BeeLines - February 22, 2018
By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Town & Village Historian
Some Surprises & a History Mystery from Westfield’s First Corporation Books!
As some of you faithful readers may recall, Mayor Mike and Westfield Historian Marybelle have been working on a special project to locate the names and photos of all the Village of Westfield Mayors since the Village was first incorporated in 1833.
Working from a list of Mayors over the past fifty years provided by the Village Clerk, the Patterson Library archives of photos and microfilmed Westfield Republicans were consulted, and as reported in an earlier BeeLines, the names and dates of office had been located back to 1899.
We are still searching for photos for the following Westfield Mayors (and Presidents as they were called prior to 1927): Mayor/President, V. B. Card (1925-29); Pres., Harry C Williamson (1923-24); Pres., Fred M Rich (1915-16); Pres., Alburn E Skinner (1913-14); Pres., Chas. E McEwen (1912-13); Pres., J D Davis (1904-05); Pres., Albert S Watson (1902-03).
If anyone, who may be a descendent or relative, of these mayors or presidents, or even someone who a collector of such ephemera, has a photo they would be able to share for copying, PLEASE contact the Village Clerk, Vince Luce, at Eason Hall, 326-4961. Thank you very much!
In the meantime, the photos are being prepared for display in the Eason Hall, and more research has been continuing for the Village Presidents prior to 1900. In addition to the photo gallery, a booklet containing the photos and brief biographies of these mayors and presidents is in process. Obituaries for passed mayors and presidents are a good source for information. Also, stories from readers and information from relatives and friends are being sought to assist in the writing of the booklet. Please contact the Westfield Historian or provide information to the Village office to be passed on to her.
The Westfield Republican microfilm archives at the Patterson Library, and those that have been digitized from 1856-1927 (not all issues are available, however), have been a primary source for village election results, back to about 1875. Prior to that there have been some surprises. (Surprises already mentioned were the change from President to Mayor, as well as the President/Mayor being elected annually prior to 1927, rather than every two years after that).
One of the first surprises was the discovery that the elections and meetings were often referred to as “Corporation” elections or meetings. That is because a Village must be incorporated to be legally called a Village. Another surprise was that prior to 1867 the corporation voters only elected 5 Trustees, and the Board of Trustees elected one of the group to be the President.
In 1880, it was confusing, from the information in the Westfield Republican, to ascertain just who was elected and served as President, but an issue by issue search discovered that the voters elected John S Fosdick, in March, but he was disqualified, and the Trustees spent at least two meetings doing several elections from names they nominated, finally getting a valid balloting to elect Chandler Persons. Even then, Persons was only able to attend about half of the Corporation meetings so, the Trustees had to choose a different member each meet to be President Pro Temp.
An exciting find was that Benjamin F Rynd (B F Rynd), who was the first Fire Chief at the original 1873 Fire Hall, was also Westfield Village President from 1873-1875. (This was quite convenient in that the Village meetings, as well as the Lock-up (jail), were also held in the “new” first fire hall on North Portage!
Since so many issues of the Westfield Republican from 1856-1974 are not available in the digitized microfilms online, for those years it was necessary to access the original Corporation minutes that are kept in the vault at Eason Hall. And since the Republican was started in 1856, and there are few extant or microfilmed copies of earlier Westfield newspapers, the early Corporation Minute Books are the only known source of information for the names and dates of terms of office for the corporation president.
The first two books contain the requisite dates, and were accessed just last week, amidst much sneezing from the dust of old paper! It was fascinating to read the hand-written articles of Incorporation of the Village of Westfield and the first Corporation meeting held to elect the first President and Trustees. And guess who was elected the first President? None other than James McClurg, who had built the McClurg mansion, the McClurg “Block” of buildings at the SW corner of Main and Portage, where the Welch Office Building is now located, and the famous stage hotel and inn called the Westfield House at the NW corner of Main & Portage!
McClurg only served one term as President, from August 1833 to May 1834, and then various business men of the village were elected annually, from 1834-1844. Some served several terms, but none in successive years.
Then there was a mysterious series of blank pages, and in 1847, a mysterious new set of incorporation articles, followed by more blank pages, until the minutes resumed in March of 1851, with a Corporation Election (very difficult to read these first minutes) electing someone with the surname of “Young.” Abram Dixon was elected in 1852. (He had been President in 1836 as well). And the remainder of the Presidents between 1851 and 1874 were located and documented.
Our current Village Clerk, Vince Luce, was asked about those missing years of documentation and he said that there is evidence that there was a fire that destroyed or damaged village documents. And so, WOW! We have another History Mystery – which may be related to another historic fire mystery that has recently surfaced! Stay tuned!