In remembrance of the West family reunion : Ionia, Michigan, August 12-13, 1912

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GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

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In Remembrance of

THE WEST FAMILY REUNION

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IONIA, MICHIGAN

AUGUST 12-13, 1912

Bv CHARLES S. WEST

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Lest We Forget

The earliest event we know of which led directly to our
reunion was the birth of Donald Campbell (Kamel, from
Gaelic "Caimbeul," Wrymouth), in the yeSr 1758, in
Scotland, and probably in Argyllshire where he is known
to have lived and which was the territory of his ancient
clan. He married Janet Lamon (or Lamont), and they
lived in North Knapdale, Argyllshire, where she died
about the year 1827. He came to Canada in 1812, and
he died there in 1846. when he was eighty-eight years old.

Alexander Campbell, son of Donald and Janet, was
born in Knapdale, October 12, 1788.

John Patterson and Margaret jMcKillop lived in Knap-
dale, and it was there that their daughter, Mary Patter-
son, was born, June 12, 1789.

Alexander Campbell was a Scot, as will testify any-
body who ever heard him talk, and he was a "hielanman,"
too, and a first cousin of the Mary Campbell who loved
the poet Burns and who is known to the world as "High-
land Mary." The surroundings of his early life are there-
fore suggestive of warring clans, skirling pipes, kidnapped
brides, and secret trysts ; but whatever of romance there
may have been in his courtship of h'xs Highland Mary is
lost to view in the mists of gathering years. We know,
however, that Alexander Campbell and Mary Patterson
were married in Knapdale, February 10, 1813.

Their wedded life covered a period of sixty-four years.
They had ten children: Daniel (or Donald), born Febru-
ary 14, 1814, died in infancy; Margaret, born May 12,
1810, died Feb. 9. ]!H)4; Daniel, born August 12, 1818,

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died November 2G, 1801; John, born July ^^, 1820, died
Marcii 15, 1875; Neil, born July IS, 1822, died in 1879;
Archibald, born July 18, 1824, died March 15, 1885 ; Janet,
born July 10, 182(!, died August 1, 187G; Duncan, born
May 5, 1828, died May 10, 1828 ; Christie, born March 28,
1830, died October 18, 1881 ; and Sarah, born January 2.
1833, still living. The lirst three were born in Scotland.
Excepting the tw^o who died in infancy, all reached and
passed the age of fifty, one was eighty-eight when she
died, and one (Sarah), still living, is seventy-nine years
old.

In May, 1819, Alexander Campbell and his wife, with
their two children, sailed from Greenock for Canada, and
after a voyage of three months landed at Quebec in
August, and from there went by boat to Glengarry, about
seven miles from Cornwall. Their son John was born in
Glengarry. In 1821 they went to Dundee, where their
other children were born. Their house in Dundee was
burned in 1831, and with it was destroyed a family record
of many generations. In July, 183G, they moved to Ek-
frid, Ontario, where they lived until 1870, when they
again moved, this time to the township of Brooke, near
the site of the village of Tancred, Ontario. There Mary
Patterson-Campbell died, March 18, 1877, in her eighty-
eighth year, and there also Alexander Campbell died,
October 5, 1877, in his eighty-ninth year.

Christie Campbell was born in Dundee. Huntingdon
County, Quebec, March 28, 1830, at 4 o'clock on a Sun-
day morning. She was named after her father's eldest
sister and her mother's eldest sister, both of whom bore
the name Christie. The name Christina and its diminu-
tive, Christie, have for centuries been common in the
Campbell clan. She was six years old when the family

moved to Ekfrid, where she Hved until 1S51. On August
2i<, isrj, she married John McNeil, who was born in the
State of New York, November 13, 182G, of a Scottish
father and an American-born mother, lie met death by
drowning, at Chatham, Ontario, May 18, 1850.

It was but a few months after Alexander Campbell
came from Scotland to Canada that Henry West came
from England to the United States. He was born in
1792, on the Isle of Wight, where he grew to manhood.
His father died while Henry was a child, and his step-
father not only failed to provide him with an education
but also thrust upon him the steppaternal name of Jones,
and so it was as Harry Jones that he was known to his
associates. He seems to have acquired good ideas of his
own about his name, for when the banns were cried in
the church the announcement was that Henry West wouhl
marry Sarah Harvey.

Sarah Harvey was born in Brighton, on the South
coast of England, in l?y5. But little information con-
cerning her is now available, but the vigor and character
transmitted to her children is ample proof of what she
must herself have been. They had seven children: Will-
iam, born August 15, 1817, died August 1, 1901 ; Edmund,
born January 19, 1820, died October 31, 1882; George,
born and died in infancy, about 1X23; George, born Sep-
tember 13, 1825, died January 5, 188G ; Harriet, born
November 28, 1828, died June 12, 1889; John, born June
84, 1831, died December 28, 190G ; and Silas, born Novem-
ber 23, 1833, still living. Excepting the one who died
in infancy, all reached and passed the age of sixty, one
was seventy-five when he died and another eighty-four,
and one (Silas), still living, is seventy-nine years old.

