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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