American politician

Elijah H. Workman (1835–1906) was a pioneer agriculturist in Los Angeles, California, and co-owner of a saddlery there. He also served on the Los Angeles Common Council, the legislative branch of city government in that era.

Contents

• 1 Personal
  • 1.1 Family
  • 1.2 Personality
  • 1.3 Death
• 2 Vocation
• 3 Public service
• 4 See also
• 5 References

Personal

Family

Workman was born October 20, 1835, in Missouri, the son of David Workman of Clifton-Penrith, England, and Nancy Hook of Virginia. He had a brother, William H. Workman. Around 1854 the family crossed the Great Plains to settle in Los Angeles.

He was married three times—first, in Booneville, Missouri, shortly after the Civil War, to Julia C. Benedict (his childhood sweetheart), who died in 1876; then to Gilla Maria Corum of Boonville, in 1878 in Los Angeles; and finally, in 1884, to Anna K. Webb of Los Angeles; she died in 1900. He had two daughters, Gilleta M., and Laura (Mrs. Conrad Krebs).

Personality

His biography in the Los Angeles Public Library states that:

Elijah H. Workman was of the pioneer type of public figure: he wore boots to his dying day and lacked the more formal education of our times. With the conscientious fulfillment of his public duties he combined the pioneer spirit of enterprise and development.

In politics he was a Democrat, and in religion a Protestant.

Death

Workman died July 17, 1906, at the age of 71 in his home at 1815 East Second Street, Boyle Heights.

Vocation

Workman was in the harness and saddlery business with his brother, William H. Workman, at 76 Main Street. They also dealt in hides, which were recognized as a medium of exchange throughout the Southwest.

Returning from his trip to Missouri, Workman brought back seeds for trees and plants that he propagated in his own yard, getting the reputation of a "pioneer agriculturalist." His property, surrounded by 10th and 11th streets, Hill and Main streets, was planted with orange trees and flowers. He sold that land and moved to Boyle Heights after the death of his third wife.

Public service

Workman was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the legislative branch of city government, in 1866–67, 1869–70, 1871–72 and 1874–75. He was on the city Board of Education in 1879–80 and on the Board of Equalization in 1869–70.

In 1870 Workman was a member of a committee to establish a public park, which was accomplished between Fifth and Sixth streets, and Workman planted seedlings from his own garden and nursed them from water hauled in barrels from his property a few blocks away. He planted elms, maples and rubber trees on the park site, first known as Central Park and then as Pershing Square.

See also

• Boyle-Workman family
• Workman-Temple family
• Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum

References

Members
(1850–1870)

• Cristobal Aguilar
• David W. Alexander
• David Anderson
• James Baldwin
• Peter Baltz
• Phineas Banning
• John Barre
• Joseph Bayer
• Alexander Bell
• Dionisio Botiller
• Leonicio Botiller
• Narciso Botello
• Andrew A. Boyle
• George Henry Carson
• Samuel Bradford Caswell
• Caro W. Childs
• Ozro W. Childs
• T. B. Collins
• Antonio Franco Coronel
• Ygnacio Coronel
• George Dalton
• Ygnacio del Valle
• Jose Maria Doporto
• Arthur McKenzie Dodson
• John Gately Downey
• Ezra Drown
• James Edwards
• Stephen Clark Foster
• John Frohling
• Ira Gilchrist
• Morris L. Goodman
• John Goller
• Lewis Granger
• John Strother Griffin
• Joseph Lancaster Grant
• Jose Vicente Guerrero
• Vincent A. Hoover
• Alexander W. Hope
• Joseph Huber Sr.
• Arnold Jacobi
• Charles H. Johnson
• John F. Jones
• Wilson W. Jones
• Matthew Keller
• John King
• Solomon Lazard
• Obed Macy
• Damien Marchesseault
• Luis B. Martinez
• Hiram McLaughlin
• Lewis Meinzer
• Francis Mellus
• Jacob Metzger
• William Moore
• Moritz Morris
• Murray Morrison
• Elijah Moulton
• Henry R. Myles
• Myron Norton
• Agustin Olvera
• William H. Perry
• William H. Peterson
• Nehemiah A. Potter
• David M. Porter
• Augustine Poulain
• William R. Rand
• Manuel Requena
• William Whipple Robinson
• Louis Roeder
• Tomas A. Sanchez
• William T. B. Sanford
• John Schumacher
• Juan María Sepúlveda
• Philip Sichel
• Felix Signoret
• Abel Stearns
• Eli Taylor
• Jonathan Temple
• John B. Thompson
• James R. Toberman
• John Turner
• August Ulyard
• Juan C. Vejar
• Collins Wadhams
• Henry Wartenberg
• Jacob Weizel
• John Ozias Wheeler
• George N. Whitman
• Benjamin Davis Wilson
• James Brown Winston
• Wallace Woodworth
• Geronimo Ybarra