After their marriage they lived in the Parish of Braden,

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Isle of Wight, where their son William was born. In the
fall of 1811) they sailed for iVmerioa, ;in(l, probably late
in December or early in January, landed at Ualtimore,
Maryland.

Tradition has it that Henry West inherited consider-
able money and that he left a whole hat full of gold on
deposit "in the Bank of England." Oh, that mystic for-
tune! "Peter Piper once was told, and was fdled with
wonder, that a fabled bag of gold hangs the rainbow
under." Fortunately for us, we have never been much
given to rainbow-chasing.

The family remained in Baltimore about three and a
half years, and there Edmund was born and George was
born and died. They then moved to Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, where George 2nd was born. In 1S27 they went
to Canada. It was on this journey that young William
fell oft of the canal-boat and l^efore he reached the water
shouted "Man overboard I" And why not? Was he not
ten years old? You had l)etter not tell a chap of that age
that he isn't a man !

They settled on a farm in the township of Southwold.
Elgin County, Ontario, and there Plarriet was born. The
farm had been conveyed to Henry West by quitclaim
deed, and, fearing that the title was not entirely clear, he
gave it up in 1829 and took a farm in the then sparsely-
settled country south of Chatham, Ontario, and near the
place now called Charing Cross. There John and Silas
were born.

Sarah Plarvey-West died at Charing Cross in 1840.
Some years thereafter Henry West married Magdaline
Blakesly, a widow whose maiden name was Arner. She
died at Charing Cross in 185G. He died at Charing Cross,
May 10, 1865.

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Edmund Washington West was horn at tlie Rising Sun
Hotel, in Baltimore, Maryland, January 19, 1820, but a
few weeks at most after the arrival of his parents in
America. He was about three and a half years old when
the family moved to Philadelphia, about seven and a
half when they went to Canada, and about ten when they
moved to their frontier home at Charing Cross. When
he was eighteen years old he enlisted in the Canadian
volunteer army raised to sui)prcss the rebellion led by
William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada, but the com-
pany of infantry to which he was assigned saw no active
service, and, tiring of the monotony, he gave a man. or
perhaps a mere boy like himself, five dollars and his uni-
form to take his place. Afterward, probably in quest of
adventure, he went to Michigan where he was variously
employed, but for the most part in connection with the
construction of what was probably the first railroad built
in the State. \Yhile in Michigan he was taken sick, and
yielded to the written persuasions of his father to re-
turn to Canada. He thought seriously of going as a
sailor to sea, and in company with his chum, George Hol-
brook, started to try it out on the Great Lakes. They
were unable to lind a vessel which would take on two
green hands at once, and. being inseparable, they re-
mained ashore. When the California gold fever broke
out he resolved to be "a miner, a forty-niner," but the
plea of his father not to leave him in his old age pre-
vailed. His father counseled him to marry and settle
down on a farm, but he replied that he had seen but one
woman he would marry, and he had no idea that she
would have him! He had met the "one" at the home
of his brother William, whose wife, Vienne, was her
sister-in-law. "But," said his brother George, who knew

and admired the younjy widow, "if it were me 1 would
try; I would find out." And so he tried, and he found
out, and they were married, Edmund and Christie, at Ek-
frid, Ontario, March 1, ]8r)l, and went to Hve on their
farm near Charing Cross. In March, 1S55, with the
courage with which pioneers have ever faced the hard-
ships of frontier life, they left Canada for Michigan,
traveling by team, and in about ten days arrived at Ionia,
where a few weeks later they were joined by William
West and his family who took a farm adjoining the one
on which they had settled. A year or two later they sold
their place to William Hinds, and purchased, from one
Harvey Harter, the farm on which they spent the re-
mainder of their lives. She died October IS, 1881, and
he, October 31, 1882.

Their lives, though uneventful, had been successful.
They had reared a family of ten children, providing each
with every necessity ; they were possessed of a competence
against the old age which through no fault of their own
they were not privileged to know ; and they had the love
and respect of all who knew them, well-earned, l^ecau^e
"An honest man's the noblest work of God."

On August 13, 1912, thirty years after the time when
we first stood about their new-made graves, we, their
ten children, were permitted to again gather there, all iri
good health, although with a combined age of 522 years
or an average, age of over T)-?, the youngest 42 years old.
No greater tribute was ever paid to man and woman than
this, for the children of the weak and vicious generally
die young, and none but the children of those whose lives
are clean and whose characters are strong can participate
in such a scene. Add the fact that all but one of our

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children are living, and all of the ciiildren of our chil-
dren are living, and the evidence is coni])lcle.

