Coral’s family history · Chapter 14

The Wescotts

The Wescott family has been traced back to Stukley Westcott. He was born in 1592 in England and married Julianna Merchant but I will not bore you with anything that far back.

I will begin with George W. Wescott born in Clarendon, Vermont about 1763. His mother died when he was very young and not much is known about his father. When he was thirteen years of age, full of patriotism, he offered himself as a soldier. He was neither tall enough nor old enough to take his place on the battlefield, but because of his love of freedom and his patriotic zeal they made him errand boy to General Washington. This place he held until tall enough to comply with army regulations. He then became a soldier and continued in the service until the close of the Revolutionary War.

He married Phoebe Salisbury and had seven children. They were Jeremiah, George W, Amos, Lydia, Phoebe, Zilpha and Sybil.

When the War of 1812 called for men, he went. By exposure he took cold, lost his health and died with consumption when he was comparatively young. He was buried in Vermont. After his death his wife moved to Wayne County, New York. She drew a pension from the government for the rest of her life, but was helpless in her old age.

In 1856 her son George went to take her from Springfield to his home in Harmony, Chautauqua, New York. Westfield was the station nearest to his home and that was seventeen miles away. His oldest son, Jerry went to meet him, taking a covered wagon with a bed in it. The poor old lady could not bear the jolting of the carriage so they tried a sled. That did not work so Jerry returned home and their neighbors turned out, made a bier and carried her on it. She was small so four men could carry her until they were tired and then four more would take over. This was continued until they reached home. She was well cared for in her son’s home, and was ninety three years old when she died on Jan 10th 1857. She was buried in the graveyard near their house.

George W. Wescott, son of George W. and Phoebe Salisbury married Olive Waterman in 1818. They first lived at Pennington where their daughters Laura Spring in 1819, and Dianna Brown in 1820 were born. They then moved to Hamburg N. Y. It was two miles from Lake Erie, three miles from the Indian Reservation and ten miles from Buffalo which had a population of about 2000. There they had a small farm, a tan yard and a shoe shop. The house was quite large. It had been used as a tavern and the beams extended in the front to make a covered porch. Laura and Dianna attended school in a log building in the woods. The family was sometimes the guests of the Indians at their great councils and feasted on venison and bean pudding verigated handsomely with black beans.

While in Hamburg they had three more children. Sybil Helen was born in 1822, Jeremiah was born in 1824 and Abram Salisbury came along in 1826.

They were quite prosperous until while trying to help a friend, George lost all his property. They took their five little children and headed west to the woods of Harmony Township and settled on sixty acres of land. There they struggled in the wilderness, clearing their farm, raising their provisions and making cloth for their clothing. There were not enough men in the county to assist in the log raisings so the women had to help get the higher logs on. Sometimes Olive Westcott traveled many miles to these log raisings.

Sybil Helen, their third daughter was a person of considerable spirit. In her girlhood she liked to see things moving and was willing to help them along. The old log house was not to her liking anymore and her father had not yet decided to build. She thought she would speed matters along. One day when her parents were away she instructed the smaller children to go down to the gate and watched for the family to return. She said “If you breath a word of what I’m going to do, I'll skin you alive.” She then proceded with her plan. Where the logs were cut out for the windows and doors, there was a board pinned to their ends to keep them in place. These pins were broken and she kicked one of the short logs in and the rest fell down. When the parents returned they were very much alarmed. Mr. Wescott decided a new house was necessary. In a short time they had a large framed house. While they were there, George Washington was born in 1828, Orris Waterman in 1830, Rush Franklin in 1833 and then Fanny Agnes.

In the spring of 1840 they moved to another farm of 100 acres. This was situated on high ground and a beautiful creek flowed through it near the house. The buildings were made of logs. The house was funished inside with putty and paint made from pulverized pumise stone mixed with milk. It was a nice cozy home for the times. Sarah Dimeris was born here in 1840.

Olive’s life was a busy life, carding and spinning at night and in the daytime weaving shawls and all kinds of cloth. She made both linen and woolens. She also made thread for herself and sewing shoes. All this and the care of a large family left her little time for trifling amusements. The older children helped her more than they realized.

Their father amused the children with stories from the bible and often sang to them, although he was unable to carry a tune. No questionable amusements or customs were allowed in the house.

Olive Wescott passed away on the 14th of Apr. 1870 in the home of her son Abram and his wife Lucy. Olive outlived her husband by seventeen years, living at the homes of her children. In later years she acquired the name of “Smokin Grandma” as she smoked a pipe. More about that later.

Orris Waterman Westcott, Abram’s brother married Mary M. Carroll and had five children. They were Eugene M., Frank R, Harley, Orris W. and Edna Maude. They moved to Sumner, Iowa and started a farm. He also engaged in the hardware business. He was a very good business manager and everything he touched turned to gold. His oldest son, Eugene married Ada Wellman in 1879 and moved to Hampton, Iowa. They had three children, Irma, Roy and Gail. This is the story of the Westcott Fiddle.

His wife 84 Mary Maria (Carrol) Wescott ‘sone 1939-1891