John P. West

John Patterson West was an Irish American farmer, military officer, and politician who served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1862 to 1864 and from 1866 to 1868, the Iowa State Senate from 1870 to 1876, and the California State Senate from 1880 to 1883. In 1878, he was elected a delegate to California's Second Constitutional Convention on the Workingmen's ticket, representing Los Angeles County.
West served as a sergeant in the 14th Iowa Infantry Regiment of the Union Army during the Civil War, participating in the Red River campaign. He resigned from the Iowa State Senate in 1875 to move to California, and was elected a justice of the peace in Wilmington Township.