My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT C. WOODWARD, City Librarian, Springfield, is eminently fitted by his culture and executive ability for this important office, and he stands pre-eminent among the gifted and enlightened minds who are potent in advancing the educational, social and religious interests, and in other ways promoting the welfare of this his native city. Mr. Woodward is the descendant of well-known pioneers of this county, and was born in Springfield, June 3, 1829. His father, Jacob Schenck Woodward, was a native of Chester County, Pa., though of New England parentage, and in early life learned the trade of a spinner and weaver. He came to Springfield, when quite a young man, in the early years of its settlement, and followed his trade here for a time, and then engaged in the mercantile business, and was actively identified with the same until his death in the month of September, 1829, when a valuable citizen and a true Christian gentleman was early removed from the sphere of his usefulness. The maiden name of the mother of Robert C. Woodward was Sarah Christie, and she was born in New Hampshire, in the town of New Boston, Hillsboro County, in 1808. She was a daughter of Maj. Robert Christie, who came to Springfield, in 1817, bringing with him his aged father, Jesse Christie, who lived to the age of eighty-eight years.

Maj. Robert Christie was reared in New Hampshire and went from there to Washington, Vt., whence he came to Ohio in 1817, the removal being made with teams to the Allegheny River, and thence down that river to Pittsburg and the Ohio River in a flatboat, to Ft. Washington, the present site of Cincinnati, and thence in wagons to Springfield, which at that time was included in Champaign County, subsequent to the organization of Clark County.

Maj. Robert Christie soon after his arrival in Springfield settled on a tract of heavily-timbered land northwest of the city, a part of which is now included in Ferncliff Cemetery, and for some time after he located on it he could shoot deer and other game within its limits, the surrounding country being in a very wild, sparsely settled condition. Maj. Christie was a resident of Springfield until his death, bearing an honorable part in its upbuilding in the early days of its settlement. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Goodrich, and she spent her last years in this city, where she died in 1852. She was the daughter of the Rev. Sewell Goodrich, a well-known divine of the Congregational Church, and, with her husband, was an original member of the First Presbyterian Church, at Springfield. An earnest, consistent Christian, she was dearly loved and widely respected.

R. C. Woodward, the subject of this biographical review, was only three months old when his father died, and then the care of him devolved entirely upon his mother. She nobly took up the task of rearing her two sons, and as a teacher earned the money for their support, and gave them the advantages of an excellent rudimentary education. After her second marriage with J. D. Nichols, which took place in 1837, her son Robert attended the Ohio Conference High School, and was subsequently one of the first students to enter Wittenberg College. He studied hard during his attendance at that institution, and gained a high rank in his classes, and it was with regret that he felt obliged to relinquish his cherished hope of a completed college education. For two years thereafter he was engaged in setting type in the Republic office, and at the end of that time he was promoted to the position of foreman. Three months later the Cincinnati Commercial offered him a place as a compositor on account of his ability to read shorthand, and he acted in that capacity in that office for three months, and at the same time pursued a commercial course with R. S. Bacon. After a year’s experience in selling books and papers on the Little Miami line of railway, establishing a route for the sale of daily papers, he accepted a position as book-keeper in Davenport, Iowa, where he remained for nearly two years. After his return to Springfield he went into business as a bookseller in 1859 buying out a store, and managed it until September, 1861, when he removed to Lima, Ohio, where he engaged in the same business. During his residence there his first wife, a lovely and beloved woman, died, her death occurring in Springfield, June 1, 1865.

In 1869, our subject, in company with his step-brother, W. G. Nichols, repurchased his old book store, and united with it a job printing office, which they managed successfully for nearly two years, when Mr. Woodward retired from the firm. In 1877 the City Council, through the Board of Trustees, appointed him City Librarian. Mr. Woodward found the library in a “pi-ed” condition when he first took charge of it, but with characteristic vigor he at once entered upon its improvement, and by his devotion to his duties and his practical and systematic methods of work he has evolved order out of confusion, and has made it one of the best conducted libraries in the State. In order to give the reader an idea of the work accomplished by himself and faithful assistants, we append the following from the last annual report:

“As in the lives of individuals, so with public institutions there are periods which lead on to success, or mark the beginning of retrograde movements. Thirteen years ago this library stood on the eve of such a period with its 4,797 volumes, without catalogue, proper classification or systematic methods. A change was decided upon and removal to present quarters made. Without specifying in detail the difficulties that had to be overcome in establishing plans of modern improvement, the extra unrequited toil the work required, the criticisms while the work was in progress that often brought discouragement to those employed, let me briefly review what has been accomplished. For another period of the library’s history has come, when the library again is to be removed, and take possession of a most royal gift wherein the library, if wisely conducted, will occupy broader fields of usefulness and give still richer mental feast to all the inhabitants of our city. Among the grand results thus far attained may be justly mentioned an increase of nearly 10,000 carefully selected books, making a total of nearly 14,000 volumes, with 6,000 card holders, and an annual circulation that has reached 80,000; the adoption of a unique classification which requires fewer figures and less work than usually found in libraries of this size; a delivery system for receiving and issuing of books, which has been highly complimented for its rapidity and accuracy; a great card catalogue with its ample index, in which are recorded on cards, the title, author and full description of every volume; the uniform observance of rules and the ease and regularity of the system employed in the work, receiving appreciation and praise from patrons and visitors, and placing this library on the list of the best conducted of similar institutions in our country.”

Mr. Woodward has been twice married. He was first wedded, April 10, 1860, to Miss Abbie Elizabeth Crooker, a native of Chelmsford, Mass. She was well educated and taught in the Springfield schools five years with great efficiency. During the war she was actively and prominently identified with the Women’s Christian Commission, at Lima, and many a poor soldier had cause to bless her kindness and charity. A woman of large heart, refined sympathies, and of lovely personal qualities, her death, in 1865, was deeply mourned by a large circle of friends.

Mr. Woodward’s marriage to his present wife occurred October 10, 1876, and to her devotion and sympathy he owes much of the comfort and happiness of his life and he finds her of great assistance in his duties as a librarian. Mrs. Woodward’s maiden name was Harriet De Witt, and she is a native of this State, born in Wyandot County, a daughter of John C. and Artemesia (Mason) DeWitt. She is finely educated, possesses strong mental endowments and a high character, and as a teacher in the Springfield schools, which position she held for several years previous to her marriage, she showed a special fitness for that profession. The only grief of the wedded life of Mr. and Mrs. Woodward has been the death of their only child in infancy.

Wherever his lot has been cast Mr. Woodward has always identified himself with those who are most earnest in advancing the highest interests of the community. While in Lima he was a leader among the Presbyterians, and was for some time Superintendent of the Sunday-school connected with the church of that denomination. In his native city he has been closely identified with the Congregational Church for many years, assisting as its youngest member in the organization of the church in 1852. In his political views he was a Free-Soiler in his early years, and cast his first Presidential vote for John P. Hale, and he has been a member of the Republican party since its formation.