My father was James Archie Maroon. My mother was
born Rose Margaret Weakley in Madera, CA, daughter of Chloie Mable Myers and James William
Weakley. She was always very much interested in history. Whenever the family went for a
drive and we drove by historical markers, we would always stop. We'd gather around it like
some sort of shrine and, although we were all reading it together, she insisted on reading
it out loud. When we returned to the car, she would talk about the significance of it for
miles, making sure we understood why it was important. She also used to tell us family
stories, but she never really knew much beyond her father's generation. That is very
unfortunate, because her Weakley family has had a rich and varied history.
The earliest known ancestor that I have record of on the Weakley side is
my great-great-great-great-great grandfather James Weakley, who settled in West Pennsboro,
Cumberland County, PA.. We know that he was born in 1704, but we don't for sure know
where. The references I have seen say that he was born in Devonshire, England. There is no
doubt the family name originated in England, long ago. Weakley is a derivative of an
English name, Weekly, from the area of Weekley, or in Old English "wych elm
wood," in Northampton, England. However, most of the people with whom James Weakley
migrated to that part of Pennsylvania were from Ireland, many of them from County Antrim.
Other genealogists say they have proof that Ireland is where he came from, but I have yet
to see it. James was married to Jane Wilson. I haven't been able to find much about her
except as it pertains to her marriage to James, and the fact that she was born in 1715 and
died in 1768, and some information that may be gleaned regarding their life together in
Cumberland Valley.
Anyway, we also don't know when Jane and James emigrated to Cumberland
County, although it has been said they were married in England and moved together to
Pennsylvania in 1725 from Devonshire, England. They appear to have immigrated with James'
brother William and possibly Robert. Reports confilct, although there is evidence that
Robert was his brother. They also appear to have settled in near their kinsmen the
Rutherfords. In the 1734 records for the Blunston Licenses, a sort of land license, James
and William lived near James, John, and Robert Rutherford. Robert Rutherford apears to
have been the patrarch, patenting land for himself and and his grandson Robert Weakley.
Robert moved south with his uncle James Rutherford and cousin Griffith Rutherford,
possibly with the migration of John Caldwell who led a group of settlers south to
Lunenburg county, VA, sometime in the late 1730s or early 40s. William and James Weakley
remained behind in Pennsylvania. In
1742, William was listed as a tax collector for West Pennsboro township in Lancaster
county, an area that was to become Cumberland county some 8 years later. By 1748, William
had joined his kinsmen to the south and was listed among the tithables for Lunenburg
county, VA, along with Robert Weakley and James and Griffith Rtuherford. Griffith was to
go on to become a famous general of the American Revolution, and Robert son of Robert
became a colonel in that same conflict, fighting sometimes side by side with his cousin.
Col. Robert was later to serve in the United States Congress. Rutherford counties North
Carolina and Tennessee were named for General Griffith Rutherford. Weakley County,
Tennessee, was named for Col. Robert Weakley. This branch of the fmaily went on to live a
brilliant history which can be followed in the book The Southern Virginia Weakley
Families and their Descendants, by Samual Anderson Weakley.
But James and Jane Wilson Weakley remained in Pennsylvania, carving out an existance in
the American wilderness. According to James Senior's will, they had quite a number of
children: James (1740), William (1742), Edward (1743), Robert (1745), Samuel (1755),
Nathaniel (abt 1756), Agnes, Jane, Martha, Isabel and Mary. Their
first born son and my great-great-great-great grandfather James Weakley was born on
February 27, 1740.
This was a colonial pioneer family in the truest sense. Cumberland did not officially
become a county until after 1740 (until this time the area was a part of Lancaster Co.),
and the town of Carlisle, where their descendants settled, was not incorporated until
1750. Harrisburg at the time was Harris Ferry, a rope ferry that helped folks get across
the Susquehanna. It isn't clear how early they were there, but some reports have it that
the Weakleys may have been among those who jumped the gun on settling the area as early as
between 1725 and 1730, pushing out the local Indians. Settlement did not become official
until 1736. Even the latter settlement was not in agreement with the Indian tribes, thus
contributing to the tensions that led to the French and Indian War. Tradition has it that
the area was a wilderness of oak, and the pioneer family cleared it off to make for better
farm land and built a log cabin, which was about all that was available to folks that far
out at that time. It could be months before a strange face was seen. The area where the
Weakleys started out at has been described as a collection of cabins with farms. It was
formed mostly for safety reasons due to the understandable anger of local native
populations. In addition, the hills around Cumberland Valley had become a safe haven for
bandits and thugs trying to stay just beyond the reach of the legal authorities. Grouping
farms and cabins made perfect sense in this light. James fortified the immediate area with
a stockade, a small fort in which he enclosed his family and the homes of a number of
neighbors. When the area became sufficiently populated, it was divided up into
townships in 1735, and the Weakley family found itself living in Pennsboro Township. It
wasn't a town as we would imagine it today, but rather a loose community of farms.
