Andrew Salter Woods (1803 - 1863)
Born and died at Bath (NH).
Lawyer, jurist.
Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1874
Presented to the State, 1875.

Andrew Woods graduated from Dartmouth College (Class of 1825), read law in the Bath (NH) law office of Ira Goodell, and was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1818. He was the first native of Bath (NH) to become a lawyer.

Woods practiced law with Goodell at Bath in the firm of Goodell & Woods (1828/40). In 1840 Woods was named an Associate Justice of New Hampshire Superior Court, and in 1855 he became Chief Justice of the Court.

Woods enjoyed his position as Chief Justice for only a few months. In August 1855 the new legislature, in a blatantly political move, remade the New Hampshire courts system. The legislature eliminated Superior Court, and Woods was out of a job. He returned to Bath (NH) and practiced law there until his death.

Reference: Charles H. Bell, The Bench and Bar of New Hampshire (1894).