Woodford grew up in
Chicago when the dominant form of transportation was horse-drawn carriage. He was raised in well-to-do circumstances by his grandmother Annette (of
Welsh stock) whom he called "Nettie". Nettie was a practicing member of
Christian Science but was unable to bring Jack into the fold. Despite his general hatred of organized religion, Woodford joined the
Freemasonry organization and remained a lifelong member. His father was a doctor who started a private practice in
Sioux City, Iowa, eventually moving it to Chicago. He later taught diagnosis at
Rush Medical College, before dying at the age of forty-nine, likely from
mercury poisoning.
Calomel (
mercurous chloride) was a popular medicine at the time and one the doctor himself used to excess. Woodford, always physically vibrant, thought of his father as a hypochondriac. Woodford witnessed the
Eastland disaster where the steamer ship rolled over in the Chicago River and killed 845 people. He gave a firsthand account to the Chicago newspaper the
Herald-Examiner and described the event in Chapter 21 of his autobiography. Among the many famous contemporaries Woodford befriended, the most notable are
H. L. Mencken, writer/satirist
James Branch Cabell, novelist
Sherwood Anderson, composer
George Antheil, and poet
Ezra Pound. Woodford wrote a piece that was published in Pound's early
Exile magazine. He also accompanied
Winston Churchill when the former Prime Minister visited
New York City. Woodford was married on November 20, 1916, to the 16-year-old Josephine Hutchings, and divorced 17 years later. The only child from this marriage, Louella Woolfolk (who wrote under the pen name Louella Woodford), was also a published author who, at the age of 18, wrote a 273-page novel titled
Maid Unafraid that was published in 1937 by Godwin. Woodford founded Jack Woodford Press in the 1930s and the company's work was distributed by
Citadel in the 1940s. The editors of the company in the 1940s were Allan Wilson and Aaron Moses ("Moe") Shapiro. == Selected bibliography ==