The Westcott Story carries deep significance for me as a post-retirement passion project that is likely to survive the test of time.

While acquiring knowledge about the people whose stories comprise this two-volume set, the dimension of time came into sharp focus as a crucial element. Grasping where and when my forebears' lives unfolded in history provided a sense of time’s passage. Context brought clarity to their circumstances and a valuable perspective in my quest to understand our past . . . and theirs.

Though fleeting, the lives of these characters coursing through time aroused my curiosity and triggered an emotional response. Just imagine.

The people featured in The Westcott Story are my kin, virtually all of whom through the first nine generations in America I discovered by pure happenstance. Had I not connected with a particular unknown caller in mid-2020 . . . had I not agreed to Susie Newcomb’s request to accept her late husband’s family archives (and mine!) for safekeeping . . . had she not delivered posthaste the wellspring for my perusal, I would likely have gone to my grave with scant knowledge of my extraordinarily rich maternal lineage.

The providential call led Susie to “gift” me the fascinating family lore I found in four boxes dropped at my doorstep, much of it sourced from expansive and richly detailed genealogical studies dating as far back as 1886. Just imagine if someone appearing out of nowhere opened a window into your ancestral history, requiring of you nothing more than stepping outside your front door!

I’d venture to say most of us couldn’t reliably trace our lineage much beyond five generations. Before 2020, I fell into this camp. With varying levels of detail, most ancestry companies reportedly offer a view of between five and seven generations. The vast collection Susie shared put me in relatively close touch with my kinsfolk across 14 generations in America—indeed 22 generations considering the eight traced to England as far back as the High Middle Ages with the birth of my 17-times great-grandfather John de Westcote in 1234.

I was born and raised into a patriarchal, Irish Catholic family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the seventh of nine children. Before beginning my research into the Westcott line, I identified as Irish and Scottish principally, owing to my paternal and maternal grandfathers, respectively. I acknowledged my paternal grandmother’s English heritage absent any real insight, but my deep-seated English roots stemming from my maternal grandmother’s Westcott lineage surfaced as a welcome revelation. Uncovering a rather strong German strain entrenched in the Reformed faith was equally revelatory.

The Westcott Story brought me in touch with the part of me that is neither Irish nor Scottish. The part defined as English, and to a lesser extent German and French, molded my thinking about who I am and who I now more proudly claim to be. This pride comes from understanding through traced ancestry the values, skills, and character traits my siblings and I share with our mother’s forebears. The proverbial “apple does not fall from the tree” took on special meaning as I learned a great deal about these ancestors and the observable traits that carry forward in our family across living generations.

Discovery of my more fully-rounded genetic identity aside, the historical context that sets in place my family’s story invites thinking about our shared American heritage. I credit Susie Newcomb with inspiring me to weave history into the storyline with intention.

Susie fully grasped the significance of her husband’s exceptional maternal family line and the indelible mark left by our mutual forebears. She made it her steadfast goal to ensure preservation of the Westcott archives. As well, upon the passing of her husband in 1999, Susie resolved to spark the imagination of her young grandchildren—Michaela and Miles—by exposing them to the exploits of some of their storied ancestors. In more than one trip, the three traveled from northern California to Mount Vernon, Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey, for the experience of learning “from whence” their people came. Her pursuit and her passion for historical context lit a spark in me as well.

Without knowing anything about the cast of characters featured in The Westcott Story before tackling the subject one generation at a time, I began to wonder what it would be like to live history in their time. What role did they play in the making of history? With whom did our ancestors rub shoulders among historical figures? How were their livelihoods influenced by historical developments? What might we learn from their brushes with history? I found the answers by digging into our family’s genealogical records and American history simultaneously.

In truth, I did not enjoy history in my formative years as a student. The rote learning of dates in history without meaningful context did little to stimulate the senses. As a consequence, I did not retain nearly as much information as I would have liked to become knowledgeable on the subject. The weaving of history into the storyline of the Westcotts changed that. I learned so much in the research and writing, and I became fascinated by the interplay.

My relatives made their mark in the company of monarchs, theologians, Native American chiefs, Founding Fathers, U.S. presidents, military leaders, statesmen, and a host of other notable figures. The families asserted influence in six of the Thirteen Colonies—Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They displayed their might in America’s emerging wars—Indian wars, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the World Wars among them. Even as some became entangled in witchcraft, piracy, duels, espionage, defamation, and perjury, they gained prominence as civic, business, community, political, and military leaders.

For me, the beauty of The Westcott Story comes not only from learning ‘from whence we came’ as a family but also historically as a nation. As now various subjects arise in the historical realm in print, on film, and via social media, I have numerous reference points stemming from my family’s archival collection across centuries that yield far greater interest than ever before.

From a historical perspective, I believe family and national heritage are vital concepts in the sense of identity, connectedness, and belonging. Knowing the origins of who we are grounds us. The insight helps us to better understand ourselves and brings us in closer touch with the world around us.

I hope the book informs, inspires, and entertains readers as much as it did me in the writing. It was a distinct privilege to unearth and subsequently document the stories of family members on the side of my mother—the part that collectively defines my English, German, French, and American heritage. Telling their stories renders them immortal souls!