Background
Woodworth was born in Johnstown, Ohio, on July 28, 1832.
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Wallace Woodworth
Edit ProfileCareer
He helped organize the city"s first gas company. He grew wealthy in raising and selling cattle. Woodworth married Carrie, a granddaughter of Antonio Maria Lugo, and they had six children, including an oldest son named Joseph and a younger one named Wallace J. Daughters were Hazel, Juanita and Mamie.
He died September 13, 1882, in his home on San Pedro Street of what his physicians called an "affection of the heart." Interment was in Evergreen Cemetery (Los Angeles).
Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1858, Woodworth bought the interest of James Doctorate. Brady in a furniture business co-owned by West.H. Perry. In 1867 the Woodworth and Perry partnership organized a gas company, which brought the first gas lights to the city.
Others in the venture, capitalized with $36,000, were James Hagan, John Goller and George J. Clark. Woodworth, a Democrat, was elected to the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of the city, in 1859, 1860 and 1864, and to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1867, serving until 1871.
In late 1860 in his role as Council President, Woodworth served as acting mayor for two weeks as a result of the death of Mayor Henry Mellis.
Woodworth is remembered with a large burial vault at Evergreen Cemetery, designed by A.C. (before Christ) Thompson, a leading memorialist of his time.
Membership
He was a member of the governing bodies of both Los Angeles City and County.
