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Weaver family (North Carolina)

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Weaver
Pennsylvania German: Weber
Log cabin of Frederick Weaver (1750–1839) in Piney Flats, Tennessee
CountryUnited States
Current regionWeaverville, North Carolina
Place of originDutch Republic
FounderUnknown German linen weaver and refugee from the Holy Roman Empire

The Weaver family is a locally prominent American family who founded Weaverville along Reems Creek in Buncombe County, North Carolina.[1][2][3]

Origins

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The progenitor of the family was an unknown German linen weaver, surnamed Weber, that fled from the Holy Roman Empire to the United Provinces of the Netherlands due to religious persecution, likely because he was a member of the Reformed church. He married a Dutch woman and fathered John, Frederick, and two other sons in the Netherlands.

John Weaver (1763–1830) was a German-Dutch settler, immigrant, and Revolutionary War veteran who came to the Province of Pennsylvania from the United Provinces in the 18th century with his 3 brothers. Both John and Frederick would settle in the German ethnic enclave of the Shenandoah Valley before heading further south. John would settle in the Reems Creek valley in North Carolina, where his son, Montraville Weaver (1808–1882) would found the town of Weaverville.[4][5][6][7]

Per the Family Tree DNA Weaver DNA Project, the family has the Y-DNA haplogroup J-FTC77280, originating in the Balkans.[8]

History

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Initial settlement

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1899 Weaver family reunion in Weaverville, North Carolina

John Weaver maintained friendly relations with the local Cherokee in the valley and built an Indigenous-style house, before purchasing 320 acres of land to construct a European log cabin as his family's permanent residence.[9][10]

Slavery and the Civil War

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John's son, Montraville, became a slaveholder.[11] Despite the vast majority of Germans in the Antebellum South not using slaves and many being generally opposed to the practice, there was a minority of German slaveholders located primarily in the Shenandoah Valley and other parts of the region.[12]

As a slaveholding family, many members of the Weaver family fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, such as Captain Elbert Weaver (1841–1935), who was Montraville's first son, and Private Abraham Weaver (1832–1913), who deserted in northern Georgia after his unit was slaughtered during Wheeler's October 1863 Raid. Abraham was the grandson of Frederick Weaver (1750–1839), John Weaver's brother, Revolutionary War veteran, and slaveholder in Sullivan County, Tennessee.[13][14][15]

Frederick Weaver

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Frederick Weaver (1750-1839) settled in Sullivan County, Tennessee.[16][17][18] A local church, Weaver Union Church, was named for him after he gave land for it's founding.[19][20]

On the 24th of May 1855, his widow, Catherine, went before the local court to obtain a land bounty on account of her husband's Revolutionary War service:

State of Tennessee Sullivan County: On this 24th day of May 1855, before me an acting Justice of the Peace in and for said County, personally came Catharine Weaver, aged 96 years, a resident of the said County, and made oath in due form of law that she is the widow of Frederick Weaver, deceased, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, in Captain John Pemberton's Company & in Colonel Isaac Shelby's Regiment of volunteers, as well as she can now recollect, or ascertained; that she does not now recollect, or can learn, any of the particulars of the said service, save that he was out in the year 1780, and was present at the battle of King's Mountain, in South Carolina; -- & that she cannot state whether, or not, there is any public, or other record evidence of her said husband's service in existence, or not. She has no written discharge, or other papers concerning the same in her possession, or in her knowledge. She states further that she was married to the said Frederick Weaver in said County on the 15th day of August 1782, by the Reverend Mr. Doak, a minister of the Gospel; that her name prior thereto, was Catherine Peters; that her said husband died in said County on the 26th day of May 1839; since which time she has remained a widow -- as may be seen from the proofs hereto annexed.[21]

Richard M. Weaver

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Main article: Richard M. Weaver

Richard Malcom Weaver Jr. was a University of Chicago scholar of English, Anglo-Saxonist, and traditionalist conservative considered one of the founders of modern American conservatism.[22][23][24] He was a descendant of Montraville Weaver, founder of Weaverville.[25]

He claimed his home, the American South, was "last nonmaterialistic civilization in the western world", a view espoused by the Southern Agrarian movement which promoted a Neo-Confederate view of Southern history.[26][27]

Weaverville College (1898)

Weaver College

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Weaver College, founded in 1851 as Weaverville College, was a co-educational Methodist academy located in Weaverville. It was founded on land gifted by the town's founder, Montraville Weaver, and operated from 1873 to 1934 before being merged with Rutherford College to form modern-day Brevard College.[28][29]

