Editing James B. Weaver (section)

==Early years==
James Baird Weaver was born in [[Dayton, Ohio]], on June 12, 1833, the fifth of thirteen children of Abram Weaver and Susan Imlay Weaver.{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=2}} Weaver's father was a farmer, also born in Ohio, and a descendant of [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] veterans.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=8}} He married Weaver's mother, who was from New Jersey, in 1824.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=8}} Shortly after Weaver's birth, in 1835, the family moved to a farm nine miles north of [[Cassopolis, Michigan]].{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=2}} In 1842, the family moved again to the [[Iowa Territory]] to await the opening of former [[Sac and Fox Nation|Sac and Fox]] land to white settlement the following year.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=7}} They [[Homestead Acts|claimed a homestead]] along the Chequest Creek in [[Davis County, Iowa|Davis County]].{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=7}} Abram Weaver built a house and farmed his new land until 1848, when the family moved to [[Bloomfield, Iowa|Bloomfield]], the county seat.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=12}}

Abram Weaver, a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] involved in local politics, was elected clerk of the district court in 1848; he often vied for election to other offices, usually unsuccessfully.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|pp=8–9}} James Weaver's brother-in-law, Hosea Horn, a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]], was appointed postmaster the following year, and through him James Weaver secured his first job, delivering mail to neighboring [[Jefferson County, Iowa|Jefferson County]].{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=13}} In 1851 Weaver quit the mail route to [[read law]] with Samuel G. McAchran, a local lawyer.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=13}} Two years later, Weaver interrupted his legal career to accompany another brother-in-law, Dr. Calvin Phelps, on a cattle drive overland from Bloomfield to [[Sacramento, California]].{{sfn|Haynes|1919|pp=10–13}} Weaver initially intended to stay and [[California Gold Rush|prospect for gold]], but instead booked passage on a ship for [[Panama]].{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|pp=18–20}} He crossed the isthmus, boarded another ship to New York, and returned home to Iowa.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|pp=18–20}}

Upon his return, Weaver worked briefly as a store clerk before resuming the study of law. He enrolled in the [[University of Cincinnati College of Law|Cincinnati Law School]] in 1855, where he studied under [[Bellamy Storer (1796–1875)|Bellamy Storer]].{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=14}} While in Cincinnati, Weaver began to question his support for the institution of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]], a change biographers attribute to Storer's influence.{{sfnm|Mitchell|2008|1pp=24–25|Lause|2001|2p=10}} After graduating in 1856 Weaver returned to Bloomfield and was admitted to the Iowa [[Bar (law)|bar]].{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=16}} By 1857, he had broken with the Democratic Party of his father to join the growing coalition that opposed the expansion of slavery, which became the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=26}}

Weaver traveled around southern Iowa in 1858, giving speeches on behalf of his new party's candidates.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=27}} That summer, he married Clarrisa (Clara) Vinson, a schoolteacher from nearby [[Keosauqua, Iowa]], whom he had courted since he returned from Cincinnati.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=27}} The marriage lasted until Weaver's death in 1912 and the couple had eight children.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=28}} After the wedding, Weaver started a law firm with Hosea Horn and continued his involvement in Republican politics.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=28}} He gave several speeches on behalf of [[Samuel J. Kirkwood]] for governor in 1859 in a campaign that focused heavily on the slavery debate; although the Republicans lost Weaver's Davis County, Kirkwood narrowly won the election.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=30}} The next year, Weaver served as a delegate to the state convention and, although not a national delegate, traveled with the Iowa delegation to the [[1860 Republican National Convention]], where [[Abraham Lincoln]] was nominated.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=31}} Lincoln carried Iowa and won the election, but Southern states responded to the Republican victory by [[Secession in the United States|seceding]] from the Union. By April 1861, the [[American Civil War]] had begun.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=33}}