by Fred H. Keller, Village Historian
Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Feb. 16, 2010
The great pioneering family of the Sussex-Lisbon area was the Weaver family that came to the Town of Lisbon from 1836 to the mid-1840s. The family included three generations when it arrived in Lisbon, and Lloyd S. Weaver was part of the fourth generation; he was born 30 years after the first Weavers arrived.
Included in the first three generations was William F. Weaver, Lloyd’s great-great grandfather, born Jan. 5, 1767, in Tenterden County, Kent, England. William and his wife, Mary Hardiman, (1775-1823) had six children, but the sixth child born in 1819, only lived a little over two months. Mary and her child, Thomas, both died in 1819 and were buried in England.
The children that did live were James (born 1800), William Jr. (1802), John (1804), Rebecca (1807), and Stephen (1810). All five of these children, and in most cases their significant others and their early children, all came from England at one time in the spring of 1830 on the Brig Emma to New York where in the western part of the state, many homesteaded on small farms that cost about $15 per acre.
However, this three-generation group heard of the new territory that was opening up in Wisconsin in 1836, and ultimately over a period of about seven years, all made it to this $1.25 per acre Wisconsin territory and made some big claims, mostly in the 160-acre size in Lisbon.
Old William F. Weaver Sr., now in his 60s, died July 3, 1845, in Lisbon. He was one of the very first burials in the then-new St. Alban’s God’s Acre Cemetery.
Now the second generation of the Weavers included second-born son, William, who was born in Old Romney, Kent, England, and who married at age 24, (1826) to Mary Smith who was two years older than William. They had seven children, two born in England, four born in New York and the final was born in Lisbon.
Their first-born in New York was John Rolfe Weaver (Nov. 1, 1832). Because there were so many Johns in the extended family of the Weavers, John Rolfe was just called “Rolfe” or more commonly, “Rofe.”
He was the third born overall, but became the second born boy and in his life took over the home of his father becoming William Sr. when old William F. Weaver Sr. died in 1845. Originally, the William Jr. then Sr. Weaver had a log cabin for his family, but in a fairly short time built a two-story home which still stands today in Sussex on Cedar Circle. The house is easily identified because it is the tallest in the area at two-stories plus an attic situated behind some large, old trees.
Now John Rolfe Weaver married twice. His first wife, Mary Boots, had six children, the last was Lloyd in 1863. Mary Boots, died in 1866, two and a half years after Rolfe was born. Almost immediately, John married Maggie Medhurst Cody, a widow of Civil War veteran John Cody. She had four children with Rolfe, one coming in the year he got married again, and also in the year his wife died, (1866). So Lloyd grew up with younger siblings: Alice, Louella, Carrie and Lettie.
As Lloyd grew up, he was a staunch member of the Sussex Masonic Order. A Dec. 28, 1888 newspaper clipping reports a Sussex Masonic installation at the Lisbon Town Hall (today the Sussex Family Medical Practice).
The Masonic meeting started out with an installation of officers for 1889 and 22-year-old Lloyd was installed as “Steward.” This was followed by a long speech by a Masonic visitor, an oyster dinner for the assembled people and then dancing until 3 a.m.
In life, Lloyd would work as a tin smith, barber and part time bar tender. In 1910, he unsuccessfully ran for the post of Waukesha County Coroner. Meanwhile, in 1907, at age 44, he married a Waukesha girl, Laura Wolf, at St. Alban’s in Sussex. They would have no children, and they did live in Waukesha for a bit, but eventually came back to Sussex.
A relative, George Weaver, had started a tavern in Sussex, Brook Hotel, which introduced Lloyd to the part-time bar tending business.
On Aug. 18, 1939, the Sussex Lions Club had its very first charter meeting and this new fraternal, charity-driven club needed at least 20 men to get started and Lloyd was one of the original members. The charter meeting was held at the then-new Sussex Community Hall, but quickly adjourned to the Brook Hotel for a banquet.
Today, the Brook Hotel is where the big Sussex clock stands in Village Square Park.
Lloyd died in the mid-1940s and his wife, Laura died in 1969. Both are buried at St. Alban’s Cemetery along with all four Weaver generations leading to Lloyd.