Westover Family Tree Back to the Year 985

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How does 31 generations sound to you? Awesome, huh?

About a year a half ago I was thrilled to visit Family Search one day to see our paternal Westover line magically extended another 500 years and terminate with the name Siegfried De Sponheim, who was born in 985.

That name was added by Family Search, which means they had actual records from that time and place to stick the name on our line.

That makes it legit, right?

Well, it turns out old Siegfried was just the latest name in the Leiningen family, part of ancient German nobility. They ruled certain areas of Europe until they were annexed by the French Republic in 1793.

How did De Sponheim and Leiningen become “Westover”?

As with many royal families, names were derived from lands they owned and impressive homes they lived in. The Leiningens had family and lands from all over but deep in Bavaria lies a town – and a castle – called Westerburg.

Family Search lists 400 plus years of their history as Count after Count came and went as the wars and generations and diseases of Europe did their thing over time. Most of the names you see in this line are, like Siegfried list above, verified by Family Search.

The line continues all the way to the year 1453 with the name Reinhard I (IV) Count of Leiningen Westerburg.

Now we learn the hard lessons of Family Search.

Reinhard I has two wives. Both appear to be legit and documented.

But Reinhard’s children come from three mothers – not two. We don’t know who the third wife is – if she was a wife – but we do know the name of the child that came of this union.

His name is Robert Westover.

Robert Westover was born in 1480 in Somerset, England.

How do we know this? Family Search lists the source of this information from a GEDCOM file uploaded to Family Search in 2016. We know who loaded the file…but we have no other sources of who Robert Westover is. (Yes, I’m trying to contact the file owner).

So what does this mean? Are we of a royal German line or not? Is there or is there not a castle? More importantly, is there a hidden, royal inheritance that has gone unclaimed the past 500 years or so? I just want to help.

Well, until we can proved definitively that Robert Westover was the son of Reinhard, all this is pure fantasy.

We know that John Westover, Sr. of Somerset county England did exist – and we know we are descended of him.

But that is where the “proof” ends for the Westover line.

So how and why does Family Search allow for the extension of the family tree another 500 years with these key links missing?

The answer lies in the fact that overall our tree extends beyond 500 years.

You see, the Church has a policy that we can do temple work for our family for only the last 500 years. Anything beyond that would take one very extraordinary exception.

It is a good policy.

First of all, 500 years of human history is already a chunk of work to do. Billions and Billions of names have come and gone to the earth in that time span. Family Search hasn’t even scratched the surface – just around 6 billion names from the past 500 years are available on Family Search.

We just need to get those sorted out and the temple work done for them before we move on.

But more importantly there is something really difficult in proving lineage past that 500 year mark. Unless your family WAS royalty the chances of finding them are exceedingly small.

So while the names past John Westover Sr on our tree on Family Search are suspect at best, Family Search is letting them stay there because at the point they fall in history we can do nothing with anyway.

But there is another reason they stay: it’s to spur further research.

Family Search indexed the Westerburg area of Germany several years ago – and they want connections made to it. The Westover line is literally one or two names away from connection to that proven line.

They want us finding out – one way or the other – if the records of southwest England can indeed tap us into the Leiningen family line. They think it is highly probable.

What if you sign in to Family Search and you don’t see this connection? Maybe the names listed on your tree are slightly different than mine. Maybe a merge needs to be made.

I’ll be glad to supply what information I have to anyone who wants it.

Robert Westover

John Alden

Longfellow’s Family Story is Our Family Legend

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The “Albert Smith Project”, as I’ve come to call it, has yielded so much interesting information there is just no way to include it all in the upcoming video.

Some of it is so compelling that I still feel a need to share it – including this story here.

Father Smith, as the citizens of Manti came to know him, was of the same generation and age as Electa Westover. He connects into the Westover line through the marriage of his granddaughter, Mary Ann Smith, to Arnold Westover in 1914.

In advance of the building of the Manti Temple Albert Smith paid a genealogist to find the names of his ancestors. This was way back in 1878, right around the time plans for a temple in Manti were announced.

