The Baer Family
Rockbridge Co., Va. Section no. 2. (selection)
Confederate States of America. Army. Dept. of Northern Virginia.
Chief Engineer's Office. (1863)
Rockbridge Co., Va. Section no. 2. [Map]
Retrieved from the Library of Congress
The Baer family was of German Mennonite descent. Their ancestors immigrated to York County, Pennsylvania in the 1720s. Their descendants, along with other Mennonite families, resettled in Shenandoah County in the 1760s. In 1788, Jacob Baer, the weavers' grandfather, moved his family to the Panther Gap area of Rockbridge County, buying fifty acres of land on the Calf Pasture River from Henry Gay. In the years that followed, the family acquired land along Brattons Run, the Calf Pasture, and Mill Creek.
The family grew corn and wheat and operated grist, saw, and carding mills. Jacob's son, Joseph, married Ann Hite in 1805 and they began their family of ten children John, Mary, Jacob, Anna, Joseph Junior, Rachel, Fanny, Noah, Samuel, and Elizabeth. Following their settlement in Panther Gap, like many Mennonite families, Joseph Junior, Noah, and Samuel later migrated to Indiana. From Indiana, Noah and Samuel continued west to Washington and Idaho while Joseph Junior later returned to Virginia.
Family Ties
Joseph Baer Junior, the weavers’ brother, moved to Lafayette, Indiana and set up as a blacksmith.
At various times, other members of the family went out to live with Joseph in Indiana. Younger brothers Noah and Samuel continued west, later settling in Idaho and Washington.
Anna Baer, Joseph’s sister, who married James Hill in 1840, lived with Joseph for a few years. The letter is from Anna’s husband, James Hill, to John Baer, his brother-in-law, who remained in Virginia.
The 1855 account book shows an appraisement of the contents of the Baer family home in Panther Gap. Several members of the family were going to move to Indiana and the list was made in preparation for renting out the farm. The contents include a loom, a wool (spinning) wheel, and six weaver’s reeds.
Weavers in the Extended Family
Ann Baer and her daughters were not the only weavers in the family. Aunt Betsey Dunlap made frequent visits to Wise’s and Sterrett’s general stores in Panther Gap to buy weaving supplies and dyestuffs.
The draft described as “Double Compass for Mrs. Young”, most likely refers to Susan, Joseph Senior’s sister. Her first husband, William Young, died before 1828 when she re-married John Clyce.
Weavers in the Neighborhood
Many families in the Panther Gap neighborhood were also weaving – and sharing drafts - with the Baers.
Charlotte Welchhans contributed a draft for table linen to the Baer sisters’ collection.
Her husband William did business with Joseph Baer. In this invoice from Fridley’s saw mill Joseph is charged for cutting timber that he got from William Welchhans’ land.
This draft for a 4-end spot weave is tucked at the top of a note about quilting that shows that families were using the same quilting patterns as well as weaving drafts.
The note reads:
We are just putting in our quilt if you have not done with your quilt please put half a star at the upper end of the quilt and make the strips of calico a little smaller as I think it will be almost to little yours with respect M J B
