Moses Westbrook of Dobbs County North Carolina, married Martha Allen in 1811, and with several children in tow, they migrated into Marengo County Alabama.
Their children intermarried with many of the other new settlers of their community. Moses' plantation was next to the Lipscomb plantation at one point. "The name of the county was suggested by Judge
Abner Lipscombe, and was given as a compliment to the first white settlers, expatriated French citizens and commemorative of Napoleon's great victory at Marengo over the Austrian armies on 1800 June 14. "
Moses is found on the 1850 census of Marengo which includes son James born NC and son Lewis Whitfield Westbrook born 1835 Alabama.
1850
Moses must have already been in Marengo for many years before his land was purchased in 1837
LAND DEED
The Westbrook Cemetery, on Highway 28, west of Jefferson, was in bad condition, the marble slabs broken, standing stones crumbling. Lucretia Norris and David Compton, determined to preserve these evidences of a pioneer family, enlisted the help of descendants to have the stones moved to the Jefferson cemetery and repaired. A stone was erected to Moses, and they may be seen in the south section of the cemetery.
MARENGO CEMETERIES
Sacred to the memory of Martha L., wife of Moses Westbrook. She departed this life Aug 26, A. D. 1842 in the 46 year of her life.
Robert L., son of Moses and Martha L. Westbrook who departed this life Sept. 2, A. D. 1836.
Sacred to the memory of Mary E., dau. of Moses and Martha L. Westbrook and consort of Jesse Jones who departed this life Nov. 6, A. D. 1846 in the 35th year of her life.
Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth, daughter of Moses and Martha L. Westbrook and consort of Jesse Jones. She was born Feb 23, 1827. She died May 16, 1849.
Moses Westbrook, b. May 9, 1788, died March 28, 1860.
The son-in-law of Moses Westbrook, James F. Aldridge, was born in North Carolina in 1818 and died in Marengo in 1881. He was the son of Nancy Aldridge, whose birth and death dates of 1798-1821 are recorded in the Westbrook Bible. The name of her husband has not been discovered.
Soon after putting this page together I went back into the census records and found dozens of George Grauer/ Grower listed, all with different dates of birth, so I started looking for brothers of George and came up with John Grower of Germany and a Thomas Grier who may fit into the picture. It is possible that a group of brothers born just before and after 1800 settled in Alabama, and named sons John and George and William, but all of their grandsons did the same thing, and this can really ruffle the feathers of a genealogist.
It would be great to know how he got to Alabama, through Mobile Bay or Florida, his actual port of origination.
Then I tried to trace the daughter of George and Sophia Porter Grauer, named Elizabeth who married James Westbrook, a son of Martha Allen and Moses Westbrook. Apparently she was divorced very young and pregnant with George, while baby William was listed on the census. She lived with her parents until buying her own farm in 1860. Then I found two Elizabeth Westbrooks in 1870 with sons named George < holy cow! >
Both in Marengo County! But I do believe the other was Elizabeth Killingsworth, wife of John Westbrook, who was another son of Moses. Seems like John was married twice and served in the Civil War.
I find ours has remarried to a Mr. Lawson, apparently widowed himself, and he took in her mother Sophia. His former father in law John Stone is in the household and his daughter who must be widowed as well, with children. Also Mary Braswell Glass remarried to Lee and is listed on the same census page as Mrs. Lee, living next to the Braswells.
My missing James Westbrook is found with a second wife, Johanna, on the next census and they name a son Osceola, but then James vanishes again and I can only wonder if he married a third time or died in the Civil War.
James also had a brother named Allen who became a physician, married twice and moved his family to Mississippi - one of his wives was Jerisha McIntosh, but she has not yet been traced to the Creek Tribe but there is a possibility she connects to the McIntosh families of the Creek Nation.
At this point we should think about the Civil War and the many losses suffered by our Alabama Families. Ah another stone to unturn.
Now I am not sure if the Westbrook men served in the American Revolution but I traced this line back to Moses Westbrook born in the 1700s North Carolina and has nine children in his household. Then in 1820 a Moses is listed as Lowndes County Mississippi - 1830 Alabama - and the mystery begins. The census images could be posted in the wrong state. Moses has a son named Moses and possibly all of the sons have a child named Moses, so which one actually fits into this lineage...
If they really went into Mississippi Territory in 1820, keep in mind that this was Choctaw Nation, so were they Indian Traders or possibly married to Indian women; then there are some Westbrooks later listed living in Oklahoma's Indian Territory so there are many possibilities.
Digging a little deeper into census records and land records, I found another Moses Westbrook in Fayette Georgia in 1830, but we still do not know which one was on his way into Marengo County Alabama.
Finally a land record for Moses in Marengo in 1837!!!
1837 Moses - The land record states "Moses of Marengo County" - it does not state Moses of Mississippi or Moses of Georgia. He is already a resident and we do not know what date he actually arrived.
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Then the mother of Elizabeth Grauer Westbrook, Sophia Porter, was born in North Carolina and while we find her father was Mark Porter, we have no clue about her mother born in the 1700s North Carolina and so far nothing is known about the Porter family.
Some of these families were buying farms in Alabama in the 1820s and 1830s and had very large plantations with slaves to work the farm.
The history of Alabama indicates that the land was filled with several tribes of indians and wild beasts, so life was hard, but the friendly indians welcomed the new settlers and helped to work the farms, and often intermarried with the settlers and slaves in the 1800s.
When the slaves were freed they took on the name of their owners, like Westbrook, so the colors show up in our research like Mulatto, German, Native American, etc.
A new finding is 1754 North Carolina Militia listing a Richard Westbrook.
The folder at the bottom of this page will contain most of the important documents for this lineage.
However there is a big OOOOPS
on ancestry.com, I have found only one page in the 1840 census of Marengo County - somebody erroneously placed our families in Macon County
Moses Westbrook 1790 Dobbs County, North Carolina -Surely this is our Grandfather!!
Counties are forming so it is
doubtful that he moved -maybe the county line was moved - parts of some counties were used to form new counties - much of North Carolina still belonged to the Cherokee Nation and the east coast is where we find these settlements -
need to research this area in North Carolina history.
Moses has nine children
and six slaves and is the only Westbrook in this county at this time - see
second column.
Moses has 21 slaves and son Charles resides next to him on this
census of Lenoir County 1800
1810 Moses next to Charles - are we still looking at father and son
or are they brothers at this point and father deceased.
1840 Lowndes County
now there are 3 Moses, one is very young and a son of one of the
children. This page has elder Moses F. Westbrook next to James' home,
and Moses has seven children. While there must be some connection, I do not believe this is our family.
previous page in Lowndes County are Samuel, Charles and Moses all
about the same age group.
Moses in 1850 Marengo County is 61 with son James age 27 and
Lewis Whitfield Westbrook ( Lewis moved to TN )
Marengo County next to Moses is John Grower from
Germany
George Grauer's daughter, Elizabeth Westbrook Lawson with sons Wm
and George next to Mary Braswell Glass Lee in 1870 and Elizabeth's mother Sophia
Grower.
So who does this Elizabeth Westbrook belong to? Her sons are also
Wm and George !!! Surely this could be Elizabeth Killingsworth, the wife of John, so did John also divorce a young woman with children and remarry? Yes he married Susan Hamilton and had another child.
William Grauer on page next to Sophia, has son named William and an
infant with no name yet.
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