It took years but when the names finally arrived Albert was pleased. The first was a batch of 400 names. Over the years as the dedication of the temple approached in 1888 Albert would eventually take more than 1400 ancestor names to the temple.

Albert was thrilled to learn of his heritage – especially now that he could recount it directly back to the Mayflower.

I can now count 11 direct ancestors on my family tree who were on the Mayflower. Among them are my 9th great-grandparents, John and Priscilla Alden – ancestors we share directly with Albert Smith.

Living in the relative isolated wilderness of Manti there is no doubting the need Albert had to pay someone to travel east to learn his genealogy in the late 19th century. He simply would not have had any way to locally do that research.

But he recognized right away the name of John Alden.

How could that be?

Perhaps it was through the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a popular American poet of Albert’s time.

Longfellow is still known to many for his great works, including the touching story of the beloved hymn, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, based on his poem “Christmas Bells”. His poems sometimes told great stories, including Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha.

Longfellow is also a direct descendent of John and Priscilla Alden. In fact, one of his most beloved works was based upon an old family story featuring the romance of John and Priscilla Alden. It is called The Courtship of Miles Standish, written in 1858.

Historians to this day debate whether the story told by Longfellow of his grandparents is fact or fiction. Another descendant of the John Alden, Timothy Alden, first told the story of the Pilgrim love triangle in his book American Epitaphs in 1814.

The story would become famous with Longfellow’s “epic poem” of the tale, a story he loved and struggled with for more than two years to write.

After it was published, Longfellow famously said of the story in 1858 “…it is always disagreeable when the glow of composition is over, to criticize what one has been in love with…”

In the poem, Plymouth’s military leader, Myles Standish, asks John Alden to court Priscilla Mullins on his behalf. This causes John to be torn between faithfulness to his “captain” and the longings of his own heart.

Of course, as the tale is skillfully woven, John and Priscilla fall in love and the dilemma reaches a climax as Priscilla famously mused, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”

Longfellow’s attempt to balance a romanticized view of Puritan values and culture with an epic exaggeration of Standish’s heroism and exploits captured the imagination of American readers in the 19th century and made household names of John and Priscilla.

It is interesting to note the cultural impact the story would have on American history.

Longfellow’s poem came just a few years after the discovery of William Bradford’s written history of Plymouth Colony in 1854.

The poem was released just in advance of the Civil War, a time when holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving were just gaining a foothold in American cultural tradition as national observances.

Bradford’s history, coupled with Longfellow’s The Courtship of Miles Standish, advanced the recognition of Thanksgiving as a national holiday, although it had been celebrated in New England since the mid-1600s.

So popular was the poem in the 1860s, after Lincoln’s recognition of a national day of Thanksgiving, it became a fad of sorts to lay claim to pilgrim ancestry.

Northerners in particular — Yankees like Albert Smith — were thrilled to celebrate national history that was not centered in Virginia and as the nation recovered from the war their Victorian sensibilities were enamored with the Puritan ideals of moral rectitude, fair mindedness and hard work.

To claim an ancestor on the Mayflower somehow made one more American.

Albert Smith’s mother was an Alden – but that fact was never once mentioned by Albert as anything important until the 1880s – when it was perhaps more culturally relevant.

Whether the love story of John and Priscilla is true or not matters little now. Without them, without Longfellow, we have a little less known about America, about life as pilgrims and about all we celebrate at Thanksgiving.

I believe I will hold in reserve now the telling of this story – and the reading of The Courtship of Miles Standish – as a new Thanksgiving tradition in my home.

It is, after all, all about family.

Kim Westover

Great Beards in Family History

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Facial hair is not prolific in our family lines.

It may be all the missionaries and school teachers we have had over the years or perhaps it just that the manly art of beards and mustaches just isn’t in our gene pool.

But on a recent perusal of the gallery feature at FamilySearch.org I began to notice not only that we DO have some beards we actually have some EPIC beards — you know, hall of fame stuff — when it comes to facial hair.

