Charles K. Weedon Biography


	This biography appears on page 1272 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	CHARLES K. WEEDON, of Central City, is a native of Columbiana 
county, Ohio, where he was born on November 23, 1835, and is the son of 
James and Nancy (Mankin) Weedon, who was born and reared in Virginia. 
They settled in that portion of Ohio when it was on the wild frontier, 
and there they established a home and developed a good farm, remaining 
until 1843, when they moved to Wayne county, Illinois. There the father 
took up a homestead and again began to redeem the virgin soil from its 
wildness and make it fruitful with the products of cultivated life. The 
parents remained in that county until death ended their labors; and 
there also the son grew to manhood and was educated in the district 
schools near his home and at the high school in Fairfield, the county 
seat. After leaving school he assisted his father on the farm until 
February, 1862, when he enlisted in defense of the Union in Company E, 
Seventh Illinois Cavalry, in which regiment he served three years, 
mostly in the armies of the West. He participated in a number of 
important engagements, making a gallant record as a soldier and being 
mustered out as a non-commissioned officer at Gravely Springs, Alabama, 
in 1865. He then returned to his Illinois home, and after spending some 
time in farming, engaged in the livery business at Fairfield. In the 
spring of 1877 he came to the Black Hills, arriving at Deadwood on March 
7th. He at once went to work in the mines at Golden Gate near Central 
City, where he was employed two years. In 1879 he purchased property and 
built a livery barn at Central City, and since that time he has been 
conducting one of the leading livery businesses in this part of the 
state, being by continuous application to the same enterprise one of the 
oldest business men in the place. In political faith he is a staunch 
Republican and during the whole of his mature life he has been active 
and effective in the service of his party. In 1893 he was elected county 
assessor of Lawrence county, and was re-elected in 1895. During the two 
years following the close of his second term he was in the office as 
deputy, thus serving the county six years in connection with the 
valuation of property for taxation. In local affairs, independent of 
political considerations, and in every good undertaking for the 
advancement of his community' he has always been zealous and energetic. 
While devoting his attention to other business he has kept up his 
interest in mining and owns a number of valuable properties and claims. 

	On March 15, 1867, Mr. Weedon was married at Memphis, Tennessee, 
to Miss Lizzie McCoy, a native of Wisconsin, who died on August 24 1901, 
and was buried in the cemetery at Deadwood.