Our earliest known ancestor was James West, born in 1777 at Instow, Devon, England. On the 17th of March 1793, he married Elizabeth Gabriel. The 185l British Census shows him at 74 years of age living with his son William age 54 and his wife Elizabeth age 53. William is listed as a farm labourer.
William, born in 1797 at Instow, married Elizabeth (Betsey) Cann,born in 1798, also at Instow. They had four children, (as far as I know). Thomas, born in l821 at Westleigh and Samuel in 1831 at Instow, Maria 1838 at Instow and Henry in 1840 also at Instow.
William Henry West came to Canada in 1880 to live with his uncle William Dark in Scarborough Township. William Dark was a railway labourer and William West also went to work for the railway. On the 4th of January 1888, he married his cousin Elizabeth Ann Dark. They moved around Ontario, where ever William's job took them, finally settling in Scarboro Junction. They had ten children. Herbert Henry born in 1888, Viola May in 1889, Harold Ernest in 1891, Olive Beatrice in 1892, Louis Wilbert in 1894, Alice Maud in 1895, Oscar Creighton in 1896, Florence Mildred in 1898, Minnie Gertrude in 1901, and William Arthur Percival in 1909.
Harold Ernest West joined the army in 1918, serving overseas in France and Belgium. Upon return to Canada, he was employed by Consumer's Gas as a pipe fitter. On the 7th of December 1929 he married Nellie Iola Ogden, who was born on the 5th of November in 1908 at Uxbridge, Ontario. They made their home in Scarboro Junction with Harold's father, William Henry West.
Samuel married Ann Dark, born in 1832 in Parkham, on the 10th of August 1854 in the Wesleyan Chapel in Bideford. They had eight children, all born in Westleigh. Thomas born in 1855, William Henry on the 20th of June 1857, Bessie in 1860, Emily in 1862, Charles in 1864, John in, 1866, Alice in 1868, Elizabeth Ann 1873.