LAUDERDALE COUNTY, ALABAMA
OBITUARIES - INDIVIDUAL

Gen. Samuel Davis Weakley

     Died in Florence, Alabama on February 2d,
General Samuel D. Weakley.

     The subject of the above was born near Nashville, Tennessee, October 2d, 1812; he was a son of Samuel Weakley, a highly respected citizen of Tennessee who emigrated from Virginia at an early date, and a nephew of Col. Robert Weakley who fought during the revolution and was a noted man in his day.
     Samuel D. Weakley came to Florence to live in 1831. His brother, Harvey was chief assistant to General Coffee in the land office. After the death of General Coffee, Harvey was appointed to the office of General Land Commissioner for Alabam. [sic] A large portion of the State was still unsurveyed and Samuel D. Weakley was put in charge of one division of the surveying force. His promptness, accuracy, and integrity soon gave him prominence in his line of business, and until the land office was finally wound up many years afterwards, Sam Weakley was the most trusted employee. By careful and close attention to business, he had accumulated a handsome competency by 1848. At this time the Cypress Cotton Mills Company was reorganized, Capt. Alex. Coffee and Samuel D. Weakley buying out the interest of A. d. Hunt and the estate of Cassity.
     The firm of Martin, Weakley & Co. began with one modest factory In a few years by good management they owned three fine cotton mills. Their income was sixty thousand dollars per annum in 1860.
     General Weakley’s success in life was due to his inflexible honesty and strong common sense. Like most strong men he was devoted to his friends. He was a friend of education and a liberal subscriber to the Normal College, and one of the original trustees of that institution.
     Samuel D. Weakley was a notable man in his day, who lived nearly seventy years in Florence, and who in his prime was a power in the community. He married Miss Eliza Bedford June 30 1836. Mrs. Weakley and four children survive him.

General S. C. Weakley.

     By the death of General Samuel D. Weakley another of the old landmarks of Florence is removed. He was the son of Samuel D. Weakley, one of the early settlers of Tennessee who was known far and wide as a broad-minded man of high impulses. General Weakley was born October 2, 1812, in Davidson county, Tennessee, and was therefore in his eighty-fifth year. He came to Florence in 1831 and was married June 30th, 1836, to Miss Eliza Bedford who, with three daughters and one son, mourn his loss.
In the early days Mr. Weakley was engaged in merchandising at the river landing in Florence as a receiving and forwarding merchant. Afterward he was connected with the U. S. land office at Florence, and was for some time a government surveyor.
     General Weakley was a man with many strong characteristics, of the highest standard of commercial honor, and owing to this and a strong intellect, he had accumulated many years prior to the late war a handsome fortune.
     He bought an interest in the Cypress Mills from A. D. Hunt, associating himself thereby with A. D. Coffee, James Martin and A. J. Dyas. The enterprise proved very profitable, and in connection with other investments, brought to him a large fortune, enabling him to own at one time several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of property in the city of Chicago.
He was public-spirited and broad-minded citizen, having assisted largely in the building of the Synodical Female College and the Florence Wesleyan University, and in building to Florence the M. & C. railroad. In the latter company he was a large stockholder and for several years a director.
General Weakley for several years owing to his advanced age has taken no active part in politics or public affairs, but when he was younger and more vigorous he was very active and prominent in politics, being in early life identified with the Whigs, but on the advent of the Know Nothing party he became a staunch Democrat. In the home circle he was a kind and indulgent parent. He leaves four children: Mrs. Kate Moore, Mrs. Narcissa Milliken, Miss Jemima Weakley and John B. Weakley, Sr., to who the sympathies of the entire community is extended in their loss. One more link with the olden time is broken.                         H.

The death of General Weakley, recorded above, was very sudden, though he had been complaining more than usual of heart and stomach trouble. On Wednesday morning he walked down the street to see a friend, Mr. James Burtwell, and stopped at one or two points on the street. In one of the business houses he was noticed to be very pale and in moving towards a chair, was seen to be falling. He was caught in the arms of a couple of men, and before a physician could be summoned, he, without a struggle, passed away. [The Florence Times, Saturday, 6 Feb 1897.]