JAMES E. WOODARD (my grandfather Dow's father, James is son of Mason my great great grandfather)
The people who are the strength of this country are those who are engaged in agricultural pursuits. It is the farmer who furnishes the means whereby the rest of the nation exists. The farmers of Shelby county, Iowa, are alive to the best interests of their communities, and are the men who have given the county an enviable position in Iowa. One of the men of Grove township, Shelby county, who has done his share in placing his county in the front, is James E. Woodard, who has achieved a distinct success as an agriculturist.

James E. Woodard, the son of Mason and Sarah (DeGraw) Woodard, was born in Jackson county, Iowa, in 1871. His father was born in Canada in 1848, and his mother in the state of Michigan in 1844. His father left Canada in 1889 and came to Shelby county, Iowa, where he first rented land and later purchased forty acres. He and his wife are still living on that forty acres. Four children were born to Mason Woodard and wife. James E. Woodard received his education in the schools of several states, his parents not permanently settling in this county until he was eighteen years old. He then began work as a farm hand in Grove township, where he married. Two years later he rented eighty acres in the township and began farming for himself. Soon he bought eighty acres and as he has prospered from year to year he has added to his possessions, until he is now the owner of four hundred and forty acres of fine land. He has thirty-five acres of timber land and does not need to plant forest trees, as do most of the farmers of this county. Mr. Woodard has been a hard working and conscientious farmer, and his success has been achieved by close economy and the exercise of frugality and thrift. He is an extensive breeder of live stock and disposes of several car loads from his farm each year.

Mr. Woodard was married in 1890 to Rosa Hinkle, born in this county in 1860, and to this union have been born seven children: Jessie, Joseph, Bessie, Howard, Dow, Faye and Sylvia. All of these children are still unmarried with the exception of Bessie, who became the wife of Frank Fouts.

Politically, Mr. Woodard is a Republican, and has always been actively interested in local politics. At the present time he is a member of the school board of his township, an office which he has filled with satisfaction to his fellow citizens for the past two years. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is deeply interested in the welfare of that society. Mr. Woodard is a man of industry, and while he has devoted his attention primarily to the accumulation of a competency for himself and family, yet he has never neglected to bear his full share of the burdens of civic life.

Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 1094 - 1095
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs