Weldon, Samuel

ca. 1730–82

Samuel Weldon, Revolutionary patriot, was born in Henrico County, Va., the youngest son of Samuel Weldon and the brother of Daniel, who settled in Granville County, N.C. In 1760 "Samuel Weldon, Gentleman, of Northampton County, [N.C.]" sold a lot in the town of Halifax that he had inherited from his brother-in-law, John Jones. At an undetermined date he married Penelope Short, the daughter of William Short, whose will was probated in Northampton County in 1764. Weldon, according to the records of Northampton, never owned property in that county, however. He appears to have settled in Halifax County in 1772, when he bought land on Chockoyotte Creek near the property of his nephew, William Weldon.

With the advent of the American Revolution Samuel Weldon was a member of the Safety Committee of Halifax County and of the Committee of Observation to prevent overcharging for salt. On 22 Apr. 1776 the Provincial Congress meeting in Halifax elected him a major in the Halifax regiment of militia, and he was a member of the Provincial Congress that met in the same town in the fall of that year. On 23 Nov. 1776 he was transferred with the same rank to a battalion of volunteers then being raised for the assistance of South Carolina in quelling an uprising of Tories. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 23 Dec. 1776 and elevated to colonel on 24 Apr. 1778. A few months later, however, he resigned his commission, probably because of poor health.

On 10 May 1778 it fell to Weldon to transmit to Governor Richard Caswell the decree of the court-martial of one Willis Alston that had convened in Halifax on 5 April. For several years Weldon served as a justice of the Halifax Court, and it probably was in that capacity that he carried out this assignment.

The will of Samuel Weldon, dated 16 May 1779, was probated in Halifax County in 1782. It mentioned his wife Penelope, sons Benjamin Allen and William, and daughters Martha and Penelope. David Short and brother-in-law William Short were appointed executors. According to the county deeds, Weldon had a posthumous son, Thomas Short Weldon. His widow married one Simmons. The children of Samuel Weldon moved away from Halifax County in the early nineteenth century.