The number of veterans of the Mexican war is fast diminishing, as one by one they respond to the roll call above, but some are still left to tell the tale of how the gallant sons of the nation marched into the land of Montezuma and won victory after victory over the opposing forces. Among this number is Henry G. Weston, who with an Iowa regiment marched to the front. Since that time he has seen the nation engaged in two other conflicts in which liberty, freedom and the right have again triumphed and through which the powers of the world have been forced to accord America a leading place among the governments of civilization. Mr. Weston has watched with deep interest the progress of events which form our national history, and at all times has been imbued with a spirit of patriotism and loyalty.
Mr. Weston, who is now engaged in farming in the Salubria valley of Idaho, was born in Skaneateles, New York, on the 21st of July, 1827, and is of English, Scotch and Irish lineage, his ancestors having been early settlers of New Hampshire. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812. Josiah Weston, father of our subject, was born in New Hampshire, married Miss Harriet P. Webster, and in 1830 removed with his family to Lorain County, Ohio, where he followed the trade of a stone mason and also engaged in farming. He died in the fifty-second year of his age, and his wife died at the age of eighty-two, at which time she was an inmate of the home of her son in the Salubria valley. In religious faith they were Universalists. They had a family of ten children, but only three are now living, one being a resident of California, while another resides at Willow Creek, Idaho.
Henry G. Weston was only three years old when the family went to Ohio, and eight years afterward he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois. In the public schools of those states he acquired his education, remaining under the parental roof and assisting in the work of the home farm until eighteen years of age, when he began to learn the trade of wagon and carriage making. He was thus engaged when, on the 27th of July 1847, at the age of nineteen years, he enlisted for service in a volunteer company commanded by Captain Wyat B. Stapp. He went to the front and was on duty until the close of hostilities, being stationed at Vera Cruz at the time the city of Mexico was captured and the war was ended.
Returning then to his home, Mr. Weston continued his residence in Illinois until 1863, when he crossed the plains to Nevada, accompanied by his wife and four children. On the 30th of September, 1850, he had married Mrs. Annis S. Adams, who by her former marriage had one child, and by Mr. Weston had six children. One daughter, Catherine, died in the eighth year of her age, and the others are Harriet, who became the wife of Frank Janes, now the postmaster of Salubria; Charles, who is assisting his father in the operation of the home farm; Julia, wife of Joseph Hutchins; Douglass, who is married and has a good farm near his father; and James, who is engaged in mining.
Mr. Weston engaged in farming in Nevada until 1879, when he sold his property there and removed to the Salubria valley, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land. He has since been numbered among the successful farmers of the valley, has placed his land under a high state of cultivation, and well tilled fields now yield to him a golden tribute in return for the care and labor he bestows upon them. Although he has passed the psalmist’s span of three-score years and ten, he is still active and vigorous, and does no little part of the farm work. His wife also is living, and for almost a half-century they have traveled life’s journey together, sharing with each other the joys and sorrows, and adversity and prosperity which checker the careers of all. They have many warm friends in this community, who wish for them many years of happiness yet to come.
In his political views Mr. Weston has always been a stanch Democrat, and socially he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Since the days when he followed the starry banner through the valleys and over the mountains of Mexico he has been a loyal and progressive citizen, and gives an earnest support to all measures which he believes are for the public good.