searching for other Westphal's
Hello fellow Westphal researchers. My line of Westphal's goes back to John F. Westphal b. 1844 in Mecklenberg and his brother Fred Westfall b. 1842 in Hamburg. They are buried in the same cemetery just feet apart from each other with thier families. Thier parents were Joe and Sophia Westphal. When I seen the surname spelled different then Westphal I had to look up death records for both and indeed they had the same parents. According to the 1870 Michigan census both John and Fred settled in St. Joseph Co., Michigan, however in the 1880 Michigan census the brothers had moved to the next county to the west (Cass Co., Michigan). They stayed there until they died, Fred in 1908, and John in 1914. According to a obit for John it said he left 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I have yet to find these 4 siblings. I believe the only ones that may have known about the siblings to John and Fred would have either been Fred's widow (Mary or Marie)or John's stepson Charles. John's wife Henrietta had already passed away back in 1906. They would have been the eldest survivors at that time. I am guessing that the parents to John and Fred would have been born somewhere around 1820-1825. Both John and Fred came to Michigan in the early 1870's. At the time they came here Fred would have said Prussia because he came to Michigan in 1870, whereas John in 1874, would have said Germany, because Germany did not exist until 1871. Can anyone else link thier lines back to a Joe and Sophie or Sophia (the parents of Fred and John)?