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| - The West family's earliest origins come from Robert West, who was a slave that lived in Georgia. Robert's life was undocumented, but it is known that he had three sons two of which who died from abuse and poverty. Darrell West, the only son of Robert West who lived, lived during the American Civil War and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. He had eight children, five daughters and three sons. Darius West was the eldest of his sons, and grew up in rural poverty. Faced with unbelievable living conditions and extreme discrimination, Darius decided to leave to another more tolerant country when he acquired to funds to do so. The ambitious young man worked in Atlanta until 1901, when he was 22 years old and able to leave the country. Darius moved to San Francisco in 1902, where he work
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| abstract
| - The West family's earliest origins come from Robert West, who was a slave that lived in Georgia. Robert's life was undocumented, but it is known that he had three sons two of which who died from abuse and poverty. Darrell West, the only son of Robert West who lived, lived during the American Civil War and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. He had eight children, five daughters and three sons. Darius West was the eldest of his sons, and grew up in rural poverty. Faced with unbelievable living conditions and extreme discrimination, Darius decided to leave to another more tolerant country when he acquired to funds to do so. The ambitious young man worked in Atlanta until 1901, when he was 22 years old and able to leave the country. Darius moved to San Francisco in 1902, where he worked for a few more months before immigrating to Lovia in late 1902. Faced with a harsh winter, Darius moved to Stephen Headland which still had a warm climate even in the winter. He purchased a parcel of land along the Bonney River and began farming coffee in a plantation style. After five years of work, he incorporated his small farm as the Charleston West Company. Darius' exploits became highly profitable as he was the only person in the nation selling coffee in a commercial manor. Darius married Jasmine West in 1914, officially forming the West family in Lovia. After years of increased profit and the acquirement of the Stevenson Shipping Company, the site of West Manor came into the ownership of Darius. After several more years of work, the owned locations of the Charleston and Port Company were maximized. Darius began the construction of a large Manor Home now known as West Manor in 1923, and construction was completed in 1934. The West family continued to grow, but Darius West died in 1946 at the age of 67. 31 year old Marcus West was selected as the new family patriarch, and inherited the primary assets of the Charleston and Port Company and all assets of the West family. With his family growing in size, Marcus built two homes at the Manor and also purchased a Warehouse at 4 Bridge Street in Charleston. The stable growth of the company's profits was brought to a screeching halt in 1954, when a large drought hit Stephen Headland. From 1954 to 1973, the family lived a life of tight budgeting which most members found unfamiliar. After the budget stabilized in 1975, the West family began to live less ostentatiously than they had before, and donated large portions of their future profits to local parks and schools, and St. Benedict's Baptist Church. By 1986, the Wests were referred to by the locals as the "Saints of Stephen Headland", a title which prompted them to adopt a fleur-de-lis and compass based Coat of Arms as their family crest. In 1998, Ella Estelle West was chosen as the first female family matriarch after her father died of pancreatic cancer at the extremely old age of 83. The family was not affected that much by the Lovian Civil War, but some members of the family suggested forming a group that would promote the statehood of Stephen Headland. Ella Estelle denied the movement, as she did not want her family to become titled as rebels.
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