Buzzings from BeeLines - February 15, 2018
By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Town & Village Historian
More Photos, plus Corrections to BeeLines about Harold Webster…
Much appreciation is expressed by your Westfield Historian to the Eagle Eyes of faithful readers who spotted errors in photo identification and date typos in the Facebook posting of the recent BeeLines – “Do You Remember WWI Veteran Harold Webster… or the Last Man’s Club?”!
First up, thanks to Kelly Mathews, there is a correction to the photo from 1966 at the Fish and Game Club – the person who has crossed arms is NOT Harold Webster, but is Cecil John Weatherup. He is also clearly identified as John Weatherup in the large group on the steps. So far none of the other men (in the 1966 photo) has been identified as Webster.
Since the name of the person, who was wrongly identified as Webster, was hand-written (scrawled) in pencil, that can account for a mis-reading of the name, both names beginning with the letter “W” which was the most clearly discernable letter. (Handwritten documents, such as Census Records, are often misinterpreted, with incorrect spelling, to the dismay of many a Genealogist or Historian!)
An additional photo of the Last Man’s Club was added to the Facebook posting that was not provided for printing in the Westfield Republican version of the BeeLines. Having located identification of most of the men, it is printed with this Buzzings from BeeLines. Front Row: Earle Beckman, Fred Lichtenwalter, J Weatherup, Ralph Koepka. Back Row: unidentified, Walter Falvay, unidentified, Harold Webster, Corwin Happ.
Thanks, also, to Daniel McNulty who caught a typo, and wrote, “…pretty prescient for the obituary to predict a death, four years before it happens, lol!” This is in reference to the obituary for Webster that was in the December 1969 WR, NOT 1965! Westfield Historian commented back to McNulty, “…thinking my fingers are getting really arthritic these days!”
Received, too late for inclusion in either the Westfield Republican or the Facebook posting of the same BeeLines, were some photos of a photo of Harold H Webster from when he was the Commander of the Wm L Travis American Legion Post in Mayville, circa 1920. Please note that, according to the Mayville Post, Webster was NOT the First Commander of their Post.
In conclusion, your Westfield Historian requests that Sharon Smead (a grand-niece of Harold Webster, who originated the request for photos and information), or anyone who has her contact information, please contact Marybelle Beigh with a phone number, address, or email address for Sharon Smead, so that the photos and other materials gathered may be sent to her. Thank you very much!