THE WEBERS FROM GERMANY, ARKANSAS AND VARIOUS PLACES

Transcription

1 THE WEBERS FROM GERMANY, ARKANSAS AND VARIOUS PLACES On July the 4th, JOHN MICHAEL WEBER (my g-g-grandfather) landed in New Orleans, and became the first immigrant of our Weber line. He had departed Germany on 28 March, of that year. I haven't been able to ascertain where he departed Germany or the name of the ship, because the records of New Orleans ship arrivals burned from July 1 through December of that year. Wouldn't you know it? Obituary of John Michael Weber According to his obituary, (see copy) which was in the "Arkansas Methodist" September 1, 1888, he was born in Heddesbach, Germany. That's a very small town 30 miles east of Heidelberg, in the State of Baden. (See pictures) In 1994 I walked the streets of Heddesbach and saw the church where all my ancestors in this line had walked, worked, and lived. There were no old buildings. They must have been bombed during the war, but it was the neatest, cleanest little town I ever saw. There wasn't a scrap of paper or trash anywhere. The lay of the land reminded me of Northwest Arkansas, where they settled here in the states. A valley nestled in a ring of hillswith farm land and pasture. Very green, with scattered copses of trees. Two old men were sitting on a bench in front of the post office and my son, who was my interpreter, engaged them in talk. They said there were still some Webers in the valley. I looked for stones in the cemetery, but the earliest grave was in the 1930's. So it, too, was newer. There was a large plaque inscribed with the names of the men who died in the war, and there were several Webers on the stone. Heddesbach, Heidleberg, Baden, Germany, July 1994 Home of the Weber family John Michael was a blacksmith and built a shop in Dutch Mills. It was in conjunction with a wagon shop, owned by Nicholas. He also purchased 80 acres of land in S1/2 SW1/4 Sec 21, Twp 14 N. Range 33 W., not too far out of town on a hill. The western boundary of the farm is the state line between Arkansas and Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) He was a member of Valley Masonic Lodge No In April 1857, he declared his intent to become a citizen of the United States in Circuit Court, and in Book H, p 311, Circuit Court Records, dated Oct. 28, 1859, he is declared a citizen. He died in Dutch Mills, Washington County, Arkansas 22 May, 1888, of consumption (tuberculosis) Circa 1854/55, after he arrived in Arkansas, he married a "Nancy" who was

2 born in Tennessee. Much research has been done, trying to determine the surname of Nancy but to date no records have been found. However there is a theory that has been developed. Nancy would have been 15 in 1850, so I went to the 1850 census of Washington County and looked for Nancy's, born in Tennessee who were 15 years old. There were 2. I don't remember the name of the other, but the one I decided was she was Nancy McAmish, daughter of Robert and Sarah. The reasoning behind this assumption lies in the naming pattern of their children. They named their first son John Robert, after the 2 fathers and their first daughter Sarah. Doesn't that seem like more than a coincidence? John Robert was born in 1856 and died in Sarah was born in 1858 and died in The third child, James Thomas, was born in 1861, and I believe that Nancy must have died in childbirth or shortly thereafter, because John Michael remarried in December 1863 to Emily Hodges. John and Emily had several children, Eli, George Edward, William J., Annie E. and Mary J. When I discovered the birthplace of John Michael, I found the church records in the Latter Day Saints Family History Library. They are in Old German Script, but with the help of a friend, some of the records were translated. John was born March 21, 1830 to Johannes Weber (27 Oct Feb 1831) and Eva Elisabetha Sauer. Johannes' father was Adam Weber and his mother was Eva Margaretha Fischer. I believe that Eva's father was Nicholas Sauer and her mother was Salomaa Gartner. I'm still in the process of having the records translated, so that's as far as I've gotten, but there are many many more pages to go and undoubtedly there will be further information. John Michael's father, Johannes, died 12 February 1831, at 10:30 in the evening. (John Michael would have been only one year old). So, unless Eva was pregnant when Johannes died, John Michael has no siblings. This decries the tradition that Nicholas Weber, who is by his side all through the years in Washington County, was his brother.) Nicholas is five years younger than John so unless he's a half brother, he is not a sibling. John Robert their first born, married first, Mary Gertrude Williams, the daughter of two early Washington County families; Margaret Shannon (daughter of Alexander Shannon and Perniza Oliver) and Elbert Severe Williams, son of Ira Williams and Winna Pogue). They had seven children: Roxie L. (1878), John Albert (my grandfather, ), Gertrude (abt 1882), Thomas (1883), James Ira ( ), George Edmond ( ) and Pearl B. ( ). Sometime prior to 1900, Mary Gertrude died. She is not with him in the 1900 census. In July1900, John married Nancy Elizabeth Rich and they had four children, Charley, Otis, Ann and Ethel. John Robert had diabetes. A horse fell back on him and hurt his leg. Gangrene set in when it would not heal and caused his death. Next, I'll go to Grandad and Grandma Weber. JOHN ALBERT WEBER and LAURA CLEMINA KEY. I never knew Grandma because she died with breast cancer when my oldest brother was less than a month old. But I remember Grandad because so much of my younger life he lived with us. He was probably the neatest Grandad a kid ever had. First of all he played any musical instrument he touched. He could make a guitar, banjo, mandolin, or fiddle sing. And he played the piano, horns, and anything else. Secondly, he could carve anything out of wood. He would take slippery elm branches, and carve piccolos that actually worked. He would

