#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 32 At the Library: The Autobiography of Gustavus Weems

 

So, I have always been a fan of libraries.  Even as a child, I could happily while away an afternoon among the books. As a genealogist, of course I love searching for family history treasures, and I make it a point to visit the local library whenever I am on a genealogy trip.  

My very best library discovery, however, was close to home at the University of Maryland library.  They hold a large collection of Weems family papers and among them is a 330-page hand-written autobiography of my cousin, Gustavus Weems. When I found that listing in the library catalog, I knew it was gold. I had to see it. Besides giving details of his family, his autobiography provides a fascinating look at life in Anne Arundel County MD in the late 18th and early 19th century. It was so fascinating that I paid for the library to make me a copy that I could bring home and study at leisure. (Weems-Reynolds Family papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1310 Accessed July 27, 2022.)

Gustavus Weems, referred to in his narrative as Gusta, was the grandson of David Weems, the Scots immigrant (my 7X-great-grandfather), and the second of seven children of David Weems and Margaret Harrison, born in 1779 at Marshes' Seat in southern Anne Arundel County MD. The map below shows the area where Marshes' Seat was located.

David Weems children, Gusta's siblings, were:

*David 1778: went to sea about 1800 and was impressed by the British.  The last the family heard from him was about 1814. 

*Gusta 1779: more on him later

*Rachel 1780: married Jesse Ewell and had three children with him--David Weems, Mary Frances, and Margaret Ewell.  Rachel died in Anne Arundel County in 1817.

*Sydney Bedolf 1782: never married.  Gusta comments in 1851 that she was blind and crippled. She outlived the rest of the family, and it was she who erected a memorial to her family at St. James Parish in Anne Arundel County. 

*Captain George 1784: one of the founders of the famed Weems Steamship Line, about which I have previously written. Married Sarah Sutton and had six children with her: Margaret, Thomas Sutton, Mason Loch, Gustavus, Theodore Mason, and George William Weems. He died in 1853 in Anne Arundel County.

*Theodore 1786: died in Baltimore in 1817, shortly before his intended marriage and just a few weeks after his sister Rachel.

*Mason 1789: Not married. Drowned in 1811 after he fell overboard on a return trip from Baltimore.

Gusta and his siblings were raised as Methodists. Although his mother was a Catholic, she "gave up her priest for Jesus, and I think she done well," in her son's words. In any case, it was an orderly and prayerful household, according to Gustavus. His father was strict and "his rules had to be kept and orders obeyed or our backs paid for it. . . .We were brought up in the fear of God, and faithful admonitions, and taught to love God and all mankind, to keep holy all the commandments, not allowed to use bad words or sinful expressions. . . .We loved to oblige and feared to displease, for here was the ruling and governing principle with parents and children."

David Weems, like many in the Weems family, made a living from the sea, running a shipyard, which he owned in partnership with his brother-in-law, Thomas Morton. 

However, as Gusta reports, his father was in considerable debt, due to a number of misfortunes such as lightning striking and destroying one of his ships and some cheating on the part of his business partners. "God had smitten him Job-like." David had to borrow money from his brother William (a ship's captain) to keep the business afloat.  So, there was not much money to spare in the David Weems household.

There being no school near them in Anne Arundel County, Gusta and his brother David went to live with their childless Aunt and Uncle Susannah and Thomas Morton in Montgomery County so they could attend school there. Gusta was apparently quite a prankster, and he delighted in describing the jokes he played on his aunt and uncle, his schoolmasters and his fellow scholars. Since these tricks

sometimes involved tripping people or jumping out to scare them, or throwing dust in their eyes, I'm not sure everyone else saw the humor that Gusta seemed to enjoy. (He never seemed to get over this love of tricks because he describes these throughout his story.)

His tricks must have gotten him in trouble, because his academic career involved switching schools frequently.  Even Gusta acknowledges that "his little innocent playful tricks kept me back from learning as much and as fast as I ought, together with the short time at each school, so that after all, I had but little education and knew as much about languages as a cow would." 

Gusta was put to work on the family farm, but desperately wanted to run away to sea. His parents persuaded him to stay and promised to open a small store that he could manage, and so he agreed to stay. After about three years on the farm, he ventured into commerce, opening a general store. "No more a plough boy, but a merchant." He immediately felt his lack of real education and set about buying books to improve his reading and math skills.  He particularly relied on a copy of Lord Chesterfield's letters to help him improve his manners. He also cites his uncle, Parson Mason Loch Weems, the famous biographer of George Washington, as an important influence and follows a schedule somewhat like that of Benjamin Franklin, rising early in the morning to read and study, and eating very abstemiously. 

