In this blog, I will introduce you to the Ford Weeast and Helen Davis family; my grandparents. Ford is the only son of Morgan H Weeast.
Lineage: Thomas Weast -> Morgan H Weast -> Morgan Weeast -> Ford Weeast
Ford had one daughter with his first wife, Ethel Carrell, before her early death one year later. He then went on to have six other children with his second wife, Helen Davis. They all lived in Florence, New Jersey.
To supplement the other standard sources of information, I was able to copy the Roebling Employment Records for most people mentioned below from microfilm found in the Burlington County Library. This proved to be invaluable when talking about the Weeast family during World War II.
Family Statistics
Ford James Weeast – born Oct 13, 1895, died Jun 3, 1941 (45)
Ethel Carrell (1st wife) – born Jul 18, 1896, died Oct 9, 1918 (22)
Marjorie Weeast – born ~1917
Helen Mae Davis (2nd wife) – born Apr 17, 1902, died Apr 9, 1991 (88)
Arthur James Weeast, Sr – born Sep 30, 1919, died Jan 9, 1985 (65)
Beatrice Thelma Weeast – born Jan 7, 1921, died Dec 6, 1989 (68)
Loretta Mary Weeast – born May 13, 1923, died Sep 2, 2013 (90)
Sylvia Mae Weeast – born Sep 25, 1925, died Jul 26, 2015 (89)
Thomas Ford Weeast – born May 24, 1928, died Nov 5, 1956 (28)
Morgan Baird Weeast – born Oct 10, 1929, died Aug 14, 1930 (10 months)
Ford’s 1st Marriage
Ford Weeast married Ethel Carrell on June 13, 1914. Ford was 18 years old, and Ethel was 17. They lived with Ford’s parents, Morgan and Elizabeth Weeast. Around 1917 Ford and Ethel’s daughter Marjorie was born. The following year, Ethel became sick with bronchial pneumonia and subsequently died on October 9, 1918. She was 22 years old at the time. This was during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic (also known as the Spanish Flu), which infected 500 million people around the world and resulted in 50-100 million deaths.
Marjorie was raised by Ethel’s Ethel’s sister and husband; William and Elizabeth (Carrell) Rossell.
Ford’s 2nd Marriage
The Census taken January 1920 showed Ford living with his parents. Ford Weeast married Helen Mae Davis the following month on Feb 28, 1920.
Ford was working at the Florence Iron Works in 1915 (at the age of 19) as a ropemaker, the same occupation as his father, Morgan H Weeast. He would continue to work here until his untimely death in June 1941 at the age of 45. Six months later Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the US entered World War II.
Helen started work at the John A Roebling plant in December 1942 (at the age of 40), shortly after her eldest son enlisted in the US Navy. Helen continued working at the plant until May 1946 as former workers returned from the war and returned to work. In June 1944, Helen married Clarence Cameron. Clarence was an iron moulder and was a boarder at Ford and Helen’s home in the 1940 Census. Clarence died in 1950 at the age of 66. Helen passed away on April 9, 1991, at the age of 88.
Ford & Helen had 6 children, Arthur, Beatrice, Loretta, Sylvia, Thomas, and Morgan.
Ford and Helen’s first son, Arthur James Weeast was born November 30, 1919. After finishing his first year of high school (around 1934), the country was 4-5 years into the Great Depression. Art dropped out of school and started working to help out the family. In 1936 he became a helper at the Borden Milk Dealer, delivering milk to homes by bicycle. At the age of 19 he began work at the John A Roebling plant during a strike around 1938; see section Weeast Family During World War II. He became a full-time employee of the Roebling plant on 10/16/1939 until he enlisted in the US Navy in 1942. He served as a Carpenter’s Mate 3rd Class in the 44th Naval Construction Battalion, also known as the Sea Bees, from October 1942 to April 1945. He was stationed at naval bases on Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, and Manus Island, Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. The construction battalions were responsible for clearing jungles, and building airstrips and base infrastructure where nothing existed before. Upon his return from service, he returned to the Roebling plant until 1950 when he struck out to start his own business. Art married Jean Marie Keefe on June 8, 1946. They had four children, Robert, Warren, Art Jr., and Jeffery. Art died on January 9, 1985, at the age of 65.
My mother, Jean Marie Keefe also worked at the Roebling plant, a year after her high school graduation, from February 1943 to July 1947. She was a typist clerk. She left due to her pregnancy. She died on September 24, 2012, at the age of 88.
Beatrice Thelma Weeast was born January 7, 1921. She married James C Wysong on February 15, 1941, at the age of 20. They had two children, Paul and Patricia. Beatrice divorced and later married Richard Gosline in October 1947, and together they had two children, Richard and Thomas. Beatrice died on December 6, 1989, at the age of 68.
