Index of Cumberland County Birth, Wedding, Divorce & Obituary Newspaper Records - 2003
This index runs from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003.
Weakley Family Black Sheep: Why James Geddes Weakly Was Disowned
In May of 1837, James and Eliza Geddes Weakley welcomed into their home in Mill Town (Huntsdale) their youngest son, James Geddes (JG) Weakley. The grandson of Samuel Weakley, JG was also the great grandson of the patriarch of "one of the most prominent families in the western part of the county," James Weakley.1 What act or acts did JG Weakley, a seemingly honorable man, commit in later life that caused him to be erased from the family tree?2
JG apprenticed at an early age to a carpenter, a trade he followed until the opening of the Civil War. He can be found in the 1860 census residing with James Coyle, a master carpenter, Coyle's sizeable family, and James Brown, another carpenter, in South Middleton Township. President Lincoln called for volunteers to defend the Union after the attack on Fort Sumter, and JG responded by joining the 9'h Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry for three months. Eight days after his honorable discharge, J G joined the 3'd Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry as a corporal and fought with Company H . Serving under Captain William E. Miller, JG made sergeant on June 13, 1863, just prior to the battle of Gettysburg.3 In reports of the gallantry of Captain Miller at Gettysburg, for which Miller was awarded the Medal of Honor, JG is mentioned by name, albeit by his former rank of corporal.4 He returned home in 1864, honorably discharged.
On January 10, 1865, JG married Catherine Ann (Kate) Himes, the daughter of George and Catherine Linnebaugh Himes. Kate's father had purchased the Weakley mills in 1855, an event which brought these two "upright and honest" families together.5
JG and Kate had three children by 1870, two girls and a boy. According to the US Census for 1870, JG resided with his young family in Penn Township. By June 1871, JG resided in Kansas as he "had been appointed general agent for the lands offered for sale by the Kansas Pacific Railroad."6 Kate and the children remained in Mill Town, living in their home across the road from her parents until they migrated west with the first Pennsylvania Colony in April of 1872 to join JG.7
After a couple of rather rough attempts at holding viable elections in the fledgling Russell County, Kansas, the voters ushered JG into the office of sheriff in 1875. The family, now blessed with a fourth child, moved from the Center Township homestead to Russell City. The following year JG was also elected Russell City marshal and divided his time between the duties of both city and county offices. His skills as a carpenter were in demand as he improved the condition of both jails as well as remodeled the Records Clerk's office in the Court House.
JG proved successful in his re-election attempts, including the year in which all of the Republicans were voted from office except JG and the county surveyor. He relinquished his concurrent duties as city marshal in 1878 as he took on a new business opportunity with Kate's brother-in-law, George Smyser. Their business, known as Smyser, Weakley and Company, brought in agricultural equipment and horses to sell to new emigrants in the booming county. However, by the end of 1878, the partnership had been dissolved, for unknown reasons.