John B. Weller (22 February 1812-17 August 1875) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-OH 2) from 4 March 1839 to 3 March 1845 (succeeding Taylor Webster and preceding Francis A. Cunningham), a US Senator from California from 30 January 1852 to 3 March 1857 (succeeding John C. Fremont and preceding David C. Broderick), and Governor of California from 8 January 1858 to 9 January 1860 (succeeding J. Neely Johnson and preceding Milton Latham).
Biography[]
John B. Weller was born in Hamilton County, Ohio in 1812, and he became a lawyer in Butler County before serving in the US House of Representatives from 1839 to 1845 as a Democrat. He then served as a Lieutenant-Colonel of Ohio volunteers during the Mexican-American War before launching a failed gubernatorial bid in 1848, and, from 1849 to 1850, he was a member of a commission that would draw the boundary line between California and Mexico. In 1852, Weller was elected to the US Senate from California, but he lost for re-election in the Senate. Instead, he went on to be elected as Governor that year, and he intended to make California an independent republic if the North and South divided over slavery. In 1860, President James Buchanan appointed Weller ambassador to Mexico, but he was recalled by Abraham Lincoln's administration. He moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1867 and continued the practice of law, and he died there in 1875.