Alyce Wilson

Following is the narrative history of my Weaver line that I wrote for my family members. It does not include the genealogical source material, because that’s not the format I’m using for them, but I’d be happy to share any information about sources that you request.

I’d welcome feedback to my email address (shantipoet@gmail.com) if you have any new information you’d like to share. Unfortunately, I had to turn off comments on my posts due to some denial of service attacks in 2020.

The Weaver Family
By Alyce Wilson

What I have discovered about the Weaver family is not a long lineage, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I’ve begun to feel a strong kinship to this family, as my DNA results have linked me to Christian Weaver and Sarah Goodnight through several different individuals who share that common ancestral pair. This either means that Weaver blood is strong in me or that there are simply a lot of Weaver descendants who are both using Ancestry.com and sending in DNA samples!

Hans George Weber/Weaver (1738-1816) m. Mary ?

The Weaver patriarch was named Hans George Weber, coming over from the Palatinate in Germany. He arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Brothers in 1754, as shown from passenger lists. His wife was named Mary, and information on her I have only found in family trees. She may have been Mary Scatcher, daughter of John. I have also seen her listed as Mary Hamspacher, daughter of John George Hamspacher and Anna Maria Schmidt. Both trees have the couple marrying in 1761 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Perhaps they are both right, and Mary’s maiden name was Hamspacher and she’d had a first husband named Scatcher. The family trees I’ve found also differ on the number of children the couple had, but it seems to have been at least nine.

Christian Weaver (1775-1838) m. Sarah “Sally” Goodnight (1789-1840)

Many more records exist for Christian and his wife Sarah, or Sally. Christian went by “Crisley” or “Christy.” I went into detail in my write-up about the Goodnight family about how I determined the names of their children, which I believe to be: John William, Jacob, Susan, Betsy, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Octavia and Alfred, as well as one unidentified daughter who appears in the 1830 census, which only lists heads of households.

John William Weaver (1827-1910) m. Sarah Catherine Montgomery Buchanan (1838-1922)

John William, who went by William, lived his entire life in Augusta County, Virginia. His wife, Sarah Catherine, who went by Catherine, was born in Augusta County and died in Buena Vista, Rockbridge County, a little further south. They had ten children: John D., Sarah C.E., Martha Ann, Susan Frances Virginia, James Benson, William Beard, Margaret, Archibald Franklin, Isabel D. and Lacy V. In the 1850 census, William listed himself as a “farmer,” but in the 1860 census and every census afterwards, he listed himself as a “farm laborer” or said he “worked on a farm.” I wonder if conditions leading up to the Civil War, the war itself, and the Antebellum realities hurt the family financially and caused William to go from owning a farm to working on one? William served as a private in Company D, Virginia’s 5th Infantry Regiment, enlisting in 1863. They fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Here, I’d like to note that, while I don’t consider it a point of pride to have an ancestor who fought for the Confederate Army, it is part of my family history and therefore should be acknowledged and recognized.

A friend of mine, Keith Tracton, who is an avid Gettysburg historian, tells me that William may have transferred to Company F at some point, as he found records for a John W. Weaver from Augusta County in both companies. Keith found information about the 5th in the book “Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage” by Noah Andre Trudeau and from the National Park Service. The 5th was known as the Stonewall Brigade, and here I’ll let Keith pick up the story:

A little history of the 5th Virginia form the Park Service. The Stonewall Brigade was famous, and was named for how Stonewall Jackson got his nickname (since he commanded it when that occurred). However, your ancestor would have joined much later, about a month or so before the Battle of Chancellorsville, which itself preceded Gettysburg by a month. So he likely had one battle under his belt in some aspect, before Gettysburg.

CONFEDERATE VIRGINIA TROOPS
5th Regiment, Virginia Infantry

OVERVIEW:

5th Infantry Regiment was organized in May, 1861, under Colonel K. Harper. Eight companies were from Augusta County and two from Frederick County. The unit became part of the Stonewall Brigade and served under Generals T.J. Jackson, R.B. Garnett, Winder, Paxton, J.A. Walker, and W. Terry. It saw action at First Manassas, First Kernstown, and in Jackson’s Valley Campaign. Later the 5th participated in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days’ Battles to Cold Harbor, then was active in Early’s Shenandoah Valley operations and around Appomattox. It reported 9 killed, 48 wounded, and 4 missing at First Kernstown, had 4 killed, 89 wounded, and 20 missing at Cross Keys and Port Republic, and suffered 14 killed and 91 wounded at Second Manassas. The unit sustained 120 casualties at Chancellorsville and of the 345 engaged at Gettysburg, sixteen percent were disabled. It surrendered 8 officers and 48 men.

Here are the overall movements of the 5th VA at Gettysburg:

July 1
Battle of Gettysburg

The regiment was commanded by Colonel Funk. At noon, moved eastward behind Longstreet’s wagons across South Mountain. Reached the battlefield at nightfall after a 25-mile march and passed through Gettysburg, halting a mile east of town on the Hanover Road.

July 2
Battle of Gettysburg (continued)

Remained in position skirmishing on the Army’s left flank. After sundown the brigade left a picket to guard the Hanover road and moved to join the attack Culp’s Hill. But the attack had stalled, and the brigade took position behind Steuart’s Brigade on the left of the line.

July 3
Battle of Gettysburg (continued)

The fighting started at first light. The Stonewall Brigade went to the support of Steuart’s Brigade, who were trying to assault Culp’s Hill while fighting off a Federal counterattack. The fighting continued for five hours, when the division was pulled back to Benner’s Hill around 9 a.m.

The brigade replenished its ammunition and cleaned their guns before returning to the attack, moving in between Jones’ and Nicholls’ Brigades on the right of the line. The three brigades were subjected to a heavy artillery fire for 45 minutes before they were pulled back. A third attack went forward around noon, which broke through the first line of Federal positions before falling back with heavy casualties.

Out of the 345 men engaged, the regiment lost 14 men killed, 33 wounded and 11 missing. Lt. Colonel H.J. Williams was wounded, and Lieutenant Jacob H. Keifer was mortally wounded.

July 4

Moved to a defensive position along Oak Ridge northwest of Gettysburg. After dark the brigade began its march to Hagerstown in a violent thunderstorm.

Susan Virginia Frances “Fannie” Weaver Wilson

Susan Frances “Fannie” Virginia Weaver (1862-1940)

Fannie had two children with her husband, John Stuart Wilson, before he died in 1892. In 1895, she gave birth to her third child, John Omer Wilson, my paternal grandfather. In other documents I give my reasoning for my belief the biological father was George W. Eutsler of Grottoes, Virginia. Fannie ran a boarding house in the small town, which must have been how she managed to raise three children as a single mom in Antebellum Virginia.

John Omer Wilson

Hattie (Wilson) Wagner and son (either William Wagner Jr. or Ernest)

– Alyce Wilson, December 17, 2017