Theodore W. WESTCOTT (1852-1904) and Florence Holland ASPINALL (1865-1947) updated

Theodore and Florence are my sort-of great-grandparents as their daughter, Mattie, raised my mother (who was her niece). 

Theodore W. WESTCOTT is 3rd of the 3 sons born to John Jerauld WESTCOTT, of the Rhode Island Westcotts, and Eliza COUSE.

    b. 29 July 1852 Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio
    d. 4 August 1904 Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio

    m. 8 December 1885 Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio to

Florence Holland ASPINALL is 5th of the 6 children born to Frederick ASPINALL and his fourth wife Caroline STITZEL

    b. 11 July 1865 Warsaw, Kosciusko, Indiana

    d. 24 January 1947 Findlay, Hancock, Ohio

Florence must have had a hard life as she was 6 when she became an orphan. I know she spent time with her sister Mattie STAFFORD. And I believe I was told by my Aunt Lucille, their daughter, that Florence's father, Frederick ASPINALL, had committed suicide by jumping off a building. Then Florence's husband committed suicide when she was 39. Her youngest child and only son died at the end of World War I when she was 53. She was a widow for 42 years.

Theodore and Florence had 5 children:

1. Florence Marguerite WESTCOTT 

    b. 13 December 1886 in Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio 

    d. 11 July 1974 Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio

    m.  21 October 1905 George W. EGBERT 

She went by the name Marguerite and I vaguely remember her.

2. Glenna Corine WESTCOTT 

    b. 1 December 1888 in Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio 

    d. 13 May 1969 in Amanda Township, Hancock, Ohio

    m. 12 January 1907 to Ray G. SHULL. I also remember her.

3. Mattie Jane WESTCOTT (my Grandma Findlay) 

    b. 20 June 1891 Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio 

    d. 22 January 1972 Findlay, Hancock, Ohio

    m. 8 June 1909 Howard Hayes RIDLEBAUGH (my Grandpa Findlay) 

4. Lucille WESTCOTT 

    b. 31 January 1895 in Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio 

    d. 31 March 1987 in Findlay, Hancock, Ohio

    m. 12 December 1952 Carl Henry SHANK

She had married later in life to a widower (she was 57 at the time).  Aunt Lucille was our favorite. We loved visiting her and have a lot of memories (well, at least compared to Marguerite and Glenna).

5. Theodore WESTCOTT 

    b. 11 October 1897 in  Vanlue, Hancock, Ohio 

    d. 4 November 1918 in Ostend, West Flanders, Belgium 

    buried in the Van Horn Cemetery in Amanda Township, Hancock, Ohio

The sad thing about Ted was he  almost made it home  from the war. He was killed one week before the Armistice was signed.

"In Flanders Field" by Lt. Colonel John McCrea

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

******************************************************************************************************************

The Indianapolis News  

Indianapolis, Indiana  

17 August 1904, Wednesday   Page 7

FEARED TO FACE FRIEND

Politician, and Alleged Forger, Ends His Live.

  FINDLAY, O., August 17--Theodore Westcott, who, for a quarter of a century was the dominating force in Democratic politics in the eastern part of Hancock county, and reputed to be wealthy, committed suicide in his home, in Vanlue. A member of the family discovered him dying yesterday morning, and aid was summoned, but he died before a physician could reach him.

  It is said Mr. Westcott had received money on notes to which he had signed his friends' names in an amount reaching nearly $10,000. Mr. Westcott, it is alleged, attempted to dispose of a note at a bank in this city for $1,200, to which he had signed the name of a farmer residing in Amanda township. The bank refused to lend the money on the note. It, no doubt, became clear to him, it is said, that his acts had been discovered and he could not face his friends once the facts became public.

******************************************************************************************************************

News-Journal 

Mansfield, Ohio  

18 August 1904, Thursday  Page 3

Findlay--Theodore Westcott, a prominent Democratic politician and merchant of Vanlue, committed suicide by taking morphine.

******************************************************************************************************************

News-Journal

Mansfield, Ohio

9 December 1918,  Monday  Page 11

Sunday List

    Killed in action--

. . . Privates Theodore Westcott, Vanlue; . . .

******************************************************************************************************************

back: Mattie, Lucille, Glenna seated: Florence and Marguerite

Theodore W Westcott

Theodore Westcott

Lucille (seated) and Mattie

Glenna, Mattie, Lucille, and Marguerite Ohio, August 1962