ROOTS & BRANCHES

What was once proven and then unproven—is now proven again!

I’ve corresponded with and written a couple of columns over the years about Kathy Williams’s attempt to restore the patriotic dignity of John Peter Weaverling in the Revolutionary War.

The story in brief is this: Weaverling had fought in the American Revolution and was considered a Patriot by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution until March 2003 when a New Jersey Revolutionary War Slip (muster roll) was found that stated that he deserted in 1780. 

He had served about three-and-a-half years and was at Valley Forge, later settling in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, from 1784 to 1787 before dying in 1796.

Chronology is everything in lineage societies that require a proof of some type of service—something dishonorable such as desertion negates what came before that, even service through the brutal winter at Valley Forge! (I had a client a long time ago who couldn’t have her DAR application approved because he missed a stint of guard duty as the last recorded act for him!).

When Williams first contacted me in 2007, I wasn’t overly optimistic, but I did break down the problem into two parts: Identify where Weaverling was living between the date of desertion and his later known residence in Bedford County, and then search for records about those areas that might mention patriotic service. 

Williams put this into practice with loads of trips to archives with records about Weaverling’s known places of residence over the succeeding years, but it took helping out a friend to direct her to a breakthrough.

The friend’s research indicated one of Weaverling’s sons was born in Maryland and the family had a presence specifically in Washington County. This led Williams to find the 1783 Supply Tax—a levy considered eligible patriotic service by DAR—for a “Peter Weaverlin” in Washington County, as well as the baptism of one of his known sons in Hagerstown, the Washington County seat.

This tended to cement the tie between the man who’d previously been in York County and later in Bedford County—showing that he was just across the Mason-Dixon Line from those counties in Maryland—but Williams stayed on pins and needles as the DAR considered her supplemental application (which are from established DAR members seeking to add second and subsequent eligible ancestors).

Less than a month ago, Williams reported again on her supplemental application to re-recognize Weaverling. “I am happy to tell you that my supplemental DAR application was verified on March 25th!” she wrote. “John Peter Weaverling is again considered a Patriot and women wishing to join DAR may use him as their patriot.”

Which goes to show that even research on people dead more than two centuries is not static!