My Genealogy Hound

PETER WEAVER, who is well known to the older residents of Seneca County, has made his home in the town of Waterloo for many years. Farming has been the chief occupation of his life, and in this calling he has met with good results, so that he is now in comfortable circumstances. He was born in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer County, this state, February 14, 1820, his parents being Peter and Charity (Sits) Weaver, the former also a native of Herkimer County, and the latter a native of Montgomery County.

The great-grandfather of our subject was one of three brothers who crossed the Atlantic together. They landed at Plymouth, where their names were recorded, and afterward located where the city of New York now stands, and on this site engaged in farming. Grandfather Jacob Weaver eventually went to Herkimer County, where he spent his days in cultivating the soil, and died in the town of Frankfort, where our subject was born. He fought as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His son, Peter Weaver, also remained in that place until his decease, which event occurred in 1872. Although eighty-two years old at this time, he was very active, transacting all his own business, and, with the exception of being a little deaf, was in the possession of all his faculties. His death was occasioned by injuries which he received by a street car running against him while in Utica, whither he had gone on business.

The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Herkimer County, and, the country round about being new and for the most part unsettled, he had to work very hard in aiding his father to place his tract under cultivation. Consequently he was permitted to attend school only a few months in each year, but, as might be expected, he made the very best of these opportunities. When eighteen years of age he began to do for himself, working out by the month. He was a thoroughly reliable and honest workman, and although paid the highest wages given any person in the county, only received $10.50 per month. He was careful and economical, and from this meager salary laid by sufficient money to soon enable him to engage in farming on his own account.

When nearly twenty-four years of age, September 14, 1843, Mr. Weaver and Miss Delana Rema were united in marriage. This worthy couple have lived together for over a half-century, and in 1893 celebrated their golden wedding. On that occasion the clergyman who married them, Elder Lewis Chase, was present, besides scores of their relatives and friends, all of whom remembered them in an appropriate manner.

Mr. Weaver continued to work out by the month for two years after his marriage, and then purchased seventy acres of land, a part of the old homestead on which he was born. He added to the tract from time to time until he owned some one hundred and twenty acres, under the finest state of cultivation. When the property was sold it brought $12,000, and in addition to it Mr. Weaver received $200 for other real estate which he owned in that vicinity.

In 1870 we find Mr. Weaver a resident of Seneca County, where he purchased a farm, for which he paid the sum of $14,000. He lived on this tract for six years, and in 1876 sold out at an increase of $6,000, investing in the one hundred and sixty-four acres where he is now living. This he has improved with substantial buildings, and his home here is one of the pleasantest in the county. In addition to this tract our subject owns a house and lot in Waterloo, on Center Street.

During the war Mr. Weaver offered his services in defence of his country’s flag twice, but on each occasion was rejected on account of his age. In early life he was a Whig, and voted for William Henry Harrison, in 1844 supported James K. Polk, and in 1856 voted for James C. Fremont. Since that time, however, he has adhered to the principles of the Democratic party, feeling that he has had just cause to change his views. Religiously he has been identified with the Methodist Protestant Church for the past fifty-five years. His wife has also been connected with this denomination for a long period, both becoming members before their marriage. Mr. Weaver has been Class-Leader for more than thirty years, and with one exception has been a delegate to the Annual Conference for twenty-eight years, and has represented his congregation in the General Conference on three occasions. He first went to Pittsburg, on the second occasion to Princeton, Ill., and the third to Baltimore, where the union of the North and South branches was effected. He has always been an interested worker in the Sunday-school, and in fact is prominent in every department of church work. At this writing Mr. Weaver is seventy-five years of age, and when visited by the writer he was found in the field, walking and following the plow.

Simon P. Weaver, who is the eldest of our subject’s children, is living in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer County, N. Y.; he is married, and the father of three children. George is a prominent lawyer engaged in practice in Rome, N. Y.; he, too, is married, and has four children. Lewis F. is a physician carrying on a lucrative practice in Syracuse; he has one son. Izora married Charles Caldwell, and is living in Waterloo; she is the mother of two sons. Emma D. is the wife of Peter Shuster, of Seneca Falls; their household consists of two sons.