Westfall, Jacob I. - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Crawfordsville, October 11 -- Impressive patriotic services marked the dedication at Oak mil (Hill?) cemetery, near here, yesterday afternoon, of a tablet to the memory of Captain Jacob IWestfall, a hero of the revolutionary war. The dedication was conducted under the auspices of Dorothy Q chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. F. M. Mills, of Sioux City, la., the only living grandson of Captain Westfall, read a brief biography of his noted ancestor, and an address by James H. Stover, of Milwaukee, a I former resident of Crawfordsville, was read by Mrs. Henry Allan Foster, of, Ladoga. Mayor Dumont Kennedy, of Crawfordville; accepted the monument on behalf of the Daughters of the American Revolution.. Captain Westfall was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, October 10. 1755. He enlisted in the Eighth Virginia regiment In February, 1776, five months before the Declaration of Independence was signed and eight months before he became of age and served in that regiment until March, 1778. The records show that as a lieutenant he was with Captain Benjamin Wilson's company, and later served with Captain George Jackson’s company. In 1781 he served six months with Colonel Crockett's regiment and later he served in Colonel Morgan’s regiment. Captain Westfall was married in 1777 to Mary King in Tygarts valley, Virginia. Mr. Mills said his grandfather moved from Virginia to Kentucky in 1792 and the family later emigrated to Putnam county. Indiana, in 1827. Shortly afterward they came to Montgomery county, settling on a farm near Ladoga Represented in the Present War. Mr. Mills said the Westfall family is well represented in the present war. His youngest son, Carroll Mills, great grandson of Captain Westfall, is a lieutenant in the field artillery with the American expeditionary forces in France. Two grandsons of Mr. Mills, sons of his oldest daughter, are also in the service. One lieutenant. Frank M. Finkbine is in the infantry, the other, Roger S. Finkbine is in the navy. Lieutenant Edwin Chase, another grandson, a lieutenant in the field artillery, is the son of the second daughter of Mr. Mills. Two sons-in-law of Mr. Mills are in the service and a fifth grandson. Just twenty years old is at Ft. Hamilton, New York, preparing for service. One son-in-law is Colonel E. R. Tompkins and the other Captain Ward H. Patton, is with the headquarters troop of the 34th national guard division, now in France. When Mr. Mills, who is eighty-seven years old, came to Montgomery county in 1835, Crawfordsville was a village of only a few hundred people. He left Crawfordsville in 1852, going west.