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John Jesse Weedman,
Jr. Obituary
(John Weedman, Jr. was
the son of John and Rachael (Wilson) Weedman, Sr. and was arguably the most
successful family member in his day and, possibly, ever. His obituary is a
telling story of the esteem and respect his community felt for him when he died
in August, 1885. We post it here because it is interesting, revealing, and so
many of our family members descend from this line whose patriarch was John
Weedman, Jr.'s grandfather, George Weedman.)
Death of John Weedman
August 7, 1885. The funeral of John WEEDMAN, whose death
has already been announced in THE PUBLIC, took place from his residence in West
Township, McLean County, on Sunday, August 2, at 10 A.M.
Rev. W. S. HOOPER and Rev. James SHAW conducted religious service.
The attendance was very large and the solemnity of the occasion, in the
presence of the grim messenger and his distinguished victim, inspired Mr. Hooper
to put forth the best effort of his life in a funeral discourse. The text used was Proverbs xiii, 22: "A good Man leaveth
an inheritance to his children's children; and the wealth of the sinner is laid
up for the just." Mr. Shaw
pronounced a eulogy on Mr. Weedman that extolled him to the skies, and certainly
exhausted all the terms of praise, which properly pertain to the sphere of
mortal life, if he did not encroach on the attributes of Divinity. The funeral ceremonies were in charge of the Masonic
fraternity, and the members of the order left the Weedman mansion in advance of
the procession, forming in line of march on foot and conducted the procession
from where it entered town through the streets to the M. E. Church.
The cortege was headed in the march through the city by the Farmer City
cornet band, which moved slowly and solemnly to the music of a dead march and
the sound of the muffled drum, while the church bell was tolling.
At the church the Masons were seated in their carriages and the
procession moved to the Campground Cemetery, two miles south-west of town, where
sleep the father, mother, two brothers and other relatives of the deceased.
At the grave the solemn and impressive ceremonies of the order were
performed, and our honored brother was consigned to rest, while the richly
ornamented and beautiful casket was covered with sprigs of evergreen, the emblem
that perpetuates his good name and virtues in the hearts of his sorrowing
Masonic brothers. While the
procession moved from the church there were one hundred and fifty carriages in
line, making it over a mile in length. Mr.
Weedman's fine buggy horse was draped in mourning and followed next to the
hearse in the procession. To say that this community is in mourning over the
death of John Weedman is but a tame expression of the loss which is felt by his
family, his relatives and the people with whom he has mingled and associated
from the days of his boyhood up, and where the older he grew the more he was
loved and honored. The sorrow of
the family and nearer relatives is too deep and poignant to be soothed by any
words of sympathy or power save that which "doeth all things well."
When a man like John Weedman is stricken down in the strength and prime
of his years the whole community feels the shock.
Society in its commercial and social relations with the church and all
humane and benevolent enterprises, must suffer in all their varied interests
from the untimely, and to us erring mortals, mysterious dispensation.
Our mortal scope is circumscribed within limits too feeble and finite to
ever comprehend the reason why a man like John Weedman, the favored son of
fortune, diffusing light and good to the world wherever he moved, should
suddenly have his career of usefulness cut off, and the world deprived of such a
benefactor. If we attempt to lift
the veil and scrutinize the mystery we find no solution within the range of
mortal ken, and must rest the case with the all wise and merciful Father who for
some purpose to us unknown has called Mr. Weedman from our midst.
Mr. Weedman was a favorite among his brothers and sisters and relatives,
all of whom deferred to his opinions and advice on important business matters.
The favoritism felt by the relatives of Mr. Weedman largely pervade the
entire community, for it is to his public spirit and enterprise that Farmer City
is mostly indebted for its standing and commercial importance.
Prosperous in all his private enterprises, wealth flowed into his hands
through legitimate channels and without any indirection or overreaching of his
neighbors. While abundance crowned his efforts, dying a rich banker, his wealth
did not, as it often does its possessors, make him a purse proud nabob, or dry
up the fountains of his sympathetic nature.
In the midst of his own prosperity he delighted to witness the prosperity
of his neighbors, using his money as a blessing to mankind and not hoarding it
with the selfish grip of the miser. The Weedmans and their large family
connections including the McCORDS, the WAKEFIELDS, the CUMMINGS, the WILSONS and
the RUTLEDGES form an important part in the early history of DeWitt and McLean
counties. John Weedman's mother was
a Wilson, and he was first cousin to James Wilson the late lamented treasurer of
DeWitt County, whom he resembled more than he did his own brothers. Christy Weedman, a sister of John Weedman's father, married
Robert Rutledge in 1822, it being the first marriage ever solemnized between
white people in McLean County. John
Weedman's father was among the early settlers of Hurly's Grove, and after living
there for many years, moved to Iowa, where he died and his sons brought his
remains back here for interment, and he rests by his first wife in the
Campground Cemetery. Isaiah
Weedman, brother of the deceased, fell at the battle of Holly Springs, and his
brothers brought his remains home and he sleeps in the Campground Cemetery.
