Berrien County MI Archives News.....“GRANDMA” WEAVER, BUCHANAN PIONEER, RELATES INTERESTING REMINISCENCES June 16, 1916
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Mary Ellen Drolet MaryDrolet@comcast.net January 24, 2010, 3:01 am

Niles Daily Star June 16, 1916
Niles Daily Star, Friday, June 16, 1916, page 2, col. 2 & 3. (Microfilm, Niles
District Library)

	“GRANDMA” WEAVER, BUCHANAN PIONEER, RELATES INTERESTING REMINISCENCES
	Aged Woman Still Spry and Active—Buchanan a Mere Hamlet Surrounded by an Almost
Unbroken Forest When She Came in 1848—By T.J. Tormey

	Mrs. Jacob Weaver, Sr., whose maden[sic] was Orpha Crum, is one of the best
known pioneer residents of Buchanan township, where she has resided for 68
years.  “Grandma” Weaver, as she is more familiarly known, was born in Wayne
county, Ind., Aug. 25, 1831, and went with her parents to live at Plymouth,
Ind., in the spring of ’36.  At that time there were only two frame houses in
the town, and the Indians were more numerous thereabouts than white people.  In
1848, the subject of this sketch was married to Jacob Weaver, Sr., now deceased,
and they took up their residence in Buchanan township, that being the year the
Michigan Central railroad was finished from Detroit to Niles.  Mrs. Weaver
recalls that the road was built through there to New Buffalo in ’49, to Michigan
City, in ’51 and to Chicago in ’52.  She remembers that the terminus of the road
for nearly three years was at New Buffalo and that during this time the town was
a place of great activity.
	Although accustomed to hard work from girlhood, Mrs. Weaver is spry and active
and her memory is most excellent.  She narrates many interesting incidents of
the early days, and, as regards the vagaries of the market, remembers that in
the spring of ’57 marsh hay sold for $20 a ton, whereas in the spring of ’58 the
choicest clover hay brought only $1.25 per ton.  She has known hogs to be as low
as 2 ¼ cents dressed and wheat as low as 47 cents per bushel; also as high as
$3.75 per bushel.  She can recall when unwashed wool sold for $1.15 per pound
and when sheep sold for $40 and upwards per head.  She has known potatoes to be
as low as eight cents and as high as $2.25 per bushel, and remembers when four
foot wood sold for $1 per cord.
	The year Mrs. Waver came to Buchanan township, 1848, Bertrand was a thriving
French town, with a distillery in full operation, whereas now only a few weather
beaten houses stand forth in what once promised to be a big city until the
railroad went through on this side, the stage stopped running, the steamers and
keel boats ceased their journeys up and down the Old St. Joe, and time and
obliteration began their work now so nearly ended.
	Mrs. Weaver remembers the business panic in ’57, and recalls that the chief
cause was the discovery of gold in California in ’49, the increased wealth
having stimulated men to plunge in all kinds of business. Her father, Dr. Peter
Crum, accompanied the great flood of immigration to California in ’49, and when
cholera broke out, gave his life in his effort to minister to the afflicted.  He
was the father of eight children, seven daughters and one son, of whom Mrs.
Weaver is the only one still living.  Their mother died in 1839.  When the
family resided at Plymouth, Ind., Dr. Crum used to go on horseback to visit his
patients, following paths through the forest, as there were no roads.  The
family made the trip form Wayne county to Plymouth in ’36 with an ox team. 
There were no bridges and they crossed the rivers on ferry boats and forded the
smaller streams.
	Longevity is a feature of Mrs. Weaver’s ancestors.  Her aunt, the late Mrs.
Hetty Shortrige, of Hammond, Ind., lived to be 101 years old, and at the time of
her death, in 1905, had 25 living grandchildren, 66 great grandchildren and
eight great, great grandchildren, making a told of 101 descendants.  At the time
25 of her grandchildren were dead.
	“Grandma” Weaver’s husband passed away 33 years ago.  There were the parents of
eight children, seven of whom are still living.  They are Emanuel, who resides
in the northern part of the state; Jacob, of Buchanan; Mrs. J. T. Beckwith of
Benton Harbor; Abraham, of Weesaw township, and William, Elmer and Mrs. Ella
McFallon of Buchanan township.
	“Grandma” Weaver also has 15 grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren, four
generations being represented in her family.
	Mrs. Weaver is spry and active despite her 85 years.  She has just returned
from a visit with her son Emanuel, and family, in northern Michigan.


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