Like most sons of New Hampshire farmers, Mr. Weston passed a considerable portion of his time in youth in tilling the soil; but secured a substantial education at the district school and the Manchester and Piscataquog academies. With a strong aptitude for mathematics, he soon determined to apply himself to the study of civil engineering, with a view to making that his avocation in life, teaching school winters in the meantime. So rapidly did he prepare himself for his chosen occupation that at the age of nineteen years he was appointed assistant civil engineer of the Concord Railroad, and immediately (in 1846) commenced work in superintending the laying of the second track of that road. In 1849 he was promoted to the position of chief engineer, which he held for a long series of years. For several years, also, he discharged the duties of road master and master of transportation of the Concord and Manchester & Lawrence railroads. As chief engineer of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad, he superintended the construction of a considerable portion of the line, as he subsequently did that of the Suncook Valley Railroad. As a civil engineer, he occupies a place in the front rank in his profession in New England; and his services have been in demand far beyond his ability to respond, in making surveys for proposed railways, water-works, etc. Prominent among the public works with which he has been connected in this capacity, may be mentioned the Concord water-works, supplying the capital city with water from Penacook lake, for which he made the survey, and whose construction he superintended. In his political convictions and associations, Mr. Weston has been a Democrat from youth. Never a machine politician, or even a zealous partisan, though a devoted supporter of the principles and policy of his party, he has won and held the personal respect of both friends and opponents in political affairs; so that, when a candidate for public office (which he has never been except at the urgent solicitation of those who regarded his candidacy essential to party success), he has never failed of strong popular support, measurably exceeding that of his party strength alone. In 1861 he was persuaded to accept the Democratic nomination for mayor of the city. Previous to this time Manchester had almost universally been regarded as a Republican or Whig city. The year previous to Mr. Weston's nomination the Republican candidate had been elected by nearly four hundred and fifty majority. He was defeated, however, by a majority of about two hundred and fifty; while the following year he came within eighteen votes of defeating the opposing candidate, ex-Mayor Theodore T. Abbot, who received on a former occasion a larger vote than had ever been cast for any other candidate.