Take, for example, this very modern-looking beard from William Rowe:

William Rowe

William is the father of Ruth Althea Rowe. He was a member of the Mormon Battalion as well as one of the founding fathers of the town of Mendon, Utah. He had a huge influence on William Westover and it appears he kept his beard for the majority of his adult life. It is not known when this photo was taken but I suspect it dates from about the 1860s.

So many of these pictures feature older men with beards. Not this one. Here is Uncle Loris, from about 1943, with a young man’s beard for sure. He is in uniform here so I think there is a story to this image and this beard that maybe someone out there knows:

Loris Westover

The first of the Riggs family to join the Church was William Sears Riggs. He too sported a beard most of his adult life but this later-in-life image is my favorite his epic beard:

William Sears Riggs

He was one of many who headed west for the gold fields in California, but he came west with an LDS wagon train in 1850. He was convinced to wait the winter months out in Utah before pressing on to the gold mines. He ended up staying, joining the Church and raising a family in Utah.

His story isn’t quite as dramatic as the story of Samuel Barnhurst (told in this post). Here is Samuel and his fine beard from about 1870:

Samuel Barnhurst

Samuel, of course, is father of Priscilla Barnhurst, who is the mother of the man sporting this more subtle beard:

Will Riggs

This is my great-grandpa Riggs and I know many who just love this picture of him. The hat always gets the first comment but honestly the mustache and the soul-patch on his chin just complete the look altogether. This is one of those pictures I would love to know the story behind. When was it taken, what’s up with that hat and why didn’t he keep the trendy facial hair?

Next up and sporting the under-the-chin beard variety is the very famous, Horace Roberts:

Horace Roberts

Horace Roberts learned the art of pottery and dish making from his father — in Illinois. When he joined the Church he was asked by the Prophet Joseph to open a pottery shop in Nauvoo, and he did. Later Brigham asked him to do the same in Provo. Due to his craft he was a very well known individual. He was also father to Jane Cecelia Roberts, who was a wife to this guy:

James C. Snow

James Chauncey Snow was a son of Garner Snow, who you’ve read about here on WFH, who joined the Church in 1833. James would have a prolific career in the Church, serving as a missionary and later in several leadership positions. He was also involved in local and state politics. When he died he was buried in Manti, which just happens to be the home of this man:

Albert Smith

Rockin’ the Amish style beard is Albert Smith, whose story will be told soon in an upcoming video. Albert too was a member of the Mormon Battalion and later a founder of the city of Manti, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was there so long and was so beloved in that community that for decades it seemed “Father Smith” spoke at every civic 4th of July and Pioneer Day celebration in Manti.

Rounding out our review of epic beards is a turn to the 21st century and my cousin, Kim Westover.

Kim Westover

This epic shot of this iconic beard reminds many of Hemingway and while I get that what I really see is a man with profound love for family and heritage. He knows well all the men above, as well as many others, and leads the family not only with occasional facial hair but in a unifying spirit, a great disposition, and a generous nature.

I hope I haven’t left anyone out. If you have any other great beards from our family past to share, please send them in!

The Importance of Visiting

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I had a delightful phone conversation with my eldest daughter, Aubree, the other day. She had called earlier in the week and gave us the happy news that she is expecting her first child. This 2nd phone call was the first opportunity I had to talk with her alone about it all.

Aubree’s journey to this milestone has been a long and difficult one. Her righteous desire has always been to have a family of her own. But for more than a decade she dealt with disappointment as one obstacle or another stood in her way. This past year she married and, to no one’s surprise, the great news came by phone this week.

Our joy for her is complete because we have been close to her struggle. So it was just a great thing to share a few minutes with her on the phone reacting, laughing, wondering about the next several months and playing what-if when it comes to things like this baby’s gender, the possibility of twins, and, of course, just “who is this little being growing within me?”.

I want to share two parts of this conversation with Aubree. First is our discussion of possible baby names. Aubree is the kind of girl who has named her babies since she was a little girl. I’m positive she has quite a catalog of possibilities. But I was delighted to hear her rattle off some names under consideration with her husband, Ryan, that come from both sides of the family.

