WALLING-WEAVER

The following bio was taken from page 436 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The Weavers started their journey to Texas in 1810 from Olgethorpe County, Georgia. We find our first information in the form of a marriage license for John P. Weaver and Priscilla Howard. They were married on February 10, 1810. Priscilla was the daughter of Hiram Howard and Lucretia Giles Howard. Hiram Howard was a veteran of the American Revolution and the son of Henry Howard of Granville County, North Carolina, where there are many records of the Howard family. Priscilla had two sisters, Polly and Judith. Polly married Isaac W. Johnson on April 21, 1821. Hiram, who died in 1818, had one brother, Abel. Hiram’s widow drew in the Georgia Land Lottery of 1827. In the will of Hiram Howard, he appointed as his executors John P. Weaver and Robert Orr, who he called his sons –in-law.

From the information gathered in Olgethorpe County, we are led to believe that John P. Weaver was a successful farmer during his early years because he earned the respect of his father-in-law, Hiram Howard, who asked John to manage his estate after his, Hiram’s death. John and Priscilla lived in Olgethorpe County until her death in 1838. They had nine children: John A., Rufus, Elizabeth, Thomas H., Gile, Mary, Leviney, Judith and Lucy. We believe that Gile was named for his grandmother’s family, because Lucretia had no sons, only three daughters. We believe that John A. and Elizabeth were likely named for John P.’s parents and Judith was named for Priscilla’s sister. We also find in our records of Olgethorpe County the marriage of a Samuel Weaver to Polly Patmon on December 4, 18?0; William B. Weaver to Susannah Pye on January 28, 1813; and Isham Weaver to Mary Bradley on April 5, 1820. We have not yet been able to prove the relationship of these Weavers to us, but we found Samuel Weaver in Coweta County, Georgia in 1830 and William B. there in 1836. After the death of Priscilla, John P. moved his family westward into Coweta County. If Samuel William and Isham were not John’s brothers, we cannot understand his moving.

On arriving in Coweta County, John P. purchased four hundred and three acres to farm and to raise his family on. John P. never remarried. He was determined to take care of his family alone and provide them with a good home. John P. died in 1845. We believe that he was about fifty-eight or fifty-nine years old when he died. According to records in Coweta County at the time of John P.’s death, he left three of his children orphans, all of them under sixteen years of age. They were Lucy, Thomas H., and Elizabeth.

John P. died without living a will, so after his death, Young L. Long, a resident of Coweta County, appeared before the County Court and requested to be appointed administrator of the estate. John P. had accumulated a fairly large estate. Some of his income may have come from Priscilla’s inheritance, but we know that John P.’s eldest child, Gile, died very young. At the time of his and his wife’s deaths, John Powell, a local lawyer from Newman, Georgia, was the guardian of the children of Gile and Lucy Weaver. Gile’s children were: John P., Wiley and Margaret. We believe Elizabeth stayed with one of her brothers and sisters until she married Benjamin Johnson on February 6, 1848. Thomas was placed under the guardianship of Lucy Weaver and William Kelsey after they married in 1849, but the guardianship was given to Robert W. Simms of Coweta County.

Rufus Weaver grew up in Coweta County and married Lucy Boatwright in 1843. They had five children: Sarah, John W., Mary Al, Sophia, and James T. After Lucy died in 1850 Rufus traveled to Carroll County, Georgia in 1851. He married Kiziah Jordan, daughter of Martha Jordan, who was raising her family alone in Carroll County. Census reports state the family came to Georgia from North Carolina.

After the marriage, Rufus located his family near Cedartown, Georgia in Haralson County. Rufus and Kiziah had eight children: Franklin, Andrew Jackson, Martha Jane, Isham, Isabell, Susan, Allen and Calloway

Submitted by Jerry Weaver