The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-02-08
AFTER rH1RIY YEARS.
A. WOODWARD Finds His Parents Still Living
and Centcnarians.

A. W00dw ard Finds His Parents stu Liylnc
and CentenariAns.
A. Woodward is the name of a gentle
man who bought a ticket to California
yesterday.
There is nothing strange about buying
a ticket TO California or any other place
in these days OF long journeys. but the
trip of Mr.. Woodward opens up some
matters of interest to him as well as the
casual reader.
When Mr.. Woodward had purchased
his ticket he entered into a conversation
with persons standing by aud in the gen.
eral remarks made he referred to some
things that occurred in the war. Every
body looked at Nj. Woodward ia asto n
ishment and the first thought that oc-
Cured to them was that he had a wheel ia
his head. for he did not look day older
than o. They so informed him
and to their surprise he said that he
was AZ years and that he
| went into the war when he
was seventeen years old. The crowd be-
came interested in him and he told the
story of his life.
The day he went into the army was the
last time he saw the face of any Of his
family. He enlisted at Washington, but
when the war closed he WAS discharged In
tho south and from thsre he driftsd west.
For thirty years he wandered about from
place to place working at the trade
of stone mason. Recently = friend ad-
vised him to write to his father and
mother, and he stated that it was no use,
as the father was IS years and the mother
II years old when he left home, and they
must have been dead long, long ago. The
friend insisted that he should write to
some of his brothers and sisters and he
reluctantly addressed . letter to one of
them at the address he lived at duri ng
the war. In addition he sent note of
explanation to the Washington post
master, and waited for an answer, that he
had really no strong expectation OF getting.
One night after quitting work he WAS
passing the postoffics and asked whether
there was any mail for him. The clerk
handed out to him tweuty-one letters. and
all of them were from Washington.
one each from seventeen brothers and Sis
ters and four from niecss and nsphews.
They all wrote to him at once and the
twenty-one stories told was complete
family history for thirty years.
Yes, the father aud mother are still liv-
| ing and are at San Francisco, California,
| attending the midwinter fair. The
| father entered the governmsnt ser
vice nearly sixty-dve years ago As
landscape gardener at the. White House and
| still holds the position. Considering his
age and long service, \ purse was made
| up by the old Washingtonians recently
| for the purpose of giving the old gentle
man and his wife holiday, aud the finest
Pullman car in the service took them to
| California The venerable fathers 105tn
birthday occurs on the 18th of this month,
aud the son will surprise him With
the visit. He was about to leave hur-
redly yesterday. but he postponed hi;
departure till today on the solemn assur-
ancss of the ticket agent that he would
reach San Francisco in time for the birth
day. The father and mother do not yet
know that their long lost son Is alive
They concluded long ago that he was
killed in the war, and they will not know
any different till be will enter their rooms
on the 18th.
Day before yesterday he received fam
lily group taken on tho centenary ami
versary of the birth Of the father and there
are in the group the venerable.old couple.
eighteen sons aud daughters, seventeen
husbands and wives aud seventy-s1
grandchildren and great grand
children A. Woodward's own pic
ture is in the group, but he dc
not know it, for when the picture wa
made. photograph taken of him when III
| LID rfsd m
way. The cd man got his present position
when jackson WAS In the White House,
and has been Democrat ever since al
though he has not during all that time
cast vote for president on &C
count of the practical disfranchisemen
of the residents of the District OF Column
bia. He is not only red hot Democra
himself, but he insists that all of his de
scendants must swallow the pill of Democ
racy. The children born to the aged PAL
were uine boys and nine girls and ever.
one of them is living. The old man Wa
such a bitter Democrat that h
would allow none of his girls 4
marry either q whig or a Republican ant
made every sutton for their hands toe tn
line and promise never to be anything bu
Democrats.
The strangest part Of the whole story
that every member Of the four generations
with the exception of the Wichita man
is living in the same build
ing in Washington and tina
building is one OF the numerou
interesting buildings of the national capi
tai. All the family are now in the govern
ment service, and there is every reason t
think that it is the happiest family in tn
u nited States
1t is not improbable that the aged coup!
will visit Wichita on their return fror
San Francisco; neither is it improbabi
that A. Woodward will be induced to re
turn to Washington and given govern
ment job without the intereession OF Sen
ator Martin or the local couuty commit
tee