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Anna Weaver: One ofUpson's Great
Ladies: 1834-1927

By Dr. Mary B. Williams

Anna Weaver (Marianna M. Weaver),
Caroline's daughter, was bom in
Clinton, GA, and came to Upson
County with her parents and older sister
while still an infant. She moved with
her family to the house on Bethel Street
when she was 6 years old, and lived
there for the remainder of her life. She
was educated at the Thomaston Female
Academy, where the girls were
"instructed from 6 A.M. until 6 P.M. in
the 'Geography of the Heavens, Natural
Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, French,
Natural History, Botany, Rhetoric,
Chemistry, Intellectual Philosophy,
Reading, Spelling, Writing, and Mu-
sic', ...."   Her musical interests in-
cluded playing the piano; she was still
buying sheet music until the War dis-
rupted commerce. She remained in the
home, taking care of her parents and the
only surviving child of her sister, until
her niece married and her parents died.

At the age 6f~44 she inherited the
house. She proceeded to rum it into a
boarding house, which she ran. For
many young people of today, turning
one's home into a boarding house
would involve such a significant loss of
privacy that it would be a last resort,
but in those days even the wealthy
shared their rooms with siblings and
their homes with aged parents and with
single relatives of all ages;   their
expectation of privacy was very
different from ours. Anna's decision
seems to have been a clear-sighted
decision about the best way to make a
living, and to make an independent life.
According to family tradition, the first
thing she did when she decided to take
in boarders was to buy silverware,
because, as she explained, she wanted
to have the class of boarders who were
used to eating with silver.

A boarding house was likely to
contain single workers (from bankers
and teachers to clerks and mill
workers), students whose homes were




MISS ANNA WEAVER

those days!), young married couples,
widows or widowers, etc.   Because
Anna's house was next to the school,
she generally had teachers and students,
but the "Mrs. Thompson'" mentioned in
the one of the letters quoted below was
probably a widow. Anna's niece, Kate
Weaver, boarded with her while she
attended   R.E. Lee Institute as a
student, and later as a teacher;

probably other relatives whose families
lived too far from an appropriate school
also sent their sons and daughters to
board with Anna. Thus the boarding
house gave Anna the opportunity to be
a close part of her extended family
while still remaining independent.

To give you some feeling for her
work in running the boarding house, I
will quote from a couple of her letters.
From letter to Kate Weaver,
Sept. 10, 1896:

Prof Hayes is a hustler.  He has
brought in over twenty boarding pupils.
He came to see me about renting my
house when he first came here, and it
was too small as he expected to have a
good many pupils to board with him. I
told him I believed I would prefer tak-
ing about 1/2 a dozen school girls to

r^ntinn   T4p cai/^ h^* rlirl nnt thinly hp

'could furnish them this term as he hai
been teaching so many of the teacher
institute meeting [sic] and had not hai
time to drum for the school. He ha
some girls boarding with him and goin;

to school from Reidsville near Savan
nah. Prof Hayes has rented the Herrinj
house and has it filled with boardin;

pupils. .... Last week two men fron
the country came to see me about rent
ing a part of my house and putting ;

widow woman in it with about six o
eight girls to go to school. I think tha
would about have run me crazy. [Thesi
men were probably well-to-do farmer
who lived too far from town for thei
daughters to get to school. This corn
ment indicates that she really preferre<
students who were old enough to livi
on their own, without a "widov
woman".]

I am still cooking on my oil stove
Still waiting to see more about wha
arrangement I may make. May Griffn
asked me to use her stove, and after
saw it I would not because it was en
tirely too large for me to use. I shal
decide in the course of a few week;

about it. I am tired cooking on an 01
stove. I don't have room for but two o
three things and crowded at that and i
smokes too. [I assume that Anna had ;

cook to do much of the cooking for thi
boarding house, but this indicates tha
she did some of it.]

From letter to Kate Weaver, Nov. 3
1896:

Mrs. Thomas got her things movec
yesterday [?] and it will take her thf
balance of the week to get them ii
place. [Note that moving into a board
ing house in those days was similar t<
moving into an apartment today. Yoi
could rent the room furnished or brim
your own furniture. ] - Poor Dollii
cried when she told me good-bye yes
terday, and said she never expected t(
be so pleasantly situated again whili
she lived.

I have been so busy getting my housi
arranged for Mrs. Thomas to come in
have not been to Buddies [her brothc
Alvah]. He took me out in thecountry