Posted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Grace Whalon LaValley (1896 – 1988) Business woman and realtor 1868 Main Road, 1892 Main Road, 1991 Main Road, 2018 Main Road, Westport Point Grace Whalon LaValley was born in 1896 in New Bedford, Ma. She was employed by Frank LaValley as a bookkeeper. He was a cotton broker, formerly […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Norma K. Judson (1932-2015) Business owner, historian 1809 Main and 1853 Main Road, Westport Point Norma, born in New Bedford, was the daughter of Sheldon and Evelyn Corey Judson. They moved to Westport in 1950 and lived at 1809 Main Road. She attended New Bedford High School (class of 1949), Endicott […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Bertha Gertrude Tripp Johnson (1892 – 1976) Owner of antiques store 2037 Main Road, Westport Point Bertha was born in Jamaica Plains, Boston in 1892, the daughter of Abel W. Tripp and Emaline Arnold Tripp. Her mother was from Westport Point. She spent her childhood in Boston and by 1930, she […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Grace Hartley Howe (1874 – 1955) First female postmaster in the U.S. Horseneck Beach Cottage Grace Hartley Howe, a cousin of the infamous Lizzie Borden, came into her fortune early, and was both a socialite and activist in Fall River and Washington. Howe’s father, Dr. James Hartley, died in 1897 […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Sarah E. J. Hammond 1973 Main Road, Westport Point Photo shows Sarah E. J. Hammond with her husband William A. Hammond. He ran a store and a post office out of their house at 1973 Main Road. In 1862 William S. Hammond mariner (wife Emerline H. Hammond) sold 1973 Main Road […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Kate Cory Grinnell (1850-1939) Namesake of Westport’s famous whaling brig burned by the confederate raider Alabama during the Civil War 2029 Main Road, Westport Point Kate Cory was five years old when the whaling ship built by her father A.H. Cory was launched in 1856. She is thought to have […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Janet Lansing Wicks Gillespie Grindley (1913-2005) Author Scotch Pine Lane and 1935 Main Road, Westport Point Jan was born Janet Lansing Wicks in East Orange, NJ in 1913. Her father Reverend Robert Russell Wicks later moved to Holyoke where she lived most of her childhood except for summers at Westport Point. […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Charlotte Fitch (1911–2011) Teacher 24 Cape Bial Lane, Westport Point Charlotte Hackstaff Fitch, born August 13, 1911, in Verona, NJ, died April 30, 2011, at her home in Westport Point, MA. Her parents were Frederick Douglass and Charlotte Hackstaff Waring. She lived in New Jersey until her career at Smith College […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Alice Gardner Esser (1869-1962) Owner of restaurant and boarding house 1834 Main Road, Westport Point Israel and Alice Gardner Esser came to Westport in the 1920s. Other than Stevens family who lived next door to them, they were the only family of color that lived on the Point. Their property served […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 20, 2025 by Jenny ONeill
WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Helen E. Ellis (1889-1978) Woodcarver, historian 1874 Main Road, Westport Point Helen E. Ellis (1889-1978) is perhaps more notable for her contributions to historic preservation in New Bedford than here in Westport. She was not a historian in the traditional sense, but her appreciation of the past and her skills embraced […]
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