Weir - Alexander, (b 1824)
Source: Sunday Star, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana 9 Sept 1901
Alex Weir: I am 74 years old and was born in Kentucky. I was brought here from Campbell County, Kentucky by my parents when I was only two years old and excepting a short time that I was in Fulton COunty, I have lived all my life on the same 100 acres in "Bal Hinch," as some people call it. There are 7 springs of fine water on the farm, and if I had never left the farm, I believe I would live forever. People have made fun of "Bal Hinch," but they don't do it any more. I sit in my door every night and play on my fiddle the same old tunes that father played when he came to this country. I am happier than any king you can mention - all typed by kbz
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Source: 1860 Montgomery Co In Unon Twp #1053 (next to Henry age 28 and Robert 49 w ho has his mother, Margaret living with him) -- near Hardees and Krouts
Alexander Weir 31 Farmer --/600 Ky
Ruth E. (HALL) 27 Ind
Margaret A 8 Ind
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Source: #198 Union Twp 1870 Census - Weir, Alex 42 Farm Laborer --/00 Ind
Rebecca 27 Ky (obviously a second wife)
Talitha 6 Ind (ch. by Rebecca)
James 1 Ind (ch. by Rebecca)
Margaret 18 Ind (think only child by Ruth E. Hall)
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Source: Family Histories of Montgomery County, Indiana. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1989.
Article written by Mabel Weir Grimes, a great granddaughter of the first Weir settler in Montgomery County.
In Europe in the 16th and 17th century, civil and political liberties and religious freedom were very widely in evidence. In places, certain religons were mandated and people were persecute for their own bellief. This situation was noted in the biography of President Andrew Jackson. Among the many families who came to the United States, and landed in the New England colonies was the Robert and Margaret Marrow Weir family from Ireland.
Their new residence was located at Breech Valley, now Blairsville, PA where with some cattle and farming operations he bought and sold land. When the NW Territory was ceded by England, there was quite a migration of people who left the colonies to locate elsewhere especially in Georgia, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Indiana.
Three sons of Robert and Margaret Weir were among those who went to Kentucky in the late 17th century. One of the sons, Alexander, who was the founder of the Weir family in Montgomery County, Indiana met and in 1809 married Margaret Krout, the daughter of Michael and Katherine Krout.
Alexander worked with his father-in-law, near Licking Creek on the Ohio River with keel boats and river transportation. Public land sales opened in Montgomery County, Indiana Dec 14, 1824 priced at $1.25 an acre and many prosperous forward looking people bought land. Alexander Weir had severnce pay for service in the War of 1812 and was given a land grant of 80 acres, SW of Crawfordsville in Section 21.
In the summer of 1828 ,he with his son Robert then 18 came and built a comfortable log house on a plateau overlooking acres of sandy bottom land. They returned to Kentucky and brought the wife and family to Indian. They lvoed the rugged hills and clar running streams and because of the similiary to their native land called it "My beloved Blanhinch." Alexander Weir had a dynamic energetic nature and ambition to improve life in general. The eduction of his children was uppermost in his plans. He decided land on which to build a school house and with help from other parents a school was built.
Alexander Weir was dedicated to God's teafhings and prayer and worship service was observed in his home. D uring his fatal illness he walked in pain in the flower garden of plants they had brought with them years ago. Fmaily members were given land, a portion of which remains as a heritage after 180 years. A family reunion is held there each year. A Weir Cemetery was measured off and there the mortal bodies of Alexander and Margaret are intererred. They left to us a legacy, a vast store of knowledge to invent and use, and capabilities to advance with the times.