His business prospered, but most of the money he made went to paying back his father's loan to Uncle William (who turns out to be quite a villain in Gusta's story and eventually comes to a very bad end!). I have previously written about Uncle William Weems.  

In the end, Gusta acknowledges, his hard upbringing strengthened him and led him to a righteous life, as opposed to his relatives "those lazy Harrisons and bragging Weems (his Uncle William)."  Our father, Gusta says, "brought us up right and my brother George and myself have brought our children up in the same way." If he had had his own will, he says, he "should have gone to the dogs with the Harrisons and the Weems." 

Rejected Suitor

When he was about 18, Gusta says that he was beginning to feel very big among the girls."I have ever
and anon loved the Dear Creatures." He considered girls, "the most refined, pleasant and improving company." He describes his unsuccessful first romance with Miss Rebecca Lane, who was quite willing to marry him provided that he would join the Methodist Church.  Alas! Gusta said, that would not work since "she was too good to leave her church and I was too bad to go into it." A second marriage proposal to his cousin Sophia Weems also came to naught. Yet another marriage possibility was turned down because Gusta refused to convert to Catholicism. And another father refused him because he didn't want his daughter to marry a merchant. Picky, picky, picky!

Parson Weems

When he turned 21, about 1800, Gusta set off to visit his Virginia relatives and stayed with his uncle, Parson Weems.  While he was there, he met a number of members of the Ewell family (Parson Weems' wife, Frances, Gusta's aunt, was a Ewell.) and became engaged to Miss Fanny Ewell, a cousin of his aunt Frances.  But yet again, his romance was foiled, this time by his wicked uncle William, who had married Miss Fanny's older sister, Ann Ewell. Uncle William told Col. Ewell that he should by no means allow his daughter to marry his spendthrift nephew Gusta, and Fanny obediently called off the engagement. Gusta never really forgave Uncle William for this final insult. 

After several other false starts at engagement, Gusta moved his store to Calvert County and finally did get married to a local girl, Dorcas Gray, the orphaned daughter of George and Jeanette Gray, who lived at the house where he boarded. He says that he was first attracted to her because she was able to pleat the ruffles on his shirt so well. (Apparently, he was quite the clothes horse in those days!) 

But to be fair, he also admired her "amiableness," so on a rainy day when he wasn't doing much business at the store, he decided to go up to her guardian's house and propose marriage. Gusta said the whole neighborhood was amazed that "so moral and fine a girl" would marry such a "frolicsome and wild fellow, so full of fun and devilment."  Indeed, Gusta said he was surprised himself that she accepted. Later, he acknowledged her as "the instrument in the hands of God of saving my soul." 

They were married a few weeks later in October 1806, when Gusta was 27 years old and Dorcas 20.  More than 100 people attended the wedding, leading Gusta to say "Good Lord, Madam.  Are you kin to all of Calvert County?" 

Gusta and Dorcas had seven children together, four of whom lived to adulthood. 

*Margaret, 1807, named after her grandmother, died in infancy.

*David Gustavus 1809.  Married first his cousin Rachel Weems.  Married second Martha Richardson and had fifteen children with her.

*Jane Dorcas, 1812.  Married Dr. John Fletcher Petherbridge and had nine children with him.

*George Gray, 1815. Died young.

*George Gray, 1817.  Died young.

*Rachel Thomason, 1821.  Married Dr. Thomas Reynolds and had two children with him.

*Theodore Mason, 1822.  Married Eleanor Stanforth and had one child with her. 

Gusta served in the Calvert County militia during the War of 1812 under Captain Mackall.

Gusta's mother Margaret Harrison Weems died when Gusta was a teenager.  His father David died in 1820, while Gustavus was serving in the Maryland Legislature in Annapolis. Gustavus reports that he hurried from Annapolis to his father's bedside as soon as he got the news but arrived a few minutes too late to see his father before he died. 

Dorcas Gray Weems died in 1839 and is buried at St. Mark's Chapel in Tracy's Landing, near the Weems family residence.

Discussing Gustavus Weems, Charles Petherbridge described him this way:

Your grandfather Weems was a man of very commanding appearance.  His very presence inspired respect--tall, stout, and well-formed, a fine person.  He was a great lover of the flute, his favorite tunes to play on it "Hail Columbia" and "Star Spangled Banner." 

I should also note another debt owed by family historians to dear Gusta.  It was he who kept up all the entries in the Weems family Bible.  He carefully added the dates of births, deaths and marriages that we depend on for so much information about his family.

Gustavus Weems died in 1852, at Marshes' Seat, a year after finishing his Autobiography, at the age of 73. He is buried beside his wife. 

