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Biography

Leah M. Faul

Main St. Cemetery Marker: C11
Born: 1850
Died: 1868

Leah Faul was one ten children of Henry and Eva Wolff Faul and one of three of their children buried in Main Street Cemetery.

Henry, a stonemason, was born in Germany and came to America when he was 14 years old. He met his wife Eva in New York and they married in 1839. By 1842 they traveled to Illinois and settled on land near Maple Avenue and Cass being one of the first families in present day Westmont. All the family helped on the farm. But, farming was not always healthy for the children. Many were bothered by the prairie air and suffered from diseases related to it. Also, babies often became ill and died for many reasons. That is what happened to daughter Martha. She died at the age of 8 months in 1856 the year Samuel Curtiss and Henry Carpenter decided to open this land for a cemetery. Baby Martha Faul was the first person to be buried here. Henry Faul was more than just a farmer as he served on the school board and was active in the Congregational Church. Sadly, they would lose another child, Leah who died in 1868. Buried next to her sister Martha, Leah was just 18 when she died also of an unknown illness. After the loss of these two daughters the family moved from the farm to a home at Washington and Curtiss Street. The home stood until around 1930 when it was removed to make way for the Downers Grove Post Office.The two Faul sisters are the only ones with headstones. Another brother Louis (1847-1863) is buried nearby.  Their parents are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Downers Grove Township west of downtown Downers Grove.

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