Mercer County PAGenWeb

THE WEAVER FAMILY 


The Weaver family of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, which is represented in Meadville by the well known architect,  Edwin Joseph Weaver, has been resident in the state of Pennsylvania for a number of generations. The American progenitors of the family came to this country from Germany, and the original spelling of the name was Weber, of which the English form Weaver is a literal translation.
 
I. Michael  Weaver,  the first of whom we have definite record, was probably born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, from whence he migrated to Mercer county, in the same state. He was a shoemaker by trade, a calling with which he was identified throughout his life. He married  Elizabeth Smoyer,  daughter of  Jacob Smoyer, and had these children:  Mary, John, Henry, Elizabeth, Joseph and Lydia.
 
II.  Joseph  Weaver, son of  Michael and Elizabeth Weaver, was born in Greenville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1839, and died at his home in New Hamburg, in the same county, November 19, 1910. For many years he was employed in carpenter work, and in his younger years went to the oil section. Returning to Mercer county in 1873, he spent the remainder of his life there. He was Republican his political allegiance, and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Intensely patriotic, he was the first volunteer in his district at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, enlisting in April, 1861, and serving actively until the close of the war. He married in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1866,  Maria, born at Big Bend, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, January27, 1845. She was the daughter of  Alexander and Bessie Morrow, of Scotch-Irish extraction, who emigrated to the United States about the year 1840, and settled on a farm near the Big Bend of the Shenango river. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver had children: Carrie,  born June 10, 1867;  Lillian, April 10, 1869;  A.M.,  May 1, 1871; Edwin Joseph; William R., born March 26, 1879.

III. Edwin  Joseph Weaver, son of  Joseph and Maria (Morrow) Weaver, was born in Delaware township, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, April 26, 1873. In the common schools of this district he acquired a sound practical elementary education, being graduated from them March 2, 1892. He then became a student at the Fredonia Institute, from which he was graduated in the class of 1899, the degree of Bachelor of Sciences being conferred upon him. He made an especial study of architecture, and has achieved some excellent results in this direction. He combines original ideas with the best that has been attained in older times, and the combination is a most happy one. He located in Sharon, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1906, and removed from there to Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in May 1911.

Among the best known of the buildings he has erected in Sharon are: The Sharon Hotel, the Harmony Bank, Lafayette street school and the Jefferson street school. Among his most notable constructions in Meadville are: The plant for the City Ale Brewing Company, and the business buildings for the Moore Brothers, Drefus Brothers and the McCroskey Renner Company. He is connected in an official capacity with the Pittsburgh Deposit and Title Company. He gives his support politically to the Republican party, but his many and diversified business occupations have never allowed time for the holding of public office. He is a member of the Park Avenue Congregational Church of Meadville, and is a member of Sharon Lodge, No. 250, Free and Accepted Masons; Sharon Lodge, No. 103, Benevolent and Protected Order of Elks; and the Elks Club, Sharon, Pennsylvania.  

Mr. Weaver married at Sharon, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1904, Elizabeth Anne, born in Sharon, January 22, 1878, daughter of John James and Rachel Thomas, whose children are: David, George, William, John J., Morgan, Benjamin and Mrs. John J. Miller. 

Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Western, Pennsylvania 1915, pages 1485-1486.


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