Denise's Ancestors

The Weaver's

Loudoun County, Virginia

 

 Amelia Weaver Roberts 

affectionately known as "Milly"

April 15, 1835 - June 03, 1921

 

Amelia Weaver, my great grandmother  was born on April 15, 1835 in Loudoun County, Virginia, in the area around Snickersville, to Lewis Weaver and his wife Delia, known as "Neely".  I do not know Delia's maiden name, or much about either of them for they were slaves.

What I do know was passed down as an oral tradition in my family, and much of my research in Loudoun county is now focused on learning more about my Weaver line.  Slowly, but surely, I am making progress.

According to family oral history, she learned her skills as a midwife from her mother, and had a great knowledge of  healing herbs and remedies.  Access to doctors was limited for slaves, and Milly did a lot of the doctoring in the area. 

She learned to boil all of her midwifery tools, and also boiled and baked all of the clothes she wore to a birthing both before and after attending.  This was in a time period when infant mortality rates were quite high, and medical doctors knew little about sterile conditions.  After her marriage in 1865  to Presley Roberts, a stone mason who had been recently freed from slavery,  she started her own family. Because she didn't trust doctors, or many other midwives, Milly birthed all her own children and raised 7 healthy children to adulthood.

Have had a hard time researching the Weaver family and am  still not sure how they are related.

My great grandmother's brother was Dennis Weaver.  He served in the Civil War, and received a pension.  After his death,. his wife Delia Fields Weaver also received his pension.

I have received Dennis Weaver's civil war pension files from NARA and was stunned when they arrived - the package was over 200 pages. 

According to the death certificate enclosed in the files his Date of Death was 27 Jun 1911.  

He and his wife Delia are buried in Rock Hill Cemetery in Loudoun.

Weaver, Dennis W

Birth Date:
Death Date:
Cemetery: Rock Hill
Location: Unison
Memo: NO DATES / "C.O.D. / I U.S.O.I."

(from Balch Library Loudoun Cemetery Database)

Maria Weaver, her sister,  married Richard Jackson, brother of George Jackson in the slave narrative.

Dennis and  Robert Weaver had land right next to each other.  Robert's mother is listed as Evaline Weaver when he married Isabelle Randoph from Clarke County VA, in Loudoun.

I believe that Robert was a first cousin to Dennis, Amelia and Maria - am now trying to make the connections.

Another related Weaver - but not clear how, is an older Maria Weaver, wife of an unknown Weaver.  When her son Thomas was married, in 1867, my great great grandfather Lewis Weaver proved his age. 

GOING BEHIND THE "BRICK WALL" OF SLAVERY

In order for me to begin to piece together  the Weaver family and relationships - some will have to be speculative at this point.  I have collected information on all the Weaver family units in the small community outside of Snickersville up on the mountainside, because my older relatives have told me that "everyone up on the hillside was related - if not by blood then by marriage". 

In order to find my family history, I must become very familiar with the families of the slaveholders - their marriages, cousins and other relations - because my family was passed from one branch of a slaveholders family to another.

Slaveholder John BEAVERS died at age 87 in about 1858 in Loudoun County, but 14 years prior to his death on May 4th 1844 , he assigned several slaves to his wife Margaret (in an agreement drawn up with Bushrod OSBURN). 

They were a Maria WEAVER and her 3 children; Lucinda, Tom and Martha Ann. 

It stated "the following slaves to wit, Negro Maria, commonly called Maria Weaver, and her three children, Martha Ann aged about seven years, Lucinda aged about four years and Thomas aged about two years together with the future increase of the family of them."

 

JBeavers_Osburn.jpg (370650 bytes)I

 

I believe this Maria WEAVER was  the sister-in law  of my gr gr grandfather Lewis WEAVER.    Lewis and Delia  named their daughter Maria,  and given family naming patterns,  she was probably named  for the Maria WEAVER in the document above.

After John BEAVERS died, his wife Margaret came down with consumption (Loudoun County Death Register, 1853-1896, Frain & Hiatt) and died in 1859. Prior to her death drew up her will, dated 7th day of November 1859 and signed “her mark”.  

MBeaverswill.jpg (261440 bytes)

The will included a list of items:  

Item 1st: I give to Milton VB Waltman my servant boy Tom and my servant girl Lucinda, also one set of silver teas spoons in absolute right

 Item 2nd:  I give to Margaret B Allen, wife of Edmund Allen my servant girl Mary Ann (this is Martha Ann) during her natural life & then to her children.

 Item 3rd:  I give to Jane Ann Allen daughter of Edmund Allen my servant girl Amanda, also any part of my property she may select to the value of one hundred dollars, also one set of silver tea spoons in absolute right.

