b. 1829, in Muskingum County, Ohio; d. April 10, 1905, in Washington, D.C. Weldon was admitted to the bar in 1854. That same year, he moved to Illinois and opened a law office in DeWitt County. In 1860, he was elected to the state legislature. Weldon served as a presidential elector and cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. In 1861, President Lincoln appointed Weldon as United States District Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. He resigned from this post in 1866 to pursue a private practice in Bloomington, Illinois. In 1883, President Chester A. Arthur appointed Weldon associate justice of the United States Court of Claims in Washington, DC, a position he held until his death.