Here are our names with places and dates of birth, and
(in italics) of those united with us in marriage. Per-
haps the West family contains l)ut little of what the
world is wont to call greatness ; but neither is there in it
any physical or moral degeneracy or the slightest trace
of crime. Each member has filled, with a reasonable de-
gree of success, his place, whether large or small, in the
afifairs of men, doing his duty as God has given him to
see his duty, and that's enough. There is no black sheep
in this flock. Who among us or of the generations yet to
be wants the odium of breaking this honorable record?
Do you?

Mary Anne McNeil. Ekfrid, Ont., Jan. 1, 1851.
Guilford P. Burtch. Tedrow, Ohio, April 17, 1848.

Sarah Bethiah Burtch. Crystal, Mich., Sept. 11. 1870.
Arthur Van Sickle.

Lallah Ellen Van Sickle. Carson Citv, Mich., Dec. 12.
1898.
Olive Priscilla Burtch. Tecuinseh, Mich., Oct. 5, 1878.
Cirtus G. Sampson.

Lyle Burtch Sampson. Crystal, Mich., Mav 21, 1000.
Leta MarjTuerite Sampson, Crystal. Mich., Jan. 1, 1903.
Mary Ernestine Sampson. Crystal, Mich.. July 9, 1906.

Alfred Henry West. Charing Cross. Ont., Sept.- 29. 1852.
Rose M. Hubbel. Grattan, Mich., Xov. 19. 1853. Died at Ionia.
Mich., Oct. 4, 1882.
Kate Jane West. Lowell, Mich.. Dec. 11. 1S79. Died at

Lowell, Aug. 22, 1880.
Effie May West. Ionia, Mich., May 10. 1882.
Emvta C. Stacy. Hopkinton, Mass., Dec. 23. 1853.

John Alexander West. CharinR Cross, Ont., Aufj. 27, 1854.
'Marv D. Borcu. Guntown, Miss., Feb. 16, 1803.

Edmund Boren West. Horatio, Ark., Mav 1, 1901.

Christina May West. Deming, Wash.. Feb. 16, 1903.

Sarah Janet West. Ionia, Mich.. July 24. 1850.
Florence IV. Eddv. Ionia. Mich., Nov. 16. 1854.

Clarence Edmund Eddy. Ionia. Mich., Feb. 6. 1887.

Glenn West Eddy. Grand Rapids, Mich., July 19, 1891.

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Julia Francis West. Ionia, Mich., Apr. IG, 1858.
Charles H. Thomlyson. Lawton, Ohio. Oct. 17, 1854.

J. West Thompson. Stanton, Mich., Oct. 2G, 1884.

Llojd luhnund Thompson. Stanton, Midi., Feb. 25, 18SG.

Frank Alfred Thompson. Stanton, Mich., July 24, 1887.

Zella Adeline Thompson. Stanton, Mich., June 27, ImH'J.

Frank Ja>ncs.

Charles William James. Linnton, Ore., Au.lc. 8, 1910.

Clara Eliza West. Ionia, Mich., Apr. 3, 18C1.
touis N. Tuttlc. Ionia, Mich., Au^'. 9, 1S58.

Lois Florence Tutlle. .Inn Arbor, Mich., Feb. 19, 1884.

Roy R. Smith.

Olive Margaret Tuttle. BeldiuR, Mich.. July 19, 188G.

Fred H. Cooke.

Raymond West Tuttle. Belding, Mich., May 12, 1894.
Olive Margaret West. Ionia, Mich., Jan. 8, 18G4.
Delbert L. Thomas. Tyrone, Mich., Nov. 14, 18G0.

Ray Henry Thomas. Albion, Mich., Feb. 2, 1888.

Charles Edmund Thomas. Saginaw, Alich., June 3, 1894.

George Harvey West. Ionia, Mich., Oct. 27, 1SG5.
Bertlia Wcisgerber. Ionia, Mich., Sept. 25, 18GS.

James Harry West. Ionia, Mich., .A.ug. 5. 1887.

Bernece Elizabeth West. Ionia, Mich., Nov. 26. 1888.

Charles Samuel West. Ionia, Mich., June 24, 18G8.
Elicabeth M. Park. Greenock, Scotland, Jan. 27, 1870.

Edmund Graham West. Omaha, Neb., Apr. 13, 1894.

William Abram West. Ionia, Mich., May 30, 1870.
Grace B. Alger. Escanaba, Mich., Dec. 15, 1S75.

Gladys Christie West. East St. Louis. 111., June 19, 1897.

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