Magdalena Rutt Weaver family stories

Magdalena Rutt Weaver family stories

From Jay D Weaver's website, jdweaver.com/weavland

Martin G. Weaver was my great-great-uncle. He lived from 1859 to 1935 in New Holland, Lancaster County, PA. He was a well-known local historian, and wrote books on the history of the Weber/Weaver families, the Borough of New Holland, and The Lancaster Conference Mennonites. I was too young to know him when he died.

This little booklet, which was published in November, 1933 is a revision of a series of articles that he wrote for the newspaper, The New Holland Clarion. The material here has been slightly edited by Jay D Weaver for capitalization and punctuation. I also changed several items for which Mr. Weaver had created an errata sheet typed on a small piece of paper and glued to the booklet. There have been no substantive changes made to the document.

As is usual in a historical document, researchers have found evidence which contradicts several items in this book. I am aware of several of these and I have included information about them as links at the appropriate places in the document. I have also included graphics of those parts of the book outside the main body of the material.

Eighteen miles east of Lancaster, two miles northeast of Blue Ball, in East Earl Township, Lancaster County. Pa., near the hard road leading from Blue Ball to Terre Hill, a short distance northwest from the Weaverland meeting houses, is a small grave yard, enclosed with a five rail post fence, which was kept and protected by such fencing nearly two hundred years by the descendants of the several families whose ancestors had planned to bury their dead in this sacred spot; but to the average resident of the community and to the stranger it was a spot of neglect, because it was often overgrown with weeds before the weary relatives thought of mowing and cleaning it, which was done about twice a year.Within this small, enclosure the dust of the earth has mingled with the mortal remains of the first white settlers of the beautiful vale known and remembered as "Weber's Thal," "Weaver's Dale," now Weaverland, since the organization of the first Mennonite congregation, by that name in 1730.Henry Weber: In May or June, 1745, the remains of Henry Weber, owner of the land from which half of the graveyard was taken, were borne across the fields from his humble home on the east banks of what is now known as Blue Ball Run, a home which he had erected during the summer of 1722, and occupied by his family since the spring of 1723, which with the homes of his brothers, were the first real homes for family life in this dale.This home was midway between the present farm seats of Joseph M. Weaver and Henry M. Weaver. Henry Weber was about 54 years old and left his widow, who was Maudlin Kendig, before marriage, a daughter of Jacob Kendig, and a granddaughter of Martin Kendig, of the first ship load of Mennonite colonists on the Pequea, who with two sons, Henry, aged 9 and Christian, fourteen years with six daughters, several of them married, one of them, Eva, who afterwards became the wife of John Wissler was an infant. To this pioneer widow, it became the lot to manage a farm of nearly four hundred acres and rear her family. He had made a will shortly before his death, written in German. It was never recorded and by some means it was lost or destroyed; but the record of its proving remains at Lancaster, and in the recitals of numerous deeds when his land was disposed of after the death of his wife, in 1758, when all the children had attained the age of twenty-one years, excepting Eva. By the recital of several deeds dated July 30, 1765, recorded at Lancaster in Deed book H, page 302, etc. , it is shown that the family mothered by the brave young widow, followed the outline given in the German written will of the father, (no doubt penned by his own hand); but when Eva Wissler arrived at the age of twenty-one years, she relinquished the part of the farm, given to her, and the entire original farm of 365 acres with its various allowances which made it to contain about 400 acres, was vested in the ownership of the two sons, Henry and Christian, and nearly all of it is still retained by their lineal descendants (1933) being eight farm seats and several smaller homes.

Henry's son:Christian Weber: Passing on to the second generation in America, we notice the grave of Christian Weber, in the first row. He was the oldest. son of Henry Weber, born December 25 (Christmas Day), 1731. Married Magdalena Rutt, (said to have been a sister to Christian Rutt, of Cedar Run), September 30, 1749. They lived together for fifty-five years on the homestead built for them, and now owned by Christian M. Zimmerman, on a section or half part of the original Henry Weber purchase. His wife died February 16, 1804, being in the 71st year of her age. Sixteen years later, February 13, 1820, he died and was laid to rest beside the remains of his wife, aged 88 years, 1 month and 9 days. From a letter in German, printed after his death, we learn that these venerable people were the parents of seventeen children, nine daughters and seven sons. Seven sons and five daughters had ninety-nine children at the time of his death. He also had 188 great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren at the time of his death, leaving a total of 309 descendants.His lifelong friend, and one of his nearest neighbors, Bishop Henry Martin, preached the funeral sermon from the text: Revelation 14: 12 - 13. He announced the hymn, now numbered 203 in the old German hymn books, "Mieni Sorgin, Angst und Plagen Laufen Mit Der Zeit Zu End."