April 25, 2012
List
of Updates
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Announcements: |
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The
Latest West |
Announcing
Elijah Crawford Hill
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Born 14 Sep 2010
to Daniel & Amanda Hill (Kathy West) and weighing in
at 7 lbs. 8 oz. Details and photos.
Congratulations to Daniel and Amanda -
and to Grandma Kathy, too. q |
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About
this Web Page |
WestClan.info
has been created to keep family members informed
of (and possibly amused by) family news from across the
country.
If
you have something that you would like to share,
please contact Johnny
Simmons. q
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Genealogy |
The
West and Cherry family ancestry is on display in the new West
Family Genealogy pages. And, a new page that lists
several other family lines that have joined the West tree to
make us what we are, is called West
Family Ties.
See the article at right for more
information. |
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Old
Photos |
The
process of adding pictures to the Photos section of the
WestClan web pages has begun. Click the Photos
menu icon (above) to see what has been added to-date. If
you have family photos that you would like to include in the
gallery, please contact JWS.
You can also copy and print the pictures posted here - Here's
How. q
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West
Family Tree |
A
new copy of the West Family Tree has been posted to the WestClan
website. Click the Family Tree
menu icon (above) to
access the document. The tree is still incomplete, but I
have made an effort to update it with the information and
corrections that I received at the reunion.
If
you notice any errors, please let me know and I will fix them
as soon as I can.
If
you have information that will fill in some of the blanks,
please email it to me at
jws@westclan.info.
More
Information: See the Article (below) q
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The
greater West family gathered for an afternoon of food,
friendship and music on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at Petit
Jean Mountain State Park, near the scene of the old West family
homestead in Conway County, Arkansas. The descendants of
Owen West and Jane McClure arrived from across the country to renew old friendships and make new
ones. Of course, we Arkies were there in force to
celebrate with a potluck dinner that featured pulled pork and
ribs. Thanks to Sheila West Edwards and daughter Robin
Bird for putting the annual event together.
Read
More
Photos
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Recent
additions to the West Family Tree pages have brought to mind
the difficulty that we sometimes have in trying to figure out
how we are all related. We probably know who our first
cousins are and we may be able to make a pretty good guess as to
who our second cousins are (or are they first cousins once
removed?), but beyond that it can get rather confusing.
And what is this "once removed", "second
removed" stuff anyway? Does that mean someone was
kicked out of the family (maybe more than once)? Not
necessarily (although it is possible). Read this article
about Kinship
to learn more about how your family relationship can be
deciphered. q
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From
1836 through 2006 it appears that there have been at least
seven sets of twins born to West family members. This time
period spans nine generations of the West family (170 years, or
so).
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We
begin our count with D.L. West's great-great grand children,
Owen and Ethan Simmons (b.2006, the latest generation), and look
back to John William West (b.1788, D.L. West's great-great
grandfather), who produced a set of twins, John William, Jr. and
Martha Ellen (b.1836).
The
complete list can be found in the West Twins article.
Learn More
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We
have been digging around in a time capsule, of sorts, to come up
with some very interesting photographs of
West-Cherry-McElroy-Taylor ancestors. A new page has been
added to the "Old Times" section of the Photos pages,
and appropriately called the "Ancestors" page.
The new page features some of our earliest pictures of West Clan
family members.
One
photo features the seven sons of Owen West (b.1819,
g.grandfather of D.L. West, Sr.) and includes James
McDaniel West, D.L.'s grandfather. Special thanks to
West cousin Margaret Stokes Carrell for helping to locate
this rare photo.
Another
photograph appears to be D.L. West's dad - A.H. West &
mom Laura Cherry (thanks to Marilyn Burnett for finding
this one). |
The West Brothers
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And,
thanks to our anonymous cousins on the world wide web, we have
even found photos of the Asa Cherry family, John H. McElroy
(including one in civil war army uniform), and John R. Taylor
("Little Grandma" McElroy's dad!). You can find
these pictures, and more on the Photos->Old
Times->Ancestors page (just click the link at left).
If
you have photos that you would like to share with the rest of
us, please let me know - jws@westclan.info.
AND...
The West
Family Elders history page has been updated to include a
load
of new documentary information, including Family Group Record
pages for a number of the members listed on the page (others
will follow as they are developed). The Family Group
Record pages include links to original marriage and census
record images, and more.
Also,
information related to the Owen West family and their life on
Petit Jean mountain and the old cabin that they called
home, (back in 1854), has been added to the Owen West portion of
the West
Family Elders page. It's a very interesting
story. q
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One
very positive benefit of having a family genealogy web site is
that it gives us the opportunity to connect with family members
that we might not otherwise reach (or even know of).
If
you enter the right search words, the WestClan web pages will
turn up in most of the major search engines, and that serves as
a beacon -- of a sort -- to attract family who may be looking
for information about our common ancestors. As a result, I
have had a few e-mail contacts recently from some of our cousins
in the West - McElroy family tree.
The
first is from one of Uncle Ted McElroy's grandkids, Jimmy
Crowly (Ella Rae). As it turns out the Crowly family
lives nearby in the LR-NLR metro area and were able to give us
information to fill in a few of the blanks from their branch of
the family tree. Jimmy also had a question concerning
Grandpa McElroy's name.
Read More
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This family history
stuff
is hard work. And it can be frustrating, too. I can
see how people can spend years tracing their family tree because
the reach is so large and there are branches all over the place.
If it were not for the work of others who have already gone down
this path and left their findings where people like me can find
it, there would be no hope for putting together anything close
to what I think we have here. I can't prove much of this,
though, so I am taking it for granted that these other people
know what they are talking about.
Anyway,
quite
a bit of new information about our West family ancestors has
surfaced over the past few weeks.
Read More
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Members
of the D. L. West, Sr. family were reunited on May 8,
2010 at the Oak Prairie Fire Department's community room,
located on highway 11 in Prairie county, Arkansas. The
family members had not formally met for several years (some of
us are having trouble remembering just how many years), so it
seemed like a good time to get together for a little
food and fellowship..
Mealtime began at 1:00 PM with a prayer by Dwight West, son of
the late Hardy West and pastor of the Florence Street
Missionary Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, OK and immediately
followed by a meal of smoked chicken and brisket, catered by
GrandPa's BBQ of Cabot, AR.
Read
More
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A new(er) version of the West family
tree document has been posted to the "Family Tree"
page. The family chart has been helpful to some of us
who have had trouble remembering our kids names and
such. It was noted that it would also be nice to be able
to associate a face with the names, so...
Read More
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Contact
Us |
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2010
West Reunion
Photos:
(click
photos to enlarge)
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Marion
(West) Simmons and Linnie Sue (Weatherly) West |
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Kathy
(Holmes) Simmons and Gary West |
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Clay and
Dan West |
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More
2010 Reunion Photos |
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