Individual Details

Religion-shared

The following Certificate was in the possession of Lulu M.
GROVES RIN1225, nee SHAFFER (of Urbana, Champaign Co. OH -compiler) prior to her death in July 1970. Mrs. Russell G.
GROVES was a great granddaughter of William and Mary WEAVER:
"This is to certify that William WEAVER and Mary his wife
has been acceptable members in Berkeley Circuit. Given
under my hand this fourth day of October AD 1793 near Bath.
W. MCLENAHAN, Deacon."

Residence

p.404-405
At the mouth of Storms Creek, near what is now known as Tremont, Clark, Ohio, Charles Rector, with his brother-in-law, Christopher Weaver, settled in 1801. Nature had fitted these men for a life in a new country; they were honest, sober and industrious. In addition to this, they exercised good judgment in the selection of lands. They were natives of Kentucky. They lived the lives of Christians, and when death knocked at their doors, he found them prepared. One of Rector's sons (Conaway) lives near the old homestead - Section 12 - and is honored and respected by all who know him.

William Weaver, a brother of Christopher. was born in 1759, at Bucks Co. Penn., near Philadelphia. He participated in the Revolutionary war, and was an eye-witness to Cornwallis' march from Yorktown. In 1783 or 1784, he was united with Mary Kiger, a native of Maryland. The couple removed to Kentucky in 1792, and in 1802, they emigrated to Ohio. They settled in what is now known as Clark County, where they rented of William Chapman 80 acres of land, a part of which was prairied land. Here they lived for five years, when they removed to Section 24 in this township, on land now owned by William Weaver, where they resided until death.

Henry Storm is remembered as the only man who lived in the neighborhood prior to the arrival of the Weavers.

Fifteen children were born to the couple. Of those yet living, William was born Dec. 25, 1795, in Kentucky. He has been a resident of this State since 1802 and has never been beyond the State boundaries, nor has he ever been aboard a train of cars. At the advanced age of 85 years he enjoys good health, is robust and is never so well satisfied as when the condition of the weather permits him to work in the garden. The bountiful supply of vegetables found in his garden attest to his skill as a gardener. He is a kind and benevolent gentleman, courteous to strangers and an indefatigable worker in the Lord's vineyard. We wish to add that, to our knowledge, he is the oldest resident in the township now living. Nancy was born Nov. 6, 1801, was married to Erastus Wilson and is still living. Nelson, born Dec. 22, 1817, the youngest child, lives on a part of the old homestead.

Burial

Mary is buried at the Terre Haute Cemetery, Champaign County, Ohio

Biography-shared

The following which was received from James H. JOHNSON
RIN941, a descendant of William WEAVER. Paragraph numbers
have been inserted by this compiler for ease in referencing
these notes on William WEAVER and his brother, Henry WEAVER.

1. It was in the fall of 1793 that William and Mary Kiger
WEAVER were preparing to leave Berkeley County, Virginia,
for Kentucky.

2. Good church members as they were, one step preliminary to
their departure was a letter attesting the fact.

3. Consequently, the deacon who attended to such matters sat
down and wrote: "This is to certify that William WEAVER and Mary his wife has been acceptable members in Berkeley Circuit, given under my hand, this fourth day of October A D 1793" W. McLenahan Deacon Near Bath.

4. Mary, twenty-one years of age, with three children already and a fourth expected in a few months, must have shouldered a good bit of responsibility in this momentous undertaking. Apparently, William, thirteen years older than she, was fired with tales of the new land opened to citizens of this young and independent country.

5. William had helped to make it free. A soldier who fought in the Revolution as a member of a company from Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, he was an eye-witness to Cornwallis'
march from Yorktown. Indeed, besides a marker placed on his
grave by some patriotic society, one used to be able to read on his headstone in Terre Haute Cemetery (Ohio) this statement: "A soldier in the war."

6. Long years ahead of him, a good head on his shoulders, health, a young wife, a growing family, good land in the west to be cheaply bought - small wonder they were willing to set out on the journey with high hopes and the necessary household belongings.

7. Elijah, the eldest child, was eight years old when the family migrated to Kentucky. Tall for his age, lithe of body, and adapted to the ways of the pioneers, he appears to have taken his place courageously by his father's side. His young mother, too, with toddlers to care for, must have leaned heavily upon him.

8. Seven years or more were passed in Kentucky, six of these on the plantation of James RALPH. Henry WEAVER, William WEAVER, and Henry STORM, all of Mason County leased the
south end of his plantation 'in Canetocky'. They were 'to Cleare and Improve as the see fit for there own profit Said tennents is to heave Six Crops from the deat hereof' (The date, unfortunately has been cut from the 'Artikel of Agreement')

9. But shortly thereafter, Henry STORM and Henry WEAVER
transferred their right and title of the within lease to William WEAVER and Adam ALLAN. They completed this transaction by writing on the back of the original lease. The date was January 7, 1796.

(Note: Adam ALLAN, mentioned in paragraph 9 above may have been William's brother-in-law since in the Mason County Marriage records 1791-1836, a Nancy Kiger m. Adam ALLEN page 5, 28 Jan 1791. This is assuming that Nancy was the sister of William's wife, Mary E. Kiger.)

[Compiled by Laurence A. Weaver]

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=4026167&id=I173