#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 41 Travel: The Travelling Parson, Mason Loch Weems

My 6X-great uncle, Mason Loch Weems, travelled extensively as an itinerant evangelist and book seller. He is probably best known for his 1800 biography of his contemporary, George Washington, that included the famous "I cannot tell a lie" story, mostly considered a morality fable, but also claimed to come from a servant in Washington's household. Weems' biography of Washington went through more than 50 editions and along with his other biographies of Benjamin Franklin and William Penn made him one of the most-read authors of the early 19th century. 

Parson Weems was the 19th and youngest child of David Weems and his second wife, Esther Hill, born in October 1759 at Marshes Seat in Anne Arundel County MD. (His older brother James, the son of David's first wife, Elizabeth Lane, was my 6X-great grandfather. I have previously written about him here.) At the age of 10, Mason's father sent him to study at the Kent County Free School (later Washington College) in Chestertown. He later studied medicine in Edinburgh and after a religious conversion, studied theology in London. 

All Hallows

At the time, in the 1780's, Weems could not get ordained because there were no bishops in America and the English bishops would only ordain those who swore allegiance to the king, which Weems would not do. But eventually, that rule was changed, and with a little help from John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, Weems was ordained in the Episcopal church 1784 and became pastor of  All Hallows Parish in his native Anne Arundel County. However, his tendencies toward Methodism displeased the new American bishop, Thomas John Claggett (a cousin about whom I have previously written), so by 1792, Weems resigned as rector and began a travelling ministry which included selling religious pamphlets and his moral biographies.  

While travelling through northern Virginia, Weems met Frances "Fanny" Ewell, the daughter of prominent Virginia planter, Jesse Ewell. He married her in 1795, and they set up housekeeping and a bookshop in Dumfries at what is now the Weems-Bott museum. 

It was while he was living in Dumfries that Parson Weems penned A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington, shortly after Washington's death in 1799. Weems knew Washington personally and had preached at Pohick Church where Washington attended.  Weems' wife Fanny was a relative of the Washingtons. This book and Weems' other hagiographic biographies contributed to many early Americans' understanding of history and the high regard in which the Founding Fathers were held. Abraham Lincoln read the Washington biography when he was a young boy. 

Here, for your edification, is the famous story as it appeared and was later reprinted in McGuffey's Reader and thus learned by thousands of school children across the country, and led to Washington's birthday being often celebrated with cherry pie.

The following anecdote is a case in point. It is too valuable to be lost, and too true to be doubted; for it was communicated to me by the same excellent lady to whom I am indebted for the last. "When George," said she, "was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet! Of which, like most little boys, he was immoderately fond, and was constantly going about chopping everything that came in his way. One day, in the garden, where he often amused himself hacking his mother's pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that I don't believe the tree ever got the better of it. The next morning the old gentleman, finding out what had befallen his tree, which, by the by, was a great favourite, came into the house; and with much warmth asked for the mischievous author, declaring at the same time, that he would not have taken five guineas for his tree. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Presently George and his hatchet made their appearance. "George," said his father, "do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden?" This was a tough question; and George staggered under it for a moment; but quickly recovered himself: and looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all-conquering truth, he bravely cried out, "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet." "Run to my arms, you dearest boy," cried his father in transports, "run to my arms; glad am I, George, that you killed my tree; for you have paid me for it a thousand fold. Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold."

After his father-in-law's death in 1805, Weems moved his family to the Ewell plantation at Bel Air. The plantation became his home base, but he continued his itinerant ministry until his death. 

Parson Weems was reputed to be an excellent fiddler and often entertained crowds with his music during his travels in order to help him sell his wares, sometimes to the scandal of pious clerics who disapproved of dancing. When called upon to marry a young couple, he often stayed to play for the dance afterward. One story is told of him that he managed to charm a band of robbers with his music and saved himself from their predations with his expert fiddling. 

Mason and Fanny Weems had ten children, eight of whom lived to adulthood: Frances (1796), Susan (1798), Jesse (1799), Charlotte (1801), Ann (1802), Harriet (1804), Mason Loch (1806), Marion (1808), Francis Marion (1809) and Milton (1812). 

Parson Weems died on a bookselling trip in Beaufort SC in May 1825.  He is buried at Bel Air, although the exact spot is not known.  His wife Fanny died in Baltimore in 1843 and is also buried at Bel Air.