Westfall
/ Belt of Moundville
The George Westfall family bought the Wray property southeast
of Moundville in 1884. The family included George's wife, Lee, their
small children, her mother, Mrs. Josephine Belt and two nieces. The
Westfall home burned in late 1884 and Mrs. Belt perished in the
blaze.
Nate
Maas descends from this line and wrote:
Lee married George W. Westfall, 6 Oct 1881
in Henry County. This is the family that had the house fire. George
was the son of John D. Westfall and Minerva Green. The Westfalls were
from western Virginia (now West Virginia). The Westfalls had moved to
Iowa and after the Civil War to Henry County. John Westfall was a
Union veteran. John suffered from complications of illnesses he
contracted during the war. A doctor from Henry County recommended he
go camping out West for his health. He accidentally shot himself in
Wyoming Territory in 1877 while on this camping
trip.
George was living with his mother in
Clinton, Henry Co., when he met Lee Belt. His other siblings had
moved away at this time. I believe George and Lee's first daughter
was born in Montrose, Henry Co., in 1882, so everything fits about
their move to Vernon in 1884. George was a bookkeeper by occupation.
They moved to Kansas City, Missouri, by 1889. Perhaps they left for
the city after the house fire.
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Nate continued:
I found a marriage record for
Charles A. Belt to Josephine Taylor, 31 Oct 1850 in Shelby
County, Kentucky. This Josephine was the woman who died in
the house fire in 1884. By 1860, Charles and Josephine were
in Henry County, Missouri. They had at least 5 children. The
first three were born in Kentucky, the last two in Missouri.
The third child was born in 1856 and the fourth child was
born in 1859, so we can assume that they removed to Missouri
between these dates. Josephine Taylor Belt is buried in
Stones Chapel Cemetery in Henry County. I have a death date
for her of 19 Dec 1884.
George died in 1911 and Lee passed
away in 1935. They lived the rest of their lives in Kansas
City and are buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City,
Jackson Co., Missouri. George and Lee had four children:
Josephine Levenia Westfall (my great-grandmother) who
married William A. Maas; Jessie Marian Westfall who married
George Newman; George F. Westfall (who may have been
unmarried); and Leroy Ewing Westfall - who went by Roy. Roy
married Laura Boldt in Duluth, Minnesota in
1920.
The grave marker to the right is that of Josephine
Belt in Henry County shared by Nate Maas.
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