Wards
(1870–1889)1st Ward

• Julian A. Chavez
• Bernard Dubourdin
• John Jones
• Thornton P. Campbell
• Oscar Macy
• Julian Valdes
• Joseph Mullaly
• George R. Long
• Jacob F. Gherkins
• Ramon R. Sotelo
• Joseph G. Carmona
• F. Tamiet
• B. Valle
• Cayetano Apablasa
• Ezra M. Hamilton
• Louis Meinzer
• John Schaeffer
• R. L. Beauchet
• William Norton Monroe
• J. G. Bower
• Clinton S. Scheiffelin
• Charles W. Schroeder
• William Thomas Lambie
• James Velsir
• Thomas Goss
• George L. Stearns
• Edward A. Gibbs
• James Hanley
• Newell Mathews
• C. N. Earl
• George O. Ford

2nd Ward

• William Ferguson
• George Fall
• Matthew Teed
• Prudent Beaudry
• William H. Workman
• Jose Mascarel
• Louis Lichtenberger
• Jacob Kuhrts
• Bernard Cohn
• James W. Potts
• John Edward Hollenbeck
• C. C. Lips
• Richard Molony
• Jesse Houston Butler
• John Bobenreith
• H. Schumacher
• Pascal Ballade
• Henry Hammel
• Frank R. Day
• John Frederick Holbrook
• Martin V. Biscailuz
• Michael Thomas Collins
• Thomas J. Cuddy
• John Moriarty
• H. T. D. Wilson

3rd Ward

• Frank Sabichi
• Henry Dockweiler
• William S. Hammel Sr.
• John Osborn
• Elijah H. Workman
• H.K.S. O'Melveny
• William H. Dennison
• Eulogio F. de Celis
• William Osborn
• Charles E. Huber
• Louis Wolfskill
• Thomas Leahy
• D.V. Waldron
• Elisha K. Green
• John S. Thompson
• John H. Jones
• Albert Fenner Kercheval
• Charles Brode
• Simon A. Francis
• S. H. Buchanan
• Edward Falles Spence
• George Gephard
• Andrew S. Ryan
• Robert Steere
• J. B. O'Neil
• Charles G*en
• Charles R. Johnson
• Loring A. French
• Albert Brown
• Levi Newton Breed
• Edward Wadsworth Jones
• Edward C. Bosbyshell
• John F. Humphreys
• J. H. Book
• John Henry Bryant

4th Ward

• William H. Workman
• Samuel J. Beck
• Samuel Marshall Perry
• O. H. Bliss
• Bernard Cohn
• Burdette Chandler
• George Kerckhoff
• Joseph W. Wolfskill
• Alfred Louis Bush
• D. E. Miles
• Frank Sabichi
• Milton Santee
• James D. Bullis
• John Lovell
• Joseph Hyans
• Anthony McNally
• Edward R. Threlkeld

5th Ward

• William B. Lawlor
• Nathan Russell Vail
• James Greer McDonald
• John P. Moran
• Walter Scott Moore
• Otto G. Weyse
• Daniel Michael McGarry
• John B. Niles
• Hiram Sinsabaugh
• Cyrus Willard
• Jacob Frankenfeld
• Horace Hiller
• A. W. Barrett
• Austin C. Shafer

Related articles

• Los Angeles City Council, 1889–1909
• Los Angeles City Council