We discussed many of the name possibilities and the significance of remembering and honoring generations past in the families. I was delighted to hear not only names from Ryan’s family but also from my mother’s family, my father’s family, my in-laws families. In fact, if we were to somehow grade this conversation Aubree would have earned an A+ for her knowledge of beloved names from family history.

Frankly, I never knew she was listening. But not only did she know the names, she knew many of the stories as well.

As I contemplated that I came to some conclusions. First, Aubree’s mother and Aubree’s grandmother have been HUGE influences on Aubree’s knowledge of family members. Over the years as they have shared stories and tears centered on precious family members these have grown precious to Aubree, especially now as she considers a new child.

Second, it dawned on me that Aubree herself is not only an “old soul”, as I like to sometimes call her, she also long ago mastered the art of “visiting”.

“Visiting” is what happens when large family gatherings settle down from whatever brought them together. Whether it is a holiday or a funeral or whatever — when the main event is over there are two things you can count on: food, and “visiting”.

For many of the younger members of the family this is a cue to exit to play with the cousins. And there is great value in that time too. But for me when I was a kid — and I noticed this with Aubree as well — hanging out for the visiting was where it was at.

As a child, you’re not much of an active participant as a visitor. At least I always felt that way. There was no way I could keep up with the banter. But there were a number of things I enjoyed about it. I loved the storytelling. I loved the laughter.

I especially loved the way it made me see other people. I can recall a time when visiting was going on when my mother called her father “Dad”. It was a simple thing. I was quite young but I connected the dots in that moment to realize Mom had a Dad. Sounds dumb, but all kinds of lights go on when “visiting” happens.

I remember really enjoying my Grandma when visiting would happen because it caused her to rise above her Grandma-ness to me. In that context, she was not only Grandma but also sister or mother or wife or daughter — depending upon the context of the stories being told. Visiting was an expansive experience. It caused relationships to expand and perceptions to refine because visiting changed facts and shook foundations.

It was always good, too.

For example, when I was little I had not spent much time around my uncle Darrell. In fact, I can recall being a bit scared of him as a 5 year old. Years later, when my little sister was just a baby, I saw Uncle Darrell as we were visiting after a wedding. He was holding my little sister on his lap when a little love affair broke out between the two of them. She grabbed his heart and shed a whole new light on my Uncle Darrell, to me. He smiled, he laughed, he told stories as he visited and listened.

Aubree has always been a great visitor. And she has always connected well with older members of the family. How very grateful I am for that as a new generation is about to join us.

Now, the other thing I wanted to share about this conversation with Aubree has to do with my mother.

Mom will have been gone three years come this next April. I have only felt closer to her since that time.

In fact, with every holiday like Christmas this past week I think of Mom and that usually results in dreams about her. I had one dream of her on Christmas this year that was so significant that I told my wife about it.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to hear Aubree tell me over the phone of a dream she had of my mother this week, too — a dream very similar to mine in terms of how mother looked and how happy she appeared to be — but it was a dream for Aubree that was much more specific.

Mother told Aubree in her dream how much she loved her and how happy and proud she was of her. She seemed to be aware of the changes in Aubree’s life this past year.

Mom was always aware of Aubree’s struggles. I know Mom and Aubree talked about the situation from time to time when “visiting”. But I too would confide in my Mom as I shared with her the parental pain and challenge of Aubree’s struggle and how we could help her. Mom knew.

So there is no doubt in my mind that Mom knows probably more about this situation now than we realize. It is entirely within the realm of possibility, in my mind at least, that Mom knows this new great-grandchild, too. I’m not sure how doctrinally sound that is but I’m convinced those family connections flow both ways, past and future.

In any case, it’s thrilling. To know there is a new child coming to the family, another in a new generation, gives me even more context in family history work. Knowing our past and appreciating them goes a long, long way I think in helping these new little strangers who join us.

They are part of all of us.

I cannot wait to meet this child. I cannot wait to be one this child hears speaking when it comes time to visit. I am anxious to do my part and share what a wonderful heritage it is we have together — on every side.

