George Lemuel Woods

George Lemuel Woods (July 30, 1832 – January 7, 1890) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Woods served as the third governor of Oregon from 1866 to 1870. Failing to win renomination, Woods was then appointed Territorial Governor of Utah by President Ulysses S. Grant, serving in that position from 1871 to 1875.

Biography Early years

George Lemuel Woods was born July 30, 1832, in Boone County, Missouri, the second of four boys born to Caleb Woods and the former Margaret McBride. His ancestors came to North America from Scotland in the late 17th Century, settling first in Virginia before moving to the Kentucky frontier. His father had moved to Missouri in 1808. In Oregon, the family settled in Yamhill County, George was educated in the public schools. The couple had two sons.

Unsatisfied with rural life, in 1856 Woods sold his property and enrolled at McMinnville College, where he studied law. Woods won election over his Democratic opponent, prominent attorney James L. Kelly, in a heated and intense campaign, becoming the third Governor of the state of Oregon.

An 1870 portrait of Woods by one who had heard him speak on numerous occasions characterized the "positive and magnetic" Governor as

"...tall, graceful, and commanding, with a handsome, cheerful face, which is set off by a full, flowing beard and manifesting the utmost mental activity.... His manner of speaking is rapid, but distinct and impressive, never using long or high-sounding words or indulging in any extravagance or impropriety or metaphor. He seems to depend on the natural forces of ideas rather than upon the sonorousness of words; and although never written, unless by some very swift reporter at the time of their delivery, his speeches would be considered well adapted to the most refined of lecture-rooms.... Perhaps no American orator is capable of a quicker or keener retort, but it is a cut from a rapier, rather than a stroke with a bludgeon."

Woods' prowess as a public speaker placed him in demand for other candidates around the country, and he made campaign speaking tours on behalf of Republican candidates in California in 1867 — where he made 30 speeches in 35 nights — and the New England states of New Hampshire and Connecticut in 1868. During his term as governor, a "lion's share" of the new Japanese government under Emperor Meiji stayed in Salt Lake City on their way from San Francisco to Washington, DC as part of the first Japanese embassy to the United States. Governor Woods gave a speech to the delegation extolling the virtues of American industry, with its ability to erect a city in a "howling wilderness."

Later life Engraving by Britton & Rey from a photograph by G. D. Morse, 1882 After leaving the Utah governorship Woods moved to California, where he remained for ten years.

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