The Weakleys were
devout Christians. Because the area was first settled by Scotch-Irish, the primary faith
of the area was Presbyterian. It has been estimated that some 90% of the inhabitants of
early Cumberland were Scotch-Irish. This fact and the fact that Presbyterian was basically
a Scotch Irish faith has also made me suspect that the Weakley's were from Ireland, and
before that Scotland. In 1734 Rev. Alexander Craighead was given permission by the local
Presbytery to begin a ministry in the area beyond the Susquehanna river. He developed two
congregations here: Silver Springs and Meeting House Springs, the Weakley's joining in the
latter congregation. Soon after, his father, Rev. Thomas Craighead, started congregations
elsewhere in Cumberland County. Alexander Craighead had a son by the name of Thomas
Craighead, who later married William Weakley's daughter Rebecca. Alexander Craighead wrote
the first anti-crown manifesto long before revolutionary passions came to a head.
Tensions were high during these early periods. Cumberland county lay right in the path
of major Native American migratory routs. There were many raids by and against various
Indian peoples, and it became so intense at times that many settlers decided this was not
the life for them and either retreated back to the relative safety on the East side of the
Susuhanna river, or moved south to greener and presumably safer pastures. Quite a number
of homesteads were destroyed and sometimes entire families killed, although not nearly as
many as some reports would have us believe. Things came to a head during the French and
Indian War. The Weakleys obviously survived, and apparently prospered on their farm. The
town of Carlisle grew up near Meeting House Springs, and the Weakley's lived in the area
of what became West Pennsborro Township, near present day Dickonson. They apparently
worked hard and prospered, developing quite an estate. James and Jane Weakley moved from
the head of LeTort's spring and built a plantation that ran along the banks of the Yellow
Breeches Creek for seven miles. Records in Harrisburg, PA, show that the Weakley's
patented thousands of acres of land. According the Frances Weakley's The Weakley Family
in America, this strip of land extended from Mt. Holly Springs to the Old Stone
Tavern, about seven miles long and three miles wide. Their old log cabin was replaced by a
nice stone house. They built three mills: a fulling mill, a lard mill, and a grist mill,
all of which generated money from the surrounding countryside. Dating from the 1700s, the
historic Barnitz Mill still stands on what used to be the Weakley estate, which makes a
number of researchers think it is one of the mills built by the Weakley family. In
addition, they accumulated quite a store of money. The children, except Nathaniel (under
sixteen in the year 1772), grew up and married, each of the sons was allowed to build a
house on the estate, with ownership remaining in the hands of father James until his
death. Jane Weakley died in 1768 at the age of 53 and was buried at the cemetery near
Meeting House Springs, 2 miles northwest of Carlisle next to Conedoquinet Creek. James
Weakley joined her there in 1772, in his will dividing up his land among three of his
eldest sons, James, Edward, and Samuel. Curiously, son William received no land at all.
