Family rooted in Gonzaga history

In 1912 the Weber family begun its long lineage of Gonzaga students.

In 1881, at the age of 21, Barthol Weber immigrated to the United States from Halsdorf, Germany. In the years to follow he would find his way to Uniontown, Washington, marry Anna Taufen, become a farmer and have 11 children.

John Gregory Weber was the second child to Barthol and Anna Weber in 1892, then years later in 1912, John enrolled at Gonzaga University. A decision that has exponentially impacted GU’s enrollment of Webers since.

One hundred and fifteen years later, the Weber family has had 35 members of its family attend GU.

“My dad went to Gonzaga and after that there was never any question about where we were going,” said Martin Weber, the youngest son of John. “We didn’t go around interviewing with other schools, we were going to Gonzaga.There was no other place.”

John G. Weber enrolled at GU the year the Law School opened, to become a lawyer. However Barthol, who owned 693 acres of farmland and 160 acres of pasture land, requested his son back at his farm. Instead of becoming a lawyer, John received a two-year accounting degree in one year.

“[My father] always wanted to be a lawyer,” said Martin. “That’s why he came to Gonzaga, it was opening a law school, but his dad wanted him come home and help him [because] he had bought a second farm. Dutifully he went home and never got off the farm. Then he went to the first world war, came home and met my mom.”

Seven years later, after returning to the farm and fighting in the first world war, John married Marguerite Adams and had 10 children, six of which attended GU: Marion, Rita, John, Patricia, Fr. Daniel ‘Dan,’ Robert, James, Mary, Richard, Martin and Joseph.

Of the 10 children, Marion and Joseph passed away before adulthood. The men all attended GU and, because women were unable to attend GU, the sisters attended Holy Name Scholars.

John and Marguerite in total have 152 descendants; more than one-fifth have attended GU.

“At this point, if someone at this school comes up to me and tells me they’re related to me, I’ll just assume it’s true,” Zach Weber said.

The significance of the Weber family presence is so strong that GU Alumni Relations hosted a picnic for the family five years ago to honor its roots at GU.

Currently, Zach, whose grandfather Martin is the son of John Weber, is in his third year at GU along with two other of his Weber cousins, Aaron (‘20) and Kathryn (‘19) , who are Martin’s brother Robert’s grandchildren. Zach is also on the men’s rowing team.

Despite the strong roots the Weber family has at GU, Zach said he never felt pressured into attending.

“I applied because my dad went here,” Zach said. “[My family] told me stories of when they went here, but they never said ‘[go to GU].’ They were more like ‘go where you want to go’ .”

Zach’s father majored in mechanical engineering. Likewise, Zach is in majoring mechanical engineering and Aaron is majoring in electrical engineering. Kathryn broke from the trend and is majoring in psychology.

Weber engineers and lawyers have often been a product of GU.

“It’s mostly law or engineering,” Zach said. “My last cousin, Jessica, she went here and [then went into] law.”

Martin, who attended GU as an undergraduate, re-enrolled for the Law School later in life and had a successful career as a lawyer for more than 40 years.

Of all schools, GU is the school of choice for the Weber family due to its deeply rooted Catholic and Jesuit values.

“It’s been cool because [I] can go into College Hall and find all my relatives,” Zach said. “I’ve tracked down almost all of [their pictures].”

Full of devout Catholics, the Weber family resonates with the traditions and teachings of GU, said Martin. The traditions of Catholicism resonated so well with Fr. Daniel that he dedicated his life to Catholicism and the Jesuit tradition, even going on to be President at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Washington.

“I don’t think I had a handful of lay people as instructors in four years,” Martin said. “It was a great time because we had all Jesuit instructors, wonderful and intelligent men.”

Many Webers have called GU home but even for those who haven’t, it still feels like home.

“Gonzaga is just near and dear [to my heart],” said Becky Weber, daughter of James. “That’s where my uncle, Fr. Dan lived. I got married in the Gonzaga chapel behind St. Aloysius. That’s where my dad went, where my grandpa went, where all my uncles went.”

The Webers pride themselves on their deep connections to GU, but also their general history as a family. So much so that the the rich family history has been encapsulated by Martin and Fr. Daniel in a family history book.

“I’ve read it all,” Zach said, listing chronologically the events leading up to his family’s start at GU.

The family history book gives a comprehensive history starting in 1792 and includes memoirs of ‘a day in the life’ of a Weber man on the family farm for 116 pages. Following the history is a collection of pictures, family documents and letter correspondences.

Martin hopes the younger generations will take up the practice of recording the family history and keeping track of its roots all over the world.

As for the GU roots, the descendant number may continue to grow further.

“It would be fun to keep it going,” Zach said.

This story was published for the Gonzaga Bulletin. For the original post, click here.