It took me many years to get through reading Gusta's story.  The copy is sometimes faint, the handwriting is often difficult, and the spelling is idiosyncratic, to say the least. But the effort was totally worth it. Gusta is a fascinating character whose story deserves to be told for its own sake. I can't begin to do it justice in the short space I have here. His store of local gossip and legend, plus his pungent observations about his family and neighbors, and his strong opinions about how life should be lived provide an absolutely unique take on life in Anne Arundel County.  Someday, I hope that I can transcribe his entire book and get it published somewhere because it deserves to be better known.

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 22 Uncertain: The Elusive Miss Crompton

John Weems, my 7X great-uncle, was the youngest son of James Weems and Sarah Parker of Calvert County MD.  Born in 1737, John married four times and died in Louisville KY in 1813.

John's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th marriages to Elizabeth Miller, Alice Lee, and Mary Swan, respectively, are fairly well documented.  His first marriage, however, raised a big mystery.

In 1854, John's son--John Crompton Weems--wrote a long letter laying out his knowledge of the family history, the kind of letter every genealogist prays for. Here's what he says about his father and mother:

My grandfather’s youngest son, my father, John Weems, married a Miss Crompton of Calvert County, my grandfather James Weems, having married her mother Mrs. Crompton, as his 4^th wife.  The children, my father and mother being both quite young were brought up to call each other brother and sister and after their marriage built and settled at Weems Forest in Calvert County and had very large family.

Christ Church, Calvert County MD

Wait, what!  He married a Miss Crompton.  OK.  That's a good clue.  In 1746, James Weems married as his second wife, Mary Skinner. (Note that John C. had that part backwards.  It was Mary's fourth husband, not James' fourth wife.) Mary, being already a widow three times over, brought into her fourth marriage a whole passel of children, including three daughters of her third husband, Thomas Crompton: Ann, Mary, and Catherine shown in the register of Christ Church Parish in Calvert County MD.  These three girls would have been under the age of 10 when they moved into the Weems household, close in age to John Weems.  As the letter above notes, the girls were brought up in a large family with a number of step-brothers and sisters.

In any case, John Weems and Miss Crompton were married sometime before 1760, when their first son James Weems was born (approximately, no birth record).  They had four more children: Mary (ca. 1765), Sarah Margaret (ca. 1766), William Loch (1772), and John Crompton, above, (1777, the only one with a definite birth date). Miss Crompton died sometime before 1784, when John married his second wife, Elizabeth Miller in Philadelphia. 

So, the question is, which Miss Crompton did John Weems marry? You would think that John Crompton Weems might have thought to mention this detail somewhere in the letter, but he does not, leaving the family historian to search out other clues.

Unfortunately, I was never able to find those clues. Other than their birth records in Christ Church Parish, those three Crompton girls seemed to leave to no trace. No marriages, no wills. No mention in their parents' estates as far as I could find. Mrs. _____ Crompton  Weems was not mentioned in her husband's will or estate records.  She did not have a convenient tombstone with her name on it.  None of her other children left letters with her name in them.

Now John Weems served in the Maryland Legislature right before the Revolutionary War, which means that he is included in that exemplary Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature.  But even the excellent researchers at the Maryland State Archives failed to come up with the name of his first wife. The best they could do was: possibly Ann Crompton.  No word on why they chose to go with Ann instead of the other two sisters.

John Crompton Weems served in the US House of Representatives, but his official biography is also silent on the question of his mother's name.

Naturally, I researched the heck out of those five Crompton-Weems children, hoping to find that one of them had mentioned their mother's name.  Nada.

• James was a surgeon serving in the Revolutionary War.  He died at sea.  No children.
• Mary married the well-known theologian, Rev. Charles Henry Wharton.  She died childless in Philadelphia PA. (Possibly named for Miss Crompton's mother, Mary Skinner.)
• Sarah Margaret married Phillip Thomas of Cecil County and had 13 children with him.  She did name her oldest daughter Catherine.
• William Loch married Mary Kinsey, daughter of Judge Kinsey of NJ.  They had four children. Only daughter named Catherine.
• John Crompton married Elizabeth Webster.  They had ten children, youngest daughter named Catherine Crompton Weems.

Still no explicit evidence for Miss Crompton's name.  So, in desperation, I went through and counted up all the Catherines among the descendants and decided to go with Catherine Crompton since that name showed up more than any of the others. Best guess. 

And there my research stood for many years.

Until one day I was busy adding tombstone pictures to my research and lo and behold I came across the tombstone of Mary Weems Wharton in St. Peter's Churchyard in Philadelphia. 

