Born on a raw March morning in 1954, in the back room of a gristmill turned farmhouse along Penns Creek, Leah has spent seventy years weaving together the frayed threads of rural Pennsylvania life. She is a Malloy by blood (Irish coal miners who tunneled under Schuylkill County), a Weaver by marriage (Swiss-German dairymen who settled Lancaster before pushing west to the ridge-and-valley), and a McClure by a late, great second act—a love story that began at a Grange pancake breakfast when she was sixty-two.
Imagine the world she inhabited:
In October 1756, a war party of Delaware and Shawnee warriors descended on the unsuspecting Conococheague Valley. They burned cabins, killed livestock, and took captives. Among those seized was Leah Malloy Weaver, along with her two young children. Her husband was killed trying to defend their home. Leah Malloy Weaver McClure- Pennsylvania
For genealogists, Leah’s multiple surnames are a goldmine—and a challenge. Each name change (Malloy to Weaver to McClure) marks a chapter: birth, marriage, death, remarriage. Tracking her through the U.S. federal censuses (1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930) would reveal her age, birthplace of parents, number of children, and her ability to read and write. Tax records might show land ownership. Obituaries in local Pennsylvania newspapers—such as the Altoona Mirror, The Huntingdon Daily News, or The Lancaster Intelligencer —could offer a eulogy written in the flowery prose of the era. Born on a raw March morning in 1954,
: She passed away at the age of 86 on February 3, 2008, at Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, PA. Artistic Career They burned cabins, killed livestock, and took captives