James Sr.'s son, our direct ancestor James Weakley the younger, was given over half of the
plantation where James the senior resided, possibly including the main house, although
that isn't clear. James senior's money was primarily divided among his daughters and young
Nathaniel. Four hundred pounds were set aside for the purchase of land for Nathaniel later
on. The very modest amounts given to some of the daughters (except Martha Weakley, who was
given 130 pounds, which probably indicates a greater need than the other sisters) and son
William makes me think they were already established financially. James senior's last will
and testament follows, taken down just a couple of months before his death:
Will of James Weakley, our oldest known ancestor:
In the name of God Amen. I James Weakley of West Pennsborrow Township Cumberland County
of the Province of Pennsylvania being sick and weak in body but of sound and discerning
mind, memory and understanding, knowing the uncertainty of human life and that it is
appointed for all men once to die do make this my last Will and Testament in name and form
following that is to say I commit my Body to the earth to be Buried in a Christian and
decent manner at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter named and I resign my soul to
the hands of God hoping through the merits of my savior for the Pardon and Remission of
all my sins and dispose of all my worldly estate in the manner and form following. First I
will order and Direct that all my Just debts and funeral expenses be Paid by my Executors
out of my Estate as soon as may be convenient after my Decease. Also I give desire and
Bequeath to my Daughter Agnes the sum of forty Shillings and to my son William the sum of
ten Pounds and to my Daughter Mary the sum of forty Shillings. Also I give desire and
Bequeath to my Daughter Jane the sum of fifteen Pounds. Also I give desire and bequeath to
my Daughter Martha the sum of One hundred and thirty Pounds. Also I give desire and
bequeath to my Daughter Isabel the sum of ten pounds and I leave in the hands of my
Executors the sum of Sixty Pounds to be given to her at their discretion and according to
her behavior. Also I give desire and bequeath to my son Nathaniel the sum of four Hundred
Pounds to be laid in the purchase of land for him at the discretion of my executors or put
to use when he arrives at the age of sixteen years. Also I give desire and bequeath to my
son Robert the Plantation that the fulling Mill is built on with the fulling with all the
appurtenances thereunto belonging to be made to my estate Clear to him his heirs and
assigns for ever the Honorable, the (unreadable) excepted also I give Desire and Bequeath
to my son Edward the Grist mill and Lard Mill with all the appurtenances Belonging to
them, also all the land that belongs to them and all my land on the South side of Yellow
Breeches with Ten acres of Up-land on the north side of said levy, the nearest tract to
said Mill and four acres of Meadow at the east end of the lower meadow All to be made good
to him out of my Estate his heirs and assigns forever from all men the Honorable the
(unreadable) excepted. Also I give desire and bequeath to my two sons James and Samuel the
Plantation that I now live on to them and their heirs and assigns forever to be divided
between them Equally as they shall think proper only to James I allow to the value of
fifty pounds more than Samuel. And lastly I do hereby nominate constitute and appoint
James Edward and Samuel Weakley my three sons to be the sole executors of this my last
will and Testament, hereby revoking disannulling all forms and other Wills and testaments
by me heretofore made, declaring this and no other to be my last Will and Testament. In
witness whereof I the said James Weakley have here to Set my hand and seal this Twentieth
day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy two.
James Weakley (seal)
(his mark)
After his death, the family continued on in the area. Cumberland county was a hotbed of
discontent leading up to and during the American Revolution. Some of the primary thinkers
of the time resided in the area. James Wilson (it is doubtful he was related to Jane
Wilson Weakley, but we don't know), one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence
and US Constitution, lived in Carlisle at this time, so the inhabitants of Cumberland
Valley were no doubt well informed of happenings. Secondly, since the population was for
the most part Scotch-Irish, there was probably a greater propensity to rebellion against
Britain than had they been English to begin with. Most if not all of the Weakleys were
involved in the Revolution in one way or another. All of the brothers except Nathaniel
(that we know of) joined to fight for independence, most of them with the Cumberland
County Associators. James became a lieutenant under the command of Col. John Davis. I am
still looking for information on actual battles and campaigns he may have been involved
in.
After the war, our Lieutenant James and his wife Rebecca McKinly went back to farming,
as did Samuel and Edward. Robert entered the fulling business. We think that William was
by 1790 living in Adams County, so I still need to do some research regarding him.
Nathaniel became a merchant and tavern keeper, and quite a busy sort. Newspapers of the
time are peppered with his activity, going into partnership, then a few months later
dissolving it to start his own store, selling his store to become a tavern keeper at The
Sign of the Lamb, selling it to start an inn. Nathaniel Weakley was instrumental in
building a retaining wall to protect the city graveyard from the elements, and his inn
acted as a metting house for militia units.
