James Hutchinson Woodworth - Personal Life

Personal Life

He was born in Greenwich in Washington County, New York, the son of Connecticut natives Eleazer Woodworth and Catherine Rock Woodworth. His father died when Woodworth was young. He received limited schooling and completed his formal education by the time he was 14. Woodworth's various brothers figured prominently in his life. At various times, they provided employment, provided training or other support for career changes, and served as business partners. Woodworth's life illustrated a steady progression westward as the center of the United States was opened after the Louisiana Purchase. He eventually settled in Chicago and was instrumental in insuring its place as the nation's most prominent midwestern trading city.

In Chicago, Woodworth married Almyra Booth, the daughter of Walter Booth of Paris, Illinois. She was a member of the Booth family that settled in Indiana from their homes in Connecticut; their American ancestry stretched back to the founder of Connecticut, the Reverend Thomas Hooker. The Booth family was noted for its interest in public service, and this both influenced and supported Woodworth's own career in politics. Almyra Booth was related to both California Governor Newton Booth and the author Booth Tarkington. Woodworth and Almyra Booth had three children, two of whom died in infancy. Their daughter Virginia Almyra Woodworth was married to Tunis B. Van Wyck whose own ancestry could be traced back to the earliest inhabitants of the Dutch colonies in the New World, including the New Amsterdam and Long Island colonies which eventually became New York State. Through Virginia Van Wyck, the Woodworths had one surviving grandchild, Virginia Almyra Van Wyck who married George Pope of Glencoe, Illinois.

Woodworth is buried in the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago, together with his wife Almyra, their three of his children and a brother, Frank L. Woodworth. .