Weaver, David Stathem, 1896-1966.

David Stathem Weaver (1896-1966) was an agricultural engineer, educator, and administrator. Weaver was professor, then department head of the Agricultural Engineering Department at North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University), 1923-1948. He was principal engineer, 1936-1937, for the Rural Electrification Administration in Washington, D.C., where he continued work that he had already begun in North Carolina. Weaver was also specialist in agricultural extension, 1937-1948, and associate director, 1948-1950, then director, 1950-1961, of the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service.

From the description of David Stathem Weaver papers, 1862, 1917-1968 [manuscript]. (North Carolina State University). WorldCat record id: 466906683

David Stathem Weaver was born on June 19, 1896, and died on November 12, 1966. Weaver served as an agricultural leader and educator throughout North Carolina from 1923 to 1966. He devoted much of his professional energies to the "relief of human drudgery" and to improve the rural family standard through the employment of mechanization, electricity and chemistry. His concern also extended to the waste of our natural resources and he was active in soil and water conservation and other agricultural programs whose aims were to promote this interest.

After serving in World War I, he graduated from Ohio State University in 1920 with a B.S. in Agriculture. From 1920 to 1923, he was an assistant professor of agricultural engineering at Mississippi A&M College. In 1923, Weaver began teaching at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University) where, in 1925, he received his master's degree in agricultural engineering. Weaver remained on the faculty and became a professor in 1936.

In the early 1930s, Weaver conducted the North Carolina Rural Electrification Survey, which was the forebear of the 1935 North Carolina Rural Electrification Act. The survey played an important role in convincing President Roosevelt and Congress that rural people wanted electricity. This directly led to the establishment of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). From 1936 to 1937, Weaver was the principal engineer for the REA in Washington, D.C. where he continued work that he had already begun in North Carolina, and completed the first statewide electrification surveys. In an era when electricity's primary use was for illumination, he was interested in expanding its use to farm mechanization with the goal of improving farm productivity and efficiency as well as the farmers' quality of life. Weaver often remarked that electricity was the cheapest labor the farmer could employ. His work in this area led to his being called the "father of rural electrification in North Carolina" because his pioneering work had a major influence on both national and state programs in Rural Electrification.

Weaver returned to North Carolina State College in 1937 as head of the Department of Agricultural Engineering where he had considerable influence in bringing light and power to farmers of North Carolina. He maintained his association with the Rural Electrification Administration, serving as secretary and sometime chairman through 1963. During the period of 1937 through 1948, he was also a specialist in charge of agricultural extension work. In 1948, he became the assistant director of the Agricultural Extension Service (AES). Succeeding I. O. Schaub as director in 1950, he served in that position until 1961. His retirement came in 1964 after serving three years as special assistant to the dean of the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State College.

As head of the AES, Weaver was responsible for one of the largest adult education agencies in the United States. While in this position he helped found the North Carolina Board of Farm Organizations and Agencies in an effort to ensure cooperation among federal and state agencies seeking to service farm people. For his contribution he received the Distinguished Service Awards of the North Carolina Farm Bureau and the North Carolina State Grange. In 1950, he was named by the Progessive Farmer "Man of the Year in Service to Agriculture" and elected a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. In addition to numerous other honors, he was admitted to the North Carolina State University Hall of Fame. Weaver was an active member in the agricultural fraternity Alpha Zeta (serving as its National Chancellor) as well as in the Royal Arch Masons, Knights Templar and Delta Theta Sigma. He wrote numerous publications, articles, bulletins, and circulars. In 1964, North Carolina State College awarded him an honorary doctor of humanities degree, and in 1968 the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Laboratories of North Carolina State University building was named in his honor.

Weaver married Gertrude Marie Brickman on October 19, 1919, and he had three sons: David, Jr., Donald, and Samuel Alvin.

From the guide to the David Stathem Weaver Papers, Bulk, 1917-1968, 1862, 1917 - 1968, (Special Collections Research Center)