There it was, written in the tombstone inscription:

To the Memory of
MRS. MARY COMPTON WHARTON
the beloved Wife of the Rev'd
Charles H. Wharton, D.D.
This monument was erected by her most
affectionate and disconsolate Husband.
She was the daughter of John Weems, Esq.,
And Catharine, his Wife, of Calvert County,
in the State of Maryland.
She died in this City, June 2d A.D. 1798
Aged 37 years
and was buried in this place.
Blush not, recording Marble, to proclaim
What e'ver was mortal, of a spotless name
Here lies entomb'd; th' immortal spark above
Glows, unextinguishe'd, in the realms of love,
And in new worlds enjoys th' enraptured bliss
That crowns the virtues of the just in this.
And just she was, if e'er imperfect Man
By Heaven's kind aid accomplished Heaven's plan,
Each human virtue triumphed in her soul,
While Faith's ennobling signet stamp'd the whole.
Yes, Mary, such thou wast, and O! may I!
Like thee, live humbl'd, and as blameless die.

God bless you Rev. Wharton for adding that little detail and solving that genealogical puzzle for me.

#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

#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 3 Long Line: The Weems Steamship Line

The Weems family of Anne Arundel County MD has a long history of seafaring. David Weems (my 9X great-grandfather), son of the immigrant David Weems and brother of Parson Weems, George Washington's famous biographer,  was a sailor as was his brother William.  His slaves built a sailing vessel which he used to cross the Atlantic to England, returning with rare and beautiful treasures from his voyages. Along with Thomas Morton, he owned Weems and Morton, a trading and shipping firm located at Pigg Point on the Patuxent, now Bristol Landing.

Not surprising then, that his son, George Weems, born at the family home of Marshes (or Marshall) Seat in 1784, inherited a love of the sea.  As a young man, George sailed with Captain James Norman to the East Indies.  When Captain Norman died during the voyage, George was put in command and brought the ship safely back to Baltimore.  He subsequently travelled the world and during the War of 1812, he outfitted a sloop for privateering and was taken prisoner.

Captain Weems married Sarah Sutton in 1808 at Old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore.  They had a daughter Margaret and five sons, three of whom followed their father to a sailor's life.

By 1817, George Weems was intrigued with the possibility of steamboat travel and chartered the steamboat Surprise to travel along the western shore of the Chesapeake and to the Patuxent, Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Four years later, he purchased his own steamship, the Eagle, and almost ended his career before it really began.  A boiler explosion in 1824, wrecked the steamer, killed a passenger and injured Captain Weems so badly that doctors wanted to amputate both his legs.  Fortunately, Weems' family was able to nurse him back to health and save his legs. That passenger death was the only one recorded in the history of the line.

By 1827, Captain Weems had prospered to the point that he established his own company, the Weems Line, later known as the Weems Steamship Company. The Patuxent, completed in 1828, was the first of thirteen steamers built expressly for Weems and the first to claim the proud distinction of being built in Baltimore. Her route began in Baltimore, stopped at Herring Bay in Anne Arundel County and then went on to Fredericksburg VA on the Rappahannock.  The Patuxent was at the time regarded as a floating palace with comfortable equipment and a bounteous cuisine. The Weems Line always prided itself on having the very latest in nautical equipment and a high standard for its dining table. Captain Weems and his successors further developed the Chesapeake trade by building wharves along the river and thus creating convenient avenues of commerce for farmers and traders.  The Weems boats eventually became official carriers of US Mail as the fastest way to transmit letters to coastal points.

Captain George Weems died at his home in Fairhaven, Anne Arundel County in 1853.  By the time of his death, Weems had given the management of the company to his four sons: George Weems Jr., Mason Loch Weems, Theodore Weems, and Gustavus Weems.   Three of his sons--George Weems Jr., Mason Loch Weems and Theodore Weems--each eventually captained his own ship for the line.

During the Civil War, the Weems ships were seized by the government and used as transports, but after the war, they resumed their usual routes. Mason Loch Weems, the last surviving son, developed his father's property, Fairhaven, as a well-known excursion resort for Baltimoreans who wanted to get out of the city for a relaxing day in the country.

In 1874, at the death of Mason Loch Weems, his two daughters--Georgianna Weems Williams and Matilda Weems Forbes--bought out the rest of the family's interest and became the sole owners of the Weems Line. Georgianna's husband, Henry Williams, became the president of the company.

By 1895, the Weems Line had consolidated its pre-eminence by buying out most of its competition on the Patuxent, Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. The Weems steamers with their distinctive stack marking of a red ball with the letter W dominated the trade until in 1905, the company was sold to the Maryland, Virginia and Delaware Railway Company and steam ships gave way to railroads as the transportation backbone of the middle Atlantic. At the time of its sale, the Weems Line employed 600 people and had a fleet of ten ships, all named for counties in Maryland and Virginia.

