The grave stone is located in cemetary behind the Shockoe Baptist Church.
The following article appears in the Shockoe Baptist Church 1988 Homecoming pamplet produced by the church.
Who was John Weatherford?
He was born in Charlotte County in 1740 and at age 20 in 1761 he entered the ministry. One reference states taht "with holy boldness he served zealously as a herald of the cross gaining for himself much acclaim as one of God's choicest ministers.: For this he was jailed for five months in Chesterfield. While in prison he truly proved that "stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." His soul still free, his head unbowed, his spirit uncrushed, his heart alert and his voice strong he preached through prison bars to crowds gathered daily in the prison yard. Pepper pods were burned at his cell door to silence him and when he stuck his hands throgh the windwo bars as he exhorted his listeners, adversaries slashed his hands with knives leaving scars he kept until his death.
A fence was erected outside his window to prevent his preaching from his cell, but having a voice both resonant and strong, whenever a white cloth on a long pole lifted above the fence signaled a congregation gathered outside, he delivered his message with the same enthusiasm and fervency to the unseen audience as he would to the seen.
Refusing to agree to refrain from preaching in the county for a year, he remained in jail five months until his jail fees and board bill were paid by an anonymous benefactor. Not until over twenty years later when he moved to Charlotte County and had become a neighbor did he learn that Patrick Henry had paid the fees.
In 1823 he moved to Pittsylvania County. Before his death in 1833, at the age of ninety-three, John Weatherford confined his preaching to the Shockoe area. When he could no longer leave the house he sent for his neighbors to come to him that he might share the Word of God with them and when finally he was confined to bed he had them come daily and sing for him "Amazing Grace".
Weatherford was a man of modest endowments who displayed a remarkable boldness in support of his convictions. No obstacle could dampen his zeal in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. His fearless stand made his name a by-word even in his own day. Others were more literate and eloquent, but he was without peer in shere manly courage. Ordinary men like John Weatherford gave Baptist their unconquerable drive and enthusiasm. Surely it might have been he about whom Jesus marvelled when "He said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel." (Matt. 8:10)
John Weatherford is buried near this church where he was a member but never a pastor. In 1877 Shockoe Church decided to erect a suitable stone over the grave of this magnificent mand and it was placed in 1879. It is thought the inscription, "Lay in Chesterfield jail in 1773 five monts for preaching," was composed by Dr. A. B. Brown, then pastor of the church.
A tall monument of Tennessee marble erected by the Roanoke Association (now Pittsylvania) in 1902 stands in the cementary behind the church, situated here because the grave is on private property and difficult to reach.
We pause and we remember that fearless soldier of Christ who in his day suffered much for his faith. We pause - we remain ever challenged, ever inspired, ever grateful for the heritage that is our.
