Sacramento Valley Biographies

John K. Weast

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, March 2009.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

            John K. Weast. During the period of about forty years that marks
the duration of Mr. Weast's residence on his farm seven miles north of
Colusa he has transformed a tract of wild land into an improved stock and
grain farm and also has witnessed the gradual development of the tillable
land in this county, together with the founding of villages and progress of
towns. As a pioneer and loyal citizen he encourages the movements having for
their object the material prosperity of the people and the promotion of the
welfare of Colusa county. When he came to this place in 1866 he paid a
squatter $2,500 for his right to three hundred and sixty acres more or less
defraying the indebtedness incurred in this purchase he purchased adjacent
property. At this writing he owns three hundred and twenty-three acres in
his home ranch and one hundred and fifty-two acres a short distance away,
the entire property being utilized for the raising of cattle and hogs, as
well as grain and a small acreage in alfalfa. The present improved condition
of the land is remarkable when it is considered that it was all in timber
when he acquired the title. During the winter of 1867-68 he superintended
the cutting of two-thousand cords of wood from the land and this he sold to
owners of steamboats. When the stumps were removed and burned he found
himself the possessor of unusually productive land, and the cultivation of
the property has since nested him a neat income. In addition to his property
in this locality he owns one hundred and sixty acres of farming land in
Little Hot Springs valley, Modoc county, this state.
            Not only is Mr. Weast a pioneer of California, but he descends
from a pioneer family of America. His grandfather, Abraham Weast, who was
born in Tioga county, N.Y., and died in a blockhouse in Pennsylvania,
married a Miss Mudge, descended from a family represented among the very
first German settlers of New York state and daughter of a soldier in the
French and Indian wars and in the Revolutionary struggle from the battle of
Bunker Hill until the close of that historic conflict. In the family of
Abraham Weast was a son, Joshua, a native of Tioga county, N. Y., and by
trade a cabinet-maker. As early as 1834 he migrated to Indiana and settled
in LaPorte county when that region was in its original wild and unsettled
condition. After clearing land and improving a farm he made his home there
for a long period, but eventually came to California to spend his last days,
dying at the home of his son in Colusa county when in his eighty-first year.
His wife, Isabella Kyle, was born in Pennsylvania, where her father, John
Kyle, was a farmer. She died in Indiana and of her four children three are
now living, John K. being the eldest of the family and the only one to
settle on the Pacific coast. Born in Lycoming county, Pa., April 15, 1827,
he was seven years old when the family removed to Indiana, hence his
earliest recollections are associated with the development of a raw tract of
land. When eighteen years of age he began to work for farmers and received
$10 per month for the season. On leaving Indiana in 1846 he went to Illinois
to assist in moving some of his relatives to McHenry county, and passed
through Chicago when it was an insignificant hamlet without indications of
future greatness. Subsequently he returned to Indiana and resumed work as a
farm hand.
            February 4, 1850, Mr. Weast went to New York, intending to come
to California, but it was not until March 16 that he was enabled to get
passage on the boat Georgia for Chagres. From there he went up the Chagres
river a short distance, and then walked the remaining distance, twenty-two
miles, across the Isthmus of Panama. It was six weeks and two days before he
could get passage on a steamer there and meanwhile expenses were exceedingly
high. Finally he became a passenger on the Columbus, which cast anchor at
San Francisco June 4. After landing he went to the mines of Eldorado county
and while working there that season he was a member of the election board
during the exciting time of voting for statehood. His next location was
Kelsey's Diggings, after which he was at Weaver creek, later at Feather
river, finally going to Downieville. In December, 1851, he went to the
Suisun valley and there abandoned mining for agricultural pursuits, making a
specialty of raising grain. After two years there he went to the Sacramento
river and took up was supposed to be government land, but after he had
worked the place nine years and had made valuable improvements the land was
found to be a grant and he lost it. The experience was discouraging, but
soon afterward he settled on his present property and has since had a
reasonable degree of good fortune. In politics he has never been active, but
votes independently, supporting the men he considers best qualified to
represent the people. After coming to Colusa county he was made a Mason, but
is now demitted. For several years he served as school trustee and his
interest in educational affairs has always been warm and active.
             The marriage of Mr. Weast took place in Colusa county and
united him with Margaret Day, who was born in Illinois, being a daughter of
Nathaniel and Rhoby (Green) Day, natives of Maine. In 1855 the family came
to California from Illinois and after crossing the plains settled upon farm
land in Modoc county, where both Mr. and Mrs. Day died, the former at the
age of ninety-three years. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Weast there were
eight children, namely: Walter H.; Henry, who died at two years of age;
Rhoby, who married Charles Coleman and died near Colusa; Rachel, Mrs.
Lamphier, of Davisville; Arthur, a farmer of Colusa county; Mary J., who
died at six years of age; Flora and Byron, who remain with their parents.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, California," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 390-391.