One of the most promising representatives of the legal fraternity of
Carlinville is Charles Herbert Woods, junior member of the firm of
Walker & Woods. He was born in Hiawatha, Kansas, on the 4th of March,
1883, and is the only child born of Dr. William McKim and Lolah (Walker)
Woods, natives of Illinois. The Woods family were originally of English
extraction, having emigrated from the mother country to America during
colonial days. The great-great-grandfather of our subject, John Woods,
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
His son William Woods
was the father of Dr. Levi J. Woods, a pioneer physician of Carlinville,
who died there in 1851 from cholera. He was out hunting prairie chickens
in the afternoon of the day preceding his death, apparently in the best
of health. Upon his return in the evening he visited his patients and at
two o’clock the following morning he was taken ill, dying three hours
later. He was only thirty-four years of age at the time of his demise.
He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been taken into the
order at the first meeting of Mount Nebo Lodge after its organization.
His wife, who prior to her marriage was Miss Martha McClure, survived
him many years, having attained a ripe old age at the time of her death.
By their union there were born two children: William M. and Frances. The
latter, who is now deceased, was the wife of Judge Herbert G. Whitlock,
for many years one of the leading attorneys of Jacksonville, Illinois,
and Morgan county.
Dr. William McKim Woods was born and reared
in Carlinville, in whose public schools he obtained his early education,
after which he attended Blackburn University. Having decided to become a
physician he subsequently matriculated at Rush Medical College, Chicago,
at which institution he studied for a year. He then attended the
Hospital College of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, from which he
graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1882. After his marriage he went
to Hiawatha, Kansas, where he established an office and engaged in a
general practice. For his wife he chose Miss Lolah Walker, also a native
of Carlinville and a daughter of the Hon. Charles Augustus Walker, the
supervising editor of this history of Macoupin county, and his wife,
Permelia (Dick) Walker. Mrs. Woods, after completing her elementary
education in the public and high schools of Carlinville, attended
Blackburn University. Later she became a student at the Academy of the
Visitation at St. Louis, and after graduating there she pursued
post-graduate work at the Georgetown Convent, Washington, D. C., both of
the latter institutions being under the supervision of the Order of the
Visitation. She affiliates with the Presbyterian church.
Although born in Kansas, Charles H. Woods, was reared from an early age
in Carlinville, attending the public and high schools, after which he
entered Blackburn University, receiving his degree of A. B. with the
class of 1904. In the following autumn he went to New Haven,
Connecticut, matriculating in the law department of Yale University,
where he pursued his professional studies for three years, receiving
honors during each year. This institution conferred upon him the degree
of LL. B., cum laude, in 1907. In the following October he was admitted
to the bar of Illinois and immediately began practicing, being admitted
as junior partner to the firm of Walker & Searcy, known as Walker,
Searcy & Woods until the 1st of January, 1909, when it became Walker &
Woods. The senior member of the firm is the Hon. Charles A. Walker,
grandfather of Mr. Woods, who has been a prominent member of the bar of
central Illinois for nearly half a century.
On the 26th of
November, 1910, Mr. Woods married Miss Norma Abigail Hoblit, a daughter
of A. Lincoln and Josie (Stanley) Hoblit, the father a well known banker
of Carlinville. Mr. and Mrs. Hoblit have two daughters, Norma A., now
Mrs. Woods, who is the elder; and Jean Frances. The paternal
grandparents of Mrs. Woods were John Alexander and Nancy (Willmurth)
Hoblit.
The Hoblits have been well known farmers and bankers of
Logan county, Illinois, since they settled there in 1826. Her maternal
grandparents were Norman Stanley and Martha Parks Austin Stanley, both
originally from New England, but residents of Madison county, Illinois,
since 1854. Mrs. Woods was born June 1, 1889, in Carlinville, her
education first being pursued in the public schools and Blackburn
University, after which she entered Smith College, at Northampton,
Massachusetts, being graduated in June, 1910.
While a student at
Yale, Mr. Woods belonged to the legal fraternity of Phi Delta Phi, and
he is also affiliated with the honorary legal fraternity of Chi Tau
Kappa. He was chosen a member of Corbey Court, an old Yale legal
fraternity, and was one of the editors of the Yale Law Journal. In
matters political he is an ardent supporter of the republican party and
was a candidate for the nomination for state’s attorney on that ticket
in 1908. He is one of the progressive and enterprising young men of
Carlinville, whose fine mental attainments, keen intellect and excellent
educational qualifications, sustained by his inherent ability, make his
future, as gauged by his past, appear most promising and brilliant.
Extracted 17 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 583-585.
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