After the revolution, passions were not just turned off. Discontent and distrust of
authority still ran strong. When the Whisky Rebellion began to foment around Pittsburgh in
1794, there were a lot of folks in the countryside who were sympathetic, many of them
patriots from the Revolution. Townsfolk were less inclined to rebel against their new
country. The story goes that a well known captain from the Revolutionary War (there is no
mention of his name in the records) led a rabble consisting primarily of farmers and
plantation owners into the town to stage a protest. From historical descriptions, I would
be surprised if the Weakleys weren't part of it. Word got back to George Washington who
decided it was time to put a stop to it, heading out for Pittsburgh with the intent of
stopping in Cumberland County on the way in order to quell passions and recruit
assistance. He brought his army across the Susquehanna, riding more as a king surveying
his domain than as a general prepared to put down an insurrection. And that is how he was
treated when he reached Carlisle. People came from miles around, our Weakly family among
them, to view the hero of the Revolution and the man who even then was looked upon as the
father of our country. He was the closest thing to royalty the American people had.
Dignitaries were sent to meet him and escort him into town. When he arrived he was not
greeted with rifles and protests, but with cheers from well wishers and gawkers, no doubt
aware that they were witness to history. Here he recruited additional help among the
locals. Among others, Nathaniel Weakley joined up to march with Washington to put down the
rebellion, so while he missed his chance to fight in the Revolution, he nonetheless
participated in an important chapter of American history.
Most of life returned to normal during these time. When it came time to repair or build
a new church, the congregation of Meeting House Springs decided to rebuild in the town of
Carlisle, building the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, which is still in use. Most
of the Weakley siblings seemed to have moved their memberships along with their church,
while some others began attending at Big Springs, later the town of Newville. These are
the places where they did most of their marrying, christening, and dying, the church
becoming the center of their lives and where we find most of the existing records of them.
The Old Graveyard in Carlisle was originally the burying ground for First Presbyterian
Church, and many Weakleys can be found buried there. Many famous inhabitants of Carlisle
are also buried there, including Molly Pitcher of Revolutionary War fame.
Some time prior to the war, Lieutenant James had married Rebecca McKinley, the daughter
of Isaac McKinley and granddaughter of John McKinley of York county, PA, and had settled
in to raise their many children, including Jane (born 1774), Isaac (1778), Rebecca (1779),
Nancy (1781), James (1785), Nathaniel (1788), Elizabeth (1790), and William (1794). Son
Isaac, born October 22, 1778, (apparently Revolutions don't get in the way of building a
family) was our great-great-great-great grandfather. The family prospered following the
war. James built a mansion, and added to his land holdings to the tune of hundreds of
acres. Lieutenant James died in 1820 at the age of 80.
Will of Lt. James Weakley, father of Isaac:
In the name of God amen. I James Weakley of Dickonson Township
County of Cumberland and state of Pennsylvania being in perfect health and of sound and
disposing mind and memory But calling to mind the mortality of the Body and that it is
appointed for all men to Die do make ordain this last will and testament in manner and
from the following Viz. Life goods as it has pleased God to bless me in this life I
dispose of in the following manner. 1st I order that all my Just debts and funeral
expenses be paid by executors Hereinafter named. 2nd I give devise and bequeath to my
beloved wife Rebecca Weakley one hundred pounds her bed and bedding one half of my
Household and kitchen furniture and to have the occupancy of her bedroom and her choice of
any room on the Second floor, in my house and my son James Weakley to find her in
everything necessary for a decent support. 3rd I give devise and bequeath to my son Isaac
Weakley that part of my farm that he now occupies containing about one hundred and forty
acres to him his and heirs forever subject to payment of Eight hundred to sundry legacies
hereafter mentioned, one hundred dollars to be paid in one year after my death and one
hundred yearly to the whole is paid the said Eight hundred to be applied to the legacies
of my daughters Mary and Elizabeth Weakley.
4th I give devise and bequeath to my son Nathaniel Weakley that part of my farm that he
now occupies containing about one hundred and forty acres to him his heirs forever subject
to the payment of different legacies to the amount of four hundred dollars to Be Paid in
Installments of fifty dollars in one year after my decease and fifty yearly until the
whole is paid.
5th I give devise and bequeath to my son James Weakley all that part of our farm that I
now occupy with my mansion house and Barn and all the appurtenances thereunto belonging to
him and his heirs forever subject to the payment of all my Just debts also the one half of
my household and kitchen furniture all farming utensils and wagons horses and cows that is
not disposed of otherwise.