 Item 4th:  I give to Eliza Vianna Allen, daughter of Edmund Allen, my servant boy Jim, also one set silver teaspoons in absolute right.  

Item 5th: I give to John W Allen, son of Edmund Allen, my servant woman Maria in absolute right.

 She goes on to give other bequests of money etc.

 I am attempting to decipher the family tree of the BEAVERS, to go back earlier and identify who owned the father of Maria’s children, and to trace what happened between to the family between 1859 and emancipation.  I am unclear where she is in 1870.  It is possible that she is Mary TURNER  age 45, in Charleston , Kanawha , West Virginia (where the Allen’s had been in 1860.

She is widowed by 1880 and living with her son Thomas Weaver in Loudoun, listed as Maria TURNER. (not to be confused with another Maria Turner found in Loudoun with husband Richard)

   I have identified the ALLEN family in the 1860 census:

 ALLEN, EDMUND (1860 U.S. Census)

Virginia , JEFFERSON , CHARLESTON P O, Age 50, Male, Race: White, Born: VA Series: M653  Roll: 1355   Page: 925

 Listed with wife Margaret 44- given Mary Ann (Weaver)Children Eliza V 25 - given Jim

John W 22 - given Maria (Weaver)

Jane 21 - given Amanda

James 20, Mary 17, Margaret 15, Sarah 13, Martha 11, Susan 9, Elizabeth 7, Emma, Elvira & Sophrenia

 In the 1870 census the ALLEN family is still in what is now WVA:  

Name:    Edmund Allen Age in 1870:    60  Estimated Birth Year:  1809 Birthplace:    Virginia   Home in 1870:    Averill, Jefferson , West Virginia   Race:    White  Gender:    Male 

 By 1880 this family has moved to Fauquier:

1880 Census Place : Center, Fauquier , Virginia  Source:FHL Film 1255365 National Archives Film T9-1365     Page 126B    

Edmund ALLAN Self            M         M         W        70        VA       Occ:    Farming         

Margaret ALLAN       Wife    F          M         W        66        VA       Occ:    Keep House 

Eliza ALLAN  Dau     F          S         W        45        VA      

Jane ALLAN  Dau     F          S         W        43        VA

Sarah ALLAN            Dau     F          S         W        38        VA

Martha ALLAN          Dau     F          S         W        35        VA

Susan ALLAN           Dau     F          S         W        30        VA

Lue JAMES   Other   F          S         B         14        VA       Occ:    Servant

I am now trying to figure out how they are all related to Margaret BEAVERS. 

 Margaret Beavers maiden name was VAN BUSKIRK.  According to family trees found on ancestry.com her parents were Abraham VAN BUSKIRK and Ann COCHRAN.  They had several children, among them a Sarah, who married George Jacob WALTMAN.

 George and Sarah WALTMAN are listed as the parents of Milton Van Buskirk WALTMAN.   Margaret BEAVERS made him her executor - and gave him Maria’s children, Tom & Lucinda Weaver.

He is listed in both the slave schedules and the census for Loudoun in 1860:

Name: MILTON V. B. WALTMAN  State: VA  County: Loudoun County Township: Southern Dist. Year:    1860     Record Type:    Slave schedule Page:   341   Database: VA 1860 Slave Schedule

 Name:  Milton Waltman       Age in 1860: 40 Birthplace: Virginia Home in 1860: Southern District, Loudoun , Virginia    Gender: Male     Roll: M653_1359    Page:   579

 According to these same family tree files, Milton VB Waltman later married Catherine FURR in Loudoun.

 I have not yet identified the parents of either Amanda or Jim.   Am also curious about the relationship between the OSBURN’s, and the BEAVERS family,

 In “ Loudoun County Virginia , Birth Register 1853-1879” by Patricia B. Duncan on page 162 in the section listing slave births is this listing:

 BEAVERS, Margaret, SF, Not named, 1 Sep. 1856 , A.F. Osburn’s, Lucinda, I_A. F. Osburn. 53:24(79)

By 1856 - Maria’s daughter Lucinda would have been 16, and not yet the property of the Waltman's.  I think this is Lucinda WEAVER.

Lucinda WEAVER ironically married an Addison BEAVER (also listed in other records as Adam BEAMER, BEVER) Aug 10, 1868 in Loudoun.

 There are several other entries in the birth records - with a mother “Maria” owned by John BEAVERS but it is still unclear if this is John Sr. or John Jr.  or if it is the same Maria.  The BEAVERS son John also owned slaves who are part of another branch of my family - surnamed TATE