Timeline of Westover Family History
The Westover family story begins long before what is listed below. But from the year 1500 forward we have worked to discover as much detail as we can. Below is our Patriarchal timeline for the past 500 years. Within it are layers of stories of thousands of individuals we are trying to document. This is where it begins.
1501
Westover’s in England
John Westover II was born around the year 1501 and was a country farmer. John and his wife Alicia had five children that we know about — 2 boys and 3 girls.
The Westover’s Come to the New World
Gabriel Westover Jr. and his wife Joanne Gifford had at least seven children. They lived at what would be considered center stage for the clashes between the Crown and the Puritans over the role of the Church of England and, specifically, of King Charles II. This Westover family, as with many other staunch Puritan families, relocated for a period of time to the Netherlands to escape the King’s tyranny. It was while they were living in the Netherlands that Gabriel and Joanne made the fateful decision to send at least two of their children to the New World.
1618
1637
Puritans of Connecticut
From the Netherlands the Westover’s began a migration westward.
However, they could not afford to all go at one time so it was decided that Jane Westover would be the first of the family to set foot in the New World. She was just 16 years old when she arrived. A short time later, at around the age of 11, her little brother Jonah Westover arrive in the New World (1639).
He would live a long life, establishing the family homestead on what would come to be known as Westover Plain near Simsbury, Connecticut. Jonah, or Jonas, as some records call him, married Hannah Griswold, daughter of an influential man and neighbor, Edward Griswold. Jonah Jr., as a first generation American, would likewise make an impact on the New World and on Westover family history.
Connecticut to Massachusetts
Jonah and Hannah would bring ten Westover children into the New World, three sons and seven daughters.
Their eldest son Jonah Jr would in time carry forward the Westover name. That did look doubtful for a time. He was Captain Jonah Westover, leader of the local militia and very busy defending the settlement.
The area surrounding Simsbury was active with Indian uprisings requiring a constant military presence. Jonah Jr. remained unmarried until the ripe age of 36, when he married Abigail Case, daughter of another local prominent family. They would bring five children into the world, two girls and three boys.
But something happened in 1714. Within a five week period beginning in early May the family lost matriarch Hannah Westover, followed then by Abigail Westover and then suddenly Jonah Jr. died. This left the children of Jonah Jr. and Abigail Westover orphans — without even grandparents around.
Uncle Jonathan Westover, Jonah Jr’s brother and also an unmarried militia captain, stepped up to care for the children. He moved the family to a new frontier in Sheffield, Massachusetts, where the sons of Jonah Jr. and Abigail Westover would make their own mark on Westover Family History. This story is just the beginning of a long line of Westover brothers taking care of each other.
1664
1714
Sheffield
The three youngest children of Jonah Jr. and Abigail Westover — Nathaniel, Jonah and John — would grow up and raise their families in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Each would leave their mark on the community. Nathaniel was a local innkeeper, who even to this day is portrayed in community events as a founding father in the community. Jonah Westover III built a home (pictured above) with his brother John Westover (from whom we descend) and together they raised their considerably large families together.
John Westover was well known in the community due to his service as clerk of the local Church of England. He and his wife Rachel would raise a family of 12 children, including seven sons. These seven sons with Biblical names would scatter following the American Revolution, spreading the Westover name through out North America.
New Frontiers
The many sons of John and Rachel Westover of Massachusetts practically fled their colonial hometown of Sheffield. Though most of them fought along side their colonial neighbors against England they were not safe any more in Sheffield because the family were known loyalists.
Sons Moses and John fled for Canada. Job’s descendants headed for Missouri. Others ended up in Pennsylvania and New York.
Youngest son Amos Westover, along with his wife Ruth, wandered first into Canada, then Vermont and over a course of several years finally found their way to the Ohio valley. There they hoped their branch of the Westover family would stay. Some did. Others pushed further west.
1787
1798
To Ohio
Amos and Ruth Westover’s son Alexander Westover was a teen when they arrived in Ohio and established the family farm.
They came to the area with friends from New England, the Obediah Beal family. Ruth died in 1821 and Amos followed a year later in 1822.
Just months later Alexander married Electa Beal and started a whole new chapter in Westover family history. Together they moved to Goshen, Ohio to stake a claim and start a family.
Their first, Edwin Ruthven, was born there in 1824. Three other sons were born until Alexander died in 1834. His passing left Electa destitute and forced her to farm out her children to other families. Little did Electa know that within another ten years the winds of fate would partner her with her son Edwin in taking the Westover name further west.
