Elias Westfall was born around 1839 in Knox, New York. By 1850, he was living with his sister and brother-in-law, Susan and James Merselis, in Knox. By the early 1860s, he was working as a clerk. He enlisted in the Union army on August 9, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company E of the 7^th New York Heavy Artillery on August 18. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 9½ inches tall, with brown hair and gray eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. He was promoted to sergeant on May 1, 1865, and he mustered out on June 16, 1865.

 

Westfall settled in Albany after the war. He married an Irish immigrant named Margaret in the 1860s. He worked as a stonemason and she worked as a laborer, and by 1870, they owned $3,400 of personal property. Margaret may have died in the early 1880s, and he married Cathaline Crounse around 1882. By 1890, they were living in Guilderland, New York. He applied for a federal pension in August 1890 and eventually secured one. He died in 1917.

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