Jane E. Westfall was the fourth child of Elizabeth Clark and John Westfall of Milford, Pike County, Pennsylvania. Jane is listed in her son’s biography as being born in 1820 but the 1900 US census list date of Birth as Feb. 1826 and her death record in Milford 1901 lists her age as 75, also making her birth year 1826.
Jane was one of seven children known to have been born to John & Elizabeth Westfall. From family letters, many written by Jane to her oldest son (John) , we know of the various family members locations or activities when the letters were posted. They are great clues about where to look for these family members.
Jane tells her son in one letter that they had not heard from Gabriel and Maria (one of Jane’s brothers and a sister) since their arrival in San Francisco. An earlier letter had spoken of Gabriel going down to Washington to enlist in the Army as a Chaplin. These little snippets have been a great aid in finding family members.
Jane E. Westfall marries William Lyle Dougherty prior to 1842. They had five boys, John, Clark, William , Solomon, and Alva. I Reported on W.L. Dougherty in my blog posting “My Brick Wall”, earlier. After William drops out of the picture we find Jane married to Fernando Chamberlin still in Pike County, Pennsylvania, with Warren (son of Fernando from a previous marriage?) and Malvina, Jane and Fernando’s daughter.
In a letter that John L. ( Jane’s eldest son) wrote to his mother, he asks if the boys are calling Chamberlin, father, yet. We can assume that would be the younger boys Solomon and Alva. Her other two boys Clark and William have by this time joined the war, Clark the Confederate and William the Union.
Jane’s second husband in the 1880 census is shown as 56 years old. With out the 1890 census it is harder to determine when Fernando dies, but the 1900 US Census finds Jane living with her step-son Warren and daughter Malvina.
Also from the 1900 census it only shows 4 children born to Jane and only 3 still living. We know that Alva did not die until 1932, John L. died in 1924, Clark died in 1920, Malvina dies in 1946. Solomon and William are unaccounted for after the 1870’s. That still does not add up to the report in the census, another error?
The last and final piece for Jane E. Westfall shows the death record for Lackawaxen, Pike Co., Pennsylvania. It shows her place of internment Rowland. In 1993 we visited the area and saw where she was buried alongside her daughter Malvina.
