Williamina, daughter of Sir James and Lady Betty, was born in 1706. She was named by her father to honour William the third who had died in 1701. She came to America, at age 16. She married an English gentleman, Wm. Moore of ?Moore Hall?, Pennsylvania. From Sir John Wemyss-Kessler?s book The House of Wemyss, A Thousand Year History p158 She was an ideal candidate to marry William Moore for the following reasons. First, she came from an aristocratic family in which she was a daughter of a baronet and her cousin was an earl. All of her life, as proof of her noble family she was addressed with the title," HONORABLE", which she held as the adopted daughter of the Third Earl of Wemyss. Second, she was willing to emigrate to America. Third, she had fallen in love with her future husband whom she knew from his previous visit to Scotland. In this light there was no more qualified young lady in Scotland than Williamina Wemyss to be part of this marriage agreement.

Let us examine this story in more detail. If our theory is correct then Williamina, James and David were orphaned soon after 1704. The death of Sir James Wemyss of Bogie occurred in about 1707 and Elizabeth Loch died in Childbirth in about 1704. One troubling question, Why then did not David and James ever refer or claim the Earl as their adopted father. In fact they refused to spell their surnames Wemyss but adopted the simpler spelling Weems. The only conclusion that we can draw from this is that both James and David were separated from Williamina and raised by someone other than the Earl. This other family, probably, was the Loch family who lived not far away in Dundee, and as a result, preferred the name Weems to Wemyss to avoid the pretentiousness that the name Wemyss would have entailed.

The Moore estate was situated on the banks of the Schuyskill, above Valley Forge, about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia. Wm. Moore was the son of John Moore of Philadelphia, Kings Collector of the Port, who died in 1732. Wm. Moore was born in 1699 and educated at Oxford. When he returned to America in 1722 he married the beautiful Williamina Weems. They went on to have twelve children, five boys and seven girls to begin a prestigious family with illustrious descendants both in Pennsylvania and England. The children's names were Rebecca, William, Williamina, John, who died within his first year, John II, Rebecca II, Thomas, William, Margaret, Mary, Ann, Francis, and James Wemyss Moore.

Their son became Bishop Moore of the P. E. Church. Their daughters both married, one to Phineas Bond, British Consul, and the other became Mrs. Ridgely of Dover, Delaware. Their grandaughter, Williamina Bond, became the second wife of General John Cadwaleder; their great granddaughter, Frances Cadwalder, became Mrs. David Montague Erskine of Great Brittain. Lady Erskin?s daughter, Jane Plummer Erskine, became Mrs. Jas. Hy. Callendar, and untl her death in 1846 was regarded as one of the beauties of England. She left three daughters, who were placed under the guardianship of the Duke of Argyle, the youngest of whom, Jane Seville Callendar married Lord Archibald Campbell, second son of her guardian, and brother of the Marquis of Lorne, in 1869.

Williamina Wemyss Moore, conspicuous among the aristocratic beauties of Philadelphia, were ladies of the Cadwalleder family,--from Williamina Moore of Moore Hall, Pennsylvania to Lady Archibald Campbell in modern English is a step more than a century and a half, yet the comeliness of the one may be traced back in a direct line to the other. The Philadelphia branch of the Moores in descended from John Moore, Kings? colector of the Port of Philadelphia, who died in 1732, leaving numerous children, Daniel, the sixth child of John Moore was sent to England to be educated at Oxford, because distinguished as a member of Parliament, and his daughter, Francis, in 1770 married the celebrated Thomas Erskin, afterwards Lord high Chancellor of Great Britian; another son of John Moore was Wm. Moore of Moore Hall, whose estate lay on the banks of the Schuyskill, about 25 miles from Philadelphia, above Valley Forge;--he was born in 1699 and educated at Oxford, and on his return to America in 1722, married Williamina Wemyss, whose grandparents were David, Earl of Wemyss, who was made Lord High Admiral of Scotland by Qyeen Anne, and (daughter of) Lady Ann Douglass, daughter of William, first Earl of Queensbury. Mrs. Moore was named Williamina in honor in honor of William of Orange. Her handsome face and aristocratic bearing, even at that period, made her remarkable, when courtliness and charm went hand in hand, and she was the first of a long line of English and American beauties. Williamina Moore died in 1784, one year after the death of her husband. Upon his death the family removed to Philadelphia, and was thenceforward identified with that city. The family seat was still standing in 1880, the portrait shows Williamina in all her radient youth, sparkling wit, yet imperious beauty, in her page?s hat and feather, with her long silken train depending from her dimpled and beautiful rounded shoulders, she looks like a high born herion of Shakesperian comedy--some Rosalind or Beatrice, all fire and spirit, restliness barely under control, like Rosalind, too, she was an exiled princess, for she and her two brothers had left Scotland because of their father?s friendship for the Stuarts,--even to the death, God and King is her watchword, and that brilliant face is a mask that concealed a brain full of State secrets and Court intrigue. She was one that could carry cipher dispatches sown in the gay riding hat of hers to ?Charlie Over the Water?, and think it was no harm to hoodwink his enemies by gay laugh and merry jest--the time in, both, the old world and the new demanded that women should be brave, and her loving husband says of her, in his will: ?that was never frieghtened by the rude rabble or dismayed by the insolent threats of the ruling powers?--and never was character better shown in the face than in this portrait. The original portrait was destroyed long ago but the engraving shich had been made from it was fortunately preserved.

