George Francis Woodring, M. D. In a new country no professional services are so welcome and so much needed as those of the physician. One of the best known citizens of Bartlesville is Dr. George F. Woodring, who chose that locality as the scene of his professional labors in 1889, many years before the development of those interests and resources which have made Bartlesville famous among the cities of the Southwest. For a number of years Doctor Woodring had to practice over a broad range of country, and underwent countless hardships in taking his skill to the isolated homes of the settlers. In later years he has shared in the improvements which have come to the community at large, and has become a man of affairs as well as a pioneer physician.

George Francis Woodring was born at Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee, November 15, 1856, a son of G. W. and Frances (Nave) Woodring. His father, who was born near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and died in Tennessee in 1907 at the age of eighty-four, was a marble cutter by trade, and spent most of his life in Giles County. The Woodring family had its original seat in Holland, where they were wealthy and influential people. On account of political troubles three brothers of the name emigrated to America. One of them, Jacob, the great-grandfather of Doctor Woodring, located in Kentucky, while the other two settled in Pennsylvania. The grandfather of Doctor Woodring was also named Jacob, and he spent his life as a farmer near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Doctor Woodring’s mother was born at Bunker Hill, Tennessee, and died at Pulaski in 1903 at the age of fifty-six. Her family, the Naves, were Scotch-Irish and came from North Carolina. Doctor Woodring was one of four children: Claude Jacob, who died at the age of about thirty-five: George F.; W. T., deceased; and Myrtle, wife of G. A. Talley of Nashville, Tennessee.

Doctor Woodring grew up at Pulaski, and was educated in Giles College at that place, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts with the class of 1873. He then spent three years as a student of medicine in the Hospital College of Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, and was awarded the degree Doctor of Medicine, February 28, 1876. He did his first practice at Bunker Hill, about twelve miles east of Pulaski, and in 1879 moved out to Kansas and established his home and office at Elk City. While there for four years of Cleveland’s administration he was a member of the pension examining board. In 1889 Doctor Woodring came to what is now the City of Bartlesville, and is now the oldest physician in point of continuous residence and practice in Washington County. While his practice has been general, and particularly in the early years of his work, he has come into a special reputation for his skill in the treatment of diseases of children. He stands very high in professional circles, and in January, 1908, on the organization of the Washington County Medical Society, was honored by being elected first president. He has served as president of the local society for four years, and is also a member of the State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. Besides his private practice he is serving as district surgeon for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway.

Doctor Woodring is hardly less well known as a man of affairs than as a physician. he is a democrat, and in 1897 was elected mayor of Bartlesville and served two years. He has done his share towards the general upbuilding of the city, and his office is in the Woodring Building, a substantial structure on Second Street, which represents part of his investments in local real estate. He has also interested himself in various oil and gas companies. Doctor Woodring is one of the leading members of the Christian Church at Bartlesville, and is prominent in Masonry, being affiliated with the Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter at Bartlesville, with the Consistory at Wichita, and with the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Oklahoma City.

Doctor Woodring was married at Elk City, Kansas, May 3, 1881, to Miss Viola L. Morgan, who was born in Illinois but was reared in Kansas. Her father was J. P. Morgan. The doctor has one son, Guy Morgan Woodring, who lives in Bartlesville and is married and has two children named Robert and George.