| Date Span: | 1836-1894 |
| Creator: | Weaver, James Baird (1833-1912) |
| Extent: | 6.00 folders. |
| Collection Number: | MSC0048 |
| Repository: | University of Iowa Special Collections |
| Summary: | Populist leader. Weaver's correspondence with his wife; other Weaver family papers. Includes material on Davis Co., Iowa, and experiences in the Civil War. |
Access: This collection is open for research.
Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.
Acquisition:
Preferred Citation: James Baird Weaver Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.
| Repository: | University of Iowa Special Collections |
| Address: | Special Collections Department University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, IA 52242 |
| Phone: | 319-335-5921 |
| Curator: | Greg Prickman |
| Email: | lib-spec@uiowa.edu |
| Website: | http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/ |
James Baird Weaver was born in Dayton, Ohio, on June 12, 1833. He moved with his parents to Michigan and then to Iowa, where they settled on a farm in Bloomfield. He studied law in Bloomfield from 1853-1856. He apparently supported himself with clerk jobs at this time, because their granddaughter remembers the story of his meeting his wife. He was working as a clerk in Mannings store when Clara Vinson bought a spool of thread from him. He graduated from Cincinnati Law School in April 1856, and he and Clara were married on July 13, 1858 in Keosauqua, Iowa. He commenced the practice of law in Bloomfield.
He enlisted as a private in the Second Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry in April 1861, where he rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers. He was mustered out of the army on May 27, 1864.
He was elected district attorney for the second judicial district in Iowa in 1866 and served four years. He spent his lifetime in politics and the law, running twice for president on third party tickets - in 1880 for the National Greenback party (for which he received 350,000 votes) and in 1892 on the People's Party ticket (for which he received twenty-two electoral votes). He served a term in Congress from 1879-1881; and again as a Democratic and Greenback-Laborite to the fiftieth congress from 1885-1889. He was unsuccessful at running for re-election in 1888. He was mayor of Colfax, Iowa from 1901-1903.
James Baird Weaver died in Des Moines on February 6, 1912, following several heart attacks.
Browse by Series:
Series 1: CORRESPONDENCE
This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.
