HON. THOMAS WEIDMAN

WEIDMAN

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/22/2020 at 20:30:26

HON. THOMAS WEIDMAN, present State Senator, is a son of Phillip Weidman, who was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, in 1800. The grandfather was Henry Weidman, also a native of Pennsylvania; but his father, who was also named Phillip, was a native of Germany and emigrated to America and settled at Philadelphia long before the war of the Revolution. He was a Quaker and as there was much disturbance in the colonies, he removed to Canada, where he settled and died. The grandfather of our subject did not go with his father, but settled in Pennsylvania.

The mother of Thomas Weidman was Susanna Rymond, also of an early Pennsylvania family. Her father was Jacob Rymond, a native of Germany. The father was the eldest of eight sons and there were also two daughters; all grew to mature years. Phillip Weidman was a shoemaker by trade; he and his wife had six children who grew to maturity, two sons and four daughters, all
still living. The father came to Fremont county, Iowa, in 1857, where he settled on a farm on which he lived until his death in 1862; the mother survived for ten years; she lived with her son Thomas the last years of her life.

Mr. Weidman was born August 30, 1838, being about nineteen when he came to this State. In 1861 he came to this county and married at that time Miss Betsy Chenoweth, the daughter of Joseph and Anna (Skidmore) Chenoweth. She was born in Ohio. They have had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. The eldest daughter married Ezra Ruffner and died about three and a half years after marriage; Frances Alice and Gertrude, both married and live in this county; Richard, Edward, Frank, Clark, Joseph, Phillip and Le Roy. Our subject has been engaged in farming in Grant township where he took a homestead; he has 445 acres in a body. He was for sixteen years Justice of the Peace; was a member of the county Board and was very popular; was elected in the fall of 1888 to the State Senate by a majority of 300 against the Hon. W. W. Merritt. He took a prominent part in the organization of the Senate, discharged his obligations to that body and to his constituency with fidelity and ability that was as admirable as rare; moved to the town of Red Oak in May, 1890, where he has a pleasant home. He is a member of the Protestant Methodist Episcopal church. He has been a hard worker; has never taken a drop of liquor nor ever used tobacco; is an upright, moral man and a citizen of whom any community might be proud.