JOHN A. WESTON, NOBLE TOWNSHIP.

A veteran of the Army of the Potomac and a pioneer of Noble township, a hero of war and a builder of the institutions of peace, no one in this section of the county holds a more secure place in the affections and respect of the people than Mr. Weston. He was born on Roundtop Mountain, Huntington county, Pa., August 17, 1842, the son of William W. and Nancy (Warfel) Weston. His parents were also natives of the Keystone State, where his father was a farmer for many years prior to his removal to the West during the last year of the war. In 1865 the elder Weston moved to Dent county, Mo., where he died in 1879; his wife, the mother of our subject, was killed by a horse at the home of the latter in Noble township. Mr. and Mrs. William W. Weston were the parents of five sons and two daughters, and, although all are living, John A. is the only child residing in the county.

John A. Weston was reared in Pennsylvania as a farmer until the outbreak of the Rebellion. He was among the first to enter the ranks from his State, enlisting in April, 1861, as a member of Battery B, First Pennsylvania Light Field Artillery, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac. Among the historic battles and campaigns in which he participated were Rappahannock, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and Fair Oaks. His battery was captured at Frazier's farm. Altogether Mr. Weston was actively engaged in twenty-nine battles, and was mustered out June 12, 1864. In 1865 he re-enlisted in Hancock's Veteran Reserve Corps, of the Seventh Pennsylvania, was in the secret service of the Government for a year, with headquarters in Philadelphia, and was finally discharged on March 31, 1866.

On September 12, 1867, Mr. Weston was married to Matilda Davis, leaving home with his wife in 1868, and going to Council Bluffs, then considered on the border of the far Western plains. They arrived in this frontier settlement on the 19th of December, of that year, and were residents of the place for about a year prior to their location in Cass county.

When Mr. and Mrs. John A. Weston came to Noble township, some thirty-six years ago, and established their home on a wild tract of land, there were but two houses between them and Atlantic. They rented land until 1882, when they went to Missouri, where they sold 120 acres and returned there and bought their present home in 1883. Since then the land has been improved, both as to cultivation and buildings, until now the homestead partakes of the general progress of a flourishing agricultural community. Mr. and Mrs. Weston have two adopted children--William W. and Delmar R. The father is an esteemed member of the G. A. R., a Republican and has been honored with a number of school offices.


From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 541-542.