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 46 Poor Man: William Weems and the Wheel of Fortune

David and William Weems, the sons of David Weems the Immigrant (and my 7th great-grandfather) and his second wife, Esther Hill, were both born in Anne Arundel County MD at their father's estate, Marshes Seat.  They were the older brothers of Parson Mason Loch Weems, the legendary biographer of George Washington. The Weems brothers experienced both riches and poverty, but their responses to the vicissitudes of life were quite different.

David Weems, born in 1851, was the 14th child of his father and the 5th to be named David, the other four Davids having died in infancy. In 1777, he married Margaret Harrison, the daughter of Richard Harrison and Rachel Smith. David and Margaret were the parents of seven children: David, Gustavus, Rachel, Sydney, George, Theodore and Mason. The family lived at Marshes Seat, which David inherited from his father.

In addition to farming, David made a living as a merchant mariner. Before the advent of steam power, David Weems and his slaves constructed a sailing vessel, upon which he crossed the ocean to England, returning with rare and beautiful treasures and towing in the wake of the vessel a great mahogany log, which he had found adrift in mid-ocean.  The log was afterward converted to a carved mahogany table which is still in the possession of his descendants.  He also brought to Maryland a silver flagon, which is also included among the family heirlooms.

This love of the sea and seafaring adventure was passed along to David's son George, who was the founder of the Weems Steamship line.

David's brother, William, born in 1758, was also a sailor, captaining the ship Nantes on trans-Atlantic voyages and running a privateer operation with his brother's sloop "Little Sam" during the Revolutionary War. Captain Weems married three times, each time to a wealthy woman.  In 1784, he married British heiress, Rachel Morris, with whom he had three children: William Morris Weems, Captain Elijah Weems, and Sophia Morris Weems.  At the time of his marriage, he also purchased 350 acres of Maidstone in Anne Arundel County. He married secondly Ann Ewell, the daughter of wealthy Virginia planter James Ewell, and had two children with her: Mariamne Ewell Weems and James Ewell Weems.  He married thirdly Sally Taylor of Virginia and had two children with her: David Loch Weems and Anne Weems.

However, David experienced a number of financial setbacks and borrowed money from his brother William. Eventually the two brothers settled the matter in a chancery suit in 1815, shortly before William's death.

Now this may sound like a nice story of brotherly love, but according to David's son Gustavus, that would be an incorrect interpretation.

Gustavus's autobiography paints a very different picture of an uncle who loved to rub in his wealth on his poorer relations:

"I cannot forget a rich and pompous Unkle I had, whose children grew up with us, and very often both parent and children would be boasting of there wealth, and poore Bro. Davey's children's poverty. Dear God Child was my Unkle's hobbey word, and he had a way of coming into our rooms after we had gone to bed, to unbutton his Dear childrens shirt collars, and all the time he would be pitteying us, and entalling his dear children by saying-Dear God child, my children are well provided for, but Poore David's children, I don't know what will become of them, poore things, in this way night after night, frequently bringing tears out of our eyes, in hearing our destiny so bad, (recollect we all roomed together). "

According to Gustavus, William came to a very unhappy end, committing suicide with laudanum, bankrupt after having gone through all his money.

"But oh me what an awful change a few years brings about-The wheel of fortune is ever in motion-rolling some up, and others down-Now it will appear Exceedingly strange, but nevertheless as true as preaching-Not one of those lazy Harrisons, and the Bragging Weems's are to be found upon the face of the wide Earth and not one foot of there land owned by them, all gone out of there names, cliff and clear-Three of Bro David's poore children are no more, in Heaven I hope.

For at that time he had lost his first and best wife and had married the second, a Miss Ewell, and carrying on as if there were no end to the rope, or in other words, he could not find the bottom of his purse, and this was apart of the $43,000 got by Miss Morris, the first wife, and here let me mention a little incident that happened with him and myself. My father had told me to pay him I think $40.00 and knowing he would be at Friendship Meeting House, so I took the money with me, and offered it to him there, but lo and behold he was too good to receive it-in this he was right, (and I wrong) but oh my God, I awfully fear he was not in as good mind and feelings, the awfull day he took the dose of Laudanum that took his life. 

Now this was the awfull end of my Dear Unkle, that had so much pitteyed Poore Brother David's children, my poore Dear Unkle then a bankrupt after having buried three Wives and sinking all their estates, so much then for Extravagance and bringing up the children with great views and promises, Parents and the children die poor, and I would pray God that they may be better off in another world."

After William's death, his estate at Maidstone was sold to pay his debts. 

Gustavus's daughter Rachel reports that William's daughter Mariamne "married George Simmons. He drank and left her so poor that once we stopped at her miserable hovel with a dirt floor on the roadside. Father did everything he could to help him along and always cared for the poor orphans and loved them all the same."

