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Senate Years of Service: 1852-1857 Party: Democrat
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WELLER, John B., a Representative from Ohio and a Senator from California; born in Hamilton
County, Ohio, February 22, 1812; attended the public schools and Miami University, Oxford, Ohio;
studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced in Butler County, Ohio; prosecuting attorney of Butler
County 1833-1836; elected as a Democrat from Ohio to the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, and
Twenty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1845); was not a candidate for renomination in
1844; served in the Mexican War 1846-1847; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor of
Ohio in 1848; member of the commission to establish the boundary line between California and
Mexico in 1849 and 1850; moved to California and engaged in the practice of law; elected as a
Democrat from California to the United States Senate for the term commencing March 4, 1851, and
served from January 30, 1852, to March 3, 1857; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman,
Committee on Military Affairs (Thirty-fourth Congress); Governor of California 1858-1860;
appointed Minister to Mexico in 1860 and was recalled in 1861; moved to New Orleans, La., in
1867 and continued the practice of law; died in New Orleans, La., August 17, 1875; interment in
Girod Street Cemetery; cemetery destroyed in 1959 and unclaimed remains commingled with 15,000
others and deposited beneath Hope Mausoleum, St. Johns Cemetery, New Orleans, La.
Bibliography American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography.
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