John W. Weldon ^2,3,4

   Cause of his death was John was shot.

  General Notes:

Occupation:John was a farmer.

John was shot and killed by John White a man he had arrested for stealing his pig. Another story was John shot the pig after telling John White to keep the pig out of his corn. Story told by Marie (Paxton) Dwyier 436 W. 1st St. Mount Vernon, MO. 65712. Ella Lee age 16 and John was working in a corn field when John White sneaked up to the edge of the field and shot John in the back of the head, bullet entering just behind the ear. John had testified in court as to John White stealing a pig or pigs. It was never proved John White was guilty.
My grandfather Sam J. Weldon, Ella Lee older brother tells the story slightly different. According to Sam J. him and John was plowing and something happened at one end of the row and John was going to take care of it and plow on to the other end and ask Sam J. to wait and they would go to lunch. Sam J. reached the end of the row and got ready to unhitch the mule so they could go to lunch and after a while Sam J. went back to find his dad. He found him with his head half blown away.
It was oral history that John was 1/4 Cherokee.
John is listed on the 1860 US census of Pulaski County, AR. as John Welden Maumelle Township Page 170 dwelling 42 family 39.
John's headstone was replaced May 1988.

Story recorded in the Weekly Elevator Sebastian County AR. June 1, 1894

An old man named Weldon was assassinated in Riley Township, Yell County, last week, while he was plowing in his field. John White, who had been arrested for hog stealing at the insistence of Weldon, is suspected of being the assassin.

  Research Notes:

1850 census of Independence County, AR. White River Township

Name Age Sex Race Occupation Birthplace

Weldon Benjamin A. 28 M W Farmer Tenn
Sarah 38 F W Tenn
John W. 8 M W Ark
Benjamin F. 6 M W Ark
William C. 4 M W Ark
Mary E. 2 F W Ark
Lane, Martha 16 F W Tenn
Brad 15 M W Farmer Tenn

It is believed this is John W. family but I have not been able to prove it. All records of Benjamin A. end in 1858. Next record I have is of John W. being in Pulaski County in 1860. I think Benjamin A. is buried in Hopewell Cemetery Independence County as Benjamin A Walden b 11/28/1826 d 6/18/1895. The reason I consider this is the birth dates are close. The reason against this is there is a Benjamin Walden from VA. on the 1880 census of Black River Township.

e-mail from Phillip Morris (pmorris@mca.edu)

Samuel,

From your website I notice the following research. I am distantly
related to Benjamin A. Walden who is buried in Hopewell Cemetery in
Independence County, AR and shown in the 1880 census of Black River
Township. He is shown in the 1850 census at age 22 in Fayette County,
Tennessee with his mother and father, William M. and Athena Walden (and
other siblings). Benjamin married 1) to Unity (surname unknown) and 2)
to Jinnie (Long?).

Benjamin was the brother of my g-grandmother, Sarah (Walden) Morris.

This should clarify whether this Benjamin in your research is Walden
(mine) or Weldon (yours). Good luck with your research.

Best wishes,

Phillip Morris
Eads, TN

Weldon Benjamin A. 28 M W Farmer Tenn
Sarah 38 F W Tenn
John W. 8 M W Ark
Benjamin F. 6 M W Ark
William C. 4 M W Ark
Mary E. 2 F W Ark
Lane, Martha 16 F W Tenn
Brad 15 M W Farmer Tenn

It is believed this is John W. family but I have not been able
to prove it. All records of Benjamin A. end in 1858. Next record I have
is of
John W. being in Pulaski County in 1860. I think Benjamin A.
is buried in Hopewell Cemetery Independence County as Benjamin A
Walden b 11/28/1826 d 6/18/1895. The reason I consider this is
the birth dates are close. The reason against this is there is a
Benjamin
Walden from VA. on the 1880 census of Black River Township..

This article was written by Harriet D. Brantley Lane.