William's youngest son David Loch, was apprenticed to a sailmaker and eventually moved to Connecticut with his sister Anne.

Gustavus's father David, on the other hand, died venerated and respected, as Gustavus writes in the family Bible (the spelling is the original):

"The last respect of my ever respected and Dear Parrent to be inroled in this Bible. On the 22 Day of January 1820 Departed this Life David Weems, Father of the before mentioned seven Children aged 68 5/12 years. He was confined to his room and Bed upwards of two months during which time he with perfect resignation bore the chastising hand of Affliction with intire submition sustained by Divine providence he was prepared and resigned to his will. In this happy state of mind he left those mondain shores of anxiety & care with a full asshureance of Blissful Eternity praising Jesus in his last expiring moments. But a few moments before the Spririt made its escape or flight with perfect composure he called his Children to his bedside, then and there admonished them to live peaceabilly & happily together, this promise being made he calmly took his leave and fell asleep in the Armes of Sweet Jesus. The next day his funeral sermon was delivered by the Revd. Mr. Lewis Stratton in St. James Parish (a privilege denied my mother) to a very large and attentive audience, from these words (Acquaint now thyself with him and be in peace thereby good shall come unto thee, this text will be found in Job 22, after which his remains were deposited in the Churchyard to mingle with its Mother earth."

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 31 Brothers: Step-Sibling Marriages in the James Weems Family

Weems Crest

There is an interesting pattern of intermarriages in the family of Mary Skinner and James Weems of Calvert County MD.

Mary Skinner, the daughter of Dr. William Skinner and  Elizabeth Mackall, was born in Calvert County MD about 1701. She was married four times.

She married first before 1720 Robert Wheeler of Calvert County, the son of Roger Wheeler and Elizabeth Gibson.  Mary and Robert had two children: Elizabeth Wheeler ca. 1720 and Roger Wheeler ca. 1727.

Robert Wheeler died about 1728, and Mary married secondly Captain Joseph Wilkinson of England about 1730. Mary and Joseph Wilkinson had two children: Joseph Wilkinson Jr. and Elizabeth Wilkinson.  Captain Wilkinson died at sea on his way to England in 1735.

Mary married thirdly Thomas Crompton of Calvert County MD about 1738.  Mary and Thomas Crompton had four children: Ann Crompton, Thomas Crompton Jr., Mary Crompton, and Catherine Crompton. Thomas Crompton died in Calvert County MD in 1745.

Mary married fourthly James Loch Weems of Calvert County MD in April 1746. Mary and James had no children together, but James had six children from his first marriage aged 6 to 16 still living in his home.  Together with the eight children from Mary's three marriages, that made for quite a full house at the Weems plantation.

That propinquity led to three marriages among the step-siblings, connecting all three of Mary's previous marriages to the Weems family.

Susanna Weems, James' oldest daughter married Roger Wheeler, Mary Skinner's oldest son sometime before 1750.  Susanna and Roger had four daughters: Mary Wheeler, Elizabeth Wheeler, Sarah Weems Wheeler, and Anne Weems Wheeler. Both Roger and Susanna died before 1763, so the four girls were raised by their grandfather Weems, which later led to a series of lawsuits trying to straighten out their inheritance.  But that is a story for another time.

William Loch Weems, the second son of James, married his step-sister Elizabeth Wilkinson about 1756, as indicated in the settlement of her father's estate.  Elizabeth died shortly after the marriage, having no children, and William married secondly Amelia Chapman of Charles County.

John Weems, James' third son married his stepsister, Catherine Crompton, as the first of his four wives and the mother of five of his twelve children. Actually, I am not 100 percent certain that his wife was Catherine.  His son, John Crompton Weems, merely says that he married Miss Crompton, with whom he had grown up:

     "My grandfather's youngest son, my father John Weems, married a  Miss Crompton of Calvert             County. My grandfather James Weems, having married their mother, Mrs. Crompton, as his fourth     wife, [Actually, this is an error. James was Mary's fourth husband. ]the children , my father and           mother being quite young were brought up to call each other brother and sister. After their marriage     they built and settled at Weems Forest in Calvert County and had a large family. . . ."

However, looking at the family naming patterns in later generations, there are quite a few Catherines and Catherine Cromptons in the line, which makes me feel pretty safe in assuming that John Weems married Catherine Crompton rather than Mary or Anne.

Mary Skinner Wheeler Wilkinson Crompton Weems died in Calvert County MD in 1769.  James Loch Weems died at the home of his son William Loch Weems in Prince George's County MD in 1781. 

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 16: Out of Place--How did Martha Weems from Anne Arundel County MD end up in Bozeman MT?

in #52 Ancestors 2019 Week 16: Out of Place--How did Martha Weems from Anne Arundel County MD end up in Bozeman MT?