Utah Pioneers
For more than a decade Electa Westover faced a spiritual crisis. Widowed, her children in the care of others, and her own future and happiness in doubt, Electa was searching for answers. They came when her sister sent Mormon missionaries from nearly a hundred miles away.
She embraced the restored gospel and then shared it with her son Edwin. He married in 1844 and had his son, Edwin L. Westover, with his bride Sarah. But just months after little Edwin was born, Sarah died, leaving Edwin a very young widower.
Suddenly Edwin had a great deal in common with his mother and he started his own search for answers.
It was only natural that Electa would share what she had found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With both baptized they joined the Latter-day cause, joining up with others headed west from Winter Quarters. From that point forward the Westover story continued as Utah pioneers.
1824
1838
Westover Women
The pioneer experience in the American West is a story that cannot be told without the women of the Westover family.
During the Mormon Reformation of 1856 each of the Westover adults — Electa, Edwin and Charles — entered into plural marriage.
Recently arrived from Scotland was Ann Findley, just aged 17 when she pushed a handcart across the plains with her parents.
Less than six months after she arrived she was married to Edwin as his plural wife. In 13 years of marriage Ann and Edwin would have five children.
But before the last of those children was born Ann was pressed into service with her parents in Northern Utah when her brother, William, the main provider for the family, suddenly passed away.
For the rest of her life Ann would live as many women in plural marriages lived — without her husband. Edwin worked Church missions in southern Utah.
Westover’s in Rexburg
Edwin and Ann’s 2nd child and 1st son, William Ruthven Westover, was born on 29 April, 1861. Though his life was short it was a life that would impact the family for generations to come.
As a child of about 8 he became the man of the Westover house in Mendon, Utah. He would work the farm and grow into a man under the influence of his grandfather, William Findley Sr, and his future father-in-law, William Rowe. After delaying marriage for several years in order to help support his Mendon family, William and his sweetheart, Ruth Althea Rowe, were wed in March 1883 and began their adventure together.
It would take them as pioneers to the Rexburg, Idaho area where they struggled to make a claim and then to keep it. Their nine children would know hardships too but thanks to the faithfulness of their parents, William and Ruth, a wonderful legacy was born heading into the 20th century.
1861
1895
Arnold Westover Family
The sixth child of William and Ruth was born on 16 March 1895. His name is Arnold Westover.
Arnold would lose his father at the age of about seven and would be raised under the influence of older siblings, extended family and concerned neighbors. He married Mary Ann Smith at the age of 20 after learning the hard work of the farm and of construction. He would actively engaged in church callings, community service and the constant toil of building various businesses.
In 1926, with a family of six small children at home, he left for a mission in the Eastern States. Eventually his work would take him to Bremerton, Washington with the onset of World War II which would press him into service in the shipyards there while his young sons were just coming of age to serve in the military. The legacy of Arnold and Mary Ann Westover was a tight-knit family that outgrew the limits of their poverty as their children went on to college and greater achievement in the American West.
Leon Westover Family
Leon A. Westover was the first born and eldest son of Arnold and Mary Ann Smith Westover. Born on the farm in Rexburg, Leon would grow up in Rexburg, serve a mission to Norway in the 1930s, and then become the first college graduate in the Westover Family and serve a distinguished career as an educator.
He married his sweetheart, Maurine Riggs, in 1940 and began their family as the 2nd World war was underway. The Westover’s both worked as teachers in a Japanese Relocation Center in Topaz, Utah during the war then pursued job opportunities in Southern Utah, Oregon and then California where they settled to grow their family.
Leon taught high school math and science while supporting his family with 2nd and sometimes 3rd jobs on the side. He was active church affairs and in building the kingdom in Concord, California. After retirement Leon and Maurine served a full time mission at the Martin Harris farm in Palmyra, New York.
1915
1960
Kyle Westover Family
Leon and Maurine’s first born is Kyle J. Westover, Sr. The first of the baby boom generation of Westover’s, Kyle would grow up knowing extended family from Utah and Idaho to California.
He married his high school sweetheart, Cathi Begich Caldwell, in 1960 and began his family while in college. Eight long years of full time work and schooling led to a degree from Cal Berkeley in 1968. Kyle and Cathi raised their five children in Northern California before relocating to Utah in 1999.
Jeff Westover Family
Jeff Westover is the third child and second son of Kyle and Cathi Westover. Raised in California, Jeff would pursue a career that would take him from Northern California, to Idaho, and then to Utah.
Jeff married Sandy Westover in 1991 and together a family of seven children were raised.
1991