Jep Perryman Weaver

Jep Perryman Weaver was the seventh child of Nettie and C.S. Weaver. He was born on 

September 13, 1900. Unfortunately, I do not know much about my Uncle Jep. I only met him a few times as a child, but I will pass along what I do remember about him and what I have been told.

Jep was my grandmother, Ivera's, younger brother. He was born after their brother, Dewey, so the two boys were big buddies growing up. Uncle Jep moved to West Virginia  as a young man to work in the retail business like his father and older brothers had done in Talladega. He must have wanted to carve out his own path in life because he remained in West Virginia for the rest of his life. There he married Leona Watkins. 

Uncle Jep loved dogs, and Grandmother said that Jep always had "a pack of dogs."

  

All of Jep's five sisters loved Leona, and she was welcomed into the large Weaver family. Leona was very talented and enjoyed sewing. Every year she made hand-embroidered aprons and mailed them to  her sister-in-laws  in time for Christmas. I am so fortunate to have two of Aunt Leona's aprons. These pictures below are close-up shots of the handwork on the two aprons. I have used these aprons for years. I would tie them around my children's necks when they were helping in the kitchen when they were growing up, and these aprons have served as very oversized-but handy-bibs for my children and grandchildren. 

These two aprons are the same pattern, but the embroidery on each is so different. 

I like how the embroidery on the green check is very free-hand, and the cross-stitching on the blue check is more precise. 

Uncle Jep is also featured in our Family cookbook, Seasoned With Love. 

As mentioned in the cookbook, Jep owned and operated a restaurant in St. Albans, West Virginia. His original recipe, "Uncle Jep's Greek Spaghetti Sauce"  is a Weaver family favorite. During the late 1970's and early 1980's, it became harder on such a large, extended family as the Weavers to travel on Christmas Day, so we started a new tradition. We gathered at Tee's house on "The Night After Christmas" for a spaghetti supper, featuring Uncle Jep's famous sauce. 

So in reflecting upon Leona and Jep Weaver, I thought I did not know much about them, but now I see that I did know a few things. They both left us with legacies to remember them by…Leona, in her sweet ways and her skilled sewing, and Jep, in his love for his dogs and his love for cooking.

Happy Family Trails, everyone!

Love,

Mariellan

  

"Shop Local"

Dear Family Trails readers, 

What thoughts does this week's title, "Shop Local," conjure up for you…a trendy new way of looking at how you shop, where your tax dollars are going, supporting small businesses in a world of big-box stores? That's where my thoughts go when I see the banners around town to remind shoppers to support their home-town merchants. It makes sense, and it has helped me change the way I shop, but honestly, I thought this was a new concept in the past 20-plus years. For many years the local farmers' market has sent this message, and I agreed with the farmers…I would definitely want to eat lettuce grown right here in Alabama than some lettuce picked 2 weeks ago and shipped across the country in a truck. But the retail aspect of this….I didn't give it that much thought-not until, that is, my friends began opening their own businesses. Okay, are you asking yourself, "Where is this week's blog going with all this 'shop local' chatter?" Let me connect the dots…

In last week's "Weaver Wednesday" post, Fifty Years in the Merchantile Business, we read about the closing of "C.S. Weaver and Sons" in 1944. This week I am posting another letter written to Grandfather Weaver about the doors closing to his business.

But first, speaking of taxes…..here is a tax certificate that Grandfather Weaver paid in order to sell tobacco. It is dated October 31, 1939 and the cost was $5.00 tax to the state and $2.50 to Talladega County for a one year license. The probate judge who signed it is D. Hardy Riddle, and it is written in pencil. 

I will retype this letter so it will be easier to read. It is dated October 13, 1944 and is written by John B. Chastain of the "Chastain-Roberts Company."

Gentlemen, 
It is with regret we learn that you are liquidating your business. A business that has continued for fifty-two years through depressions, panics, booms, and what not can be counted upon to be managed by honest, capable people.
Since we began working Talladega we have had three or four different salesmen working that particular trip, without exception they have really believed in your firm. Any claim, shortage or complaint of any kind they knew to be just as your pictured it and your word we feel sure was always accepted without question.
We hate to see you liquidate because, if for no other reason, though there are many, there is a scarcity of good independent merchants. We believe and will continue to believe, until the picture changes far from where it is today, that live wide-awake independents can whip the chain stores, the trouble being there are far too few who will operate and merchandise like you and a few other merchants in this territory have been doing.
If at any time we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to call upon us. Please refer anyone at any time to us that you have occasion offer references to.
We want to wish for you good luck and prosperity in whatever undertaking you may decide to follow, with our very best wishes for you and yours for the future and with appreciation for what you have done for us in the past, we are

Yours very truly,
CHASTAIN-ROBERTS CO.
By: J.B. Chastain

Our Weaver family cookbook, Seasoned with Love, by our very own family member, Lucretia Malone Mount Davenport, contains many recollections about Grandfather Weaver's store. In the next few "Weaver Wednesday" posts, we will look at the remembrances written for the cookbook. Past blog posts have featured our cookbook, so if you would like to know more about Seasoned with Love,  please check out Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary and Cousins and Cookbooks.
Seasoned With Love is available online at Lulu.com. You will be in for a treat when you order your own copy of this very special family cookbook.

