Story
John Wharton West graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1817, and entered the United States Navy as a Midshipman in the following year. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1827, Master in 1847, and was commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard at his death in 1852.
Uniforms of the U.S. Navy 1852
During the 19th century, changes in the training of naval officers in the United States Navy led to the replacement of apprenticeship aboard ships with formal schooling in a naval college. Midshipman began to mean an officer cadet at a naval college. Trainees now spent around four years in a college and two years at sea prior to promotion to commissioned officer rank.
USS Vincennes (1826) was a 703-ton Boston-class sloop of war in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1865. During her service, Vincennes patrolled the Pacific, explored the Antarctic, and blockaded the Confederate Gulf coast in the Civil War. Named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes, she was the first U.S. warship to circumnavigate the globe. John was a Lieutenant on the Vincennes in 1833.
Family Group
John Wharton West
Birth: 27 Oct 1798 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Death: 24 Nov 1852 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA
WikiNo:
West-15250
Married: 9 Aug 1831 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA
to
Mary Catherine Edloe Holt
Birth: 1810 in Virginia, USA
Death: 1880 in Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co, California, USA
Burial: May be Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery, Sonoma County, California, USA
WikiNo:
Holt-7483
Children:
Francis Henry West (Mary Sophia Stone)
Born: 10 Jun 1832 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
Died: 14 Mar 1908 in Portland, Multnomah Co, Oregon, USA
WikiNo:
West-15312
Find a Grave:
Memorial ID 185150841
Obituary
See "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon" below
Elizabeth Page West (Robert Augustine Thompson)
Born: 18 Apr 1837 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Died: 10 Feb 1892 in Redwood City, San Mateo County, California, USA
Burial: Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California, USA
WikiNo:
West-15249
Mary Nixon West (Frances Poulson Thompson)
Born: 04 Aug 1841 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Died: 15 Feb 1923 in Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California, USA
WikiNo:
West-15313
Resources
1850 Census of the United States (Ancestry.com), Note: ABBR 1850 Census of the United States, Note: Call number: Page: U.S. Navy Yard Gosport, Norfolk Co, Virginia p197, Line 11 Jno W West and family, John is 51
1880 Census of the United States (Ancestry.com), Note: ABBR 1880 Census of the United States, Note: Call number: Page: Santa Rosa, Sonoma, California, Text: age 70
1880 Census of the United States (Ancestry.com), Note: ABBR 1880 Census of the United States, Note: Call number: Page: Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co, California p105B, Text: living with daughter Elizabeth
1880 Census Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California, living with daughter Elizabeth West
A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval in the Service of the United States ... United States. Dept. of the Interior, Jonathan Elliot, 1853 - Government executives (Page 249)
An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon: Containing a History of Oregon from the Earliest Period of Its Discovery to the Present Time, Together with Glimpses of Its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-page Portraits of Some of Its Eminent Men and Biographical Mention of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Citizens of To-day, Harvey Kimball Hines, Lewis Publishing Company, 1893 - Oregon - 1300 pages (page 92)
Biographical Catalogue of the Matriculates of the College Together with Lists of the Members of the College Faculty and the Trustees, Officers and Recipients of Honorary Degrees, 1749-1893, University of Pennsylvania. Society of the Alumni, University of Pennsylvania Society, 1894 - 567 pages (Page 56 - 7th entry)
Catalogue of the trustees officers and graduates of the departments of arts and science and of the honorary graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, 1749-1880, Pennsylvania univ, soc. of the alumni 1880 (Class of 1817, page 41)
Some account of Capt. John Frazier and his descendants: with notes on the West and Checkley families Josiah Granville Leach, Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott Co., 1910 - 138 pages (Page 84 - refers to son, Francis West)
Read excerpted PDF