An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company, Spokane, WA. 1905, page 287. GILFORD D. WOODWORTH owns real estate in various places in the Hood River valley and is one of the heavy fruit producers of the section. His home place is about three miles southwest from town. He was born in Berwick, Nova Scotia, on December 25, 1853, the son of Gilford D. and Sauna (Corbett) Woodworth, also natives of Nova Scotia. Two brothers, Woodworths, came to the New World on the Mayflower and from one of them descended the family of our subject. Part of them were loyalists during the struggle for independence and part of them were patriots. Our subject studied until eleven and then went to sea and obtained a good education from various places. In 1869, he went to San Francisco and shipped from there on the bark, Helen Snow, for the Arctic regions. They were obliged to abandon her in the ice and with the balance of the crew Mr. Woodworth was twenty-one days in open boats. They finally reached Point Barrow, by sea and by land, where they were all taken in by the ship, Josephine. Two weeks later the Helen Snow drifted out of the ice and our subject, with three boats' crews and six men from the vessel that picked her up, brought her to San Francisco, where she was sold to the Russian government. Mr. Woodworth again shipped for the Arctic regions, this time on the bark, Alaska, and was gone seven months. Their vessel was crushed in the ice and our subject came back to San Francisco on the bark Minerva. For about two years after that he was coasting out of San Francisco. Then he went to Contra Costa county where he remained until 1880, when he came to what is now Sherman county and took land to which he added by purchase until he had thirteen hundred and fifty acres, which was known as the Locust Grove wheat farm. Mr. Woodworth was a pioneer in the Sherman county country and was one of the first wheat raisers in that favored section. There were only twenty-five or thirty families in what is now Sherman county, and those pioneer days brought their hardships and trying times to Mr. Woodworth as they did to the other pathfinders. In 1894 he raised the largest crop of wheat ever produced by any one individual in that section, it amounting to forty thousand bushels. In 1899, he sold his estate to William Barzee. Three years before that Mr. Woodworth had brought his family to this place, and on November 26th, of that year, bought fifteen acres. Now he has thirty-five acres in this piece. He has another orchard of five acres near by, one of twenty acres on the east side and eighty acres one mile east. He handles twenty acres of strawberries, has two thousand trees, Newtown and Spitzenberg apples, besides other fruits, and the balance of the land raises diversified crops. Last year he cleared three hundred and sixty dollars on Newtown apples from three-fourths of an acre. On December 18, 1878, Mr. Woodworth married Miss Rose Benton, at Martinez, California. She was born in Noble, Michigan, the daughter of Clark N. and Marietta (Gillett) Benton. The father was born on Lake Superior and was named from the captain of the craft. His parents were of Scotch descent. The mother was born in New York. Both are now deceased. Mrs. Woodworth came to California with friends in 1874. Mr. Woodworth has two sisters: Mrs. Amanda Pineo, and Ermina, single. Mrs. Woodworth has three sisters, Mrs. Esther Andrews, Mrs. Myrta Catelle, and Lulu, single. She also has three half brothers, Dudley, Ora, and C.N. Four children have been born to this worthy couple: Roy N. and Guy, farmers in the Hood River valley; Ethel, in Sacramento county, California; and Idell, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Woodworth are members of the United Brethren church and are zealous workers for the faith. They are prosperous and industrious people and have many friends. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.