6th To my daughter Jane Woods I give devise and bequeath one hundred dollars to be paid
two years after my decease. ____
7th To my daughter Rebeccah Boden I give devise and bequeath one hundred dollars.
8th To my daughter Nancy Weakley I give devise and bequeath four hundred dollars to be
paid fifty dollars each year until all is paid to keep her. A horse and saddle, bed and
bedery.
9th To my daughter Elizabeth Weakley I give devise and bequeath three hundred dollars A
horse and saddle, bed and bedding, a bureau to be paid to her in six equal payments one
year after my death the pay to commence.
I likewise appoint Andrew Boden and my son James Weakley my sole executors of this my
last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my
seal this twenty 6th of April 1815.
James Weakley (seal)
As his sons grew, James had allotted them pieces of land on which to build their homes
and raise their families, similar to what his father did for James and his siblings. Isaac
married Martha Brittain (sometimes spelled Bratton) at the Big Springs Presbyterian Church
in Newville on March 10, 1803. Martha, born March 12, 1779, was the daughter of Adam
Brittain and Ann Gillespie Brittain. We don't yet know when or where Adam was born, but we
do know that he was a captain in the Cumberland County Associators during the
Revolutionary War. Ann Gillespie married Adam on February 17, 1778. Ann was born the
daughter of William and Eleanor Gillespie in Nottingham, MD, in 1753. Eleanor and her
children had moved out of Nottingham in. It is believed the Gillespies were Scotch-Irish,
as well. Some reports say that Eleanor moved after her husband William had died.
Anyway, we don't know all that much about Isaac and Martha Weakley. We are still
researching this part of family history and have found very few records so far. We have
found the names of only some of their children. Rebecca Weakley (January 27, 1804),
Thompson Bratton Weakley (September 27, 1810), and Jane Eleanor Weakley. Isaac was
apparently named after his maternal grandfather, Isaac McKinley. Isaac and his family can
be traced through the census records, but because he died before the 1850 census, when
details such as names and ages of various family members were included, and because we
have been unable to find a will for him, we can only guess at some of the background
information. The will of his father James states "I give devise and bequeath to my
son Isaac Weakley that part of my farm that he now occupies containing about one hundred
and forty acres to him his and heirs forever," with requirements that he make
payments to his two sisters Mary and Elizabeth. Isaac died in 1848 at the age of 70 and is
buried in the Old Graveyard in Carlisle, PA. Martha survived him by several years and is
found in the 1850 census living with her son Thompson Bratton Weakley and his family.
Martha Weakley died October 1, 1857 and is buried next to her husband in the Old
Graveyard.
Thompson B. Weakley married Amelia Stuart at the United
Presbyterian Church in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, PA, on July 22, 1835. Amelia was
the daughter of John Stuart and Barbara Steene. [See The Stuart
and Steene families] Like his father Isaac, we don't yet know a whole lot about
Thompson, but there are some intriguing tidbits that create more questions than answers.
We find Thompson and Amelia in the 1850 census for Dickinson Township. Thompson is listed
as an innkeeper, and the census is taken in a hotel. All of his children are listed, along
with his sister, and his mother Martha Brittain-Weakley. The good man was doing what folks
did in those days, and that was taking in family members when they were old. Thompson and
Amelia's children were James M. (1836), John L. (1837), Isaac Wilson (1839), Anne E.
Weakley (1841), Martha B. (1843), Joseph T. (1847), and Samuel B. (1849). Of these
children, Isaac Wilson Weakley is our great great grandfather. Mother Martha died around
1857 at the age of 77. We then lose all track of Thompson and his family. They don't
appear in 1860 census. There is no sign of them that we have been able to find between
1850 and 1870. It appears that Thompson and Amelia separated some time during this period,
something that was extremely rare in those days. It could be that Thompson was only
visiting, or decided to try his hand at California fronteir life for a time, perhaps
waiting to send for Amelia sometime later. We just don't know. We do know that son Isaac
Wilson Weakley headed west, moving to Yuba County, CA. It appears Thomspon and several of
his other sons went to California and settled first in Yuba county, then Stanislaus, along
with Wilson. Amelia is not with them. She stayed in Cumberland County. At some point
Thompson returned to her, because he died on July 15, 1875 in Cumberland County. Amelia
lived to 1895, and is buried in the Old Graveyard in Carlisle, PA.
