Thomas Woods, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Westfield, Clark Co., was born in Coles Co., on the homestead, where he now resides, July 12, 1848; his father, William Woods, one of the pioneers of the county, was born in Madison Co., Ky., Nov. 28, 1808, and settled in Coles Co. in the year 1834, with the family of his mother, Mrs. Mary Woods; like most of the early settlers, he came here a poor man, to build him a home in the then wilderness; he purchased- at first forty acres of land; he was an energetic, hard-working man, who commanded the respect and confidence of his neighbors; to his farm of forty acres he added at various times, until he owned at one time 240 acres of land situated in Coles and Clark Cos., which amount he left at the time of his death; Thomas Woods, the only son, has always remained on the old homestead. He was married on the 17th of February, 1876, to Miss Mollie A. Arterburn, a daughter of William Arterburn, of Edgar Co., Ill.; she was born in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 11, 1846, and came to Illinois with her parents in infancy; they have one child-Alta.
