Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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

JOHN P. WEST.
 
        The subject of this sketch was born in Ireland, in 1825. His parents 
were William and Ellen (Patterson) West. His father was a native of Ireland, and 
his mother of Scotland. In 1828 Mr. West's parents emigrated to the United 
States and settled in Pennsylvania, and afterward moved to Ohio, locating in 
Trumble County. There Mr. West received his education in the common schools, and 
was reared as a farmer. While in that county he married Miss Elizabeth Harshman.
In 1856 he moved to Henry County, Iowa, and there engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. He took a prominent position in the community in which he resided, and 
for many years was a member of the Legislature and Senate of Iowa. In 1862 he 
entered the Fourteenth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers, and served as a soldier
throughout the war of the Rebellion. At the close of that struggle he returned 
to Henry County, where he resided until 1875. In that year he came to California 
and located at Compton, Los Angeles County, where he engaged in farming. Mr. 
West was a strong Republican, and took an active and leading part in the 
politics of the county. In 1878�'79 he was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention that framed the present constitution of the State, and in 1880 was 
elected to the State Senate, serving his term with credit to himself and his 
constituents. In 1884 Mr. West moved to Washington Territory, but is now (1889) 
a resident of Novato, Marin County, California.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 668
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler