California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 HOMER DAILEY WOODARD. A successful farmer and stockman, Homer Dailey Woodard is numbered among the representative men of Tulare county and holds a prominent place as a citizen. He is a native of Wisconsin, having been born in Waukesha November 22, 1850, a son of Myron Woodard. The elder man was born near Rochester, N. Y., June 9, 1819. where the Woodard family had flourished for generations. An ancestor on his mother's side, William Williams, signed the Declaration of Independence, while his father served in the Revolutionary war. Myron Woodard was also a stanch citizen in time of need, having served under General Scott at the time of the trouble between Canada and the United States. He became an early settler of Waukesha county. Wis., where he cleared a farm of beech and ma- ple trees and assisted materially in the development and upbuilding of the section in which he made his home. Deciding to become a pioneer in the more remote west, he crossed the plains in 1854 with the Hawkins boys, driving cattle, and upon his safe arrival in California he en- gaged in mining. Returning east in 1857 he spent one year in Wisconsin when he brought his family to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, after landing in San Francisco coming on to Woodbridge, San Joaquin county, which was then known as Knights Ferry. He there engaged in mining until 1862, when he went to Nevada and in Washoe valley occupied himself with farming and the wood business. In 1867 he returned to California, spending three months in Linden, San Joaquin county, when he went to Columbia, Tuolumne county, and followed min- ing. In 1870 he located at Badger, on the Mill road, where he organized the first school district and postoffice, accepting and filling the office of postmaster. He there farmed and engaged in the stock business, and also conducted a hotel. Upon his retirement he made his home with his son, H. D., where he died three years later, in 1886, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and politically cast his ballot with the Republican party. His wife, formerly Eunisa Dailey, was born in Rochester, N. Y.,' June 8, 1822. After the death of her husband she sold the Badger property and made her home on the farm in the Townsend district until her death October 4, 1899, at the age of seventy-seven years. She left four children, namely : Marvin W.. in Tehama county ; Melvin C, a farmer in this section ; Ho- mer Dailey ; and H. P., employed by a railroad company in Arizona. Homer Dailey Woodard was reared in his adopted western home, receiving his education in the district schools in California and Nevada. He remained at home until he was twen- ty years old, when he began railroading as a brakeman on the Southern Pacific, having a run between Fresno and Sacramento. After three years of this work he returned to his early train- ing and began farming, having previously become interested in stock-raising. In the fall of 1876 he located upon his present property, homesteading one hundred and sixty acres on sec- tion 2, township 17, range 26, entering into the work of cultivation and improvement. In the intervening years he bought property until he now owns sixteen hundred acres here, a fifteen- hundred acre ranch in the foothills, one hundred and sixty acres near Tulare, and one hun- dred and sixty acres in Kings county. This extensive property he now devotes to the rais- ing of stock and general farming operations. He has met with a gratifying success and is deservedly prominent among the successful agriculturists and stockmen of the county. In Cricketville, Tulare county. May 24, 1876, Mr. Woodard was united in marriage with Susie F. Roork, who was born near Carrollton, Ark. Her father, Thomas Roork, was a native of Ten- nessee, who came to California in 1859, bringing his family in a large emigrant train over the southern route. He settled near Visalia and later in the vicinity of Cricketville, where he was one of the first settlers. He engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in that local- ity. His wife, formerly Mary Daniel, was a native of South Carolina, and the daughter of Ab- ner Daniel, who died in that state. Mrs. Roork died in Fresno county in 181)9. Of her thirteen children eleven attained maturity and five are now living. Mrs. Woodard is a representative woman, her education being received in the Visalia Seminary, after which she engaged in edu- cational work, teaching for five years in Tulare county. To Mr. and Mrs. Woodard were born six children, namely : Flora, a graduate of the San Jose State Normal and a teacher in the schools of the state, is the wife of H. Swank, in the vicinity of Visalia ; Orvis, is a graduate of the Pacific Business College, of San Jose, and was also a student at the Kings Conservatory of Music ; Forrest, a graduate of the grammar schools and resides at home ; Chester is attend- ing the Pacific Business College of San Jose ; Hazel and Myrtle are at home. Mr. Woodard is one of the most prominent men in this section and one who has been called upon to occupy posi- tions of trust and responsibility. He was a member of the first board of directors for the Town- send district, and up to within three years ago acted either as clerk or trustee. It is worthy of mention that the school building occupies an acre of ground which he donated for the pur- pose. Fraternally he is associated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Both himself and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Antelope. Politically he is a stanch Republican and has always taken a keen interest in local affairs, serving at the pres- ent time as a member of the county central committee.