TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Biography of Woods Family Members
Scope and Content of the Collection
Series 1: Frank H. Woods Jr. Research Materials, n.d.-1980
Series 2: Woods Family Material, 1844-1893
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Inventory of the Woods Family Papers - Additions, 1842-1980
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Alison Hinderliter, 2008. ©2008. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1905-1980 |
| Title | Woods Family Papers - Additions |
| Dates | 1842-1980 |
| Extent | 3 cubic ft. (2 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 shoebox and 1 oversize folder) |
| Abstract | Materials gathered and retained by Frank H. Woods Jr. relating to Henry Ruiter (originally Hendrick de Ruyter) of Canada and his Woods descendants. Includes Frank H. Woods’s correspondence and research notes for a biography of Henry Ruiter, notebooks with accounts, poetry and stories of his great-grandmother, Fanny M. Woods, and an account book of his great-grandfather, Elias Woods, Woods family deeds and receipts from Boone County, Illinois (1840s-1860s), and other miscellaneous early Woods family items. Also, a collection of daguerreotypes and tintypes, plus a large collection of mostly 20th century photographs of Woods and Cochrane family members and their homes in Lincoln, Nebraska. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Woods 2 |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 44 11 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Woods Family Papers - Additions , Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift of Lucia Woods Lindley, 2005.
Processed by
Virginia Hay Smith, 2007.
Access
The Woods Family Papers - Additions are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Woods Family Papers - Additions are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Woods Family Members
This collection, additions to the Woods Family Papers which was assembled and preserved by Frank H. Woods Jr. for a proposed family history, includes information on Henry Ruiter (1742-1819) and his descendants. The Woods Papers reflect the lives and activities of six generations of the family, and although many family members are represented, Fanny Woods, Elias Woods, Frederick Moffatt Woods and Frank H. Woods Sr. predominate. Biographical notes on these individuals follow.
Henry Ruiter’s life and genealogical line are fully described in a book by Rick J. Ashton entitled The Life of Henry Ruiter (1974). Born and raised in Albany County, New York, Ruiter declared himself a Loyalist during the Revolution and fled to Canada to fight with the British. For his services, he was granted acreage in Potton County, Lower Canada. Ruiter married twice and had fifteen children.
One of his daughters, Rebecca, married Jedediah Woods of Warwick, Massachusetts, and they settled in Boone County, Illinois, where their daughter Fanny was born in 1822. Fanny was a prolific poet and her works were frequently published in periodicals of the day. Fanny married Elias Spalding Woods of a distantly related Vermont family, and after his death, Marcus White. Fanny Woods White died in 1893.
Fanny had three sons, the eldest of whom was Frederick Moffatt Woods. Raised in Illinois, he served with the Elgin U.S. Light Artillery (also known as Renwick’s Elgin Battery Light Artillery) during the Civil War. He was mustered in Sept. 4, 1864, and served in the Battle of Nashville. His battery traveled east through Knoxville and Wheeling to Washington, D.C. By May of 1865 Woods was in the USA General Hospital in Chester Pa., where he accepted a clerk’s position. He was discharged June 13, 1865. Later in life he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he became involved in agricultural matters and cattle breeding. When he died in 1928 he was survived by four sons, one of whom was Frank H. (Frank Henry) Woods, born in 1868.
Frank H.Woods Sr. spent his adult life in Lincoln, Nebraska. His first calling was as a lawyer, but he achieved fame as founder of the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company. He was president and chairman of LT&T from 1904 to 1946, but was extensively involved in many other businesses in Lincoln, Chicago and Cleveland. Frank H. Woods Sr. died in 1952.
His son, Frank H. (Frank Henry) Woods, Jr., was born in Lincoln in 1905, but after college he began a rigorous business life in Chicago and settled with his family in Lake Forest. In 1967 he wrote, “For the past two years I have been working on a family history made possible by a remarkable collection of letters and papers preserved by Fanny Woods during the period 1840 through 1882.” Frank Woods Jr. corresponded with his relatives and various genealogical societies for most of his adult life, and the result was a manuscript entitled “Fanny” in which he chronicles not only Fanny Woods’s life but the lives of other family members as well. Woods continued working on family history and his extensive research on the life of his ancestor, Henry Ruiter (Henrick de Ruyter), produced the biography of Ruiter written by Rick J.Ashton.
