Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 459-460.

WILSON A. WOODWARD.

Among the prominent stockmen of Ossian and northern Wells county is found ex-postmaster Wilson A. Woodward, who was born in Jefferson township, August 2, 1866, and is a son of Abraham and Mary (Brickley) Woodward, natives of Trumbull county, Ohio, and who settled in Jefferson township in 1850, where the father purchased a farm and in time became an extensive agriculturist and stock breeder. They had ten children, who were born in the following order: An infant, deceased; Loretta, wife of George Wasson; Olive, deceased wife of William Beaty; Laura J., the present wife of the same gentleman; George T., a prosperous farmer in Jefferson township; Samantha E., wife of L. T. Fryback, of Warren, Indiana; William A., a thriving farmer and trader of Jefferson township; John W., a stockman of Ossian; Wilson A., and Allie, wife of Captain E. E. Derr.

Wilson A. Woodward was reared on his father's farm and acquired a good common school education. He remained with his father until he had attained his twenty-first year, at about which time he was united in marriage with Miss Luella Summers, also a native of Jefferson township and a daughter of William Summers, a respected farmer. For a few years Mr. and Mrs. Woodward resided on the farm, when they removed to Ossian, where he operated a grist-mill for a year and then opened a meat market, which he carried on for two years. Being a Democrat in politics, Mr. Woodward was appointed, during the second term of President Cleveland, postmaster, a position he filled with credit to himself and the entire satisfaction of the public for four years, during that same period being associated with A. B. Davis in the drug business. Retiring from this partnership at the expiration of his official term, Mr. Woodward associated himself with G. A. Morton and A. M. Gibson in buying and shipping live stock, in which business he is still engaged and with flattering success.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Woodward are five children: Goldie, Garth, Dana, Forrest and Vada. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Ossian, and fraternally Mr. Woodward is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge, of which he is a past chancellor and representative to the grand lodge. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a trustee of his lodge, as also of the insurance department of the Knights of the Maccabees. He is one of the most active men in his line in Wells county, is a good neighbor, a broad-minded and progressive citizen, and enjoys to the fullest extent the esteem of every member of the community in which he lives. His life has been one of untiring industry and his fortune is of his own making, and he is generally regarded as one of the more substantial citizens of Wells county.