Loretta Mary Weeast was born May 13, 1923. Loretta graduated high school in 1940. She started working for the John A Roebling plant in 1942 in the payroll division (at the beginning of the war) and remained there for 32 years when the plant finally closed down in 1974. She then went to work for the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles for the next 14 years until her retirement in 1990.
Between 1995 and 2007 I visited Aunt Loretta and Aunt Sylvia several times to gather family information and pictures as I picked away at the Weeast genealogy. Aunt Loretta had a large plastic tub full of pictures, most of which I scanned into a computer. Most of the family pictures I have today came from that tub. The Aunties and I had a lot of fun during those trips.
On one such trip, it was August 2, 1995. I, along with my mother and brother Bob, my cousin Cathy Weeast and her daughter Denise, traveled up north to Little York NJ to attend a family reunion sponsored by Eleanor (Weeast) Sassaman; see attached flyer. There were approximately 60 people at that event. In my genealogy research starting in 1994, I corresponded with Eleanor and discovered the other half of the Weeast line, all relating to Henry Weast (born in 1830). I brought two family tree maps, each about 8 feet long, that we hung on opposing walls of a hallway in Eleanor’s house. Including spouses and children, there were about 70 people on each map. One map was for Morgan’s family line, the other was for Henry’s family line. Everyone had a great time in locating themselves or their ancestors. It was a very fun event. Here is a link to a map for the Thomas / Henry Weast tree and the Morgan Weast tree.
Eleanor recalled visiting her son’s home purchase years before this visit. As she said “when Dean (Sassaman) was transferred from North Jersey to the NJ State Police barracks in Bordentown, he purchased a home in Florence. Eleanor told Dean that she had been in this house before when she was a little girl and her grandmother came to visit family. It turns out that the family they visited was Morgan H and Elizabeth Weeast.” The home next to this one is where Ford and Helen Weeast raised their family. This is one more piece of evidence that the Morgan and Henry Weast families are related.
Loretta had one daughter, Lorraine. Loretta passed away on September 2, 2013, at the age of 90.
Sylvia Mae Weeast was born September 25, 1925. At the age of 18, Sylvia started work at the John A Roebling plant on January 3, 1944; her mother was working there at the time. She worked here until April 1946. Sylvia married (Harry) James Rue on February 5, 1946; James was 29 and Sylvia was 20. Together they had two boys, Robert and James. Sylvia passed away on July 25, 2015, at the age of 89. James preceded her in death on September 27, 2003, at the age of 86.
Thomas Ford Weeast was born May 24, 1928. Thomas married Marie Margaret Hoffman on November 7, 1951. They had two children, Thomas Ford Weeast Jr. and Michelle Weeast. Thomas died at the very young age of 28 on November 5, 1956, 5 years after his marriage and less than two years after the birth of Michelle. Marie passed away on March 2, 2005, at the age of 74.
Morgan Baird Weeast was born October 10, 1929, and he passed away 10 months later on August 14, 1930.
Weeast Family During World War II
The following is a letter written to me by Loretta Weeast, dated December 1, 1994:
I don’t believe that you know that most of our family worked at the Roebling plant during World War II. Of course, your father worked there before the war, about 1938, at the time the union was trying to organize in the plant. During this time the men were picketing outside of the mill. Your father and some other men, once they got into the mill, didn’t come out for days. They wanted to work and knew if they did come out, they would have been killed. You know they had a name for people like your father. He thought this was great fun and would be the one to stay inside. Also, he was making a lot of money.
Your grandmother (complete in her blue coveralls, something they had to wear) worked in the Copper Mill. This copper used there was drawn on machines, to a very fine size and had to be run on spools for shipment. I believe your grandmother was what you would call a spooler. Your Aunt Sylvia worked in the Wire Cloth Mill. This is where the steel wire was woven into a wire mesh used for screens, etc. This was done on big looms. Your aunt was a loom operator.
There was also one section of this mill where they literally used silver in making a very fine mesh which was used in the war for mending head injuries (such as the brain, using a silver mesh plate). You had to be a very good operator to work in this department. (In the margins Loretta wrote that “they must have run out of silver before they could get to your father’s crazy head) Everything that Roebling made during the war was government work.
“Yours Truly” (Loretta) worked in Roebling for 32 years. I started working here in 1942 just at the beginning of the war. I remember when the country was having these big “Bond Drives” at the time and when they came to the Roebling plant, there were always a lot of people volunteering their services for this. I saw Hedy Lamar and Walter Abel (just in case you never heard of them, they are movie stars, a little before your time).
