Benjamin H. Westlake

Posted4U@Charter.net on Tue, 13 Feb 2001

Surname: WESTLAKE, DEBOIS, MONDY, DEARTH, MEYERS

Source: 1918 History of Clark Co., WI, by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge

BENJAMIN H. WESTLAKE, owner of a farm of 160 acres in section 30, Hoard Township, which he is now renting out, was born in Newbury, Orange County, New York, son of David B. and Catherine (Debois) Westlake. His father was also a native of that place and his mother of New York city Mr. Westlake's grandmother, on his mother's side, was stolen when a child from the steamship dock at Liverpool, England, and brought to America. Benjamin H. removed to De Kalb County, Ill., with his parents in 1857, his father buying eighty acres of land there at $12:50 an acre, and later increasing the size of his farm. There David B. Westlake died at the age of 76 years. His wife is still living.

Benjamin H. Westlake spent a large part of his life in DeKalb County, where he was engaged in farming until 1899. He then took up his residence in the city of DeKalb and two years later engaged in the livery business, which he followed until 1910, when he came to Clark County. He had bought his present farm in 1896, when it consisted of wild land. The property has since been well developed.

In 1911 Mr. Westlake built a good, modern eight-room house; he has also a barn, 32 by 50 feet, a concrete silo of 100 tons capacity and a concrete creamery. During his active years he was a progressive and modern farmer, making dairying his main line of business. His cattle were of the Holstein breed, and he milked about twenty cows, while his chief crops are hay, wheat, oats and corn.

Mr. Westlake was married Nov. 14, 1875, to Rhoda Wood, a native of DeKalb County, Ill., where her parents, now deceased, were early settlers. He and his wife have had six children: Hiram, residing in Michigan; Gilbert, of Kaneville, Ill.; Mable, wife of T. M. Mondy, of DeKalb, Ill.; Lottie, wife of Joseph A. Dearth, of Hoard Township, this county; Lena, now Mrs. C. L. Palmer, of Idaho; Ethel, who married Ed C. Meyers, of Clark County; Myrtle, who died in 1882, and Erma, who died in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Westlake have also sixteen grandchildren.