Before I close this week's edition of Family Trails, let me just say I am sorry that it did not get posted on our traditional "Weaver Wednesday." We are having some work done on our stairwell at home, and after the stairs were all taken out, I realized that my family history notebooks AND my scanner were at the top of the stairs! So …better planning ahead, I hope!
Thank you for checking out the Weaver family's Family Trails this week.
Love,
Mariellan

Celebrating!

Alma Rebecca Weaver
age 18 months

Welcome back to Family Trails after quite an extended time since the last post. Flu season arrived in our home and reached out to our children and grandchildren and my mother in law! Four generations with the flu in a time span of 3 weeks! Whew! Fortunately, there was always someone well enough who could look after the others, and I am glad to report that I think it is all behind us. 

This week I thought we could remember our great-aunt, lovingly nicknamed "Auntie."

Alma Rebecca Weaver

 was born on January 2, 1904. Here are some cute pictures of Auntie through the years.

Auntie with Nancy Harper DeWine
Christmas 1954

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Alma was the 8th child of Nancy Antoinette and Charles Sisson Weaver. She taught school for the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. She also moved to Philadelphia, PA to own and operate the Coulter Inn Hotel for some time. Having never married, she doted on all of her nieces and nephews and later on her great-nieces and great-nephews. She was a family favorite!

Two articles from C. S. Weaver's scrapbook

These 2 articles were glued next to each other in C. S. Weaver's scrapbook. The article on the left may be from the Talladega Daily Home or from a publication from the School for the Deaf and Blind. Here is the mystery, though… the article states that" she will still be nearby." Maybe Auntie also taught school for the deaf and the blind in Philadelphia. I do remember learning that she heard Helen Keller speak in Philadelphia, so maybe she was employed as a teacher there also.
 The article on the right is typed so small, that it is hard to read. The date is March 23, 1944 and looks to be a notification of purchase of the Coulter Inn Hotel. The last sentence reads, "The name and address of the person owning or interested in said business is Alma R. Weaver, 3400 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa."

Auntie at the Talladega Country Club

Oak Hill Cemetery, Talladega, Alabama 

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Now about those family recipes…. a few blog posts ago, I said that I would share some favorites from our family cookbook, Seasoned With Love by Lucretia Malone Mount Davenport.  I did remember to take one or two pictures to share with you. I wish I had taken more pictures… 

Among the many dishes from the cookbook enjoyed in our home and made by many different family members over the holidays were: sweet potatoes, green bean casserole,  beef tenderloin, cheese grits, pineapple casserole, cranberry relish, the Weaver Christmas salad, cheese straws, dill oyster crackers, and pound cake. Are you hungry yet?
I recently made "Beatrice's Cubed Steaks" on page 95. This is the epitome of comfort food! I was fortunate to have watched Beatrice make this for lunch one day. She was an excellent cook and never hesitated to pass on any of her cooking tips to a beginner in the kitchen. 

One of my favorite pound cake recipes is Lassie Weaver Malone's Sour Cream Pound Cake found on page 179 of the first edition. Sister Rebecca loves to make the Faye's Pound Cake on page 178. It is a favorite of mine also, but I was hooked when I first baked the cake with the sour cream!   Here is a picture of it. I make it for many occasions and EVERY SINGLE TIME  someone asks me for the recipe! 

Now before we end our visit this week on our Family Trails, I need to make a huge correction to the last post. I do not know how or why I made this mistake, but I typed my parents' wedding date incorrectly! They were married on June 30, 1954.

I hope you all have a good week. Here in the South, we are having very typical January weather. It has been bitter cold for a few weeks, then this week it has felt like Spring! The daffodil bulbs are popping through the ground and the forsythia is about to bloom! I darted to the local nursery and bought violas! Ready to dig in the dirt!  Then suddenly today, we are back into the Winter grey days… the days that don't see the sun all day! These are the days that call us to stay inside and read a good book!  So while I wait for the next sunny day to be outside, I will dig through interesting Weaver lore for next week's Weaver Wednesday's edition of Family Trails. Lots of love to you!

Mariellan