Acc'd to his autobiography, his "great grandfather was born in France of a wealthy & influential family. His father was a large land owner & held some high Government Office, but lived on his estate in the country. My great grandfather after going through the lower schools with high honors, his father expected great things for him & sent him to college, but when Lafayette come over great grandfather wanted to come with him. His father from all accounts was a very high strung, temperamental man, & most likely the son took after him, so they had a heated argument. The son went back to college, but soon after took ship & followed Lafayette over to the colonies & joined Lafayette's army. He was only 20 years old. He fought in the Revolutionary War until peace was declared. He returned to France w/ Lafayette, but his father treated him very coolly so great grandfather stayed around for awhile then took ship & came back to the states, & changed the spelling of his name from LaForce to LeFors, & settled in Old Virginia. He afterwards married there, & raised a large family there. My grandfather also married in Virginia & moved to Illinois & settled on land & raised a family. My father was born there in 1808, & married & raised his first family partly there."

"My father seemed to want to drift west & south, after good many years & that country was becoming settled up. He with his first family moved to SW MO & settled near Greenfield. There my father's first wife died leaving him with 12 children, the oldest about fifteen."

Also per cousin Rufe...his maternal grandma's name was Martha Gentry. His maternal grandpa was Isham West. He claims they had 9 kids: his mom Martha Mahala West, Dolly, Bailey, Isham, James, John, Clarinda & D "Doc" C. (If they did have 9 kids, I'm missing a daughter).

And this is where free access to the book @ Google ends.

Per family research, his parents were James Jefferson LeFors & his 2nd wife Martha Mahala West. His dad's first wife was Jeanette Jones & together they had 7 kids we know of: Sarah "Sallie" Eliza Jane McCarty, Margery Eleanor, Mary Jane Cope, John Benly, Matilda Jennetta, Molita Ann & Nancy Elizabeth Eddleman. With Martha they had 14 kids we know of: Alzada Clarinda, Dolly Arminda, James `Perry` Isham, William Jasper West, Thomas Newton, Samuel Houston, Eliza Jane `Katie` Catherine, Isaac `Ike` Hugh, Rufus Anderson, Jefferson `Jeff` Davis, Doctor Price, Joseph `Joe` Shelby, Robert `Bob` Edmon & Ida.

Rufe married Frances `Fannie` Saunders & they were the parents of Edith Mabel Westervelt Cable, Perry Nolan & Melissa Frances Robinson Bolieu