Frank H. Woods Jr. died in 1980.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Genealogical research notes, correspondence, writings, documents, and photographs relating to the Woods family of Illinois and Nebraska, and ancestor Henry Ruiter (originally Hendrick de Ruyter) of Canada.
The small amount of correspondence relates to Frank H. Woods’s research for and publication of a book on his ancestor Henry Ruiter. Woods’s research notes include photocopies of his work on the history of the Ruiter and Woods families and documentation of his Canadian ancestors from various Canadian historical societies and publications. The bulk of the manuscript material concerns Frank Woods’s great-grandmother, Fanny Woods, and her immediate family. It includes part of her account book begun in 1879 which was later used as a informal scrapbook by her son Frederick Moffatt Woods, her small diary, 1854-1858, a notebook of poetry and obituary newspaper clippings and a group of stories. Also, a copy of her will and her mother Rebecca’s will, both 1865, a collection of family deeds for Boone County, Illinois land, business receipts and other miscellaneous family items including a copy of a patent for an elastic horse shoe.
Of particular interest is a large 1842-1844 ledger maintained by Fanny Woods’s husband Elias Woods, a shoemaker who kept extensive, detailed business accounts. Elias Woods died in 1851 and Fanny Woods used his account book as a sporadic diary, notebook, and scrapbook, 1850-1854.
The images in the collection consist of a group of six daguerreotypes and three tintypes, a few unidentified, and a large group of mostly 20th century photographs of Woods family individuals, notably Frank H. Woods Sr. and his wife Nelle Cochrane Woods. Also, many images of Woods and Cochranes homes in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.
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Organization
Papers are organized in the following series:
- Series 1: Frank H. Woods Jr. Research Materials, n.d.-1980. Box(es) 1
- Series 2: Woods Family Material, 1844-1893. Box(es) 2-3
- Series 3: Daguerreotypes and Tintypes, ca. 1845-1865. Box(es) 4
- Series 4: Photographs, 1866-1970 . Box(es) 5
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Cochrane family
- Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933 -- Portraits
- Ruiter, Henry, 1742-1819
- White, Fanny Woods, 1822-1893
- Woods family -- Genealogy
- Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1868-1952
- Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1905-1980
- Woods, Frederick Moffatt, 1844-1928
Subjects
- Boone County (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century
- Daguerreotypes
- Deeds -- Illinois -- Boone County -- 1844-1867
- Diaries -- Illinois -- 1850-1860
- Family life -- Middle West -- History -- 19th century
- Lincoln (Neb.) -- History
- Manuscripts, American
- Photographs -- 1860-1970
- Poems -- Illinois -- Boone County – 1850-1875
- Shoemakers – Middle West – History – 19th century
- Tintypes
- Women poets, American – Illinois – Boone County – History – 19th century
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Container List
Series 1: Frank H. Woods Jr. Research Materials, n.d.-1980 |
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| Materials Frank H. Woods Jr. kept regarding his work on a history of Henry Ruiter, his writings on Woods family members, and information gathered on relevant Canadian historical sources. Series is mostly photocopies. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence and notes relating to Henry Ruiter, undated-1980 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Miscellaneous correspondence and documents relating to Ruiter and Woods Family, 1920, 1932 and undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Henry Ruiter material (photocopies), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Ruiter Family material (photocopies), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Fanny Woods White biography (photocopy), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Woods Family material (photocopies), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 7-10 | Canadian Townships material (photocopies), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Wood chips from Ruiter Canadian log cabin, undated | |||||||||
