Cyrus Woodman was a lawyer, land agent, banker and lumberman born in Buxton, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1836, studied law at Harvard, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. In that year he became agent for the Boston and Western Land Company with headquarters at Winslow, Illinois, and held this position until 1843.

In 1844 he moved to Mineral Point where he formed a partnership with C. C. Washburn and the two concentrated on law, lumbering, and land speculation. They also purchased and operated the Helena shot tower and formed a conservative banking business in Mineral Point.

After ending the partnership with Washburn in 1855, Woodman traveled to Europe with his wife and family, and returned to manage his business affairs in Wisconsin in 1858. He superintended the Michigan pine lands owned by the St. Mary's Ship Canal Company from 1862 to 1864, and retired to Cambridge, Massachusetts afterwards. In 1869 he accepted a temporary position as vice-president of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, directing construction of a line to Lincoln, Nebraska. He then retired permanently to Cambridge, where he spent his time studying, collecting data, and writing on local history and genealogy. 

Learn More

Cyrus Woodman

See more images, essays, newspapers and records about Cyrus Woodman.

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]