Members

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Sources

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  1. ^ Neufeld, Rob. "Visiting Our Past: There will be peace in the valley, Beech shows". The Asheville Citizen Times. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  2. ^ "Weaver, Zebulon | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  3. ^ Weaver, Pearl M. (1962). The Tribe of Jacob: The Descendants of the Reverend Jacob Weaver of Reems Creek, North Carolina, 1786-1868. Higginson Book Company. pp. 1–5. ISBN 9780740469220.
  4. ^ "Wandering Weaverville: Main Street in the Countryside". Explore Asheville. 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  5. ^ "Biffle Researchers: History of Rims Creek Valley, North Carolina". biffle.org. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  6. ^ Jackson, Tim W.; Jackson, Taryn Chase (2015-09-14). Weaverville. Arcadia Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4396-5318-0.
  7. ^ Arthur, John Preston (1914). Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913). Edwards & Broughton Printing Company. pp. 154–159. ISBN 9781570720628.
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Families, Filed under (2013-05-31). "Weaver, John". OBCGS. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  10. ^ Allen, Martha Norburn (1960). Asheville and Land of the Sky. Heritage House. p. 55.
  11. ^ "Slavery in the Reems Creek Valley | NC Historic Sites". historicsites.nc.gov. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  12. ^ Barkin, Kenneth (2008). Kamphoefner, Walter; Helbich, Wolfgang; Vogel, Susan Carter; Gerstäcker, Friedrich; Di Maio, Irene S. (eds.). "Ordinary Germans, Slavery, and the U.S. Civil War". The Journal of African American History. 93 (1): 70–79. doi:10.1086/JAAHv93n1p70. ISSN 1548-1867. JSTOR 20064257.
  13. ^ Newsome, Kaye Allen; Brittain, Jan (2019). "A Personal History of Salem United Methodist Church: This Place is Holy" (PDF). Salem UMC Weaverville. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  14. ^ Taylor, Oliver (1909). Historic Sullivan: A History of Sullivan County, Tennessee, with Brief Biographies of the Makers of History. King printing Company. pp. 178, 226. ISBN 978-0-7222-4854-6.
  15. ^ Sullivan Co, TN - Veterans. Turner Publishing Company. 2002-11-02. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-56311-774-9.
  16. ^ "Weaver Family". www.tngenweb.org. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  17. ^ "Reunions are being held in the area to get together with old friends and acquaintances". The Bristol Herald Courier. 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  18. ^ "Piney Flats Tennessee". www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  19. ^ "Weaver Cemetery (Weaver Pike) – Sullivan County TN Genealogy". 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  20. ^ Taylor, Oliver (1909). Historic Sullivan; a history of Sullivan County, Tennessee, with brief biographies of the makers of history. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Bristol, Tenn., The King printing co.
  21. ^ Graves, Will (19 June 2010). "Pension application of Frederick Weaver BLWt40920-160-55" (PDF). Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters.
  22. ^ boundary2 (2017-03-30). "Robert T. Tally Jr. — The Southern Phoenix Triumphant: Richard Weaver, or, the Origins of Contemporary U.S. Conservatism". boundary 2. Retrieved 2024-11-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ ISI (2014-10-08). "How to Read Richard Weaver: Philosopher of 'We the (Virtuous) People'". Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  24. ^ Tally Jr, Robert T., ed. (2023), "The Southern Phoenix Triumphant: The Consequences of Richard Weaver's Ideas", The Critical Situation: Vexed Perspectives in Postmodern Literary Studies, Anthem Press, pp. 123–146, ISBN 978-1-83998-835-6, retrieved 2024-11-26
  25. ^ "The Forgotten Strand: Socialism in The Southern Conservative TRADITION, 1850-1950 | PDF | Socialism | Communism". Scribd. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  26. ^ Bradford, M. E. (2017-12-10). "The Agrarianism of Richard Weaver: Beginnings & Completions". The Imaginative Conservative. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  27. ^ Genovese, Eugene D. (1994-08-01). "The Southern Tradition and the Black Experience - Chronicles". chroniclesmagazine.org. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  28. ^ "Weaver College | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  29. ^ Price, Richard Nye (1908). Holston Methodism: From Its Origin to the Present Time. Publishing House of the M.E. Church, South, Smith & Lamar, agents. pp. 409–411. ISBN 9781018679501.
  30. ^ "Weaver, Richard Malcolm, Jr. | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  31. ^ "Weaver, Zebulon | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  32. ^ "Weaver, William Trotter | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  33. ^ Ashe, Samuel A'Court (1907). Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present. C. L. Van Noppen. pp. 501–503. ISBN 9780795048227.
  34. ^ "Battle Unit Details – The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  35. ^ Bubenik, Christo (2023-08-17). "Park Views: W. T. Weaver Park". The City of Asheville. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  36. ^ "Pension application of Frederick Weaver" (PDF). Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters. 1855. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  37. ^ "SecAF visits Osan Air Base". Pacific Air Forces. 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
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