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Welcome to the Platte Family Web Site. This site is dedicated to the many individuals who have invested years of research into the Platte family history. A large part of the information contained here is taken from the "Family History of Eberhard Platte & Theresia Baltes" by Marjory (Schmitz) Platte and Ruth A. Platte, S.L.W.. Through their dedicated research, the Platte family history and genealogy has been opened to the world. A special thank you to Kevin Everingham. Without his persistence and Internet knowledge, this site would not exist. The Platte Family web site is an on-going project. It will take many years to input all the information we have on all the members of the Platte family. Please keep in mind while looking at this web site, that I may not have reached your branch of the family in the input process. If you find that information is missing or incorrect, please let me know. After you have read the following, click the "CONTINUE" below to continue exploring the Platte family information. Roger Leach
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photos, Theresia Platte (left), Eberhard Platte (right)
First Settlers in Lyons & Westphalia, MI
An Early German Settlement
The first settlers of Lyons and Westphalia MI arrived in the port of New York October 3, 1836. They were aboard a ship called the "Leontine" which sailed from Bremen, Germany. Some of them came from Sauerland (western) Germany. Father Anton Kopp "A Priest", and Eberhard Platte's family were the first. They traveled the Erie Canal and landed in Detroit, Michigan on October, 25th.
Father Kopp and Eberhard Platte met with Father Martin Kundig of St. Mary's Parish in Detroit, and took advice to travel to the newly established land office in Ionia. The two men traveled on foot on the "Dexter Trail" which took them past towns like Ann Arbor, Dexter, Chelsea, Stockbridge, Mason, Lansing and DeWitt. They arrived at the land office in Ionia on November 4th and waited six days before purchasing 560 acres where St. Mary's Parish would be established as well as the future town of Westphalia.
Five men, - Anton Cordes, Joseph Platte, John Hanses, William Tillmann, and John Salter were waiting in Lyons for Father Kopp and Eberhard Platte. A hired trapper guided them to their land-holdings. These original seven men named the settlement "Westphalia", in memory of their German homeland. In mid November, they retrieved the rest of their family who were waiting in Detroit. In March 1838, a two room log house was completed that served as the first church. More than 300 families emigrated to Westphalia from Germany until 1923. Eberhard Platte's family settled near Lyons, MI until 1843 when he bought 45 acres in Westphalia, MI.
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