Charles A. Weber, judge of probate of Perry County, Mo., was born at Planena, in the Kingdom of Prussia, on January 15, 1833. He is a son of Christopher and Dorothea Weber. In 1838 Christopher Weber immigrated to the United States and landed at St Louis, Mo., where he died on or about the 24th day of December, 1838. In the spring of 1839 the widow, with her six children - three sons and three daughters, of whom Charles A. is the youngest - removed to Perry County, Mo, and settled on a farm near Altenburg in said county, where Charles A. received his education, and where the widow died in 1860.

At the age of fifteen years he returned to St. Louis and engaged in the business of druggist and apothecary, serving three years as an apprentice and one as a clerk. He then returned to Perry County, and, in company with E. Estel, opened a general store at Altenburg, and a few years later this firm established another store, with a warehouse attached, at Wittenberg, in the same county, which was placed in the charge of Charles A, who also engaged in the business of receiving and forwarding and selling cord wood to steamboats until the beginning of the Civil War.

In September, 1861, Mr. Weber organized Company G, of the Fourth Regiment, Missouri Militia, six month's volunteers, of which he was elected captain, and with which he served until February 25, 1862, when he was honorably discharged by reason of expiration of term of service. In March, 1862, he was elected county clerk to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Henry T. Burns, his predecessor, and being re-elected from time to time, he occupied that position until December 31, 1878.

In June, 1862, he was appointed assistant enrolling officer for Perry County, and in that capacity enrolled and organize the Sixty-fourth Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, of which he was commissioned major in November of the same year. In May, 1863, he was placed on detached service with a battalion of three companies and attached to the Eighth Provisional Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia. He remained in active service with his battalion until October 19, 1863, when he resigned and resumed the duties of the county clerk's office, which had been conducted by a deputy during his absence.

April 25, 1864, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Sixty-fourth Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, and in August, 1864, he recruited and organize Company, of the Forty-seventh Regiment Infantry, Missouri volunteers. He was elected captain thereof and was mustered into the United States service on August 29, 1864, for a term of six months, and having served the United States in this organization something over seven months, he was honorably discharged at St. Louis, Mo., March 29, 1865.

Judge Weber was married to Martha A. Hellwege, October 23, 1856; she is a native of the Kingdom of Hanover, born in 1837. There were born to them seven children, one of whom, and infant daughter, died at the age of about one year; the remaining six are Rosalie D. (wife of William Prusse). Martha S. (wife of August P. Beckman). Ottielie (wife of W. J. Ochs), Charles E., Adolph J. and Martin A.

Having been defeated for the office of county clerk in November, 1878, he was commissioned notary public in January, 1879, which he held until he was elected judge of the probate in 1880.

Judge Weber entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office of judge of probate on January 1, 1881, and now occupies the same, having been re-elected twice since his first election in November, 1880; his term of office will expire December 21, 1890. Politically he is a liberal Republican, a member of the G. A. R., and he and his family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The Goodspeed Publishing Company compiled a series of histories of various counties in the U.S. in the late 19th century. The information in the History of Southeast Missouri, published in 1888, was provided by the contemporary residents of Perry County and her neighboring counties. The biographies are a valuable source of genealogical information, despite a few minor inaccuracies. We are glad to present the transcribed biographies here for anyone researching Perry County's history.