Wilson Weakley, the preferred name of Isaac, married Rachel Sivils December 26, 1866,
probably in Stanislaus or Butte County. It raises the questions about the Civil War.
Did Wilson participate? He had to be in California by 1866 to meet and marry Rachel, but
that still gives him time to have fought in the war from Pennsylvania. History tells us
that there was a great migration immediately following the war, between the years of 1865
and 1870. Were the Weakleys part of this great migration? This begs further investigation.
Rachel and Wilson appear together in the 1870 census records in Stanislau County. They
have two children at this time: James William (1868) and Charles Weakley (1869). Living
next door is father Thompson B. Weakley, aged 59, along with Wilson's brothers James M.
and Samuel. Another brother Joseph T. moved out to California. For a time they all settled
around Modesto, CA, in the own of Empire, where Wilson and Rachel bore the rest of their
children, including Lucy Amelia (1871), Harry Wilson (1873), Rachel Annie and Joseph
Edward (twins, 1875), Fred (1885), Orrin (1886), Clifford (1887), Horace (1888), Harry,
and Samuel. They lived here until sometime after 1890 when, except for Joseph brother of
Isaac Wilson, who remained in Stanislau County, the entire family moved to Madera County,
east of the city of Madera in the direction of the small town of Raymond, and settled on a
piece of land that came to be known for the next 80 years as the Wide Awake Ranch. Isaac
Wilson Weakley died there in 1905, and was buried in Arbor Vitae cemetery in Madera. His
obituary from the Madera newspaper follows.
DEATH OF OLD PIONEER
W. Weakley, a Well-Knonw Farmer, Passes Away
From Monday's Daily
Wilson Weakley, a pioneer of California, and a respected and well-known farmer of the
county, died at his home about ten miles east of town at 8 o'clock this morning of
Bright's disease. He had been ill for some months. He leaves a wife and ten children to
mourn his loss. They are James, Charles, Harry, Joseph, Fred, Samnel [sic], Cliff, Horace,
Lucy, and Annie Weakley.
Deceased was a native of Cumberland County, PA, and was 65 years old. He came to
California when a boy and settled in Butte county, afterwards moving to Stanislaus county,
where he engaged in farming for years. He then went to Merced, following his chosen
pursuit, and about eleven years ago he came to this county and has been farming what is
known as the Weakley ranch, near the old Bates station, for a number of years. He had a
host of friends in all of the counties in which he lived. He was a member of Madera Lodge,
No. 279, A.O.U.W., in which he was insured for $2000.
The funeral will take place from the Weakley ranch to morrow [sic] morning at 10
o'clock, and will arrive in town between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The interment
will be at Arbor Vitae cemetery.
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Rachael Sivils Weakley moved to Fresno shortly after her husbands death, where she resided
until her death in 1922. Her obituary that appeared in the Madera, CA, paper the
morning after her death follows. A quick glance at the dates and other data shows several
discrepancies that need to be worked out.
Pioneer of Madera County is
Called by Death
Mrs. Rachael S. Weakley, who will be remembered by the older residents of Madera as one
of the pioneers of the county, passed away yesterday morning in Fresno where she has made
her home for the last 15 years. Mrs. Weakley was the widow of Wilson Weakley who for many
years, prior to his death in 1912, was manager of what is known as the
"Wide-a-Wake" ranch in Madera county.
Mrs. Weakley first came to California from Iowa in 1853, crossing the plain with her
people in a prairie schooner drawn by ox teams and enduring all the hardships of pioneer
life. The family settled in Honcut, where Mrs. Weakleys mother, Mrs. Lucy Sivils,
whose age now lacks but two years of the century mark, still resides. In 1892, Mr. and
Mrs. Weakley came to Madera where they made their home for 15 years.
Mrs. Weakley is survived by her mother, Mrs. Lucy Sivils of Hocut; two daughters, Miss
Lucy A. Weakley and Mrs. Ann Crawford of Fresno; six sons, James Weakley of Madera, Joseph
and Fred Weakley of Fresno, Samuel Weakley of Colusa, Horace Weakley and Clifford Weakley,
both of Kansas City, a sister Mrs. Alice Haling of Honcut; and two brothers, J.D. Sivils
of Sacramento and Lee Sivils of Huncut.
