Political Career
After becoming active with the Democrats, Wentworth was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for a total of six terms, five of them as a Democrat: (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1851 and March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855.
He returned to Chicago and affiliated with the Republican Party. Wentworth was elected as mayor of Chicago for two terms, 1857–1858 and 1860–1861. Wentworth instituted the use of chain gangs of prisoners in the city as laborers.
In his effort to clean up the city's morals, he hired spies to determine who was frequenting Chicago's brothels. In 1857, Wentworth led a raid on "the Sands," Chicago's red-light district, which resulted in the burning of the area.
In 1864 Wentworth ran again for Congress, as a Republican, and was elected for his last term, serving March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867. While he was in the House, there was a controversial vote to settle a boundary issue between Wisconsin and Illinois, with Wisconsin claiming land as far as the tip of Lake Michigan. Wentworth was promised that if he voted to give the land including Chicago to Wisconsin, he would be appointed to the US Senate. Wentworth declined the offer.
After retiring from Congress, from 1868 Wentworth lived at his country estate at 5441 South Harlem Avenue in Chicago. He owned about 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land in what is today part of the Chicago neighborhood of Garfield Ridge and suburban Summit.
He researched and wrote The Wentworth Genealogy – English and American - twice, which he published privately. The first two-volume edition was followed by a second, corrected, edition in 1878, which was published in three volumes, for a total of 2241 pages. The total reported cost for both editions was $40,000. The first of the 1878 volumes chronicles the ancestry of Elder William Wentworth, the first of this family in New England, and his first five generations of New World descendants. The second and third volumes discuss the "Elder's" many descendants and others of the name.
When an author left a manuscript of a history of Chicago with Wentworth for his suggestions, he reportedly removed what did not refer to him and returned the manuscript to its author with the note, "Here is your expurgated and correct history of Chicago."
Wentworth died at his estate in 1888, aged 73. He was buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.
Read more about this topic: John Wentworth (Illinois)
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