General Notes

REFN: The Patria
A letter from Robert Weakley Brahan (1811-1885), great-great-grandson of Robert Weakley the Patriarch, in a letter dated May 6, 1879, wrote, "I have heard our Gran Father say that his Gran Father, Robert came from Wales England with other Stewart refugees driven by the Cromwell Round heads." The Round Heads came to power on the death of Charles I in 1649, and were in total control from 1653 until May 1659. This would seem to indicate that the Weakleys were Catholic Royalists, and became Protestants sometime after coming to America. The timeframe would also suggest that Robert the Patriarch was at most a child when this immigration occurred. The Patriarch's second child, Robert, was born about 1720, some 61 years after the Round Heads went out of power. Or it may be that The Patriarch heard these stories as a child and then repeated them to his children and grandchildren in later years as if they had been personal experiences that he remembered. Charles II, son of Charles I, came to the throne in 1660 and reigned until 1685, restoring some stability to the government and incorporating the tolerances for which the Civil War was fought.

Welcome to My Weakley Genealogy Page

An Outline of My Descent in theWeakley Family by Ken Powers

Introduction

The primary source for the material in this chart is The Southern Virginia Weakley Families and Their Descendants by Samuel Anderson Weakley,  published privately, and on file at The State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee and other locations. I am also privileged to have a copy. I am happy to share information from the book. Just email your questions, and I will answer as soon as possible.

SAW outlined his understanding of the different lines of the Weakley-Weekley family group, writing, "Without doubt, the Weekley families of Charleston (SC) were the first of the name in America. They came from the English Barbados Island." He discusses at length the confusion between the Cumberland County, PA family descended from James Weakley and Jane Wilson, and the family descended from Robert Weakley that is the subject of this book. By 1790, there were Weekly, Wakely, and families of similar name spelling in Maryland and the Northeast U.S.

There were many Weakley families in Northern Virginia, in the counties west of Washington, D.C. and further west as early as 1764. SAW writes, "Several of the Weakley families were visited by the author, in Rappahannock, Madison, Warren, and Page Counties with the hope that someone would have an old bible (sic) or other record which would show the origin of the family, but my time and labor availed me nothing.  Descendants of the Weakley families who lived in northern Virginia are to be found in many mid and far western states."

With respect to the Weakley families of Southern Virginia, SAW writes, "Many and varying statements have been advanced as to the originof the family; some fantastic. Robert Weakley Brahan (1811-85) and Robert Weakley Brown (1826-84), grandsons of Col. Robert Weakley [B7]have left what is believed reliable information, which was received firsthand from their grandfather." Brahan wrote to Brown on May 6, 1879, "I have heard our Gran Father say that his Gran Father, Robert, came from Wales England with other Stewart refugees driven by the Cromwell Roundheads." That would place their exodus about 1650 or so.

This presents a bit of a problem in dating, for Robert, son of our progenitor, was born about 1720. If his father had come out of Wales under Cromwell's persecution, he would have been a small child at best.  Perhaps what was remembered was from the progenitor's parents talking about these events as he grew up in the home. In other testimony gathered by SAW, there is remembrance of many years living in Ireland. At any rate, I claim for us a Celtic heritage from Wales and Ireland.

Here, then, is my line of descent from Robert Weakley, immigrant to America from Wales through Ireland in