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PATRICK HENRY WEAVER, the
oldest living settler of Tippecanoe County, and one of the oldest residents
of Indiana, was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in the year 1803, a
son of PETER and MARTHA (WALKER) WEAVER, his father a son of PETER WEAVER,
and of German ancestry, and his mother a daughter of HENRY WALKER, a native
of Virginia, and of Scotch-English descent.
In 1807 the parents of our
subject immigrated to Indiana and settled in what is now Wayne County,
three miles south of Richmond, where the father entered 160 acres of land
from the Government. By his unceasing energy and industrious habits he
soon acquired a valuable estate, but through his naturally kind and obliging
nature he lost all he had by becoming a bondsman for a sheriff of Wayne
County, who left him to pay the trust. By this stroke of misfortune he
was compelled to begin life anew, and in 1824 he settled on the rich prairie
lands of Tippecanoe County, which had attracted his attention during his
services as Lieutenant in a company of Rangers, during the Indian war of
1812. Here he entered a tract of land adjoining Burnett's Reserve, and
by his characteristic energy in its cultivation and improvement, he was
rewarded in such a manner that at his death he left a valuable property
to his family. He was one of the honored and respected pioneers of Tippecanoe
County, in which he always took an active interest. For several years he
served as county commissioner. In his political affiliations he was a Whig.
Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He
died in March, 1863, at the advanced age of ninety-six years. His wife
died in 1825, aged forty-two years. They were the parents of seven children,
but two of whom are now living-PATRICK H., the subject of this sketch,
and MOSES, who resides in Clark County, Missouri, aged seventy-four years.
PATRICK H. WEAVER was but
three years old when his parents moved to Indiana. He grew to manhood on
a frontier farm in Wayne County, and in his twenty-first year he came to
Tippecanoe County and assisted his father in making a home out of the forest.
He remained under the home roof until his marriage, which occurred February
26, 1829, to MISS ALICE DIMMITT, a daughter of WILLIAM and SUSAN DIMMITT,
who came from Tennessee to Wayne County, Indiana, in an early day, where
MRS. WEAVER was born. They were among the early pioneers of Tippecanoe
County, coming here in the year 1825. After his marriage, MR. WEAVER settled
on a farm of 162 acres of unimproved land in Burnett's Reserve, where he
has followed agricultural pursuits for over fifty-eight years, and is now
the owner of over 500 acres of finely improved land. MR. WEAVER was bereaved
by the death of his wife in 1884, after a happy married life of fifty-five
years. Eleven children were born to them, as follows: MILTON W., born November
18, 1829, now resides in White County, Indiana; SUSANNAH, born August 29,
1831, is the wife of NIMROD LISTER, of Wayne Township; MARTHA, born March
2, 1833, widow of WILLIAM CHALK, resides with her father; HARRIET, born
January 28, 1835, is the wife of DANIEL JACKSON, of Wayne Township; THIRSAH,
deceased wife of the late JAMES WHICKAR, was born April 1, 1837; PETER,
born October 28, 1838, resides in Jackson Township; ELIZABETH, born January
15, 1841, wife of FRANK SPITZER, of Montgomery County, Indiana; WILLIAM,
born December 30, 1842; AMANDA, born December 26, 1844, wife of DAVID REESE,
of Montgomery County; ALICE, born March 28, 1847, died in infancy, and
MARIA J., born October 15, 1849, is the wife of CHARLES TOLLIVER, of Nebraska.
In politics MR. WEAVER was
formerly a Democrat, casting his first Presidential vote for General Jackson,
but for many years he has affiliated with the Whig and Republican parties,
and during his many year's residence in Tippecanoe County, he has, by his
fair and honorable dealings, gained the confidence and respect of all who
know him.
Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana,
pp. 502, 507
Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1888
©2001 Tippecanoe County, Indiana Biographies
Project
All rights reserved