NameJane DONES
Birth7 Dec 1843
Death6 Jun 1890
Spouses
Birth27 Sep 1846, Syracuse, Onondaga Co., New York
Death31 Mar 1898, Syracuse, Onondaga Co., New York
FatherDr. Amos WESTCOTT (1815-1873)
MotherClarissa BABCOCK (-1856)
Marriage11 Jun 1874, Cazenovia, Madison Co., New York
Notes for Edward Noyes (Spouse 1)
Edward Noyes Westcott, author of “David Harum,” was a son of Dr. Amos Westcott, a prominent dentist of Syracuse, N. Y., of which city he was mayor during the Rebellion. After equipping himself, Edward became a banker and built up an excellent business. Then a series of adversities wiped out his business and broke his health. Previous to this, he had been captain of a Syracuse militia company, and while staging an exhibition drill at the old Welting opera house, fell into the orchestra pit, landing on the back of his head, from which injury he never fully recovered. It was while recuperating from the breakdown occasioned by the failure of his business, at a camp in the Adirondacks, that he began to write “David Harum.” He practically completed the novel while in Italy in the Winter of 1895-6. It was declined by many leading publishers, but when issued in the Autumn of 1898, following the death of the author, became at once a success, reaching a sale of 40,000 copies in a little more than a year. The human nature of the book is its strong characteristic. It is a faithful portrayal of certain phases of life in central New York in the late 1890s, and its humor is undeniable.

Lineage: Amos 7 Westcott, Gorton 6, Reuben 5, Amos 4, William 3, Jeremiah 2, Stukely 1

Source: History and Genealogy of the Ancestors and Some Descendants of Stukely Westcott, One of the Thirteen Original Proprietors of Providence Plantation and the Colony of Rhode Island with Especial Mention of The Westcotts of Cheshire, Berkshire County, Massachusetts and the Westcotts of Milford, Otsego County, New York and Some of the Allied Families, Incorporating, and Extending, the Research of the late Hon. J. Russell Bullock of Bristol, R. I. by Roscoe L. Whitman, 1932, page 404

Edward Noyes Westcott
1846-1896
Author of "David Harum"
Edward N., was the third child of Dr. Amos Westcott, who was a prominent dentist in Syracuse, N.Y., and Clara Babcock Westcott. Dr. Amos was mayor of Syracuse during the Civil War. He was also the first President of the New York State Dental Society.
Edward N. attended school until he was 16. He then went into clerking in a bank. In 1880 he organized the firm on "Westcott and Abbott", Bankers and Brokers. A series of adversities wiped out his business and ruined his health. He became secretary to the Syracuse Water Commission. Previous to this, he had been Captain of a Syracuse Militia Complany and, while staging an exhibition drill at the Old Weiting Opera House, he fell into the orchestra pit. He landed on the back of his head and never fulled recovered from the fall. In failing health, he retired in 1895.
Suffering from tuberculosis, he spent the summer of 1895 near Naples, overlooking the bay. In spite of his illness, he began to write for his own amusement. He set down the adventures of a droll old rascle who practiced banking with horse dealing on the side--the start of "David Harum: A Story of American Life"--the book for which he is chiefly known. He completed the book near the end of 1896. "David Harum" was refused by six well-known publishers. One publiser said, "It's vulgar and smells of the stables."
After revisions, the book was accepted by D. Appleton & Co. on January 17, 1898. Edward Noyes Westcott died on March 31, 1898--not suspecting that appreciation and fame were near.
Six months later, "David Harum" was published. Its popularity was immediate and prolonged. By January 1, 1899, the book was in its sixth large printing. By February 1901, after two years at or near the top of the lists of best sellers, over 400,000 copies had been sold. Thirty-five years after its appearance, more than a million copies had been sold; and, for books published in America, it stood second in popularity only to "Quo Vadis".
Edward N. also wrote "The Tellers". His advocation was music. He was an excellent singer and composed the words and music for several songs.
Edward married Jane Dows on june 11, 1874. They had three children: Harold, who died young from a fall from a cherry tree, and Philip and Violet who inherited the profits from their father's book. Violet married victor Morawitz who became a millionaire New York Corporation lawyer. (Source: Betty W. Acker, 2000)

1880 United States Census
Marital Birth B-place
Name Rel Status Sex Race Age place Occup Fa Mo
Edward WESTCOTT Self M M W 35 NY Broker NY NY
Jane WESTCOTT Wife M F W 37 NJ Keeping House NY NY
Harald WESTCOTT Son S M W 5 NY NY NJ
Violet WESTCOTT Dau S F W 2 NY NY NJ
A. M. DOWS Mother W F W 74 NY At Home NY NY
Mina COON Other S F W 26 NY Servant ENG ENG
Florece THOMAS Other S F W 23 NY Servant ENG ENG

Source Information:
Census Place Syracuse, Onondaga, New York
Family History Library Film 1254907
NA Film Number T9-0907
Page Number 198A
Last Modified 22 Oct 2003Created 17 Jan 2012 using Reunion for Macintosh