Series 2: Woods Family Material, 1844-1893 |
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| Fanny Woods account book, diaries, notebook of writings, scrapbook and will; Elias Woods business ledger, Frederick Moffatt Woods scrapbook; Rebecca Woods will; Woods family deeds in Boone County, Illinois, and business receipts; miscellaneous Woods family items, including a nineteenth century autograph book of Nelle Cochrane Woods, a few business cards, a small undated printed map of Chicago rail lines, a Civil War army discharge, and a patent for a rubber horse shoe. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 2 | 12 | Fanny Woods account book (fragment), used by Frederick Moffatt Woods, 1879-1918 | |||||||||
| 2 | 13 | Fanny Woods account book (fragment), pages removed, 1879- 1918 | |||||||||
| 2 | 14 | Fanny Woods diary, 1854-1858 | |||||||||
| 2 | 15 | Fanny Woods notebook and obituary clippings, 1853-1875 | |||||||||
| 2 | 16 | Fanny Woods poetry and stories, ca. 1859 | |||||||||
| 2 | 17 | Fanny Woods (White) will, 1865 | |||||||||
| 2 | 18 | Nelle C. Woods autograph book and dance card, 1881-1893 | |||||||||
| 2 | 19 | Rebecca Woods will, 1865 | |||||||||
| 2 | 20 | Woods family deeds: Boone County, Illinois, 1844-1867 | |||||||||
| 2 | 21 | Woods family receipts, 1854-1872 | |||||||||
| 2 | 22 | Woods family miscellaneous material, 1865,1910 and undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 23 | Elias Woods Ledger and Fanny Woods account book, diary and poetry (one volume), 1842-1844; 1850-1854 | |||||||||
Series 3: Daguerreotypes and Tintypes, ca. 1845-1865 |
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| Six daguerreotypes and three tintypes of Woods family members and relatives, three unidentified. | |||||||||||
| Arranged alphabetically by type of material, daguerreotypes first. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 4 | 24 | Daguerreotypes - Charles Woods and Albert Woods, undated | |||||||||
| 4 | 25 | Daguerreotypes - Charles R. Woods, undated | |||||||||
| 4 | 26 | Daguerreotypes - George Woods Sr., undated | |||||||||
| 4 | 27 | Daguerreotypes - William Blaisdell, ca. 1847 | |||||||||
| 4 | 28-29 | Daguerreotypes - Two Unidentified women, undated | |||||||||
| 4 | 30 | Tintypes - Aunt Susan", undated | |||||||||
| 4 | 31 | Tintypes - D.W. Clark, ca. 1864 | |||||||||
| 4 | 32 | Tintypes - Unidentified man, undated | |||||||||
Series 4: Photographs, 1866-1970 |
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| Collection of Woods and Cochrane family individuals and groups, including Frederick Moffatt Woods, Eliza Eddy Woods, Frank H. Woods Sr., Nelle Cochrane Woods, three pictures of Frank H. Woods Sr. with President Calvin Coolidge, a miscellaneous group of a few very early portraits of Cochranes, and a number of family reunion group pictures. Also, scenes of homes in Lincoln, Nebraska and snapshots of family gravesites in Quebec and Vermont. Box of photographs is followed by a folder with oversize picture of Frank H. Woods Sr. taken in China in 1930. | |||||||||||
| Arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 5 | 33 | Frederick Moffatt Woods and Eliza Eddy Woods, 1866-1927 | |||||||||
| 5 | 34 | Frederick Moffatt Woods and family, 1892 | |||||||||
| 5 | 35 | Frank H. Woods Sr., 1882-1894 | |||||||||
| 5 | 36 | Frank H. Woods Sr., 1929-1948 | |||||||||
| 5 | 36a | Frank H. Woods Sr. in China (see oversize folder), 1930 | |||||||||
| 5 | 37 | Frank H. Woods Sr. with President Calvin Coolidge, 1928 | |||||||||
| 5 | 38 | Nelle Cochrane Woods, 1890-ca. 1945 | |||||||||
| 5 | 39 | Frank H. Woods Sr., Nelle C. Woods, family, 1930s | |||||||||
| 5 | 40 | Woods, Cochrane family groups, 1899-1927 | |||||||||
| 5 | 41 | Woods, Cochrane homes in Lincoln, Nebraska and summer place in Wisconsin, ca. 1900-1935 | |||||||||
| 5 | 42 | Miscellaneous: early Cochrane photos, gravesites in Quebec and Vermont undated; 1970 | |||||||||