Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

William Weiser was born on March 22, 1830, near Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the son of Samuel D. and Mary Schroeder Weiser.

In 1850, William moved to Illinois, and by 1851 he moved to St. Paul. By 1854, William and his brother, Joel, moved to Shakapee City, Minnesota Territory. With many other settler-colonists who moved here in 1854, they found work. Joel found plentiful work as a mason and plasterer. William was a farmer.

A year later, William’s other brother, Dr. Josiah Weiser, his new wife, Louisa Cleaver Weiser, and his mother, Mary Polly Schroeder Weiser, also moved to Shakapee City. William was a farmer, while his brother, Dr. Josiah Weiser was a Doctor of Medicine and surgery, and his brother Joel was a mason and plasterer.

Mary Elizabeth Allen moved to Shakapee City with her parents, John Boswell Allen (1806-1893) and his wife, Jane Dillard (1809-1885) in 1853. Mary Elizabeth was one of nine siblings, according to “John Boswell Allen and Jane Dillard Allen: Kentucky to Indiana to Shakopee, Minnesota” by David H. Eggler.

William married Mary Elizabeth Allen on August 9, 1857, in Jackson Township in what is now west Shakopee. Mary was born in Spencer County, Kentucky in 1832. Mary and William had three children, Flora in 1857 and Cora Ann (called Annie) in 1859, and John Frank, who was born in 1863, shortly after William, at age 32, became a private in the army in 1862.

William enlisted in the Ninth Minnesota Infantry as a sergeant and served throughout the entire Civil War, retiring as a lieutenant on August 25, 1865.

His brother, Dr. Josiah Weiser, became a surgeon under Colonel McPhail of the Mounted Rangers in the Sibley Expedition, and was killed at Big Mound, Dakota Territory. And the third brother, Joel, enlisted as a member of the Company I, Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Straight and Colonel Marsh.

During the war, William helped free 12 enslaved men, who then moved with him to Eden Prairie in 1864 to work on a farm. Ten of the men left, probably not enjoying the weather, but two of the African Americans stayed, including Dan Eddings, an African American who ended up moving to Shakopee.

William, meanwhile, was back with his wife until she died on August 15, 1865. Mary Elizabeth Allen Weiser was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

On September 13, 1867, in Eagle Creek Township in east Shakopee, William married his second wife, Catherine “Kate” Love McCallum. Kate was born on January 3, 1847, at Carleton Place, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. She moved to Shakopee and then married William. Together, they had ten children.

William became a schoolteacher and brick mason. At some point, the family moved to Washington.

Catherine “Kate” Love McCallum Weiser died on January 19, 1901, at age 54. She was buried at Greenwood Memorial Terrace, Spokane, Washington, according to Find a Grave.

Lieutenant William Frank Weiser died in Everett, Washington on September 12, 1919. According to the SDC Newspaper on June 12, 1919, “William F. Weiser, a pioneer G.A.R. man of Spokane, who moved to Everett recently, died there yesterday. He was 89 years of age. The remains were received in Spokane this morning by the Gilman Company. Mrs. Weiser died here about 19 years ago.” The next day, the SDC Newspaper, on Friday, June 13, 1919, noted “The funeral for William F. Weiser, who died Wednesday at Everett, will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Gilman Chapel. Pallbearers will be from the Sedgwick post, G.A.R. of which the deceased was a member.”

Lieutenant William Frank Weiser, at age 89, was buried at the Greenwood Memorial Terrace on Spokane, Washington according to Find a Grave.

Bibliography

Eggler, David H. “John Boswell Allen and Jane Dillard Allen: Kentucky to Indiana to Shakopee, Minnesota.” Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association, 10 Sept. 2019. www.bellefontearts.org/Eggler_genealogy/Allen_genealogy.pdf.

JAKE. “Kate Love McCallum Weiser (1847-1901).” Find a Grave, 13 June 2012. www.findagrave.com/memorial/91860411/kate-love-weiser.

JAKE. “William Frank Weiser (1830-1919).” Find a Grave, 14 June 2012. www.findagrave.com/memorial/91914000/william-frank-weiser.

SDC Newspaper, 12 June 1919.

SDC Newspaper, 13 June 1919.