Hardy, indeed, would be the man who should deny Williamina Bond to beauty, Williamina Wemyss Moore?s grand-daughter--the fair young lady of the blended rose, which looks out of the printed page with a gay and spiritual and high bred air as that she wore a hundred years ago, when 65 mirrors gave back the reflection of her delicate loveliness in the pink and blue ball room designed by poor Major Andre, wept for in secret a little later, by all the beauties who had shared the pleasures of his ?mes-chiauza.? The lady of the blended rose became in 1779, the wife of General Cadwalleder, a delightful step-mother to his three daughters; Francis Cadwalleder, daughter of Gen John Cadwalleder, was destined to carry back to bonnie Scotland the beauty brought hence a hundred years before by her grandmother Williamina Wemyss Moore. It had not lost by the sojourn in America soil, when Francis Cadwalieder, at 17, married David Montague Erskin, Secretary of Legation at Washington. He was the son of that Thomas Erskine, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britian, who had married Francis Moore, daughter of Daniel Moore and brother of Wm. Moore of Moore Hall, he was connected by blood and married the fair daughter of the house of Cadwalleder, and a handsome, stately and youthful couple, they are as Gilbert Stewart painted them in his best manner, and with a love that was quite personal, --they are not yet ?my Lord and my Lady?, but confident that alldignity and honor will be one day theirs. It was not until 1823 that the young beauty came into her title, by the death of her father-in-law, but her husband had already been minister to the United States and Wurtemburg, and then her very proper pride and pretty person must needs have been gratified by the admiration of courts, then forward this branch of the Cadwalleder families were identified with England and Scotland. Mrs. Wm. Cadwalleder passed the last years of her life in England. Gilbert Stuart seemed to have been inspired with a paternal tenderness in painting the portrait of Lady Erskin, the school girl bride, at once proud of her new position, tremendously dignified, very proper and trying not to be shy or self conscious, appealing to the painter?s sense of fatherliness as well as to his gratification in having such a piece of aristocratic daintiness to put on canvass. With what a greatful touch are the many curls rendered! How beautifully the white throat and breast are modeled! The girlish muslin gown is made a robe of state by her painter?s treatment. The color of the original pictures bears futher evidence of the artist?s courtly dignified and simple methods--as appropriate to the youthful beauty, and baby stateliness on the subject. Stuart painted two othr portraits of Lady Erskine, but is doubtful at any time has better depicted this charming type of the highest English and American social breeding, combined in the graceful presence of a young girl.

