William Westfall was my maternal 2x great uncle. Born to John Westfall and Elizabeth Clark on 1 December 1818 in Unionville New York.

According to John Westfall’s obituary the family relocated to Milford in Pike county soon after he and Elizabeth married, but it must have been after William was born in 1818 while Solomon was shown as being born in Pennsylvania in 1824 Jane who was born in 1826 is listed as born in Unionville, New York in three different census’. In a summary on William Westfall after his death it was stated that his family moved to Pike County in 1834 but in the below 1830 census they are already in the county.

In the above 1830 US Census I have noted who the individuals might be. Click on the image to enlarge. In this census our William should be 12 years old, His father John should only be 36 and his mother Elizabeth should be 34.

From  John Westfall’s obituary we learned that Elizabeth died in a fire in 1839.

The 1840 US Census would have William just 22 years old.

Sometime between the 1840 Census and 1848 William marries Amelia Ann Slocum. I have not found who Amelia’s parents were. William and Amelia have their first child in January of 1848, a daughter  Christen S. Christen dies on 4 August 1848. In 1949 their son Franklin is born.

In the Census we find William (31) in his fathers household and Amelia A (24) is listed on line 28 and their son Franklin is just 10 months old. This census is done on 14 August 1850 so Franklin was most likely born in late October or early November of the previous year.

From 1851 – 1854 William served as an elected County Commissioner. 1858 – 1860 William county Treasurer.

The 1860 Census shows William (40) a farmer who was born in New Jersey. Amelia (32) born in Pennsylvania, Franklin (11), Allie (Alice?) (8), Delbert (6), Breckenridge (4) and Carrie (2).

Next is listed a John Westfall born in New Jersey who is supposedly 12 years old. Not sure who that would have been. The next person is Maria Westfall (23) and born in Pennsylvania. That is too young to be Williams sister, she would be 30. So are they a niece and nephew visiting with the family when the census was taken? Maria is too old to be a daughter of any of William’s brothers, but John could belong to any of them.

From 1864-1866 William served again as county Treasurer. In 1866 he was elected associate Judge and served a term of 5 years.

In the 1870 Census William (40) is listed as a farmer and Judge born in New Jersey value of real estate is shown as $6000 and personal property @ $2000. Amelia (44), Alice (17), Delbert (14), Breckenridge (13) and Caroline (11).

Also living in the household is John Westfall (75) who I believe is Williams father. Could the Census in 1860 also be Williams father listed as a 16 year old instead of being 65?

Breckenridge, William’s son, dies 22 June 1874 and John, Wiliam’s father dies in 1878.

In 1875 William was elected county auditor and remained in office until 1881.

In 1880 William decides to run for state representative from Pike Co. The Port Jarvis Evening Gazette

shows in the right hand column those running for elected offices in Pike County, Pennsylvania.

 

A later edition shows that William Westfall won his seat at Harrisburg when the Milford column relays the information that his opponent Carlton A. Smith of Milford has gone to Port Royal, PA. since his defeat to William Westfall. (right hand column)

The Port Jarvis Evening Gazette has been a fountain of information on my relatives in Pike County Pennsylvania. Thanks to Ancestry.com for the above digitized images.

William Westfall only served a couple of years as state representative and died while in office 22 November 1882. When my sister and I visited Pike County on our very first research trip to Pennsylvania we were delighted to find with the help of the local Historical societies much information that we had no idea about. The Westfalls had a long history in this area and they had on file  a Westfall family tree that someone had hand written and I refered to in my blog “My Brick Wall”. Also the Milford Historical Society had a copy of The Proceedings of the House of Representatives on the Occasion of the death of Hon. William Westfall (a member from the county of Pike) of Pennsylvania. Include in this publication was the Portrait at the beginning of this blog. When Madeleine and I saw this image we both said “Grandpa Dougherty” for William looks so much like our grandfather they could have both sat for that portrait. The Proceedings are too lengthy to include in this blog.

Hope you will join me in the new year as I continue to tell the stories of my ancestors. Since I started late on 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks I will continue this format for 11 more postings. Happy New Year!