William A. Westervelt Papers
Scope and Contents
The William A. Westervelt Papers reflect his coursework at Oberlin College and Theological Seminary in the 1830s and 1840s, and his career as a minister and itinerant preacher in Ohio from the 1840s through the 1870s. Westervelt’s student notes from lectures at Oberlin are of interest for their light on the content of early courses by professors Charles Grandison Finney, Amasa Walker, James Dascomb, and others.
The bulk of the papers comprise notes for sermons and orations. Sermon notes are organized by topic or Bible verse. Of particular note are sermons on anti-slavery from the 1860s and perhaps earlier. Also of note is an oration Westervelt performed for soldiers departing for military service from Martinsburg, West Virginia, on October 14, 1861. Other oration topics include character, death, independence, imagination, physiology, phrenology, and “Prospects for America.”
Other materials comprise a small amount of correspondence, diary notes, writings for school or college by his son William D. Westervelt, a few issues of newspapers dating from the 1870s and a 1908 issue of the Southern Voice, and records Westervelt kept on parishioner subscriptions and church records. The contents are divided into twenty-seven folders without arrangement into series. The sermon materials take up a little more than half the collection.
The William A. Westervelt Papers offer modern readers a glimpse into the academic rigor and religious passion of mid-19th century Oberlin. The doctrinal and devotional discourse championed by the Theological Seminary inspired Oberlin graduates to become abolitionists and champions of social justice. In Westervelt’s papers, readers can explore the genesis of this ethical passion, rooted in the early religious spirit of the school.
Dates
- Creation: 1838-1908, undated
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1842-1869
- Other: Date acquired: 01/02/1979
Creator
- Westervelt, William A. (1815-1899) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Unrestricted
Biographical Sketch
William Andrew Westervelt was born in Dutchess County, New York, on March 20, 1815, to Abraham (1783-1841) and Catherine Van Blarckum Westervelt (1786-1859). He had many siblings - Joseph A (1803-1820), Sarah (1805-1846), James (1807-1847), Abraham J (1808-1888), John Leroy (1811-1882), Evert V (1813-1888), Mariah (1817-1834), Edmund M (1821-1870), Elanor C (1823-1906), and Catherine L (1827-1914). He joined the Presbyterian Church in Trumansburg, New York, in 1831 at the age of sixteen, then joined the Congregational Church in Oberlin in 1839 and remained in the denomination for the rest of his life. He attended Oberliin College from 1839 through 1843, achieving the B.A. degree. He graduated from the Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1846.
Westervelt was ordained at Wakeman, Ohio on October 2, 1845. On August 4, 1846, he married Lydia Hayes Drake (1819-1913, OC 1845), whose family had moved to Oberlin in 1841 to educate their children. William and Lydia had six children, four of whom survived into adulthood. Two sons graduated from Oberlin College: William Drake Westervelt (1849-1939), OC 1871, and George Clarence Westervelt (1856-1946), OC 1884. The other children were Edmund Corlett (1847-1938), Edward J (1848-1909), Davis Oscar (1852-1853), and Herbert Eugene (1858-1938).
William Westervelt preached in Wakeman, Mansfield, and Fitchville, Ohio from 1844 to 1850; as general missionary in Hamilton Presbytery for six months; then as home missionary and evangelist in Iowa and Illinois from 1850 to 1866. The family returned to Oberlin in 1866. He was in business partnership with his sons, preaching in neighboring towns (Farmington, Penfield, Berea, Butternut Ridge) from 1866 to 1882; he was in Dakota from 1882 to 1887. He died November 8, 1899.
Sources Consulted
Student file of William A. Westervelt in Alumni Records (RG 28).
Case file of William A. Westervelt (RG 30/120).
Note written by Kira Zimmerman.
Extent
0.80 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Accruals and Additions
Accession No: 1979/001
- Title
- William A. Westervelt Papers Finding Guide
- Author
- Kira Zimmerman (OC 2019), Anne Cuyler Salsich
- Date
- 05/08/2017
- Description rules
- Rules for Archival Description
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Oberlin College Archives Repository
420 Mudd Center
148 West College Street
Oberlin OH 44074-1532 US
440-775-8014
440-775-8016 (Fax)
archive@oberlin.edu