Lady Erskin?s daughter Jane Plumer Erskin carried all the charms of her American ancestors into another generation; she became Mrs James Henry Callendar, and up to the time of her death in 1846, was regarded as one of the beauties of English society. She left three daughters, who are placed under the guardianship of the Duke of Argyle. The youngest of these daughters, Jane Seville Callendar married in 1869, Lord Archibald Campbell, second son of her guardian, and brother of the Marquis of Lorne. Lady Archibald Campbell is concidered by many persons the most beautiful woman in England. Who shall say how much of her beauty has come down from great-great-great Grandmother Williamina Wemyss of Moore Hall, Pennsylvania? Something of the same temperament distinguished both these beauties, the world of art knows Lady Campbell, through her open air rendering of Shakesperian comedy at Combe Priry, and her interpretation of Orlando in ?As You Like It.? There is a subtile application of heredity between the modern English beauties, daring enough to wear a man?s habiliments upon a woodland stage, and Prince Charlie, follower in cavillier?s hat. Blood tells even after one hundred and fifty years. In Orlando, affixing to the great trees of the Combe library his love sick sonnet to his Rosalind of Willamina Wemyss woo?d by her Orlando in the primeval glades along the Schuylskill River for human hearts change, not with centuries. Shakespeare foresaw that young love would blossom where ever flowers grow and woods are green.
Anne M.C. (Weems ) Pearce

Changing the spelling of Wemyss to Weems

Although Williamina came to America and continued to spell her name Wemyss, both of her brothers changed the spelling of the name to Weems. Again Sir John Wemyss-Kessler writes:

It should be noted that the reason that David and James Wemyss/Weems chose to spell their surname Weems is for a very simple reason. The traditional spelling of the family through David the Second Earl of Weems was always some variant of Weems. It has been shown to be Weems, Weims, Wemis, Weimes. The Lord Lyon shows David the Second Earl, when he registered his coat of arms in 1673, as eitherWeems or Weymes. The surname was changed to what it is today, Wemyss on the marriage of Margaret Countess of Wemyss to Sir James Wemyss of Burntisland. This change occurred because Countess Marga-ret changed the spelling to Wemyss since it was now her married name. After 1700 it now became fashionable for other branches of the family to change the spelling of their surnames to Wemyss. The International Genealogical Index clearly shows specifically in the case of the Baronetcy that Sir James of Bogie changed the spelling of his name about 1700 from Weems to Wemyss. In fact it can be shown that David of Balfarge the father of Sir James of Bogie spelled his name Weems. This is the reason why both David and his brother James, when they arrived in America, chose to use the an-cient spelling of the name(Weems), whereas their elder sister, Williamina, used the Wemyss spelling instead.

The main reason why Chester, Pennsylvania was so attractive, was because it was the location of the marriage of Williamina Wemyss to William Moore of Moore Hall, which was accomplished in 1722. In order to accomplish this it would have required two things. First Williamina had to have come from an important family. As a Baro-net~s daughter she always included the title of "Honourable11 before her name, as recognition of her nobility, for the rest of her life. And second, she or her family had to have the financial resources to have paid the terce that was the custom in those days. It is also apparent that her Cousin William Loch, made this possible.

An entire book could and probebly will be written on David?s line of the American Weems branch of the Family. David Wemyss was born about 1703 and came with his sister, Williamina to Chester Pennsylvania in 1721. I will not endever to include David?s line in the packet for this year?s family reunion.

James was born between 1700 and 1708 in Scotland, the son of Sir James Wemyss and Lady Betty ( Loch ) Weems. It is disputed as to whether James was the oldest or the youngest son. At any rate, between the tender age of 7 and 15 he came to America in 1715. James was the first of his immediate family to come to America to live with his cousin Dr. William Loch, who became very influential to the young boy.

Dr. William Loch lived from between 1660 and 1679 until 1732. Dr. Loch had come to the Colony of Virginia as early as 1705. He at age 27 purchased 400 acres of land in Stafford County, VA for the sum of 8000 pounds of tobacco on July 10, 1706. Sometime prior to 1710 he moved to Maryland and made his first purchase of land in that colony on May 8, 1710 when he purchased 250 acres. The land he purchased was the plantation, "Padgett on Herring Bay". His new home was in sight of the Chesapeake and Dr. Loch renamed the plantation Loch Eden. He later acquired extensive land holdings in Anne Arundel, Calvert and Charles Counties in Maryland. He owned the following plantations in addition to Loch Eden: Dianah?s Beaverdams which was 7680 acres, Halloway?s Increase, 13 October 1722 Brewley Hall and later one in Virginia. He married, Miss Mary Briggs on 16 September, 1710, at St. James Church, of which he was a Vestryman. Because his wife, and only son had both died between 1710 and 1714, Dr. Loch found himself a wealthy widower without heirs at the time that either his cousin?s daughter needed to be brought to America for her marriage with William Moore or as an older version of the story goes, his sister (rather than cousin) was still alive and her family was in dire striates in Scotland. In the latter version it was believed that due to the risky circumstances in Scotland, Dr. Loch convinced his sister that it would be best for the family to come to America. He went to Scotland to bring James back with him in 1715.

