My Genealogy Hound

HUGH W. THOMPSON, editor and proprietor of the Westfield Republican, the seventh established and now oldest newspaper of Westfield, is a son of Hugh W., Sr., and Eliza (McDowell) Thompson and was born at Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, October 2, 1858. His parents are natives of County Down, Ireland, and came in 1851 to Westfield, where his father has followed carpentering.

Hugh W. Thompson was reared at Westfield, where he attended the academy of that place until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Mayville and learned the trade of printer in the office of the Sentinel. In July, 1885, he returned to Westfield and worked on the Republican until May 13, 1889, when he purchased the paper of A. E. Rose, then its proprietor, and has published it ever since. The Republican was started April 25, 1855, by a company composed of G. W. Patterson, W. H. Seward, Alvin Plumb and Austin Smith. Its first editor was M. C. Rice, and its circulation under his charge was about one thousand copies.

Hugh W. Thompson has always been independent in politics, and is a member and for the last three years has been an elder of the Westfield Presbyterian church. His paper is a folio, 30 by 44 inches in size, has a circulation of one thousand copies and is a reliable weekly; crisp, attractive and interesting.

The Westfield Republican, as its name implies, has always been and is republican in politics. It has always been aggressively republican, and has never been neglectful of the interests of Westfield or Chautauqua county. It has been so edited and conducted by Mr. Thompson as to command attention and respect from his political opponents, as well as to win support and advocates within his own party. He has succeeded in giving his county a clean and newsy sheet while establishing a fearless and successful organ in the interests of the party of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield.