Jacob Weaver (bef. 1721 - bef. 1805)

Born before 1721 in Earl Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Died before 8 Aug 1805 at about age 84 in Shenandoah, Virginia, United States [uncertain]

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Deconflation

The lives and families of Jacob and his cousin by the same name have been conflated in many online trees, and possibly in published works before them. Luckily, land records exist that clearly and definitively distinguish this Jacob of Earl Township (and later Shenandoah, Virginia) from his cousin, Jacob of Lampeter Township.

Biography

Jacob was born between 1719 - 1721 in the area that is now Weaverland, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Jakob Weber and Anna Bauman. Land records show that his wife's name was Catharina or Catharine (see Research Notes below), but her maiden name is not yet known. Prior claims that he must have died in Lancaster circa 1802 appear to be based on these same land records, the last two of which were recorded on 23 Aug 1802. However, these records were written and signed more than a decade earlier, on 6 Mar 1792. The final five Lancaster records involving Jacob were all written and signed on that same day, and he walked away from those transactions with at least £2,440 in gold and silver Current Money of Pennsylvania. He must have sold at least another 185 acres around the same time, but that deed (or deeds) was never recorded, which is easy to believe, given the enormous gaps in time between the dates when the other ones were written and when they were recorded (also shown in the Research Notes below). The fact that there is no record of this ample estate in Lancaster means that he certainly died elsewhere. Probate records are intact in Lancaster, and an estate of this size would have occupied several pages. If he had retained any real estate, that would have left records in the deed books as well. However, neither Jacob nor his estate appear to have left a single record in Lancaster after 6 Mar 1792...

Jacob appears to have followed his sister, Barbara, and her husband, Peter Gander to Shenandoah. There was no one by that name in the annual tax lists for Shenandoah until 7 Jun 1792.^[1] Three years later, this Jacob Weaver outbid the competition at a public auction for Henry Funk's estate, including two tracts of land totaling 1,324 acres on Passage Creek in Shenandoah with mills Houses and all Conveniances thereto belonging for £1,000.^[2] This was clearly a man of much greater means than the vast majority of his new neighbors... The kind of wealth that the proven son of Jakob Weber (1688-1747) had disappeared from Lancaster with, just three months before this Jacob first appeared in Shenandoah records.

Note: All Lancaster deeds show that Jacob signed his own name in German script as Jacob Weber and that his wife, Catharine, signed with a mark, up until their final round of deeds there on 6 Mar 1792. There is only a single deed in Shenandoah that required Jacob to sign his name, and it came over a decade later. Catharine was not involved, and Jacob appears to have signed the deed only as J W.^[3] This discrepancy could be explained by the death of his wife and the loss of dexterity in the hand of a man by then in his ninth decade, but it can also be argued that this was a different Jacob Weaver. This argument is weakened, however, by the fact that all of Jacob's sons who signed deeds and other records involving his estate could sign their own names, and they signed just as he had in Lancaster, in German script that looks like Weber.^[4]

Jacob died in 1805, sometime before his estate was appraised on 8 Aug 1805.^[5] The account of sales of personal items in his estate includes items bought by his brother-in-law, Peter Gander, as well as Peter's sons, Samuel & Jacob Gander.^[6] From these sales of his real and personal estate a clear picture of Jacob's family can be drawn:^[4]

1. Eve married her cousin, Jacob Gander, son of Peter & Barbara (Weaver) Gander.
   • Eve & Jacob were of Shenandoah until at least 1811,^[7] and had relocated to Franklin, Ohio by 1815.^[8]
2. Jacob & wife, Mary, lived nearby in Frederick.
3. John & wife, Mary, also lived nearby in Frederick.
4. David & wife, Elizabeth, were in Shenandoah.
5. Nancy (Ann?) married Peter Light and was living in Berkley, Virginia.
6. Caty (Catharine?) married Michael Hildebrand and remained in Lancaster.
7. Elizabeth married Daniel Stover and moved to Franklin, Ohio.
8. Mary married Peter Light and also moved to Franklin, Ohio.

Research Notes

Indenture 28 Jul 1759:^[9]

between John Weaver, Henry Weaver & George Weaver, sons of Jacob Weaver late of Earl Township, Lancaster, yeoman deceased, Abraham Kendrick & ux, Mary, Christian Rott & ux, Ann, the said Mary & Ann being daughters of said Jacob Weaver deceased, and Anna Weaver the widow of the said Jacob of the one part, and Jacob Weaver and Samuel Weaver the other sons of the said Jacob Weaver deceased of the other part.

Whereas by patent 28 May 1741, Jacob Weaver deceased was granted 500 acres on a branch of Connestogoe Creek in Earle Township adjacent to Evan David, Widow Mixel, David Davis & David Martin. [Patent Book B, Vol. 9, p. 549.]

said Weaver dyed seized as well of land purchased before and after making his Will and also of a considerable personal estate.

And altho' some time before his death he signed a paper in the German Language purporting to be his last Will and Testament (proved at Lancaster 25 Jan 1747) yet the same is without Date and so ill and abscurely penned and expressed and with so much incertainty and inconsistancy that to obriate and prevent contentions differences and suits amongst the parties therein interested and concerned they with the aid advise and assistance of the executors in the said Will named have agreed to settle and make an equal division of all the real and personal estate of the said Jacob Weaver deceased amongst all his sons and daughters amounty to the value of £200 or thereabout for each childs purporty or share with a proper provision and deduction for the said Anna the Widow. And upon such Settlement and division it is agreed by and amongst all the said parties to these presents that the said described 500 acres of land should go and be conveyed to the said Jacob Weaver and Samuel Weaver equally between them.

• Indenture 28 Jul 1759:^[10]

  between John Weaver of Earl Township Lancaster County & Barbara his wife of the one part and Jacob Weaver of the same place yeoman of the other part... Jacob Weaver, father of said parties, died seized of 500 acres in said Township on a branch of Conestogoe. [Patent Book B, Vol. 9, p. 549.]

  ...and by his Will written in German with no date but proved in 1747... that the said Jacob Weaver (who is the eldest son of the said decedant) is to have one moiety...

  said John Weaver & ux, Barbara release and quitclaim unto said Jacob

• Indenture 22 Jun 1764:^[11]

  between Henry Weaver of Carnarvon Township Lancaster County Miller & Freni (Frena) his wife of the one part and Jacob Weaver of Earl Township said County yeoman of the other part. WHEREAS by certain Indentures of Partition dated 24 November last past made between the said Jacob Weaver and Catharina his wife of the one and Samuel Weaver of the other part (after Recitals) the said Jacob & Catharina did grant assign release & confirm unto the said Samuel Weaver his heirs and assigns... 250-acre moiety of the above 500 acres, subject to proportional sums of money due their sisters Barbara & Elizabeth. [Deed not found; not indexed or/and recorded.]

  And whereas said Samuel Weaver by indenture 25 November 1763 did grant, confirm & assign all the said tract to Henry Weaver...^[12], Henry now grants the same to Jacob.

• Indenture 27 Jan 1768:^[13]

  between Peter Gander of Earl Township Lancaster County & Barbara his wife and Elizabeth Weaver of the same place, the said Barbara & Elizabeth being the Daughters of Jacob Weaver late of said Township yeoman deceased of the one part and Jacob Weaver & Henry Weaver Sons of said decedant of the other part.

  Whereas said decedant was seized of 500 acres granted in his lifetime, and by terms agreed by all heirs, said 500 acre tract shall pertain to the said Jacob Weaver party hereto & Samuel Weaver (another son of the said decedant) and the said Samuel Weaver having since conveyed his half unto the said Henry Weaver, and the said Henry having since conveyed his said half to his brother the said Jacob Weaver, so that he is now rightfully seized of the whole 500 acres.

  said Peter Gander & ux, Barbara & Elizabeth Weaver release and quitclaim unto said Jacob.

• Indenture 23 Jun 1764, for £132.07.01: ^[14]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine, who had by then acquired the full 500 acres, sold Henry Martin a portion of 20.25 acres & 18 perches of the 250-acre moiety of the above 500 acres that once belonged to his brother, Samuel. Recorded 6 Oct 1775.

• Indenture 23 Feb 1770, for £500: ^[15]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine to Henry Root; 51 acres & 1.2 perches of his moiety of the above 500 acres. Recorded 27 Sep 1796.

[Mortgage, 10 Apr 1774: ^[16]

Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine to George Graff, lease of his brother's former moiety, minus the portion sold to Henry Martin.]

[Mortgage, 20 Apr 1776: ^[17]

Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine to Amos Strettell, lease of his original moiety, minus the portion sold to Henry Root.]

• Indenture 6 Mar 1792, for £1,000: ^[18]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine to George Martin; 85 acres & 50 perches of his moiety of the 500 acres. Recorded 10 Dec 1796.

• Indenture 6 Mar 1792, for £200: ^[19]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine to George Martin; 28 acres & 20 perches of his moiety of the 500 acres. Recorded 10 Dec 1796.

• Indenture 6 Mar 1792, for £1,200: ^[20]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine to Henry Martin; 129 acres & 48 perches of the 500 acres. Recorded 16 Dec 1796.

• Indenture 6 Mar 1792, for £20: ^[21]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine negotiated water rights with George Martin related to prior land transaction. Recorded 23 Aug 1802.

• Indenture 6 Mar 1792, for £20: ^[22]

  Jacob Weaver & ux, Catharine negotiated water rights with Henry Martin related to prior land transaction. Recorded 23 Aug 1802.

• August Court 1807: John Roye vs. Jacob Weaver & David Weaver adm'ors of Jacob Weaver dec'd.^[23]

• The Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society's genealogical card files for for Jacob and his father claim that the last tract from the Jacob Weaver/Weber 500-acre "farm seat" was sold to Henry & George Martin on 12 Apr 1792 with 1/2 acre to the Mennonite church for a cemetery, but no such deed or deeds appear in the Lancaster General Index to Deeds. The cards also confirm that Jacob and Catharine moved to Winchester, Virginia.^[24]

Sources

1. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Personal Property Tax List for 1792-A, p. 19.
2. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book K, pp. 26-29.
3. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book N, pp. 141-142.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} A series of deeds involving Shenandoah Passage Creek land provide many details about Jacob's heirs:
   • Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book P, pp. 222-225.
   • Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book R, pp. 492-495.
   • Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book U, pp. 652-653.
   • Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book Y, pp. 388-391.
5. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Will Book F, pp. 410-411.
6. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Will Book F, pp. 411-415.
7. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book S, pp. 293-297.
8. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Deed Book W, pp. 134-135.
9. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book U, pp. 516-519.
10. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book S, pp. 79-80.
11. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book S, pp. 80-81.
12. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book U, pp. 581-584
13. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book S, pp. 81-82.
14. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book S, pp. 310-311.
15. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book UU, pp. 514-519.
16. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book T, pp. 14-15.
17. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book T, pp. 168-170.
18. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book UU, pp. 772-776.
19. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book UU, pp. 776-778.
20. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book YY, pp. 586-589.
21. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book 3L, pp. 605-611.
22. ↑ Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Deed Book 3L, pp. 611-617.
23. ↑ Shenandoah, Virginia, Court Order Book 1806-1808, p. 133.
24. ↑ Ancestry.com. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S., Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014 [database on-line]. Weaver, Jacob, Pioneer & Weber, Jacob.