My Genealogy Hound

WEAKLEY. James Weakley and his wife Jane came to this country from Devonshire, England, between the years of 1725-30. They built a log house about one mile north of Yellow Breeches Creek, near the present site of Barnitz Mill, in West Pennsboro township, Cumberland Co., Pa. Later this township was divided, and the part in which the old homestead stood was called Dickinson, until a few years ago the foundation-walls and some decayed logs still remained of the house, the first home of the Weakleys in America. James settled here in what was then a wilderness of oak. There were other settlers, however, in the Cumberland Valley, but this was a very isolated spot, and tradition has it that it was many months before a strange face was seen. In this vicinity were settlements of Scotch-Irish, and from this fact arose the mistaken idea that the Weakleys were also Scotch-Irish. The early Weakleys were staunch Presbyterians, and during the Revolutionary War were mainly on the side of the Colonies. This, in a way, was peculiar, as they were large land-owners, and might have wished to hold favor with the government of the King.

The records in Harrisburg, Pa., show that James Weakley had patented an extensive area of land here; in fact, a strip extending from Mt. Holly Springs to the Old Stone Tavern, about seven miles long by three broad. This land was later divided into plantations, in the language of the will (on record in Carlisle, Pa.) and apportioned among his several sons. He and his wife rest side by side in the old graveyard at Meeting House Springs, Cumberland Co., Pa. Their graves are well marked, and they sleep in this quaint old burying-ground, close beside the banks of the Conedoguinet Creek, two miles west of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

This, then, is a brief history of the first Weakley in America. His broad lands have descended to his heirs, their children and their children’s children. His descendants have scattered to the south and west, many of them not cognizant of the stock from which they sprung. They have helped fight the country’s battles and develop her resources, but never proved unworthy of their sturdy father who settled in the wilds of Pennsylvania so many years ago. They have married and intermarried with the old families, until their offspring is as numerous as the trees of the forest. Along the banks of the Yellow Breeches creek, on either side lie the farms bequeathed by the fathers to the sons, silent monuments of their thrift, their energy, and their effort. The major part of James’s vast estate has passed into the hands of strangers, and limestone farms, the finest in the world, occupy what was once his broad possessions.

Five generations of Weakleys have lived since James settled here, many of them prominent in their day, but now, too often, their deeds are their only monument.

Stephen Foulke Weakley was born Jan. 3, 1812, on the old Weakley Farm in Dickinson township. He died Dec. 3, 1884, and is interred in the Mt. Holly Springs Cemetery. His father was James Weakley, son of Edward, who was the son of James the progenitor of the Weakley family in America. His mother was Priscilla Foulke of Carlisle, and of Welsh descent. Mr. Weakley’s early life was spent in hard work on the farm in summer, and in winter he gained such education as the country afforded, which was very meager, but he applied himself to such good purpose that he was soon appointed to teach the school in which he had been a pupil. Desiring to broaden his ideas he made a trip to Ohio, then called the “back woods.” This was long before the time of railroads, so he traveled by wagon part of the way and roughed it the rest. After sojourning in Dayton and New Carlisle about two years, during which time he learned the tanner’s trade, he returned to the old farm on which he resided the rest of his life, with the exception of two years spent at York Springs, Adams county. He held the office of School Director in Dickinson township for nine years, and was always a zealous advocate for everything that made for the advancement in the educational field. Prior to the Civil war he was an outspoken and active Abolitionist, prominent in “Under Ground Railroad” work. By his actions he incurred the enmity of the slave-holders who had him prosecuted in the United States courts, and heavily fined. He never recanted and continued in the work of universal freedom until Abraham Lincoln struck the shackles from the bondmen. He was one of the founders of the Republican party and an indefatigable worker during his long life, but never asked or received a political office for himself or friends. Bred in the Presbyterian faith and carefully instructed in its tenets he was unable to accept its doctrines, but took a more liberal view of Christianity and was in accord with the Unitarian Church, but was never a member of any denomination. An ardent friend of justice, truth and right, he was always ready at all times to do battle for these principles, no matter what the consequences might be. He was a radical of the radicals, and always in the advance of the age in which he lived. His life was a stormy one. Mr. Weakley married Harriet Kaufman, of Boiling Springs, in whom he had a noble wife. Their children were: James Abram (died in infancy), Mrs. Minnie Rinker, Willis James, Mrs. Emma L. Harman (deceased), Mrs. Phebe W. Weakley, Mrs. Susie Peffer, Louis Oliver, and Stephen Herbert.