Edward Dixon Westfall

Citizen of Texas

By Debra Westfall

 

Edward Dixon Westfall was born 22 December 1820 in Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, the son of Abraham Westfall and Sarah Rumsour.  He had an adventuresome soul and in 1843 he left Indiana to join a wagon train in Missouri bound for Oregon.  Instead he traveled and held various jobs and ended up in Hopkins County, Texas in 1845. He moved from Hopkins County to San Antonio and after the Mexican War he moved to Zavala County and is believed to be the first settler there.  Edward was a guide, a stagecoach guard, an Indian Fighter, fought in the Mexican War, and a lieutenant in the Texas Rangers under A. A. "Bigfoot" Wallace.  Westfall along with Bigfoot Wallace traveled through Monahans guarding the stagecoach on its way to El Paso and both were well known scouts for south and west Texas. After the Mexican War he was severely wounded in an Indian fight at his cabin in Zavala County, Abel Westfall moved to Texas after this event to help his brother take care of his property during his recuperation.  In 1874 Ed moved to Bexar County where he farmed on the Calaveras Creek near Elmendorf.  There he finally settled down in his sixties and married Josephine Susan Dillon. Abel went back to Indiana for a short time and then he moved his family to Texas and though Edward had no children his brother Abel's family has thrived here.

He had a very open view on church, he loved to go and listen to church services whenever the circuit preachers came around.  The denomination did not matter though Edward preferred sermons base on following God’s ways for the love of God, he firmly did not believe you should practice religion because of fear of damnation.  In his journeys there was a comment he made that was rather interesting.  He stated, “I do not understand what it is about wash day that takes a perfectly even tempered women and makes her grumpy, plum to the point that a man doesn’t come home for supper and dinner is always late.”   Edward walked to town everyday to get the newspapers, he loved knowing what was going on in the area and country, he mentions in a few entries his displeasure when the did not arrive on time and he went home empty handed.

Before his death he wrote his will leaving his entire estate to the city of San Antonio, after the death of his wife.  The proceeds were to go to building a public library, with the stipulation that there be a reading room for black people.  If at the time of his wife’s death a library was already build, then the proceeds were to go for improvements.  His wife was thirty-seven years younger than her husband, so for the forty-three years she lived after her husband she lived off of his pensions from the Mexican War and Indian War.  At the time of her death his estate went for around $50,000.  The City of San Antonio used the money toward a branch library and named it the Westfall Branch Library.  A picture of Edward Westfall hangs on the wall in the library reminding us of his generosity.

He died in 1897 at the age of 76 on his farm and was referred to by his wife as "a loving, caring husband that would be sorely missed.”  He left no descendants, but his brother Abel’s family has thrived in Texas and are very proud of the contributions that Edward made to Texas during his life.