The OES visited Weaver Cemetery on April 17, 2016. Located in the middle of a farmer’s field on the north side of Leonard Road, Weaver (Waber) Cemetery was established around 1812 and contains the burials of some of Liberty Township’s earliest pioneers. Johann Jacob Weaver, along with his wife Anna Maria and their children, settled the area in the late 1700s after coming from Canton Baselland, Switzerland. According to history books, Jacob Weaver built the township’s first still-house. The first known burial in Weaver Cemetery is believed to be Anna Weaver, the infant daughter of John & Mary Ann Walters Weaver in 1813. The burial of Johann Jacob Weaver soon followed in December 1813. Altogether there are ten known burials at the cemetery, the last occurring in 1832 when five-year-old Henry Weaver died.
Weaver Cemetery somewhat faded to memory after the last burial. The property changed hands several times and the cemetery became neglected. At some point, the old house that stood where the Liberty Union School’s Land Lab shelter house is today was torn down. The property changed hands again in 1940 and the new owner drove fence posts to mark the cemetery and cleared most of the brush. As is the case today, the grounds were littered with groundhog holes. Genealogists recorded the stones that could still be read in the early 1980s. They noted that the markers were so badly worn that the surface crumbled with touched.
We visited Weaver Cemetery in the early spring, so we’re unsure if the cemetery is maintained or becomes overgrown during the summer months. There was a wood fence surrounding the grounds, separating it from the farmland, but such was not always the case as we were told livestock used to graze the fields and may have damaged the cemetery. We found several of the cemetery’s original sandstone markers, but they were embedded in the ground and too worn to read. The only standing stone was a marker erected memorializing those who were buried there about 200 years ago. We noticed an additional marker at the base with the name Jacob Martin and his years of birth and death. We do not know if this is a separate Jacob from the Jacob Martin listed on the monument or if it is a correction for the dates.
The cemetery is located on private property and requires permission to visit.
Location Information: Inactive Cemetery [Safe]
Weaver Cemetery is located on the north side of Leonard Road on private property; Fairfield County.
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