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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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John Weedon, a leader in agricultural circles, and a popular citizen of Jefferson County, was born in Columbus, Miss., May 18, 1847, and is a son of John and T. C. (Henry) Weedon, of North Carolina and Virginia, respectively. The father was born in 1812, and the mother in 1816, their marriage occurring in Columbus, Miss., which place they made their home for about thirty years, and then moved to Selma, Ala., where they resided until the father’s death in 1872, while returning from New Orleans. The elder Weedon was a well-known and very wealthy iron manufacturer, and at one time virtually owned the town of Anniston, Ala., where his factories were located. He was a Democrat in politics, and a valuable man to that party during his life. He belonged to the Masons, and had taken several high degrees. During the war his losses footed up into many thousands of dollars, as he had a firm belief in the success of the Southern States, and had invested largely in Confederate bonds and securities of a like nature that proved to be valueless after the Rebellion was over. The parents were members of the Presbyterian Church, and the mother, who is still living, resides in Selma, Ala. The Weedon family are of Scotch descent, and on the mother’s side of Scotch-Irish, the latter being descended from the same family as that of Patrick Henry, the famous American patriot. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Weedon, of whom two are still living, John Weedon, Jr., the principal of this sketch, and Mrs. G. A. Robinson, of Florence, Ala. Young John was educated at Davidson College, in North Carolina, and was yet attending school in April, 1863, when his youthful ardor was fired by the tales of Southern gallantry on the battle-field, and he cast aside his books to shoulder a musket and keep step in the ranks of the Confederate army. He joined Company H, of the Thirty-first Alabama Cavalry, and took part in a great many engagements, never faltering even when near the cannon’s mouth, nor allowing his enthusiasm for the cause he undertook to be dampened by the heaviest shower of leaden hail. After the war he turned his attention to mercantile life at Selma, Ala., and continued in that branch until 1871, when he moved to Arkansas and located in Lonoke County, where he commenced farming, and has met with the best success, owning about 1,100 acres of the best land to be found in the State. February 27, 1871, he was married to Miss Virginia A. Pettus, a daughter of John J. Pettus, ex-Governor of Mississippi, by whom he has had two children, John P. and Carrie who are yet living, and three who have died: William A., Alice M. and an infant daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Weedon are members of the Presbyterian Church, and take a deep interest in religious and educational affairs. In politics the former, is a Democrat. He is one of the most popular men in the community as well as one of the most enterprising. On his arrival in Arkansas he was comparatively poor, but seeing the productiveness of the country, and knowing what his abilities were capable of developing, he remained.

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This family biography is one of 136 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Jefferson County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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