Harvey Westcott, who was born in Vermont in 1831, got to work early in life in a career that included commercial sales, hotel management, banking and real estate development. The centerpiece of this business life was manufacturing cigars, which he began in Burlington, Vermont, and took with him to Binghamton, New York, where he and son Frederick built the business into a 500-employee company that rivaled the major cigar companies, located in New York City. Here is a photo of the growing concern advertising “Rollers Wanted.”
Harvey Westcott (left) and his son Frederick in front of their cigar factory in Binghamton, New York, from an undated photograph in the Westcott Society Collection. (Click the image to enlarge the view.)
One history of Binghamton includes this effusive account of Harvey’s contribution to the life of the city:
Mr. Westcott has been one of the most extensive employers of workmen in this city, and it is unquestionably true that he has trained more successful business partners than any other manufacturer ever in Binghamton. Moreover, he never had a partner who invested a dollar in business at the outset, while one of them on retiring from the firm took out no less than $48,000 after a partnership of about ten years’ duration (William Summer Lawyer, Binghamton, Its Settlement, Growth, and Development: 1800-1900, page 898).
Harvey Westcott was an eighth generation descendant of Stukely and Juliana Westcott: Harvey Westcott8, Reuben Jr.7, Reuben6, Stukely5, Stukely4, Stukely3, Jeremiah2, Stukely1 (Edna Lewis, The Westcott Family Tree, 1999, see #780). Roscoe Whitman wrote this profile of Harvey Westcott in his History and Genealogy of the Ancestors and Some Descendants of Stukely Westcott, Volume 1 (page 114):
In his young manhood, he, along with his brother Philetus, worked for their uncle, Abraham Gove, on the latter’s farm near Fair Haven, Vermont. Later he became a traveling salesman in Vermont for a paper manufacturing house, but was soon engaged in the manufacture of cigars in Burlington, Vermont, where, with his younger brother, Edgar, he also conducted a hotel. At the end of four years, he sold his business and in the early part of 1858, settled in Binghamton, again engaging in the manufacture of cigars. He was a pioneer in this industry which later made Binghamton second only to New York in the line. First employing 15 cigar makers, he developed the business until five hundred were employed in 1889, in which year he went out of business. From that year until he passed away in 1920, he with his son, Frederick Harvey, devoted their attention to the care and management of their extensive real estate interests. He always took an active interest in the welfare of his adopted city. Although approached at different times to fill important city offices, only in 1872 is it recorded that he consented to such recognition. In that year he was an alderman of the fourth ward of the city, in which he dwelled for more than sixty years. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, director of two banks, and a charter member of the Men’s Club.
Harvey Westcott Family Photos
Here is a photo of Harvey Westcott and his family from an album in the Westcott Society Collection followed by some biographical data. Click the image to enlarge it.
Meet the Family. In this photo, probably taken in the fall of 1911 at the family home in Binghamton, Harriett holds her great-granddaughter, Jeannette Sands Westcott, flanked by her son Frederick on the left and Harvey on the right. Standing immediately behind Harriet are Jeannette’s parents, Joseph Rogers Westcott and Coralin Sands Westcott. The others (from the left) are Fred’s daughter Sarah, his sister Hattie, father-in-law Charles “Nune” Chaffee, and his wife Margarette.
| Harvey Westcott was born on November 10, 1831, the sixth of the eight children of Reuben Westcott, Jr. and Wealtha Rose. On October 11, 1854, he married Harriet Eliza Winchell, who was born on March 21, 1833, the daughter of Ephraim and Loly (Beach) Winchell of Unadilla, New York. They made their home in Binghamton, where Harvey’s business was part of an economic boom in the second half of the nineteenth century. They had two children, Frederick Harvey and Harriet M. “Hattie.” Harriett died on August 10, 1915, survived by Harvey, who died on January 28, 1820. |
| Harriet M. “Hattie” Westcott was born on October 21, 1859, ten years younger than brother Fred. She married twice, first to Leslie M, Merchant and then to Charles Austin Ward. Hattie died on June 5, 1935.
Frederick Harvey Westcott (June 27, 1859 to March 25, 1931) was 30 years old when he joined with his father in the cigar manufacturing business and was Harvey’s partner in numerous other ventures. On September 27, 1879, he married Margarette Chaffee. |
| Margarette (Chaffee) Westcott was born on August 15, 1859, the daughter of Charles (“Nune”) Chaffee. Frederick and Margarette Westcott had three children: Joseph Rogers (1882) Frederick Harvey (1887), who died at the age of three months, and Sarah Winchell (1890). Margarette died on June 6, 1952. |
| Joseph Rogers Westcott was born on January 18, 1882. He married Carolin Louise Sands on May 26, 1910, and their daughter Jeannette Sands Westcott was born December 21, 1911.
Carolin (Sands) Westcott died on January 21, 1919, possibly from influenza in the Great Pandemic of 1918, which roared into the Binghamton, in the fall of 1918. According to one account, “Of the 3,000 cases of influenza reported in the Binghamton-area in October and November of 1918, at least 175 people died.” Joseph, who was a founding member of SSWDA, died in 1957. |
| Months before the Influenza Pandemic hit Binghamton, Sarah Winchell Westcott (born September 4, 1890) married Dr. Joseph Sweet Martin, who died on October 28, 1918, probably also a victim of Influenza. Their child, Sylvia Mary Martin, was born on June 5, 1919. |
Front and Center for SSWDA
Descendants of Harvey and Harriet Westcott were active in the Society of Stukely Westcott Descendants of America from the society’s founding, including grandson Joseph Rogers Westcott, who is SSWDA member #5. Joseph helped organize the early reunions and served as president of the society in 1938 and 1939.
Joseph Rogers Westcott was the third president (1938-39) of the Society of Stukely Westcott Descendants of America; Joseph is seated front and center with other officers chosen at the Second Biennial Reunion in Cooperstown, New York, in August 1937.
Sources: William Summer Lawyer, Binghamton, Its Settlement, Growth, and Development: 1800-1900 ; Edna Lewis, The Westcott Family Tree, 1999; Roscoe Whitman, History and Genealogy of the Ancestors and Some Descendants of Stukely Westcott, Volume I, 1932.
More Family Photos
Here are more photos of four generations of Harvey Westcott’s family, taken from the Westcott Society Collection. Click any photo to enlarge the view.
Harvey Westcott, 1915
Harriet Westcott, 1915
Harvey, Joseph, Fred and Jeannette
Front: Harvey, Harriet, Fred; Back: Carolin, Joseph, Margarette
Front: Fred, Margarette; Center: Harriet, Harvey; Front Joseph, Coralin
Joseph and Coralin (Sands) Westcott Fred and Margarette
Sarah Westcott on the left; and friend, Fred Miner on the right
Joseph and Carolin (Sands) Westcott
Joseph and Carolin Westcott and daughter Jeannette
Jeannette Westcott, daughter of Joseph and Carolin
This photo was captioned “Burning Barn of Harvey Westcott 176 Court Street [Binghamton, N.Y.], February 1914.” Harvey and Fred’s cigar factory shown at the top of the page was at 114 Court Street.