Homer S Woodworth

Biography

Woodworth was born on December 28, 1842 in a log cabin in Angola, Indiana. When his father finally built a large frame house, it served as a primitive hotel for travelers. It was during the visit of two amateur magicians that young Woodworth got his first taste of magic and before the pair departed, they taught the boy a few tricks. About four years later he started performing professionally in the sideshow of the Dan Rice Circus. According to Woodworth, it was during a performance there that Blitz was in the audience and was impressed with his skill. The result was that Blitz engaged him as his assistant and the pair traveled together for two years throughout the South just prior to the Civil War.

Woodworth was bothered by the racial inequalities he witnessed during the tour and when the war broke out, he joined the Union Army serving in Company B, 100th Infantry, Indiana Volunteers. After only a year of service he was mustered out because of poor health. Eventually he recovered and when he did, he began traveling throughout the Midwest with his own magic show. He performed fairly standard effects of the day including: The Linking Rings, Light and Heavy Box, Cups and Balls, Card Tricks, a suspension and other smaller platform feats.
According to Booth, Woodworths most sensational effect was the one with which he closed his show. Booth writes: Near the close of his program he would step off the stage and a moment later his assistants would carry from the wings to middle stage a packing box approximately 26 x 14 x 4 in dimensions. An assistant would raise the lid and immediately a hand would come forth holding a bottle. This would continue until a number of bottles were produced followed by an inconceivable number of other objects completely engulfing the platform. As a climax, Woodworth himself would dramatically step from the box.

Eventually, Woodworth decided to begin a tour of Western states where he played frontier towns and mining camps. In North Platte, Nebraska, he rented a log cabin and put on his shows for a week. During one performance he borrowed a handkerchief from a man sitting in the front and upon returning it, produced a bottle of whiskey. A patron elsewhere in the room said, That's sure one on Bill Cody. Woodworth, it would seem, had inadvertently chosen Buffalo Bill Cody. Cody was fond of magic and liquor so, no offense was taken.

Woodworth continued on his tour and while in Salt Lake City, performed before the religious leader Brigham Young and even married one of Youngs daughters, Isadora Snow. On several occasions he was forced to carry his show on pack animals and ride on horseback from town to town. He eventually tired of the traveling and having done well financially, he retired just after the turn of the century and settled in Nebraska. Woodworth passed away in 1942.

Note: Homer's first wife was actually a daughter of Lorenzo Snow, not Brigham Young.

Source: "The Genii Forum"

Military

Enlisted in Company B, Indiana 100th Infantry Regiment on 15 Aug 1862.Mustered out on 03 Sep 1863.

Source: U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, Ancestry.com

Obituary

Death thinned the ranks of Nebraska's remaining "boys In blue" Tuesday.

J. S. Davisson. H. S. Woodworth.

As the Nebraska department of the Grand Army of the Republic opened its annual 'encampment here, death removed from the scene the retiring department commander, John S. Davisson, 95, and his immediate predecessor in office, Homer S. Woodworth, 98.

Woodworth, reportedly the oldest living magician in the country, died at San Diego, Monday night Davisson, a retired attorney and former Brown county attorney, died Tuesday at Omaha, where he made his home with a daughter, Miss E. Mae Davisson.

Woodworth moved to California two years ago for his wife's health. A colorful figure, he had been a watchmaker, photographer and registered pharmacist, besides going on the road as a professional magician. His most successful "trick"--an unscheduled one--was performed during the civil war. Pronounced dead after a powder magazine exploded, he was placed in a hearse. He regained consciousness and frightened attendants by gasping out "I'm not dead." He was born in Angola, Ind., but moved westward after most of his magician's equipment was destroyed in the famed Chicago fire He drove an automobile until he was 96 years old.

Source: Published in The Nebraska State Journal, 22 May 1941, page 5