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.

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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