Martha Weems, the daughter of Edwin Dawson Weems and Rosa Norman and a distant cousin to me, was born 16 April 1872 in Elk Ridge Landing MD.  She had a far more adventurous life than one might have expected from the daughter of a steamboat engineer on the Chesapeake Bay.  According to her son, Edwin Weems Winkler, "Dolly" Weems was a vivacious girl who loved company and parties and could drive and ride with the best of them.  Her mother was apparently a very strict woman with severe Victorian ideas of what was appropriate behavior for her daughter, and this made Dolly long to get away from home.

In pursuit of this goal, Dolly took up with a man named Cole, according to her son, "a handsome man, a drinker, a gambler, and one who never worked if he could get out of it." They were married in 1890 and divorced within a year or two, which her mother saw as disgraceful.  So Dolly was sent off to live with her mother's sister, Eugenia Norman, who had married a Civil War veteran, Walter Arnold, and had a ranch near Helena MT, to live down the scandal.

After a year or two in Montana, Dolly returned home to Maryland, but found her mother still bitter about her divorce and soon moved to Baltimore to live with a cousin.  She found work in the Bayview Asylum, where she met her second husband, Louis Winkler (about whom I have written in a previous post See

https://annesgenealogyadventures.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-disappearance-of-louis-winkler.html

), an immigrant from Hungary who also worked at the Asylum.  They were married in 1899 and two children followed: Mary in 1900 and Edwin in 1903.

The marriage went from bad to worse as the family faced financial difficulty, and Dolly became more and more quarrelsome. Finally, after a particularly loud quarrel, Louis simply walked out on his pregnant wife and daughter.  After the birth of her son a few days later, Dolly took the children back to her parents' home in Solomon's Island, but found that situation untenable with her mother's continuing disapproval.  Dolly wrote to her uncle (Walter Arnold) in Montana, whose wife had just died, and finally went back to the ranch to act as his housekeeper in the spring of 1904, and formally filed for a divorce from Louis when she got to Montana.

Dolly married in Montana for a third time in 1910 to George Clifford James, a WWI veteran who had served in France, as his second wife.  They had a son, Clifford George James, in 1911. The third marriage apparently didn't go much better than the first two.  By 1913, Dolly applied for a homestead in Montana and by 1917, George was declaring that he would not be responsible for any debts incurred by his wife.

Martha "Dolly" Weems died in Bozeman MT in 1923. Her daughter Mary Winkler died of the Spanish flu in 1918.  Her son Edwin Winkler eventually moved to North Carolina and worked as a professor at UNC and NC State.

The Disappearance of Louis Winkler

I came across Louis Winkler in the course of doing my due diligence on the Weems family.  Following up on the children of Edwin Dawson Weems and Rosetta Norman, I found a marriage for their daughter Martha Weems with one Louis Winkler in Washington DC in 1899.

Louis, a 38-year-old native of Hungary, showed up with his wife Martha in Baltimore in the 1900 Census where Louis was working as the Supervisor of the Insane at Bayview Asylum.

Then, a search in Baltimore newspapers turned up the strange story of Louis's disappearance.  On January 14, 1903, Louis apparently walked out of the house and did not return.  "He kissed his wife and two-year-old child good-bye, saying that he would be back about five o-clock, if not earlier and spoke in his accustomed endearing way to his wife.  He left about 10 o'clock in the morning  and since that time has not been seen or heard from."

His father-in-law called for the police to find Winkler, speculating that either he had met with foul play or he had sailed back to Hungary.  Meanwhile, his pregnant wife gave birth to a son, Edwin Weems Winkler, on January 29. 

I was never able to find a follow-up story, so I was forced leave this mystery unsolved.

Some years later, I came across a Find-A-Grave entry for Martha Weems Winkler who was buried in, of all places, Bozeman MT.   Her memorial was also linked to that of her son Edwin Weems where  little more of the story was filled in. His memorial said that his father had died when he was three years old and that the family had moved to Bozeman in 1910.

With that information, I went back to look for a death certificate for Louis Winkler and I did find one in 1906 in Baltimore, so that fit the information in Find-A-Grave. I made a note to go get a copy of the death certificate from the Maryland Archives.

Then I also went back to Ancestry and searched again for Louis Winkler.  This time,  a passport application from 1921 turned up.

This Louis Winkler, also from Hungary, was living in Cleveland OH and clearly had not died in Baltimore in 1906.  Were there two Louis Winklers?

Update: 7 April 2017

Yes, it turns out there were two Louis Winklers and the one that died in Baltimore in 1906 was not Martha Weems' husband.

