Emerson Francis Woodward (February 23, 1879 – May 24, 1943) was an oilman who co-founded the Yount-Lee Oil Company which made a major discovery at the Spindletop field near Beaumont, Texas.
After receiving an early education in the Goodwill Hill public schools in Pennsylvania, Woodward, at the age of eleven, went to work in the oil fields, and before the end of his career, he would be affiliated with the industry in various other states, including Oklahoma, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.
[1] The Producers Oil Company employed Emerson Woodward for eleven years, and during this stretch, he met his lifelong associate, Thomas Peter Lee, who worked for the same firm.
Emerson Woodward, in January 1924, advanced $28,000 to build the Houston Gun Club on Westheimer Road, and he actively participated in his favorite hobby of trapshooting in the company of friends such as Hank A. Hausmann of LaGrange, Texas and Forest McNeir, a fellow Houstonian.
[5] Irish bred Rounders won several top races in the United States including the 1942 Arlington Handicap in which he beat the great Triple Crown champion, Whirlaway.
An automobile driven by Woodward collided into the side of a train at a grade crossing near D'Hanis, Texas, close to Hondo in Medina County, and the accident claimed both his life and that of his wife, the only other passenger in the vehicle.