3 take a cedar shingle and carve a violin for us kids, string it, make a bow, and we could really play it. By vocation, he was an engineer in the mines around Webb City, and Joplin, Missouri, but he was a talented cabinet maker (he actually built his own piano), an electrician (he wound armatures for generators for years), and a superlative story teller. He would have loved television and all the make-believe. He would tell us kids about when he was roaming through the jungles of Africa and swinging through the trees with Tarzan the Apeman and all his animals. He'd let loose a Tarzan yell that would raise my Dad up out of bed and cause a summons to his bedside. At 11:00 at night when we kids were supposed to be sleeping, he would tell us about the times he spent with Nanook of the North and his dog team, crossing the icy tundra. He would yell "MUSH" at the top of his lungs to illustrate his adventures, at which time Dad would threaten him with battle, murder and sudden death if he didn't shut up and let us kids get to sleep. I think he could have gone on all night. I remember he and Dad talking in Cherokee. Several of the words I picked up by hearing them so often in my young years. The story he and Dad told was that Grandma was 1/2 Cherokee Indian; that her father, Sylvester Key, was a full-blooded Cherokee. Her mother, Grandma Key (Jo Anna Jennings) (later Collins) was so ashamed that she had married an Indian that she signed away all her children's role rights and benefits forever. She told Mom of the times she would look up and an Indian would be standing in her door. She would put her small children behind her and pick up a butcher knife to supposedly protect her babies. The Indian would get food and then leave. We now know that Sylvester was born in Unionville, Putnam County, Missouri, right on the Iowa line and that he died in 1890 in Crawford County, Arkansas. So, this being the case, he had no Cherokee blood in him at all. That's how those stories get started. Their children William Jessie Irving Key( ), Laura Clemina ( ) and Orpha ( ) were all born in Crawford County, Arkansas. To date, I have been unable to discover the place of JoAnna's birth, other than Illinois, because I have four last names for her; Leggo, Laylow, Jenne and Jennings. I don't know which is correct, but I suspect it is Jenne. Later she married a John Collins, and in 1900 her children were going by the last name of Collins. Dad said that his Mom was a devout Nazarene who would put up with nothing sinful. She kept a spotless house and loved her kids devotedly. Other than what I've written, I know nothing about her. Four children were born to them. Velma ( ) who died of consumption when she was a young girl, Jesse Herbert (nicknamed "Dutch) ( ), Loren Doyle (nicknamed "Doc") ( ) and 10 years after Dad was born they had another daughter, Vera Dorothy (Living). Jesse, Vera and John Albert Weber, 1950 Grandad was stiff-legged. When he was 19 years old, he was crossing over a fence with a rifle in his hands when he tripped and the rifle went off. The bullet hit him in the knee cap. When he sat down and crossed his leg,