I found the death certificate for Louis Winkler who died in Baltimore in 1906 and he was from Germany, not Hungary and was a laborer, not working in a hospital.

The Death Certificate of Louis Winkler in Cleveland showed that he was from Hungary.

Further, his occupation was hospital orderly.  A story from a Cleveland newspaper indicates that in 1906, Louis Winkler was a hero who rescued hospital patients from a damaging fire.

I got another piece of the puzzle when someone saw the picture of Louis I had posted in Find-A-Grave.  Louis and Martha's son, Edwin Weems Winkler, published notes about his mother and father, which were kindly shared with me. 

Martha, or "Dolly" as she was known, was apparently a lively, vivacious girl who badly wanted to get away from her strict parents.  She married and quickly divorced a drinking, gambling man named Cole.  The family considered this disgraceful and sent her out West to Montana to stay with her mother's sister and returned to Maryland about 1894, but still was not getting along well with her family.  She went to live with a cousin in Baltimore and ended up with a job in a hospital, which is probably where she met Louis Winkler.  They were married in Washington DC in 1899.  According to the notes, Louis was well-educated and spoke seven languages, though his English had a pronounced accent.  He was trained as a male nurse, which was uncommon in Maryland and he had difficulty finding work in this field.  He tried his hand at selling insurance, but this was not successful.  The couple had a daughter about 1900 and a son in 1903, but faced many financial difficulties and quarreled quite a bit.  This resulted in the "disappearance" article where I first noticed Louis.  Martha took her two young children back to her aunt in Montana since she did not feel welcome at the family home in Maryland and divorced Louis when she got there.  She apparently had nothing more to do with Louis and his son did not know what happened to his father. 

The Secret Wife of William Loch Weems

William Loch Weems was born in 1792 at Billingsley Plantation in Prince George's County MD, the eldest son of Nathaniel Chapman Weems and Violetta Van Horn. In 1814, he married Elizabeth Taylor Burch, also of Prince George's County MD, the daughter of Joseph Newton Burch and Eleanor Taylor.  He and Elizabeth had six children before their move to Hickman County Tennessee in 1825.  Elizabeth died in Tennessee, shortly after the birth of their seventh child, Cornelia Weems, in 1825.  About 1836, William married Elizabeth Ann Burchett of Virginia and had a son with her, Phillip Van Horn Weems, who was killed outside Atlanta during the Civil War. One of William's main claims to fame is founding the Bon Aqua Springs resort in Hickman County, shortly after his marriage to Elizabeth Burchett. He purchased some 1800 acres around the springs,erected cabins and began to advertise the spot as a health resort. William died in Hickman County in 1852 and his wife Elizabeth died there in 1855.  In the published family histories, this was the extent of William's marital adventures.

However, while searching through the Chancery Court records at the Maryland State Archives, I came across a case that proves that William had another wife and child between the two Elizabeths--Mary R. Hatton, the daughter of Henry Hatton and Ann Davison of Prince George's County MD.

As told in Chancery Court Case 12370, Mary R. Hatton was one of two children of Henry Hatton, along with her brother, Henry Davison Hatton.  Henry's 1824 will had left property to Mary during her lifetime and to her children afterward.  If she had no children, then the property reverted to Mary's brother, Henry Davison Hatton. In 1832, the 37-year-old Mary was unmarried and living with her brother.

William Loch Weems, widowed for seven years, returned to Prince George's County from Tennessee about this time, and, according to Henry Hatton, tricked Mary into marriage while her brother was away.  Henry claimed that Mary was "weak-minded," unable to manage her own affairs and "subject to frequent fits of derangement."  In 1832, shortly after the marriage, William and Mary filed suit against Henry claiming that he was withholding the property to which Mary was entitled.  William and Mary returned to Tennessee, where, William reported, Mary had given birth to a daughter, Mary Ann Weems, in 1835.  Both mother and child died shortly after the birth.  Weems then returned to Maryland and filed a claim for his daughter's inheritance from her mother--namely Henry Hatton's bequest.

The case includes fascinating depositions from the Hatton's neighbors in Prince George's County supporting Henry's claim that Mary was incompetent. Apparently, she threw tantrums and locked herself in her room whenever she did not get her way. Weems likewise provided depositions from the midwife and the doctor to support his claim that he had had a daughter with Mary.

In the end, the court ruled against Hatton and required him to turn over Mary's inheritance to Weems, including several dozen slaves, whom Weems promptly sold. It is interesting to speculate that this was the source of his funding to purchase Bon Aqua Springs.

The case file also included a sad letter from a lawyer in Tennessee telling Henry Hatton that Weems had apparently mistreated Mary during the marriage.

In any case, the brief Weems-Hatton marriage seems to have been quietly ignored by family historians.