Climbing the family tree

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NEPONSET — “The past is not dead. It isn’t even past,” so said the author William Faulkner.

Bob Weber, 82, of Neponset found that phrase to be true 40 years ago when he first began to research his family history. His research began with the son of his great, great, great, great grandfather, Henry Weber. Bob Weber learned his ancestor had joined in the 14th Illinois Cavalry and fought in the Civil War.

“He rode a horse from Geneseo to Macon, Ga., and was captured and put in Andersonville Prison for six months with a bad knee. He was later exchanged for southern soldiers and was sent home,” Weber said.

After sending in a request for any information of Henry from the Congressional Records, Weber’s interest in genealogy was born. Years later he went to visit Andersonville Prison and was able to see the conditions his ancestor survived in for so long.

Since then he’s learned a great deal about his family — he’s traced the Weber family tree back to 1776 in Germany.

“It’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. I get a piece here; I get a piece there, and I put it all together. I’ve collected them all and kept my own book. I’ve got a closet full of stuff that I’ve collected through the years,” Weber said.

One of Henry’s sons, Freeman Weber married and had a son, Dr. A.D. Weber, the eventual Dean of Agriculture at Kansas State College. A.D. Weber was the first American to judge the steer class at the International Livestock Show in Chicago; there were 800 steers in this class. He judged the show for 11 years, Weber said.

Another interesting relative, was James Russell, a grandfather four times removed, who fought with the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, Weber said.

Russell’s son, Thomas, eventually married and moved to America. He and his wife, Rebecca, landed in Quebec, Canada, and took a train to Chicago. From there they walked to Valpraiso, Ind., before settling down.

“Thomas got a job in a brick factory as a laborer because he couldn’t read or write. When the Civil War was going on he left his wife and family and joined the 138th Indiana Infantry,” Weber said.

Thomas fought in the Battle of Vicksburg and later joined in General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march to the sea in 1864. He arrived in Washington, D.C., without being wounded, Weber said.

When his service was completed, he walked back to Valpraiso, Ind., and the next year he and his wife had their fifth child, Bob.

“When Bob was 1 year old, Thomas put his wife and five children in a wagon pulled by two horses and drove 600 miles to Kansas and homesteaded a farm in Atchison County, Kansas. Thomas and his wife had five more children after they arrived in Kansas,” Weber said.

Yet another grandfather, three times removed, was Frederick Roach, who helped move the Kickapoo Indians from Tiskilwa to Kansas in the Trail of Tears, Weber said. Roach served as an Indian agent for the Kickapoo Indians in Kansas.

Weber said his greatest find in 40 years of family research was to learn that he had five great, great grandfathers who served in the Civil War in the north and another family who was a general in the Mexican War, who also served in the Civil War.

Weber said he enjoys putting these stories together, piece by piece, and hopes to pass on all he’s collected to his granddaughter, Joy Hernandez, in the hopes she, too, will carry on their family history.

“I enjoy putting this all together and finding out more and more about our family,” he said.