Sibling Saturday: A Westfall Thanksgiving in 1950

Photos scanned from Granny's old albums

Lawrence L. Westfall (Sr.) carving turkey for his family. Shown from his left and around the table: Gerald, Kenneth, Marie, Mabel (his wife), Donald, Richard, Thomas, David Michael. The boys who are still around that were at this gathering tell me that this was at the house on Middle Road where they lived until Lawrence's death in April of 1958.

Another shot of the turkey carving. Below you can see that while Don (who is seated in a different spot in this photo) helps himself to the mashed potatoes, Ken seems to be giving his baby brother Tom the evil eye. Maybe because Tom looks like he's trying to leave. On the other side of Ken, Gerry seems to be eager for Don to pass the potatoes.


Whoever Harry is, he was definitely invited to partake. He is sitting where Marie and Mabel were in the first photo. Maybe he was the cameraman for that shot.

 Taken either before or after the great turkey carving, Dad Westfall looks comfortable now. The large photograph on the wall behind him is of his daughter Marie. See below for information on the photo on the left.



Though it is not certain that the photo on the right was taken at the same time, it does show Mabel and Marie peeling potatoes. All the photos were scattered among different pages and even different albums.







It's uncertain if this below is Harry in more casual clothes and without glasses or someone else. Definitely the children are wearing the same clothes as when they were seated around the table. Note the photos on the wall can also be seen in the second turkey carving shot. The woman in the portrait is identified as Mabel's mother, Anna J. (Coughell) Smith. The identity of the infant in the photo on the left is unknown, but was possibly little Tommy shown here in the white shirt and suspenders on his brother's lap.


This digital image was cropped and enlarged from the photograph of Dad Westfall seated in his chair (It can also be seen behind the photo of Harry at the table.) Judging from what can be ascertained from this blurry image, I am taking a guess that it is a photograph of Lawrence's mother Margaret (Pfeffer) Westfall with her four surviving children, Bertha, Lawrence, Albert and Francis. Margaret's other two children and her husband were killed in a railroad crossing accident in 1927. The whereabouts of this photograph today is unknown. *Update: A digital copy of this photograph was recently sent to me by a descendant of Bertha's (who contacted me via this blog). Turns out, I had the identities correct.*

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