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WESTPHALS CAME FROM PRUSSIA IN 1858
Nancy J. Westphal
My husband Lyle's story begins with his great-grandparents, Gottlieb and Dorothea Frederick Westphal, who came here from the province of Brandenberg, Prussia Germany in 1858.They farmed in Section 35 of the Town of Eldorado. They had nine children. Three children stayed in Eldorado. Their farm is no longer in the family.
One of these three children was Lyles grandfather, Frank Westphal. He married Elizabeth Guell in 1900 and farmed 80 acres in Section 17. Frank and Elizabeth had three children. This land was sold and is now Riggs Marina.
Lyle's father, Wilfred, married Viola Schwertfeger in 1926 and they started farming 80 acres in Section 8. Wilfred and Viola had three sons and one daughter, all of whom still live in the Town of Eldorado.
My husband Lyle and I were married in 1964. We have three children: Angela, a librarian in Zion, Ill., and Brian and Jonathan, both farming in Eldorado.
Lyle and I and Lyle's brother, Harold, still own 80 acres of land in Section 8 and 200 acres in Sections 7 and 18. In 1987, when my son Brian was 18, he bought another farm next door in Section 7 and land in Winnebago County. In 1990, Lyle and I and Brian bought another 110 acres next to the original 80 in Section 8.
Harold, Lyle, myself, Brian and his wife Michele and their children, Marissa and Kyle and Jonathan and his wife Christina are all farming. Brian and Jonathan are the fifth generation of Westphals still farming in Eldorado Township, and our grandchildren may be the sixth.
The list of generations follows: 1st generation, Gottlieb (1826-1921) and Dorothea Frederick Westphal (1833-1907), Section 35; second generation, Frank (1869-1954) and Elizabeth Guell Westphal (1875-1960), Section 17; third generation, Wilfred (1903-1983) and Viola Schwertfeger Westphal (1905-1995), Sections 7,8 and 18; fourth generation, Harold Westphal and Lyle and Nancy Nimmer Westphal, Sections 7,8 and 18; fifth generation Brian and Michele Leichtfuss Westphal, sixth generation, Marissa and Kyle Westphal, Sections 7 and 8; and another fifth generation, Jonathan and Christina Lauber Westphal, Sections 7,8 and 18
This article was written in May of 1998 and updated in Nov. of 2004 by Nancy J. Westphal of Co. C, Eldorado.