Archibald J. Weaver Explained

Archibald J. Weaver
State:Nebraska
Predecessor:District created
Successor:John A. McShane
Birth Name:Archibald Jerard Weaver
Resting Place:Steele Cemetery in Falls City
Birth Date:15 April 1843
Birth Place:Dundaff, Pennsylvania
Death Place:Falls City, Nebraska
Party:Republican

Archibald Jerard Weaver (April 15, 1843 – April 18, 1887) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Republican Party politician, serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1883 to 1889.

He is best known for being the father of Governor of Nebraska Arthur J. Weaver and grandfather of Nebraska politicians Arthur J. Weaver Jr. and Phillip Hart Weaver.

Early life and education

He was born in Dundaff, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1843, and graduated from Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pennsylvania. He became a faculty member of the school from 1864 to 1867. In 1869, he graduated from Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar in Boston, Massachusetts. He moved to Falls City, Nebraska, in 1869 to practice law.

Career

He attended the State constitutional conventions in 1871 and 1875 and became the district attorney for the first district of Nebraska in 1872. In 1875 and 1879 he was elected judge of the first judicial district of Nebraska.

Congress

He resigned as judge in 1883 having been elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth United States Congress. He was then reelected to the Forty-ninth United States Congress, but did not run for reelection in 1886.

He ran unsuccessfully in 1887 for the United States Senate, lost and resumed his practice of law.

Death and burial

He died in Falls City on April 18, 1887, and is buried in Steele Cemetery in Falls City.

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