| Weaver | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Current region | Southern United States |
| Place of origin | Germany |
The Weaver family is a locally prominent colonial American family that founded Weaverville along Reems Creek in Buncombe County, North Carolina. [1] [2] [3]
According to family lore, 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. [4] [5] [6] [7]
However, a descendant of the Weaver family in Cocke County, Tennessee recorded in 1950 that the family had come from Germany, with the original immigrant Weaver being a man named John George Weaver (Waber or Wärber). John arrived on the ship "Halifax" in 1752, which departed from Rotterdam and arrived in Philadelphia. He settled in Shenandoah County, Virginia. [8] [9]
The Weaver family would intermarry with the predominantly Anglo-American, notably Scotch-Irish (descendants of Lowland Scots and northern English settlers in Ireland), population of the region. [10]
Per the Family Tree DNA Weaver DNA Project, the family has the Y-DNA haplogroup J-FTC77280, originating in the Balkans. [11]
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. [12] [13]
John's son, Montraville, became a slaveholder. [14] 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. [15]
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. [16] [17] [18]
Frederick Weaver (1750-1839) settled in Sullivan County, Tennessee. [19] [20] [21] A local church, Weaver Union Church, was named for him after he gave land for it's founding. [22] [23]
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. [24]
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. [25] [26] [27] He was a descendant of Montraville Weaver, founder of Weaverville. [28]
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. [29] [30]
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. [31] [32]
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McDowell County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,578. Its county seat is Marion.
Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 census reported the population was 269,452, making it the 7th-most populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the most populous city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most-populous city. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 94,589, up from 83,393 in the 2010 census. It is the principal city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 417,202 in 2023.
Weaverville is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,567 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Asheville metropolitan area.
Zebulon Baird Vance was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 37th and 43rd governor of North Carolina, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
Zebulon Weaver was an American lawyer and politician who served 14 terms as a Democratic U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1917 and 1929 and again between 1931 and 1947.
Brevard College is a private college in Brevard, North Carolina, United States. The college grants Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Science degrees.
Robert Brank Vance was a Congressional Representative from North Carolina.
Robert Brank Vance, nephew of the earlier Congressman Robert Brank Vance (1793–1827) and brother of Zebulon B. Vance, was a North Carolina Democratic politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms (1873–1885). He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Patents. During the American Civil War, Vance served in the Confederate States Army, where he reached the rank of brigadier general.
Colonel David Vance was an American soldier during the American Revolutionary War.
The Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace is a historic site located in Weaverville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The site is owned and operated by the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites.
African-American North Carolinians or Black North Carolinians are residents of the state of North Carolina who are of African ancestry. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, African Americans were 22% of the state's population. African enslaved people were brought to North Carolina during the slave trade.
The Surry County Regiment was established on August 26, 1775 by the North Carolina Provincial Congress. The regiment was engaged in battles and skirmishes against the British and Cherokee during the American Revolution in North Carolina, South Carolina Tennessee, and Georgia between 1776 and 1782. It was active until the end of the war.
The Sullivan County Regiment was authorized on October 30, 1779 by the Province of North Carolina Congress. It was created at the same time that Sullivan County, North Carolina was created out of Washington County. Officers were appointed and commissioned by the Governor. The regiment was engaged in battles and skirmishes against the British during the American Revolution in Tennessee and South Carolina between 1780 and 1781. It was active until the end of the war. Part of Sullivan County, North Carolina was ceded by North Carolina to the federal government in 1789 and this became Sullivan County, Tennessee.
The Wilkes County Regiment was authorized on December 9, 1777 by the Province of North Carolina Congress at the same time that Wilkes County, North Carolina was created from Surry County, North Carolina and Washington District, North Carolina. The regiment was subordinate to the Salisbury District Brigade of militia. It was engaged in battles and skirmishes against the British and Cherokee during the American Revolution in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia between 1779 and 1782. It was active until the end of the war.
The Washington District Regiment was authorized on December 23, 1776 by the Province of North Carolina Congress. It was subordinate to the Salisbury District Brigade of militia. The regiment was renamed the Washington County Regiment. The regiment was engaged in battles and skirmishes against the British and Cherokee during the American Revolution in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia between 1776 and 1782. It was active until the end of the war.
Slavery was legally practiced in the Province of North Carolina and the state of North Carolina until January 1, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Prior to statehood, there were 41,000 enslaved African-Americans in the Province of North Carolina in 1767. By 1860, the number of slaves in the state of North Carolina was 331,059, about one third of the total population of the state. In 1860, there were nineteen counties in North Carolina where the number of slaves was larger than the free white population. During the antebellum period the state of North Carolina passed several laws to protect the rights of slave owners while disenfranchising the rights of slaves. There was a constant fear amongst white slave owners in North Carolina of slave revolts from the time of the American Revolution. Despite their circumstances, some North Carolina slaves and freed slaves distinguished themselves as artisans, soldiers during the Revolution, religious leaders, and writers.
Weaver College, originally Weaverville College (1873–1934), was an American co-educational school and college in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
Elmira Margaret Baird Vance was an American socialite, farmer, and slave owner. She was the mother of North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance and U.S. Congressman Robert B. Vance.