Jerry D. Woodard
Jerry D. Woodard, section 6, Washington Township, is the owner of forty acres of improved land on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of the section. He was born in Clinton County, Ohio, June 17, 1842, a son of Ethelred and Nancy (Oliver) Woodard, natives of North Carolina, of English and Scotch descent, his father born June 17, 1810, and his mother in 1809. His father died April 11, 1864, and his mother in 1846. They had a family of six children -Lecy, Lucy, Oliver, James H., Jerry D. and Winnie. Lecy and James H. are deceased. The parents were members of the Methodist Church, the father being an exhorter and a man of great influence in the community. He was strictly temperate in his habits, and at all times gave his aid to the side of law and order. He had many friends, who sympathized with his children on the loss of their noble father, who had been to them a kind neighbor, and an honored citizen.
Jerry D. Woodard was reared in his native county. He obtained a good education and subsequently taught school several years. He came to Indiana in 1862, and first taught school in Clinton County, coming to Blackford County in 1874, when he located on his present farm, which at that time was unimproved, but by industry and good management he now has it under cultivation, and has erected good building improvements.
He was married April 12, 1877, to Lydia A. Dollar, a native of Blackford County. They have one son -Herman D., born October 5, 1878. The grandfather of our subject, Jesse Woodard, was a son of Oliver Woodard, a native of Scotland. His grandmother Woodard's maiden name was Johnson. His mother, Nancy Woodard, was a daughter of James and Winnifred (Allen) Oliver, her father being a son of John Oliver, who came from England. The Allen and Johnson families, with which our subject's family is connected are prominent and highly respected people in the South.
Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.