Funeral services will be held at 1 oclock Tuesday afternoon at the grave in the
Arbor Vitae cemetery, with Reverend David McCalaugh officiating.
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The Wide Awake Ranch continued and prospered, and was a hub of activity for the various
kinfolk who grew up or married into the family there. It passed from Wilson to his sons,
most of whom sold out to their brother Joseph Edward Weakley, and it remained as a family
farm until Joseph's passing in 1970. It was almost left to my mother at that time, but
Uncle Joseph changed his will just before he died, and the farm was sold off to satisfy
the dispute among various parties. The above mentioned James William Weakley, born June
18, 1868, is my grandfather.
James didn't stay with farming his whole life. Early on he purchased a wagon and became
a teamster, ferrying mostly lumber with a 20 mule team between Madera and the foot hills
and forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, mostly around Sugarpine. He would take the
road through Raymond up through Coarsegold, up to the mountains to pick up lumber or logs
and carry them down to the transportation hub that was Madera, then return with goods and
supplies for mills and townsfolk. He was also commissioned to carry machinery to the
mountains, and in fact carried disassembled parts of a steam engine locomotive that would
be used to replace men like him, taking lumber down into the San Joaquin Valley city of
Fresno. When it was developed, he continued to ferry lumber between the lumber mills and
the train, with frequent trips to Madera, much as a trucker might do today. A huge man
even by today's standards, I often imagine James on those long, quiet trips from the
mountains to the valley, nothing and no one to keep him company but the sound of the wagon
wheels and the rhythm of the mule's hooves. The drive is a beautiful one, the old dirt
roads now having given way to paved, the road winding its way down through the rolling
foothills, by quiet streams and finally through farmland into the town of Madera. The
quaint town of Raymond was a good central point for him, and that is where he settled with
his family. In 1910, he met and married Chloie Mable Myers, my grandmother.
The daughter of Joseph Myers and Margaret Matilda Fancher, Chloie was a young woman
when she married James, barely 16 years old at the time. She was born and raised in the
valley town of Visalia, county seat of Tulare County, CA. The Myers family lived right
outside the city, in the direction of Exeter. I worked for a time at the Visalia library.
Right next to it is the old building that was once the library, built in 1905, and before
that the oldest school in Visalia, the Little White School, was on the same spot. The old
part of Visalia appears much as it did back then, and when you walk down the sidewalks of
main street you get a definite sense of the age of the place. These were the streets my
grandmother walked down as a child, the library where she no doubt visited, before her
family moved to Madera County and she married my grandfather in 1910.
Joseph and Matilda Myers had 13 children, all of them born in California, of whom
Chloie was the youngest: Nancy (1867), Albert (1868), Joseph E. (1870), Stephen (1872),
Ellen (1872), John (1876), Alice (1878), George (1881), Charles (1883), Matilda (1885),
Sopha (1889), James L. (1892), and, finally, Chloie Mable (1894). Joseph as the son of
John and Ellen Myers. Margaret Matilda Fancher was the daughter of John Fancher and Ann
Mariah Smith. The Fancher family has had a very moving family history. John Fancher's
brother was Captain Alexander Fancher, who led a wagon train known as the Fancher Party
into Utah where he, his family, and almost the entire wagon train of 140 men, women and
children were massacred by and at the direction of Mormon officials at Mountain Meadows,
Utah, in 1857. Alexander and his family were on their way with several hundred head of
cattler to Tulare County where they were to join his brother. John Fancher had registered
the first cattle brands in Mariposa and Tulare counties in 1852. His JF brand was
purchased by a cattle company in the San Joaquin Valley and is still in use today. Fancher
Creek in Fresno County runs through the city of Fresno and was named for John Fancher.
[See The Fancher Family, coming soon to this website].
Joseph and Matilda Myers and family moved to Madera County around 1908 or so onto the
ranch known as the Adobe Ranch, named so due to the material used to build the house and
ranch buildings. Fairly close to the Wide Awake Ranch, it was here that James Weakley met
young Chloie Myers.
To be continued...
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