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Term: Woodman, Cyrus 1814 - 1889

Definition:

lawyer, land agent, banker, lumberman, b. Buxton, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College (1836), read law, studied at Harvard, and in 1839 was admitted to the bar. In that year he became agent for the Boston and Western Land Co. with headquarters at Winslow, Ill., and held this position until 1843. In 1844 he moved to Mineral Point where he formed a partnership with C. C. Washburn (q.v.). 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 in Europe with his wife and family, and in 1858 returned to manage his business affairs in Wisconsin. From 1862 to 1864 he superintended the Michigan pine lands owned by the St. Mary's Ship Canal Co., then retired to Cambridge, Mass. In 1869 he accepted a temporary position as vice-president of the Burlington and Missouri River R.R., directing construction of a line to Lincoln, Nebr. He then retired permanently to Cambridge, where he spent his time studying, collecting data, and writing on local history and genealogy. L. Gara, Westernized Yankee; Story of C. Woodman (Madison, 1956); C. Woodman, Woodmans of Buxton, Maine (Boston, 1874); C. Woodman Papers; WPA MS.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Cyrus Woodman Papers for details.

View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.