 |
Sample Reviews |
|
S. Christopher Anderson, MSCG
To: Thomas W. Jones, National Genealogical Society Quarterly
A Weaver's Source Book: Uphome with Jonas and Emma. By Mary Lou Weaver Houser with Carolyn Ehst Groff. Published for the author by Masthof Press. Copies available from the author; 2256 New Danville Pike, Lancaster, PA 17603; 1997. 304 pp. Appendix, illustrations, index, maps, photographs. Softback. $29.95.
Underneath the bland cover, A Weaver's Source Book: Uphome with Jonas and Emma unfolds like a variegated bouquet of flowers, rich in textures and hues - a joyous celebration of family history. This book is as warm and cheery as the family hearth.
It is a treatise of a Swiss Anabaptist family (Waber, Weber, Weaver) highlighting mainly Mennonite lineages in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is perhaps understandably over-reliant on secondhand European and early Pennsylvanian data rather than on the author's own original research, and it is of interest to a limited audience lineage-wise (2200 individuals indexed); however this is an excellent example of a homespun genealogy and deserves examination simply for its savory blend of facts, anecdotes, and illustrations. A delicious treat! Perhaps you'll obtain a few ideas.
The layout (replete with over 400 illustrations and photographs) is generally well designed and attractive, with the most notable exception being the vertical, rather than horizontal, display of some of the rare early Swiss records. The text is interesting, well cited, and well written, with only a few drawbacks. In her effort to make this family history interesting, the author sometimes confuses the reader with the overlapping of intricate interrelationships; however, her writing style is so engaging that it redeems the problem to a large extent by motivating the reader to revisit the chapters to more clearly understand those relationships.
The numbering system is burdensome but workable. Chapter titles, are puzzling and make it difficult to guess what generations are included, but the titles are creative and provide some continuity. For the factual purist, chapter 8 and the appendix proffer a genealogy sans anecdotes. There are very few typos, the most glaring one being the title of the appendix. It is a misnomer since all of David J. Weaver's descendants are included (i.e. Samuel A.), not just those by his second wife, as indicated in the title. Overall, this is an excellent, friendly, and readable delight.
This book will deliver what you want in a family history - a feeling of appreciation for who the people were. It wasn't stuffy facts carelessly woven with skeins of semi-related memories. It was a clear and open window into the very fabric and fibers of this family - its strengths and weaknesses, its beliefs and feelings, its tragedies and joys - and spilling over with photos of faces, families and fellowship. You're almost there with them. Scrapple or homemade apple butter anyone?
If genealogical publications were described in culinary terms, A Weavers Source Book: Uphome with Jonas and Emma would be a gourmet slice of homemade apple pie!
S. Christopher Anderson, MS, CG
Lancaster, Ohio
The reasons for their return are important to the authors of a new Weaver family history, but equally valuable is the colorful detail supplied by the grandson of two of the Weaver brothers who came home.
"The move back to Lancaster required adjustments as one grandson observes with a twinkle in his eye," note Mary Lou Weaver Houser and Carolyn Ehst Groff in A Weaver's Source Book. "Both brothers, Jacob B. and John B., determined that when they crossed the county line they would pitch their cigars overboard and be rid of the habit forever.
"That resolution shifted to the next generation as John B's son Aaron O. promised his children a gold watch if they reached twenty-one tobacco-free. His son David proudly owns his gold watch."
Family histories have come a long way in the past few years. This book is a prime example of how to produce a complete genealogical record while including sufficient anecdotal material to keep family members from nodding off during obligatory readings.
Houser and Groff have traced the line of their grandfather, Jonas Abram Weaver, and his siblings and cousins back to Switzerland. The family came to America in the 172O's and settled in Lancaster. Some members moved to Juniata county and to Virginia. Some moved back. Many led lives worth remembering.
Written with style, A Weaver's Source Book includes scores of photographs and maps in a contemporary design that promotes deeper understanding of the family record. Weaver's in, that line can be proud.
The book is available at $29,95, plus $3 shipping, from Mary Lou Houser at 2256 New Danville Pike, Lancaster, Pa.
Janet Martin
Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania Quarterly, February
1998
In this handsome book the author has made a careful collection of the records associated with the antecedents and descendants of her Grandfather, Jonas Abram Weaver, tracing his roots to the Wabers who lived in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1717. after having moved to the Palatinate for some years, Hans Waber, along with his wife and children, migrated to Penn's Woods. These Wabers first settled in Lancaster County, in the Lampeter-Strasburg area, but as early as 1760-70 their descendants sought new land farther West along Susquehanna, in Juniata County. The branch of the family whose roots Houser traces in,detail, the ten children of David J. and Mary Ann Auker Weaver, had moved from Juniata Countv to Broadway, Virginia. Six of their sons and daughters later moved to the Franconia Conference as a result of their marital choices. A detailed genealogy of David and Mary Ann Auker Weaver is presented in as structured a manner as possible. It is in the fleshed out accounts of the Jonas and Emma Weaver genealogy that Houser shows the fruit of her eight years of research. Throngh interviews, pictures of family celebrations, memories of children and grandchildren, she recreates their lives in loving detail as they appeared to their children and grandchildren. t
The diaries, letters, interviews, museum documents, and the many fine photographs that complement the text are carefully documented; Extensive credit is given to those who helped write and edit various chapters. The design is a great strength because the format with the pictures and quotations to the right and left of each page illustrate the joy of these memories. Many readers may wish that similar accounts of their roots were so thoughtfully recorded to nourish them and their descendants.