Most of us lose track of our relatives after just a few generations, unless we do the research. Maybe a great-grandparent, or a great-great grandparent, but not much further back.
Christy Emmanuel can trace her family back to her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. That’s 17 greats if you’re keeping track.
Yes, Emmanuel can trace her direct lineage on her mother’s side to John de Wescote, who lived in the English county of Devonshire in the 13th century. Wescote and his wife Anna St. Leger de Wescote’s lineage include descendants recognized and known by English monarchs throughout centuries. They include relationships and associations with Pocahontas and Sir Walter Raleigh and many names through the ages. The family’s name was prominent through the Revolutionary and Civil War, with Emmanuel’s ancestors fighting alongside George Washington, and, later, some family members were even invited to Washington’s Mount Vernon home.
The Westcott name has been there throughout U.S. history, even though much of the history was foreign to Emmanuel, a graduate of both Florida State University and St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. Emmanuel turned 72 on June 12, the same day she had a book signing at Bodacious Books in downtown Pensacola for her new two-volume set “The Westcott Story: The Enduring Spirit of an American Family Spanning 400 Years.” (Yes, even though the family can be traced to the 13th century, Emmanuel’s project covers the Westcott family in North America but with all the ties and tentacles stretching to England included.)
While at FSU, Emmanuel of course knew of, had been inside and had seen the historic James D. Westcott Building, the iconic FSU administration building that is the campus’ postcard location, with the Westcott Fountain at the building’s front.
The building is named for James Diament Westcott III, who, strangely enough, was also known as James Diament Westcott Jr., the 19th Justice of the Florida Supreme Court who died in 1887 in Tallahassee at the age of 47.
“I had no idea,” Emmanuel said of the family connection to FSU, where she earned a Master of Business Administration degree. “He was the youngest jurist on the Florida Supreme Court and that is (FSU’s) signature building.”
Both volumes of “The Westcott Story” are available for purchase at Amazon or at Bodacious Books & Cafe, 110 E. Intendencia St.
Emmanuel writes under her full name, Christine Broderick Emmanuel, and is married to Patrick “Rick” Emmanuel Jr. of the prominent Emmanuel, Sheppard and Condon law firm in Pensacola, whose family has its own stories past, including that of Patrick Emmanuel Sr., a World War II hero who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, the latter known as “The Forgotten Meat Grinder.” Emmanuel Sr., also an attorney, died in 2024 at the age of 104 years old. Emmanuel Jr. can trace his family back to the mid-and-late 1800s, but “nothing close” to how far his wife can trace one line of her family.
Christy Emmanuel, who spent her professional career working in corporate administration, has long been a writer and photographer, and had previously edited the book “Working a Better Way” by H. Britt Landrum Jr., founder of LandrumHR, a Pensacola human resource staffing company. In 2017, she won first place in the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce writing contest for her story “The Overstory at Innerarity Point.”
After the Landrum book was released in 2020, Emmanuel’s life took a turn.
She received a call from “a woman named Susie Newcomb who told me that her deceased husband (William Newcomb) was my mother’s first cousin” and that her husband had a large collection of material relating to the family’s history.
Newcomb had paid to find a Westcott descendant who would be willing to take the collection. She first found Emmanuel’s brother in Ohio, who then referred the California woman to his sister in Pensacola.
“I’m one of nine kids and I was the most interested in family stuff and documenting it,” Emmanuel said. “So within two or three weeks, four boxes literally arrived at my doorstep.”
The boxes would contain a treasure trove of information, from previous family histories, journals, photographs, letters and even poetry dating to the 1800s.
Emmanuel had known the Westcott name on her mother’s side, but not much else.
She had read “a partial letter” when she was a child by Elizabeth Westcott, and Elizabeth Westcott is just one of the hundreds of family members named in the two-book series.
Elizabeth Westcott’s parents were friends of George and Martha Washington and became friends with the Washington’s grandchildren.
Emmanuel writes in Vol. I “Sometimes after the Washingtons acquired Mount Vernon, they invited ‘the young lady of beauty’ Miss Elizabeth Westcott as their guests. She wrote home to her mother following the visit, providing a view of the Washington’s home life. In the letter, Elizabeth reported somewhat breathlessly of her sojourn as a houseguest, which included an account of her ‘rigorous and precise daily schedule.’ She also conveyed news of another houseguest, the son of the Marquis de la Fayette ‘one of the most pleasing young men I have ever known.'”
“She was clearly smitten with him,” Emmanuel said. “Gosh, she was great.”
