BeeLines - May 24, 2017
By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Town & Village Historian
Sorting the Attic… Sharing the Memories… Searching around for more…
Hmmm… the rhythm of that title sounds a bit like it could be a line from a song…
A recent post on a Great Things About Westfield Facebook page shared a plethora of memories and wonderings about, “whatever happened to …” or “does anyone remember…?” And the response has probably been one of the most heart-warming and extensive of posts, even without an old photo to trigger the shares!” And then there are a couple of persons who find and share old photos on a regular basis – perhaps from sorting through the attic, or monitoring eBay for Westfield ephemera posted for bidding or sale.
Often these remind your Westfield Historian of previous photos and research and articles written, published, or posted; also of those projects that were shoved onto the “back burner” when others required immediate attention, or ones that hit research roadblocks at the time. This week, the thoughts roamed to wondering at the way that the sight of an old photos, items, and writings, or the sound of voices and spoken memories, or the smell of something mysterious, or the taste of a favorite food that grandma used to make, or the touch or feeling of something unexpected, can set off an explosion of mind boggling remembrances of things long forgotten.
And often all of this sends me, and often others, scurrying off to dig through the archives, searching for that elusive picture or article or whatever, to try to connect to something that brings meaning and closure to the roused memories. Sometimes the search unearths previously discovered information that was not noticed or understood at the time it was first found and seen. So please enjoy some tidbits that have recently been re-discovered in the historian’s archives of old newspaper articles about the early history of Westfield.
The April 27, 1949 Westfield Republican provides an unusual and interesting article, written by Robert Laughlin, and introduced by longest-serving-term Patterson librarian, Emma W. Piehl. Miss Piehl writes, “This paper, compiled and written… as a college paper, brings together a number of scattered incidents, facts, and traditions of early Westfield…The material consulted consists of original documents, newspaper articles and clippings, personal letters, manuscripts, and other fugitive data, which Robert found and used at the Patterson Library… Robert Laughlin also consulted Mrs. F. W. Crandall, and Mr. Dixon P. Whitney and obtained additional data from them…”
Laughlin begins, “Chautauqua County has few villages that can recount such a history as Westfield… I have tried to discover just how the village was named… thriving community was already established by 1815. According to all the local references the village was always called by its present name. I have found, however, a petition dated November 24, 1819 directed to the Hon. Return L. Meigs, Esq., who was evidently the Congressional Representative, asking that a post office be established at Urbanna.” He then quotes directly from this document, which is signed by Thomas J. Campbell, Esq., John Dexter, David Eason, and E.L. Tinkham. Oddly, Laughlin comments that the document appears to be authentic, but then says that the names of Campbell and Eason are crossed out. [Note that Campbell and Eason are well known early pioneers here.]
Other research has documented that our first post office was located at the McHenry Tavern at Crossroads (Westfield’s actual first name) in 1806, and which was at the corner of what is now Gale and West Main Streets, but the name of that post office was “Chautauque” the original spelling of our county. The first post office was closed in 1818, but reopened in 1819 at the corner of Main Street and the Lane (now Market Street) on the East Side of the Chautauqua creek, where the village was growing faster than at the former crossroads location. This area was known as the West Field of the town(ship) of Portland, and so the Post Office was named “Westfield.”
The Town(ship) of Westfield was only officially formed in 1829, taking portions of Portland Town(ship) on the east side of the creek, and of the Town(ship) of Ripley on the west side of the creek. The Village of Westfield was formally incorporated in 1833. (Laughlin also confirms the official date of 1829, although he gives that as the date of the Village, rather than Town.)
Quoting more of Laughlin’s paper/article, “Nearly all the early settlers were farmers. It is interesting to note that coincidence had a great deal to do with the settling of at least on important old family. Abram Dixon graduated from a New England college about 1810. He married, packed up his belongings and started for the far west, which at that time was eastern Ohio.
“While passing through Westfield in 1813 one of his horses threw a shoe and the family was forced to remain in the village overnight. The next day the family looked about the town while the blacksmith was shoeing the team. Dixon was so impressed with the new settlement that he decided to end his travel and settle there. Mr. Dixon P. Whitney, a grandson of Abram Dixon, is still a prominent citizen in the village.”
Abram Dixon built a large beautiful home on the south side of Main Street, just west of Union Street, which was there for many decades, but was replaced by the yellow brick building built by Grants in the mid-1900s, and which now houses an Antique Mall (recently Saraf’s).