JOHN J. WOODSON was born in Hopkins County, Ky., June 3, 1839, a son of Samuel S. and Mary G. (Cox) Woodson, natives of Virginia and of English descent. Samuel S. Woodson, at the age of fifteen, in 1825, removed with his parents to what is now Hopkins County, but was then a part of Henderson County. There his father, Samuel Woodson, bought wild land near Madisonville, and improved a farm, upon which he resided until his death. After attaining his majority Samuel S. Woodson bought a partially improved farm in the western part of Hopkins County, upon which he resided for some eighteen years. He then came to Webster County and bought a farm near Providence, upon which he resided until his death in October, 1864, in his fifty-fourth year. He was also quite extensively engaged in the tobacco business. He was a member of the S. of T. and he and wife of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. John J. Woodson, was employed on the home farm until he was eighteen years old, after which he attended school for about two years. He then engaged in the general mercantile and tobacco business at Providence for some four years, and then in the stave business for two years. He next followed the carpenter's and painter's trades for some seven or eight years. In the fall of 1879 he again engaged in the general mercantile trade at Providence, where he has since been doing a flourishing business. He was for several years a magistrate. He was married, in February, 1865, to Miss Georgie A. Dudley, a native of Caldwell County, Ky.; four sons and three daughters have blessed their union. Mr. Woodson and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is also an earnest advocate of the temperance cause, and in politics is a Democrat.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 1053.