A court stenographer in southwest Germany, Wegefarth traveled over 300 miles on foot through winter snow to stowaway on a ship bound for the United States.
[1] Arriving in Baltimore, he traveled by foot to Pittsburgh, where he took a job as a clerk in a dry goods store.
[1] Twice a widower, with six sons by his first two marriages, Wegefarth married Mary Elizabeth MacArthur in 1867.
[1] The couple settled in Baltimore and had seven children: Sons Arthur, George, Paul, Harry, and Charles; and daughters Emma and Ellen.
[1] Charles drowned in the late 1890s, while Arthur, Paul, and Harry all relocated to San Diego between 1910 and 1915 to open medical practices.