Emmanuel’s new collection of family history also contained a handwritten notebook from her great-grandmother Susan Gould Westcott Hoke’ who, writing about Elizabeth’s letter noted, “Can you read between the lines? Very young! Very romantic! Very much in love.”
Elizabeth’s letter, written June 27, 1796, was later reprinted in the Ladies Home Journal, which began publication in Philadelphia in the 1880s. Washington would die in 1799, just three-plus years after Elizabeth Wescott was a guest at Mount Vernon.
Two of her five-times great grandfathers, John Westcott and Dr. John T. Hampton, made the famous crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776, with Washington, then commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, preceding the attack on Hessian troops − German soldiers who assisted the British during the Revolutionary War − in Trenton, now Trenton, New Jersey, which happened Dec. 26, 1776.
Washington’s victory in the Battle of Trenton was seen as pivotal, boosting morale and even prompting new enlistments in the Continental Army, which, preceding Trenton, had experienced heavy winter losses fighting the British.
John Westcott was in the boat with Washington during the Delaware crossing. Other stories recounted tell of other prominent family members, including a five-times great grandfather who began his career in newspaper publication before moving to politics.
“He got caught up in the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 that perhaps influenced his decision to change careers,” Emmanuel said.
That great-great-great-great-great grandfather was James Diament Westcott Sr., grandfather of the James Westgate honored at FSU. He was once involved in a duel where he was injured. The man he engaged in the duel, Thomas Baltzell, was uninjured and would later become Florida Supreme Court chief justice.
Another of Emmanuel’s ancestors was involved in a duel as well. Her great-great-great grandfather Hampton Wescott, born in Georgetown in the District of Columbia in 1805, became a U.S. Navy midshipman in 1820, and from 1821 to 1822 was stationed with the USS Enterprise chasing pirates as part of the West Indies Anti-Piracy Operations of the 19th century. He was caught up as a “second” in a “duel” where a man was killed, though Hampton Westcott did not fire the shot. The whole altercation came from a disputed game of pool.
Westcott and others involved were dismissed from the Navy.
But President Andrew Jackson would soon reinstate Emmanuel’s three-time great grandfather, writing in a “Special Message” to the U.S. Senate in May 1828 that “a more particular investigation of the circumstances has resulted in exonerating him… .” Later in the message, Jackson nominated Westcott as a U.S. Navy lieutenant.
In 1837, nursing previous injuries, the Navy officer fell ill aboard a Navy ship in the Mediterranean and was transferred to another Navy ship for transport back to the United States, but died aboard the USS John Adams near Gibraltar. He was buried at sea.
“The Westcott Story” is filled with memorable people and remarkable stories, stories that often intertwine with crucial moments of American history.
In the book’s “People Index” at the end, behind the numerous sources and previous researchers she credits, it reads “The author ‘memorializes 1,535 people in the Westcott Story. Among them, she claims 175 as her lineal ascendants. In total, 342 of those referenced in the chronicle share her family’s lineage; another 655 distant relatives share ancestry as extended family members.”
One person who read the book referred to it as “‘Finding Your Roots’ on steroids,” Emmanuel said, referring to the popular genealogy show.
“The stories are amazing,” she said. “They resonate. And from page 1, I intentionally weave in the history of the time. They were connected to historical figures throughout time.”
She recalls one grandfather from the past, Sir Lewis Stukely, who in April 1617 was appointed guardian of 2-year-old Thomas Rolfe, son of Pocahantas, then known as Rebecca Rolfe, and her husband John Rolfe. Pocahontas is known across the United States because of her association and assistance in the colonial settlement of Jamestown.
The Westcotts first arrived in New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640). The sons of Guy and Mary Westcott − Richard, Stukely and William Westcott − immigrated to Massachusetts during that period. Richard Westcott is Emmanuel’s nine-times great grandfather and the stories throughout “The Westcott Story” are of them and their descendants.
Susie Newcomb said she knows her husband’s collection, built by family historians through the years, found its way to the right place.
“She has great curiosity and great writing ability,” Newcomb said. “We became friends over this. She had such a fascination with the family story, which is what was needed.”
For more details about Emmanuel and “The Westcott Story,” go to www.christinebemmanuel.com. Emmanuel has additional book signing events in Pensacola on June 26 and July 2, as well as book signings in Fairhope and Foley, Alabama and the University of Notre Dame.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pocahontas to George Washington all had ties to Pensacola author’s family
Reporting by Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
