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.
Then I tried to trace the daughter of George and Sophia Porter Grauer, named Elizabeth who married Westbrook. Apparently she was widowed 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! However 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 and is listed on the same census page as Mrs. Lee, living next to the Braswells.
At this point we should think about the Civil War and the many losses suffered by our Alabama Families.
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 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 later listed living in Oklahoma's Indian Territory so there are many possibilities.
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.
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.
Moses Westbrook 1790 Dobbs County - counties are forming so it is
doubtful that he moved - parts of some counties were used to form new counties -
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.
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
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 !!!
William Grauer on page next to Sophia, has son named William and an
infant with no name yet.
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