Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 897
JOHN J. C. WELDON

John J. C. WELDON, of Morgan Towship, a resident of Harrison County since 1868, was born in Meigs County, Ohio, in September 1841. He is a son of John and Mary (ELLIOTT) WELDON, of Pennsylvannia and Ohio, both of whom are now deceased. The father's parents were Edward and Elizabeth WELDON, and the mother's parents wer Fuller and Lydia (JONES) ELLIOTT. They reared a family of thirtenn children. All are deceased, except the following � Margaret (TILLINGHAST), Mar A. (CLARK), Hanna (MCCOMBE), Richard W. James M., Amanda (WATKINS), and John J.C., of whom we write.

Our subject spent his early life in the Buckeye State, where he obtained a common and High School education. He remained at home until July 17, 1861, which was the first year of the Civil War. Upon that day he enlisted in Company E, Fourth West Virginia Infantry, and was first assigned to the Army of West Virginia, operating in the Kanawha Valley, participating in all of its campaigns, until after the Battle of Charleston, W., Va., in September 1862. January 1, 1863, he was along with the Thirtieth, Thirty-seventh, and Forty-seventh Ohio, which were styled the "Kanawha Brigade." They were sent South and assigned to the Fifteenth Army Corps, as a part of the "Army of the West." He took part in the battles of Charleston, W. Va.; Vicksburg, the siege and battle of Jackson; Mission Ridge, and Knoxville, Tenn. After the Knoxville campaign the brigade was veteranized and was assigned to Gen. Sigel's command, in the Shenandoah Valley, participating in Gen. Hunter's campaign. Their first engagement was at Piedmont, Va., where the rebel Gen. Jones was killed. The rebels lost fifteen hundred men killed and wounded. Our subject also operated in the rear of Richmond, his last battle being at Snicker's Ford, July 18, 1864. At Vicksburg, Mr. Weldon was wounded by a gun-shot, which disabled him from active service in the field, and he served as orderly for the Colonel of his regiment until July 29, 1864, when he was discharged at Wheeling, W. Va.

After the war he returned home and went to farming, and remained that country until he came to Harrison County in 1868. He came from Ohio, with teams, being forty days on the journey. He first located in Morgan Township, and purchased lot 3 of section 27. He now owns three hundred acres of land in Harrison County, all enclosed by a good fence, and two hundred and sixty acres under cultivation. He carried on stock-raising and general farming.

Our subject was united in marriage in July, 1866, to Mary A. EGAN, the daughter of Thomas and Jane EGAN, of Ohio. By this marriage union eight children have been born James, born in 1867; Lettie E. (BURCHAM), 1869; Edward, 1873; John and Polly (twins), 1874, and died in infancy; Maud, born in 1878; Ruth, 1876, and Dot, 1889.

Mr. And Mrs. WELDON are members of the Christian Church. He belongs to Post No. 103, G.A.R., at Mondamin.  Politically, he is a Republican, and has held nearly all of the local offices in the township.

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