WEBER, JOHN B., born April 7, 1810, in Shepherdstown, Virginia, was there married Sept. 23, 1832, to Sarah A. Woltz, sister of John Woltz. See his name. She was born in Shepherdstown, March 20, 1812. They had two children in Virginia, and moved to Springfield, Illinois, arriving April 16, 1836, and had eight children in Sangamon county. The eldest died, aged two years.

ANDREW J., born Sept. 9, 1840, in Springfield. At the first call for seventy-five thousand men, by President Lincoln, in April, 1861, he, with other young men of Sangamon county, organized a company, but the quota of Illinois was already full. Andrew J. Weber was elected captain, and the company was sworn into the United States service as the 1st Reg. U. S. Rifles. After a number of changes it became Co. B, 11th Mo. Inf. More than nine-tenths of that regiment were Illinois men. Company B united with the regiment at St. Louis, July 20. 1861. It was fully organized on the sixteenth of August, and was in the battle of Fredericktown, Missouri, Oct. 21, 1861. Captain Weber was promoted April 21, 1862, to major of the regiment. In the absence of higher officers he was in command of the regiment at the battle of Iuka, Sept. 17, and the battle of Corinth, Oct. 3 and 4, 1862, in which General, since Governor, and now United States Senator Oglesby, was shot and thought to be mortally wounded. General Rosecrans, in his report, says that the 11th Missouri, under Major Weber, led the skirmish which opened the battle, October 3, and also led the charge that drove the last rebel from the field on the fourth. Major Weber was promoted and commissioned lientenant colonel, March 20, 1863, and commissioned colonel May 15, 1863, All his commissions were signed by Governor Gamble, of Missouri. Colonel Weber was wounded in the head by a cannon ball, while on duty, on the Peninsula, in front of Vicksburg, June 29, 1863. The wound at first was not thought to be mortal, but he died the next day, June 30. According to military usage a single regiment only would have acted as an escort, but after the capture of Vicksburg, July 4, the whole brigade turned out and escorted his remains to the steamer, by which they were brought up the river, conveyed to Springfield, and deposited in Oak Ridge Cemetery, July 9, 1863. His native city may well cherish, with pride, the memory of this young hero, who rose by talent, energy and industry to a position far above his years, and yielded his young and gifted life, a willing sacrifice on the alter of his country. He was but twenty. two years, eight months and seven days old when he was commissioned colonel of his regiment in the face of the enemy; an incident unparalleled in the history of our country.

GEORGE P., born Dec. 2, 1842, in Springfield, Ill., enlisted at the same time and in the same company with his brother, Andrew J. He was elected and appointed orderly sergeant. When his brother was promoted to the office of major, he was promoted to second lieutenant of Co. B, and after that promoted to first lieutenant and adjutant of the regiment, the latter of which he did not accept, being physically unable to discharge its duties, which prevented his re-enlisting as a veteran with the regiment. He was honorably discharged at St. Louis, May 1, 1864. George P. Weber was furloughed home with the remains of his brother, Colonel Weber, and was married July 28, 1863, to Vienna Meader. They have four children, MIRIAM M., SARAH A., TIMOTHY and ELI, and resides four miles west of Pawnee, Sangamon county, Illinois.

It is worthy of remark that when the 11th Missouri Infantry, composed as it was of Illinois men, went through St. Louis in 1861, stones and other missiles were thrown at the soldiers from the windows. When they returned on furlough, after re-enlistment, they were greeted with bouquets of flowers, a grand banquet, and were presented by the citizens of St. Louis with a magnificent stand of colors.

JAMES W. was born November 10, 1844, in Springfield, Illinois, enlisted Nov. 12, 1864, for one year, in his native city, in the 10th Ill. Cav., served full term and was honorably discharged Nov. 12, 1865, at San Antonio, Texas. Three days after his discharge he started to come home on horseback, in company with two other members of the same regiment, William M. Brown, of Sangamon county, and John Ingalls, of Madison county, Illinois. They were followed from San Antonio, and on the 24th of November stopped at the house of a man named Deason and obtained their dinners. That was in Rusk county, a few miles from a very small village bearing the local name of Rakepocket. But the postoffice is Pine Hill. After taking their dinners they continued their journey, and having passed through the village were followed by four men, also on horseback, who, after keeping near them about one mile, to the vicinity of Sharon, in Panola county, pretending to be in a hurry, the four men rode rapidly, overtook and passed the three travelers, when the four suddenly wheeled their horses, and each presenting a revolver, called on the travelers to surrender, which they did. Just at this moment a lad on horseback, who had been to mill, came near the parties, and seeing the men arrayed facing each other, and all on one side with deadly weapons drawn, paused to see if he could ascertain the cause of the strange spectacle. The boy was then ordered by the desperadoes not to remain any longer at the peril of his life, and he moved on quickly. Passing a turn in the road he halted and saw the four drive the three off the road into the woods. In a few moments more he heard the report of fire arms, followed by piercing screams, and then all was still. The boy reported that night to his parents, and the next morning upon search being made the three bodies were found, and decently buried. The assassins obtained three horses and equipments, and from a memorandum found it was thought they also got $2,100 in money. The four inhuman wretches were a one-armed desperado named A. J. Smith, a man by the name of Blackstock, and John and Jerry Deason, the two latter sons of the man at whose house the murdered men had taken their last dinner.

A few months after this occurrence John Deason came home sick and was secreted in his father's house. He was discovered and intelligence given to the soldiers at Shreveport, when a small band of them came upon and killed him on the spot. Jerry was afterwards killed in Leon county, Texas. Blackstock was killed in Robertson county, Texas. Smith fled to Mississippi, and his fate is unknown. These facts were obtained from a former citizen of Sangamon county, who was at the time living in the vicinity where the tragedy was enacted, and into whose hands one of the early sample sheets of this work had fallen, and in which he saw the name of James W. Weber.

BENJAMIN R. B., born in Sangamon county, married Oct. 29, 1872, to Sarah McCormick. They had one child, LALLAH ANN, who died in 1875. They reside near Pawnee, Illinois.

CHARLES E., born in Sangamon county, lives with his father.

Mrs. Sarah A. Weber died August 5, 1866. John B. Weber was married Nov. 28, 1867, to Mrs. Nancy J. Drennan, whose maiden name was Dodds. They reside adjoining Pawnee, Sangamon county, Illinois.

John B. Weber was engaged in the manufacture of cabinet furniture in Springfield and at Howlett, now Riverton, from 1836 to 1841, when he lost his left hand by a buzz saw. He was appointed by the legislature of 1842 and '43 to copy the land records of the state in numerical order, which kept him employed until 1849. He then went to California, and returned in 1851. He was quartermaster in the last expedition of the Mormon war of 1846. He was clerk in the commissary department in raising the first six Illinois regiments for the suppression of the rebellion. He was elected sheriff and collector of Sangamon county, and served from 1854 to 1856.