John Weedman was the fourth son of John WEEDMAN and Rachael WILSON, and
was born in Perry County, Ohio, Feb. 2, 1828.
In 1830 his father moved to McLean County, Ill., and settled near
Heyworth, and from there he moved to Hurly's Grove in 1836 and improved the farm
on which his son George now resides. The
subject of this sketch was eight years old when his father moved to this
settlement, then a part of McLean County.
There were seven stalwart sons of the Weedman family, five of whom sought
fortune in the land of golden dreams and went to California in the year 1850.
These were Asa, George, Amos, John and Isaiah. The Weedmans were among the early pioneers of this
settlement, and the older boys and the father were famous deer hunters, as that
game was roaming in great abundance over these prairies and among the brakes of
Salt Creek when the Weedmans settled here.
Mr. John Weedman was married to Miss Mary A. McDONALD, daughter of Thomas
McDONALD, of Mt. Pleasant, now Farmer City, in 1853.
The marriage was blessed with four children, two girls and two boys, all
of whom and the mother survive the father and husband.
The oldest daughter, Miss Josie, a young lady of great accomplishments,
was married some five years ago to a Mr. Brodix.
At an early day Mr. Weedman secured a tract of land amounting to 950
acres, about half of which was in McLean county and the other half in DeWitt
county. The improvement of this magnificent farm on which stands a
palatial residence, surrounded with all the beauties of ornament and luxury, has
been the life work of its proprietor. On
this handsome estate, over whose broad and green pastures herds roamed and
ruminated, John Weedman lived and died. About the time the railroads were being built and Mt.
Pleasant took the name of Farmer City, John Weedman and his brother-in-law, Wm.
Y. McCORD, bought the R. O. Crawford farm of 100 acres and laid it out in town
lots. These two gentlemen built a
fine steam-flouring mill that afterward became the property of William HAYNIE
and was burned down a few years since. About
the same time John Weedman with Thomas brothers, George and Oscar, established a
private bank in Farmer City. The
bank continued under the firm name of Thomas Brothers & Weedman till 1876,
when the Thomas Brothers withdrew, since which time it has been in the hands of
Mr. Weedman, with J. B. LEWIS as cashier.
John Weedman leaves a wealthy estate.
Besides his fine farm and bank interest, he owns 50 acres of land in the
corporate limits of the city, the Commercial House and a large number of vacant
lots and other pieces of real estate in and around this city.
Asa Weedman, the oldest of the seven brothers, died at his home near
Farmer City nearly twenty years ago, and his remains rest in the Campground
Cemetery, so that it seems to be an inherent principle in the Weedman family to
cling together in death as they do in life.
Four of the seven brothers still survive, Amos, late sheriff of DeWitt
County, George, Z. C., and T. S., all well-to-do businessmen, the latter being
the present mayor of this city. There
are two sisters who also survive him, the late Mrs. W. Y. McCord, now Mrs. J. C.
Rucker, and Mrs. Williams, widow of the late John Williams, of this city.
For the grave, Mr. Weedman was dressed in a suit of very fine black
cloth, with many floral offerings, handsomely wrought in wreaths and bouquets in
and on the casket. The casket was
very fine and costly, being of rare wood with massive silver mountings,
beautifully and richly carved. We
have indulged in no laudations or panegyrics because Mr. Weedman was a man of
wealth, nor would we say he was without his foibles for he was human and
possessed human nature, and that abiding sense of his own frailty which is the
common heritage of all the descendants of Adam filled him with sympathy and good
feeling for his race. In
conclusion, we say that John Weedman was an upright man before his God, his
country and his fellowmen. A model
man in the church and all his business relations.
In the purer and holier domestic relations of life was where the true man
in its noblest phase was shown in the character of John Weedman.
Honored friend and brother, we must say adieu, hoping that when life's
fleeting hours have passed, we shall all be welcomed with the friendly grip to
that lodge above where the solemn notes of the funeral dirge or the tolling bell
shall no longer disturb us. Mr.
Weedman was nearly 58 years old.
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This page was last updated on December 06, 2002.
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