"Harriet Lane
This is my first posting to our group ...I have been observing for over a year now hoping to find a link to my Lanes -seems I'm not the only one in the boat with a brick wall.
Not too hopeful of help, but here goes ...need to preface the following by a brief comment about the counties researched -Lawrence County, AR, was the parent county of Independence and part of Sharp -the boundaries of both Lawrence and Independence were changed to form Sharp in 1868 -my Lanes lived in the same area but will be found in all three counties depending on which census is being researched. My husband's ancestor is Byrd Lane (spelled Bird in a couple of records) -on the 1850 census of Independence County, AR he is listed, age 15, in a Benjamin Weedon (Weldon) household along with a girl named Martha Lane, age 16, and 4 Weedon children. Am relatively sure Martha and Byrd are brother and sister. The wife (assuming she is his wife -the census shows her to be 10 years older than Benjamin) of Benjamin Weedon is named Sarah and is old enough to be the mother of the Lane children, thus would have been married twice. Nearby, in another Township, is a family of Campbells headed by Nancy, age 55. Listed in her household are two more Lane children -Joseph C. H., age 17, and Milla (female ), age 8. All the Lane children are shown as being born in Arkansas and there are NO other Lane/Lain/Layne listings in any of the three counties. 10 years later on the 1860 census of Lawrence County ( change of County boundaries -same place, just in different county now) is my BIRD Lane, age 23, married to Isabella (Metcalt) and a household of three children -William V., age 4; John H., age 2; and Joseph L., age 2/12. Here again Bird is shown as being born in AR. There are other Lane Families listed in this census in Lawrence County:
1) Richard Lane, age 36 from TN
2) Mary Lane, age 31 from TN
3) Simon Lane, age 23 from AL
4) Joseph S. Lane (probably the one listed above for 1850)
5) John W. Lane, age 43 from TN
6) William N. Lane, age 60 from V A
7) Robert A., age 21 from TN
In Independence County there are 3 Lanes: Sarah J., age 17, Louisa J., age 14 and George W, age 10, listed in the household of Absalem Dennis from MO.
On the 1870 census of Sharp County (another change of boundaries), BIRD is age 32 and married to Jane ( sister to his first wife ). This census shows him to be born in TN also listed on the 1870 census in Independence County are:
1) James L. Lane, age 44, from GA
2) Reuben Lane, age 24, from GA
3) Minroel (?) B. Lane, age 41, from ? ( rest of family all from NC)
4) George Lane, age 23 from NC
In Lawrence County are:
1) William N. Lane, age 70 from V A
2) Jesse Lane, age 50 from TN
3) Joseph C. Lane, age 9 from AR listed in the household of Joseph Bagley.
1880 Independence County shows:
1) William H. Lane, age 44, from NC
2) Doctor C. LAINE, age 25 from IL
3) James L. Lane, age 56 from GA
4) Stephen B. Lane TN
5) W. M. Lane, age 32 from AR
6) George Lane, age 19 from AR, son of Isabella & William Robinson
7) Reuben B., age 35 from GA
8) Jacob Lane, age 68, from TN
1880 Sharp County shows:
1) Byrd Lane, age 45 from TENNESSEE
2) John Lane, age 21 from AR
3) William Lane, age 24 from AR
1880 Lawrence County shows:
1) Joseph Lane, age 19 from AR, listed in household of I. J. Bagley
2) William Lane, age 16 Laborer from TN listed in household of John and
Sarah Williams
3) William H. Lane, age 22 from AR, brother to head of household Caroline
Parsons, age 27
So any ideas?? I'm completely lost! ! ! Harriet Lane Arkansas"

In Jan 2003 I joined the familytreeDNA.com. I had a yDNA test and an mtDNA test. The yDNA test traces the male line and the mtDNA traces the female line. As I understand the yDNA is passed down unchanged from father to son. It is also passed to daughters but daughters do not pass it along. The mtDNA test does the same for the mother's line. So far I have had a yDNA match with the surname Gill, and Beaty and we've not been able to find any person or place for a common ancestor. I have also had a DNA match with Joseph Marion Weldon Jr. from AL. He is not really interested in genealogy so am not sure if he will exchange information with me. I have an mtDNA match with a Collins and her family came from SC and eastern TN and so did my Todd family on my mother's side of the family. Their interest was in finding Native American ancestry not genealogy.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Event: Picture of John W. Weldon headstone, 21 May 1894, Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Yell Co, Arkansas, USA. John broken headstone was replace in 1988.

John married Margaret A. Mulligan, daughter of Felix Mulligan and Bridget Ann Smith, on 26 Oct 1865 in , Pulaski Co, AR..¹ (Margaret A. Mulligan was born in Jan 1848 in , Marengo Co, AL, died in Jun 1921 in , Yell Co, AR. and was buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Yell Co, Arkansas, USA ⁶.)

  Marriage Notes:

Neither John nor Margaret could read or write so her name was misspelled as Milegan on their marriage license.