John D. Woods, magistrate of the Second Civil District of Hardeman County, is a native of the county where he resides, born August 29, 1847. His ancestors were among the first settlers of Hardeman County. His grandfather, David Woods, who was a native of North Carolina and of Scotch-Irish descent, made a settlement in this county as early as 1824. The parents of the subject of this sketch were Samuel M. and Narcissa (Robinson) Woods. The father, who was a native of Orange County, N.C., born February 16, 1821, came with his parents, when an infant, to Hardeman County. He was a farmer by occupation, a Democrat in politics, and died in this county May 5, 1849. The mother is of Scotch-Irish-French descent, born in Hardeman County, March 29, 1824, and is now a resident of Tipton County, the wife of Joseph H. Shinault, to whom she was married in 1852. John D. is the elder of two children born to his parents, and received a good education in his youth, which has since been greatly improved by extensive and select reading. For several years he taught school, and in 1879 came into possession of the old homestead, and since then has been an active and enterprising planter. August 2, 1879, Mr. Woods married Mrs. Annie (McLarty) Hunt, a cultured lady, born in Hardeman County November 26, 1846. To this union two children have been born: David, born July 14, 1880, and Bessie, born March 2, 1883. In August, 1882, Mr. Woods was elected to the office he now holds, and for six years has been school director of the Second District, and being a man of liberal views. He is a strong advocate of the free school system; has done much toward advancing the educational interests of the county. He is a Democrat, and though not a member of any church, is a firm believer in Christianity and is in sympathy with the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which Mrs. Woods is a member.
Source: “The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1886”