#52 Ancestors Week 13 Nearly Forgotten: Harriette Weems Doud, Nearly Forgotten Shakespearian Actress

While following up on a collateral branch of the Weems family, not directly connected to me, I discovered a hidden treasure in the family tree, a nearly forgotten Shakespearean actress. Harriette Weems, a distant (4th) cousin of mine, was the daughter of Octavius Tennyson Weems and his first wife, Jane (Jennie) Hoffman. She was born in Charlottesville VA 13 October 1865, just as the Civil War was drawing to a close. Her father, a merchant, had served in the Confederate Army as a sergeant in the 26th Infantry Regiment of Virginia. Her mother died shortly after she was born and her father remarried in 1868. By 1880, the family had moved to New York City, where Tennyson Weems worked for the family business, the Weems Steamship Line.

Sarah Bernhardt

In 19th-century New York, as elsewhere, theater-going was a wildly popular entertainment.  Stars such as Sarah Bernhardt and Edwin Booth were idolized.  Although actors had a somewhat doubtful reputation in the early 19th-century, by mid-century, acting was considered a more socially respectable profession. Living in the heart of one of the great theater cities in the world, it is highly likely that Harriette attended performances and perhaps even saw Madam Sarah on one of her many United States tours.

In any case, Harriette decided to try her luck at acting and made her first stage appearance in 1889 with Creston Clarke, a nephew of the famous actor, Edwin Booth (and also of his infamous brother, John Wilkes Booth), who carried on the family's stage tradition. She earned praise even very early in her career:

Creston  Clarke

Of his [Creston Clarke's] support Miss Harriette Weems is decidedly his mainstay and a delightful little actress she is.  After each act last night Mr. Clarke and Miss Weems were emphatically called before the curtain as a reward for the fine work they did. (Norfolk Landmark.  10 October 1889)

Besides Clarke, Harriette appeared during her career with many of the most famous actors of her day: Louis James, Thomas W. Keene, and Walker Whiteside, taking on most of the female roles in the Shakespearian canon.

By 1891, she was part of a touring company with her husband, John Doud, a popular romantic leading man and himself part of a stage family that included his brother Oliver Doud and his uncle Oliver Doud Byron and Byron's wife Kate Crehan Byron.

By 1894, the company was referred to as the Harriette Weems Company and Harriette got the star billing as the company toured through Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas performing Othello, The Lady of the Lyons (a melodrama), The Cricket on the Hearth, and Katherine and Petruchio.  The life of a touring actress was hard, requiring great physical stamina.  Besides the grueling performance schedule, the actors had to endure hours of travel by stagecoach and river boat, as well as makeshift lodgings.

However, Harriette, "the fair daughter of the South," seemed to thrive on the acting life and achieved great popularity. The Baltimore Sun raved about her:

Walker Whiteside as Hamlet 1890

"Harriette Weems is one of the cleverest actresses the South has ever produced. Although young in years, she has held the highest positions and received the most favorable criticisms of the press throughout the country. She has been leading lady with Messrs. Thomas W. Keene, Louis James, Walker Whiteside and Creston Clarke, essaying all the leading Shakespearean roles. She is one of the very few actresses now before the public that can play a leading Shakespearean role one night and essay a part like Dot, in the 'Cricket on the Hearth' the next. Her versatility Is wonderful. So fresh and sweet and winsome a little woman is she, with her lithe, girlish form, sweet, expressive face, and melodious voice, she is certainly a treat to look upon." 

Harriette and John Doud divorced about 1899 and Harriette continued touring with Robert Downing's company. Later,  in the 1920's, she was part of a repertory company in White Plains NY.  After retiring from the stage, she continued her career as a teacher giving lectures and school performances under the auspices of the NY Board of Education and radio star, doing dramatic readings of Shakespeare and other classic drama on WNYC. On one occasion, she gave a spirited defense of her ancestor Parson Mason Loch Weems and the famous story of Washington and the cherry tree:

Remember the story of George Washington and the cherry tree! Well,' a direct descendant of the Parson Weems who wrote that little yarn,  Harriette Weems, spoke eloquently of Washington as man and President at WNYC last night. She launched a bitter attack against historians who denounce the narrative as fiction. "Whether it's true or not does not matter. Miss Weems said. "What does matter is that its influence is for the truth." (NY Daily News, 22 February 1928.)

Harriette Weems Doud died at St. Luke's Hospital in New York on January 5, 1937, after a brief illness.  Her ashes were buried at Maplewood Cemetery in her hometown of Charlottesville VA.

Harriette Weems