in that city. In 1877 he was appointed Insurance Examiner of Illinois, and during his incumbency of this office it became his duty to proceed against and close up, in the courts of the State, the Republic Life, the Protection Life, and Chicago Life Insurance Companies. This employed his time until 1879, and then turning his attention to the newspaper world, he purchased the Joliet Republican of James Goodspeed. He conducted this successfully until 1883, then purchased the Joliet Sun, which he merged with the Republican. In 1888, reaching out still farther, he purchased the Daily and Weekly Press, and consolidated the three papers under the name of Republic and Sun. He is an able journalist, making an interesting local paper, which has become one of the indispensable institutions of Will County. Its political complexion reflects his own convictions and sympathies, which have been in harmony with the principles of the Repulican party since he became a voter. He has an admirably equipped office, including a job department and book bindery, fitted out with all the machinery and other appliances necessary to do first-class work. The paper has a healthy subscription list, and the job department is generously patronized by the people of Joliet and Will County. Maj. Woods was married, October 5, 1867, in Chicago, Ill., to Miss May Florence Miner. Mrs. Woods was born April 8, 1851, at Harding, Ill., and is the daughter of Samuel E. and Asenath (Darrow) Miner, who were natives of Massachusetts, and are now residents of Phoenix, Arizona. Two children, a daughter and a son, have been born of this union, Alice M. and Miner R., who still remain with their parents. The family residence and its surroundings, forms one of the attractive homes of Joliet, and is located in the southeastern part of the city. Elsewhere in this volume the reader will notice a lithographic portrait of Maj. Woods.
- from "GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF KENDALL AND WILL COUNTIES, ILLINOIS"
Robert Mann WOODS, b Greenville, Mercer Co., Pa. Apr 17 1840, son of William J. WOODS. ...Robert MANN WOODS, m May Florence MINER, who was b in Harding, Ill., Apr 8 1851, a daughter of Samuel E. and Asenath DARROW MINER. They have two children: Alice M. and Miner R.
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1840 - 1919 (79 years)