The WEAVER LIBRARY at First Baptist Church, Talladega, Alabama

Welcome, Family Trails readers to a visit to the Weaver Library. By looking at this picture above,  a family member might feel as if he or she just pulled up a chair in the sitting room on Cherry Street in "Tee's House." Yes, this little setting is right out of Tee's house… the secretary, the lamp, the chair, even the floral prints… but it now is the entrance to the Weaver Library at the First Baptist Church in Talladega, Alabama. 

My sister, Rebecca, and I visited the Weaver Library again this past weekend when we attended the April in Talladega Tour of Homes. Rebecca had a very special addition to make. Among some of the boxes she has been exploring, she found our great-grandmother's Bible. It was a very worn and well-loved black leather-bound Bible with "Mrs. C. S. Weaver" printed on the cover. She and I discussed it and decided that it belonged inside the secretary alongside some other family books. 

If you visit Talladega to reach out to your family roots, visit the Weaver Library and open up the secretary. There you too can thumb through the pages of Nancy Antoinette Haynes Weaver's Bible.

The family cookbook and family photographs inside of the secretary

Family History books and Talladega History books are also inside. 

Our cousin, Lucretia, wrote about how the Weaver Library was created. Here are her words that she wrote for her grandchildren not too long ago. Interspersed in this article are pictures taken this weekend showing the beautiful bookcases filled with books and the furnishings in the library.

Clock above the check-out desk

The Children's Library

Soon after arriving in Talladega in December 1897, my grandparents, Charles Sisson and Nancy Antoinette Weaver, joined the First Baptist Church.  Each of their ten children were members, as were all of the grandchildren.  As adults, many served in leadership roles in the church.

When I realized that 1998 would mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the family's association with the church, I began to think of how we might observe this important part of our heritage.  There was unanimous family agreement that a memorial gift to the church would be an appropriate way of observing this important occasion. In all, thirty-six Weaver family members from five generations had been members.

  

After  months of traveling back and forth from Big Canoe, where I was living at the time, to Talladega, to consider  various projects, it was finally decided that the expansion and renovation of the church library would be of significant value to current and future families of the congregation.  

The minister, the library committee, and church officials were enthusiastic about receiving this new facility from one of its oldest families.

I accepted the responsibility of chairing the committee composed of my uncle, Tenison Weaver, cousin, Robert Weaver and brother, William Malone, along with the minister and Peggy King, librarian.  Pledges of sufficient funds from family members allowed the work to begin; and the church board authorized the facility to be named The Weaver Library.

Forty-five descendents of Charles and Nancy Antoinette Weaver gathered on July 12, 1998 for the dedication, one hundred years after the family began its membership and service to the church.

        The Weaver Library is an ongoing success thanks to Peggy King who heads the Library Staff and some 25 volunteers.  The library serves not only the church members, plus children in its child development center, but is available to community residents.

    Last August when I met some family in Talladega for a mini-reunion, our first visit was to First Baptist Church and the library.  What a joy to find it as beautiful and functional as the day it opened fourteen years before, and to learn of the blessing it has been for so many people.

   We give thanks for the vision and for the dream fulfilled. It is our  hope and prayer that it will continue to touch many lives for years to come. 
                                                          Written and submitted to Family Trails

by 

Lucretia Malone Mount Davenport

               

      

Many thanks to our "Aunt Lucretia" for sharing her written account of how the library began. 

As you can see by looking  on the shelves that they are full! It is a glorious thing to see this! The children's section is adorable and very child-friendly. There are windows that let in the beautiful light and make the library an inviting place for church members, children's preschool classes, and the community of Talladega. There are chairs and tables and rocking chairs for stopping to select a book. There is even a huge fluffy dog pillow for the children to lounge on.

All of us in the Weaver family also want to give our warmest and heartfelt thanks to Peggy King for her 30 years of service as the librarian. Peggy has been devoted to this project since the beginning. Peggy and I chatted on the phone for a good long time, and I could tell she has a strong desire to see that the Weaver Library continues WELL. I asked her what the needs are to keep the library active for future generations. She explained to me that any money that is donated into the Weaver fund through gifts is saved and used for technical purposes and for furnishings.  I then asked her how she saw the future of this special library and how anyone interested could help. Her reply was the concern that fewer books are being checked out, most likely due to the popularity of "ebooks." She foresees this library needing to make an investment in this not-so-new mode of reading in order to keep up with other libraries in the surrounding area.

Bronze plaque at the entrance 

Can I just put in a personal plug here? Making donations in honor and in memory of our dear family members would be an awesome way to let the First Baptist Church know that we feel strongly about its continued success. I for one will admit that I have not been a faithful giver to our library since the needs and struggles that I actually see in my own hometown every day tug at my heartstrings, and therefore my pursestrings. But visiting the church where my Grandmother "Bo" took me every summer to Bible school, where my great-grandparents worshipped, and my mother was baptized, where I attended every family funeral since I was old enough to sit in a pew quietly…this has opened my eyes to the legacy that Lucretia made happen. When you are outside of the library and you hear these sweet and noisy preschoolers, you cannot help but hope that they have all the resources they need that our family library can provide. 

Drawing of  the church hung above Tee's chair at the Weaver Library

Happy "Weaver Wednesday" to you all as the blessed Easter season continues! I hope you enjoyed our visit back to our library. Stay tuned for more blogs each week…. I have an idea where this blog is headed now that the weather is so beautiful. How about if we talk about family reunions? Billy and I have heard frogs outside for 5 days. (We have also heard the fox! …poor frogs!) But hearing frogs on a hot and humid night can conjure up only one tremendous family tradition memory to me……can anyone guess what that might me?