After the war was over in 1945, my family left the Roebling Mill but your Aunt Loretta hung in. My work was more on the clerical side. For many years I worked in payroll and covered the workers in the “hot mills” which included the Rod Mill, Blooming Mill, and the Steel Mill. This was quite a responsibility, but they were fun years. After all those years, they finally forced me into semi-retirement by closing the plant in 1974, and that was a sad day. We heard lots of rumors about closing but we never thought it would happen. I went on to work for the great state of New Jersey (Division of Motor Vehicles) for the next 14 years and then finally retired officially in 1990, ending my 50-year career. What can I say?
Love ya,
Aunt Loretta
PHOTOS
Ford Weeast – A young Ford Weeast (on left) with an unidentified friend.
Marjorie Weeast – this wedding photo, on June 26, 1937, shows the parents of the bride. Starting from the left are Mr. & Mrs. Panaro, Daniel Panaro (groom), Marjorie Weeast (bride), Ford Weeast (father), Helen Weeast (step-mother), and Mr. and Mrs. William Rossell (Ethel Carrell’s sister, Elizabeth, and brother-in-law who raised Marjorie since she was around 1 year old).
Marjorie Weeast – this photo, dated March 23, 1939, is Marjorie (Weeast) and Daniel Panaro standing on the steps of 417 W 3rd Street in Florence NJ; home of Elizabeth and Morgan H Weeast. This house is next door to where Ford Weeast and his family lived.
Helen Weeast – this photo, dated September 14, 1936 (during the depression era), shows Helen (center of the picture with dark black hair and large white collar, and other unidentified members of a sewing project that was part of Work Program Administration (WPA) project in Burlington County, NJ. The WPA spent more than $1 billion on social welfare projects, including construction projects, sewing projects for women and school lunch programs.
Helen Weeast – this is an undated photo, probably in the 1950’s.
Art, Beatrice & Loretta Weeast – this undated photo (probably late 1920’s) shows Art, and Sisters Beatrice (right) and Loretta (left).
Weeast Children – this August 1933 group photo of the Vacation Bible School at the 1st Baptist Church in Florence NJ includes Art and Thomas Weeast, and Sisters Beatrice, Loretta, and Sylvia, along with cousin Blanche (Weeast) Nichols. This is the only picture I have with all of Ford’s children together (with the exception of Morgan Baird Weeast who died less than 1 year old).
Weeast Children – this August 1937 group photo of the Vacation Bible School at the Florence Baptist Church in Florence NJ includes Loretta Weeast, sister Sylvia, brother Thomas, and cousin Arnold Weeast.
Weeast Children – this August 1938 group photo of the Vacation Bible School at the Florence Baptist Church in Florence NJ includes Loretta Weeast, brother Thomas, and Aunt Geneva (Weeast) Hollinger.
Art Weeast – this 1938 photo shows Art on his bicycle when he was between 18-19 years old.
Art Weeast – this photo was taken in 1942 when he joined the US Navy during World War II. He was a member of the 44th Construction Battalion, a group of about 1,000 men who were stationed on the islands of Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides and Manus, Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific between 1943 until 1945. Art was a Carpenter’s Mate, 3rd Class.
Art Weeast – this photo, taken in 1944 on Espirtu Santo, New Hebrides, shows Art in his workshop. Obviously, these guys did not have to wear the naval uniform where they were stationed.
Art Weeast & Jean Keefe – this photo was taken shortly before they were married in 1946 (my mother and father).
Thomas Weeast – an undated photo of a young Thomas.
Thomas & Marie (Hoffman) Weeast – this 1953 Christmas card photo shows the young couple with their first son (Thomas Jr).
Loretta Weeast – Postcard, dated Aug 1939, from Loretta’s trip to 1939 World’s Fair held in Flushing Meadows, New York. A month later, World War II would begin. It is really interesting to read about the introduction to television that happened at this fair. To see the full details about this fair click here.
Loretta & Helen Weeast – this June 1940 photo includes the recent high school graduate in her cap and gown and her mother.
Loretta Weeast – this photo, taken on September 2, 1942, shows a group of John A Roebling employees celebrating the visit of two movie stars of that day, Hedy Lamarr and Walter Abel. This was part of a wartime bond drive to raise money for the war. Loretta is the fourth person on the right, just under the emblem on the bandstand flag. She was working in the payroll department during the war and remained at the plant until it closed in 1974.
Loretta Weeast – this undated photo was taken of Loretta (center) with two unidentified friends.
Elizabeth Weeast & Family – this January 1952 photo has the largest number of Morgan and Ford Weeast family members in one photo, celebrating Elizabeth’s 80th birthday. Elizabeth’s husband Morgan and son Ford passed away in the 1940’s.