Maurine Westover, Topaz 1943

A Gift That Keeps Giving

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It has been a tough year for me with family history. Life and circumstance have kept me far from my goals. Much of the feeling of accomplishment I have experienced this year has come more from enjoying the successes of others. I have felt bad about that, almost as if I’m letting so many others down.

But as the months have turned I’ve been tempered in those feelings. The work of family history is not a race (yet) and it will forever be something that just needs work and love and time and attention.

Sometimes you seek out family history, and at other times it seeks you out.

That has been my blessing in so many ways this year.

Dad has asked me, and it has been our tradition here, to share Grandma’s Christmas talk where she tells the story of a Christmas she spent as a schoolteacher in Topaz, Utah.

Here again is that video. I want you to watch it again, paying particular attention to her telling the story of Topaz. Then press on to read the rest of the story from just this year:

More than 20 years ago I wrote a story for one of my websites, MyMerryChristmas.com — it was the story Grandma tells in the video, or at least my best recollection of it.

It is a significant thing to me because I did not have access to the video above when I wrote the story.

I knew Dad had the video and I knew it was archived somewhere but I had not seen it in years and I wrote the story based on a long ago memory.

What I may not have recognized then, in those infant days of the Internet, was that story would be copied and used on other websites, most often without my knowledge or permission.

That is where a woman by the name of Amy Denison saw the story.

Here it is years later and she looked me up on Facebook and sent this message, asking if I was the same Jeff Westover who authored the story:

The reason I am asking is because my mom, June Takiuchi Middo, was in Topaz during the war. She was 8 years old when her family was interned. She always spoke highly of her “Mormon school teacher” who started a brownie troop for the girls. If Maurine Westover was your relative, could you please message me back. I have a photo of Mrs. Westover’s class (which includes my mom) that I would love to share with you.

Of course, I was thrilled to receive her message.

I eagerly replied, affirming indeed that Maurine Westover is my grandmother, sending her a link to Grandma’s video sharing her Topaz Christmas experience, just so she could see Grandma’s countenance and share in her spirit.

She wrote back: My mom and her parents always spoke so highly of the LDS Church. They were very accepting when, 30 years ago, I took the missionary discussions and got baptized. The Church has been such a blessing in my life! My husband and I were sealed in the LA Temple 27 years ago. We have 3 children, two who have served missions, and our youngest son is preparing to serve a mission too. I know that your grandma, because she showed such love for the Japanese people, was planting seeds of faith that eventually led to my joining the Church.

Having a shared background in the Church I’m sure Sister Denison knew the thrill was providing for me — and now for you.

There are so many lessons from this.

Her mother is still living, although she is quite elderly and suffers from advanced dementia.

Nevertheless, she shared a photo with me of her mother watching Grandma’s video and seeing herself in the photo, too.

The Topaz years were a relatively short chapter in the lives of my grandparents. But those war years were so life changing for everyone of those generations and I cannot help but wonder the fuller story of Amy’s grandparents and all they endured.

It is quite something to consider how time and circumstance threw people together then — and that those experiences still share space today.

Amy was also kind enough to share this photo of her mother with her parents, also taken while they were in Topaz:

As I create a record of this blessed family history moment from 2017 I cannot help but ponder a bit the words of Clarence, from It’s A Wonderful Life, to George Bailey — “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives.”

As I get older, I feel a bit frozen in time with Grandma. I was so very fortunate to know her when I was a child and as an adult. But in my mind she’s exactly as you see her in the video above. Time has changed nothing about her.

I’m sure, wherever Grandma is, she remembers June Takiuchi Middo as the 8 year old child she is in the pictures, even though June is 84 years old today. Time and age make us all so temporary.

But love is permanent. There is no doubt, in my heart, that in a coming day there will be no age difference between Grandma and June when they reunite. There will be only love, because that was what was there so long ago.

What powerful lessons these are. I cannot imagine some 70+ years from now anyone contacting one of my grandchildren to share something about me. But if that by chance happens I can only hope that love would be my legacy, too, just as it has been for Grandma.

May God bless Amy Denison and her family. They have given me a most precious gift this year, one I will never forget.