4 it stuck straight out in the air. I bet I rode a hundred miles on that leg. You'd think it would have restricted his movements, but I never knew it to hold him back. Every 4th of July we all went to Shoal Creek in Joplin for an overnight camping trip and picnic. Grandad always swam with us. He said it was his annual bath, whether he needed it or not. He always wore khaki pants and shirts. And he was a BIG man, standing over 6 feet 3 inches tall. When he died in 1952 from cancer, he had a large shock of iron gray hair. He needed teeth, and Dad was in the process of buying them for him when he died. He ate with a broad blade kitchen knife. When he had peas, he mixed them with his mashed potatoes so he could pick them up on the knife. He loved onions and couldn't chew them, so Mom would put them through the food grinder so he could eat them. He didn't like drip coffee, so every morning Mom would make coffee in the dripolater and pour it into the percolator. He would smack his lips and talk about good old perked coffee. This was the time when milk was no longer in bottles but came out in cartons. He told everyone he could taste that old cardboard, and wouldn't drink it, so every morning Mom would pour the milk into a milk bottle. He would go on and on about good old bottled milk. It got to be a game with Mom to try to fool him. He would look in a pot and say, "What's that slop?' Mom would tell him and he'd say, "I wouldn't eat that slop." Then he'd eat a bait that would founder a horse. He used a big cup and saucer to drink his coffee. He poured the coffee into the saucer, blew on it and sipped it. He loved good whiskey, and at one time he and Uncle Doc made their own in a still. Until the revenoors found it and destroyed it. Dad said because Grandad was an engineer, he appreciated cars. Therefore he had one of the earliest autos in his area. Dad said he always had nice cars, and he drove big ones like Packard Roadsters. After Grandma Weber died, he married a widow, Mary Van Volkinburg. Her son, Alonzo had already married Grandad's daughter, Vera, so the families were joined twice. Grandma Mary Weber loved me far more than my Grandma Wiseheart/Blehm. She helped me decorate my bedroom, helped me make my white eyelet graduation dress, and just pampered me anyway I needed. And I needed a grandma who loved meas I loved her. Well, this brings you down to my generation. If you're still curious, let me know and I'll fill you in on the story from there. Keep watching my page for more "Goodies". I have only just begun. The Story of Howard and Bonnie Hill Hello Fellow Genealogists: I started genealogy in 1989 as a method to determine my roots, which I doubted the existence of after losing my father and my mother suffering a catastrophic stroke. What started as an avocation, soon became an addictive vocation. Many years and thousands of miles later, I endeavor to share my research with those who are looking for their roots.

5 Like so many others, I bemoan the fact I waited so long to start and can't share this knowledge with my parents or grandparents. How joyous they would be to know the trails we've traveled and the information gleaned from our travels. As you can see, Howard and I are old fuddy-duddy grandparents. We have 3 sons and 6 grandchildren, plus a foster son and his son. Howard spent one career in the US Navy, then worked other jobs, including truck driving until 1991 when he retired for the final time. At that time, I also quit working for others and decided to go full time into genealogy. I have to date, take one of Howard's lines back to the year 6 A.D., with some more information forthcoming, which may take him back even further. This line is so royal that I have to bow when I address him. Of course nothing back that far is verifiable, but it's sure fun to go there. I haven't tried to list the pedigrees on this page, just their names. If anyone looks familiar, send me an telling me which names you're interested in and I'll try to get right back to you. Since there are so many, and since I may get swamped, please be patient with me. I'll work as fast as my arthritic fingers will go. I volunteer at our local LDS Family History Library one morning a week and thoroughly enjoy helping others. Plus, I'm learning a great deal, too. So as we launch this new venture, I hope it brings as much enjoyment to others as it does to me. It will probably be under construction a great deal of the time as I envisage new things to do with it, but I will try to keep the highways open during construction. Forever Family Well- Wishes to everyone.