The Weeast family lines all trace back to Thomas Weast, born around 1790, and his wife Mercy, born around 1796. From 1790 to 1840, the Federal Census recorded the name of the head of household and male and female counts in ranges of age; see the 1830 Census for Thomas Weast. Starting in 1850, the Census recorded all people residing in the household, including relatives or boarders living with the family. Here is a link to view the Thomas Weast family in the 1850 Census; notice the level of detail here.
Family Statistics
Thomas Weast – born ~1790, marriage date unknown, died Jan 16, 1854 (64)
Mercy (maiden name unknown) – born ~1796, death date unknown
Levi B. Weast – born ~1815, died Mar 22, 1878 (63)
Morgan Weast – born ~1818, died Jan 1, 1904 (85)
Daniel Weast – born ~1830 (twin of Henry), death date unknown
Henry Weast – born ~1830, died May 6, 1912 (80)
Ellen Weast – born ~1851, death date unknown
I have two other females associated with this family in my old records, but I cannot find the supporting documentation at this time: Susan and Addalatte.
Who Are the Sons of Thomas?
In the 1850 Census, Thomas, Mercy, and their two sons Daniel and Henry were living in Pemberton in the 80th dwelling visited on August 2nd, 1850. Daniel and Henry were 20 years old and would not marry until the following year to start their own families. So we know who Daniel and Henry’s parents are. Living nearby, also in Pemberton in the 93rd dwelling (13 houses away) on the same day was the Morgan Weast family, and next door to them, in the 94th dwelling was the Levi Weast family. Since Levi was 36 and Morgan 30, they probably moved out of the Thomas Weast household sometime after the 1840 Census since neither showed up as a head of household in this Census. In the 1830 and 1840 Census for the Thomas Weast family, there were males in the correct age brackets for Levi and Morgan.
So based on this information, Lynda (Weeast) Van Zante and I independently came to the same conclusion that Levi and Morgan are most likely sons of Thomas and Mercy Weast.
What Type of Work Did They Do?
In the 1850 Census, Thomas was listed as a Labourer. Daniel, Henery, Levi, and Morgan were listed as moulders. A moulder was a person that made the molds for cast iron parts, i.e. for stoves and such, and then poured the molten iron into the molds, let it harden and then removed the parts. Given Thomas’ age of 60 at that time, he was probably a moulder before, but now doing labor at the furnace. It was very common in those days that the sons followed in their father’s craft from generation to generation.
What is particularly notable is all these families lived in Pemberton, very close to the location of the Hanover Furnace. In Morgan’s newspaper obituary in 1904, it states that “He moved to Florence, NJ when Hanover Furnace moved here.” This explains why some of the families moved to Florence, and some moved to Camden. There will be a future blog that talks about Hanover Furnace in more detail.
Thomas died January 16, 1854. Unfortunately, I could not trace what happened to Thomas’ wife and daughters after this time. The Hanover Furnace ceased operations in Pemberton in 1855 and assets were moved to Florence to start up the new Florence Iron Works under the same owner.
The Big Moves
In the 1860 Census, Morgan is living in Mansfield Township (Florence was a part of that area), Daniel moved to the Township of Phillipsburgh (in Warren County), and Levi and Henry resided in Camden, NJ. Daniel would later show up in Mansfield Township in the 1870 Census.
Daniel changed his name to Weeast before the 1870 Census. By 1880, Daniel and his family moved to Buffalo, NY. Since he and his wife were both born in New Jersey, it is not known why they moved so far away. His male family line ends with the death of Louis Weeast. Unfortunately, I cannot find any record or cemetery information for Louis’ death. He was 50 years old in the 1940 Census. He and his wife Helen had no children.
Levi changed his name to Weeast before the 1860 Census. Levi Weeast remained in Camden until his death in 1878. No death information on four of his five sons has been located, and it is assumed that his male line ended. More research is needed to be sure this is true.
Henry and Morgan changed their name to Weeast before the 1870 Census. With that said, any of the Weeast today are descendants of either Henry or Morgan Weast. Future blogs will go deeper into the families of Thomas’ four sons.
Other Weast Found in the Early Years Who Are Not Related
The following families were identified during the 1830’s to 1860’s, and there is no evidence that they are related to our Thomas (1890) Weast. They are mentioned here because someone may come across these records and may believe that they are part of the family. It is not to say that someone may find evidence in the future to support their inclusion.
John (1777) Weast
At the time of the 1850 Census, John Weast and his family resided in Hopewell, NJ, a considerable distance from Pemberton in those days. He had a very large family that continued in that area for some time. He was 73 years old in 1850, and list New Jersey as his birthplace. They were farmers, and in the 1850 Census, John’s property was worth $16,000, a considerable amount at that time. There is nothing about these families that show any correlation to Thomas Weast.
Morgan (1789) & Elenor (1800) Weast
The Morgan Weast family lived in Galloway, Gloucester County in 1830, Westampton in 1850, and Northampton from 1860 until the parent’s death. At first, I thought perhaps Morgan was the brother of Thomas. As I traced the family from 1830 to 1880 I found no crossover to any of the other Weast. And at no time did their name change from Weast to Weeast like the other families.
Thomas (1825) & Mary A (1825) Weast
In the 1850 Census Thomas Weast first appears, 25 years old, married with a child born that year. His occupation is listed as a Dyer, probably in a clothing factory. His birthplace is listed as New Jersey. In the 1880 Census, he indicates that both his parents were born in New Jersey. So again, another Weast that does not change the name the Weeast have done, and I found no crossover information to say he is part of any Weeast line.
John C (1820) & Mary (1832) Weest
Weest is a common misspelling by Census takers and Genealogy Indexers for Weeast. However, this family continues to spell their name Weest from the 1860 to 1910 Census. So I concluded that they too were not part of the Weeast families.
Summarization
So the four families presented above have no corroborating evidence that they are part of the Weeast family. Someday I hope someone finds those obscure records in New Jersey that might shed light on other Weast prior to 1790 who tie into the Thomas Weast family. I am not hopeful we will ever find who came over from which country to settle in the US.
So in summary, here is what we know about the 1830’s to 1850’s:
– Thomas Weast and family lived in Pemberton
– Morgan and Levi are assumed to be the sons of Thomas Weast
– All four sons are Moulders by trade
– High probability that the sons and father worked at Hanover Furnace at the same time
– After the death of their father, and remnants of Hanover Furnace moved to Florence, all the sons moved to different parts of New Jersey
– Hanover Furnace, Florence, and Camden play an important role in generations to come and will be covered in future blogs in more detail.