Read time: 5 min.

I had never heard of the Indiana community of Weaver before an acquaintance of mine brought it up a few months ago. As soon as he did, I knew I had to visit: about all that remains of the place is the acre-wide Weaver Cemetery, but it’s full of history. 

Weaver didn’t start with that name. When five determined pioneers arrived in Liberty Township in the 1820s, the place was simply called “Crossroad,” an openly abolitionist settlement founded by a mix of freedmen, men formerly enslaved, and one white ally¹. They hacked into the swampy wilderness near Liberty Township’s Quaker properties, and families began migrating by the 1840s². In time, the settlement took the name of John Henry Weaver, one of its earliest settlers³. 

Weaver exploded into a real town. By 1850, 144 people lived there. Ten years later, the population had nearly tripled to 381. Another decade brought 735 residents⁴! At its peak, Weaver wasn’t missing much: it had a post office, a blacksmith, a store, a church, and school, and even a racetrack⁵. 

The boom kept rolling: eventually, Weaver grew to 3,000 acres⁶. By the 1880s, close to 2,000 people called the town home⁷! It was proof that the forbidding wilderness had been transformed into one of the liveliest corners of Liberty Township.

Unfortunately, Weaver struggled after natural gas was discovered nearby. Longtime residents packed up for new factory jobs in larger communities, which left the old crossroads quieter with every season. One of the last holdouts was the Weaver schoolhouse, which closed after the 1948 term after enrollment slipped to twelve students⁸. 

Today, there’s little left to mark Weaver aside from its cemetery. About 230 markers are visible, but many have disappeared. One of the most prominent honors Lewis Wallace, who donated land for the cemetery in 1866. 

As I wandered the barren burial ground, I noticed twenty-six markers dedicated to members of the Pettiford family. Pettifords accompanied the Weavers to Grant County. The current mayor of Marion, Ronald Morrell, can trace his lineage back to them⁹! 

Aside from the Pettifords, twenty Weavers are known to be buried at the cemetery. They accompany seven Burdens, seven Caseys, seven Evanses, six Gullifords, and a variety of Hills, Jacksons, Joneses, and others who found their final resting place in at the crossroads of 600-South and 300-West. 

The story of Weaver still has plenty of loose threads I need to chase down. For example, Hill’s Chapel African Methodist Episcopal took root in 1849, just a half-mile east of the cemetery¹⁰. A later incarnation of that building continues to stand today. 

Ground owned by the Prince Hall Grand Lodge rests next door, land tied to the legacy of a free Black patriot who served in the American Revolution and went on to establish Black Masonry in 1791¹¹. Put together with the cemetery, you can feel that the neighborhood remains a reminder that Weaver’s influence reached far beyond an acre of graves.

I’ll have more to write about Weaver as the picture grows clearer. As I research, every new scrap of information adds dimension to a community that once mattered deeply to Liberty Township. It still does! 

Sources Cited
1 Tedeschi, T. (2019, September 7). Showcasing the Weaver community. The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. pp. 1, 6. 
2 (See footnote 1). 
3 (See footnote 1). 
4 Page, J.A. (2025, February 26). Marion’s untold story. The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. p. A1. 
5 (See footnote 1).
6 Weaver Settlement (n.d.). Historical Marker [Weaver]. Retrieved January 6, 2026. 
7 Page, J.A. (2025, February 26). Marion’s untold story. The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. p. A1. 
8 Expect to Close Weaver School at End of the Term (1948, April 22). The Fairmount News. p. 1. 
9 (See footnote 7). 
10 People of color: Grant County’s black heritage. (1978, July 9). The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. p. 76. 
11 Cairns, C. (19945, September 10). Prince Hall officials plan Marion celebration. The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. p. 10.