Upon arrival in America James changed the spelling of the Wemyss name to Weems as we know it today. He must surly have found his life changing abruptly for the better as he settled in with his cousin. The four-storied mansion and outbuildings of Loch Eden were built of bricks brought from England. It was furnished with things imported by Dr. Loch. James had been brought to live on this very big estate. Dr. Loch was as we mentioned very well-to-do and lived the general life of a wealthy tobacco planter, skilled surgeon and public official in the British province of Maryland. One of the several positions Dr. Loch held was that of Justice of the Provincial Court until 1728.

James studied medicine under his cousin, and in his early twenties he completed his medical courses and started to practice his profession. At the early age of 24, upon the death of his cousin, Dr. Loch, James inherited the plantation in Stafford County, VA. James left Maryland and began to practice medicine in VA. James didn't stay long in VA, he returned to Calvert Co., Maryland, where he had other lands that he had also inherited from his uncle. James engaged in the mercantile business in addition to practicing his profession of medicine. In 1740 James purchased, from ex-Governor Jas. Hollyday, the 1,069 estate and ancient house Billingsley on the Patuxent River [in Upper Marbourough, Maryland]. Billingsley was held by the Weems family until 1841.

James Weems was a member of the Lower House of the Assembly for the providence of Maryland in 1740 - 41.

We do not know who our Dr. James Weems married first or how that marriage ended. But we do know that his second wife was Sarah Parker Stoddard. They had several children, to include John Weems.

James married a third time the widow Mary Wheeler Crompton. Dr. James Weems died in 1781 in Prince George County, MD. His will can be found in MD and his son John was made executive of his will.

Your letter dated some months ago, calling on me, as the oldest member of the Weems family remaining, by many years (now in my 77th year) to give you the most correct statement in my power of the immigration of our ancestors, your great-grand father, Mr. David Weems, and my grandfather Dr. James Weems from Scotland. I must apologize truthfully for not sooner acknowledging the receipt of said letter to-wit, that beingfrom home in Baltimore, I believe when it was sent, did not come to my hands until yesterday when, in looking over some papers, I found it, and now sit down to give you as correct an account as my memory will permit. Historically and traditionally, first I must refer to the: SCOTCH HERALDRY Giving the history of the contest between Malcom and Macbeth for the crown of Scotland --I once had it, but was lost, most likely in the burning of my house in 1839. I have not seen it since, but as well as my memory serves me it is therein represented that in that contest, John, youngest son of MacDuff, who killed Macbeth, behaved with so much chivalry in that contest as to gain from Malcolm, when crowned king of Scotland, the seigniery of an Earl (Earl of Wemyss) with an estate hereto attached, and the name spelled Wemyss instead of Weems, ect. The youngest son of said Earl, or rather descendant of, married Miss Elizabeth Loch, whose brother, Hon. Dr Wm. Loch emigrated with the first settlers to Maryland sometime in the 17th century, I think married a Miss Briggs, who died leaving no children. Living to be quite an old man, returned to Scotland and prevailed upon his sister, the Widow Wemyss, to let her sons David and James return with him to Maryland toinhert his large estate. He returned to America about 1720 or 1725 accompanied by his sister with her two sons, and her daughter Willianina. Dr. Wm Loch, on his estate in Ann Arundel County, Maryland, had built a four storied residence, near the Chesapeake Bay, the bricks were imported from England, of which the residents, stables, ect., were built. Sometime thereafter he married a lady 50 years of age, but contrary, no doubt, to expectations, she brought him a son, Wm. Loch Jr. in her 51st year.

Dr. Loch had promised his estate to his two nephews--to a certain extent carried out his promise for the said nephews, as a reference to the will placed on the records of Court and County Maryland will at all times clearly set forth. Your great-grandfather, being the eldest to his two nephews, ect., received his moiety during the lifetime of his said uncle, consequently not subject of any contingency. My grandfather, Dr. James Weems from Scotland, after he completed his studies with his uncle, Dr. Loch, received some funds in cash, with a horse, saddle and bridle, left for the state of Virginia to seek and make his fortune through his profession. What brought him back to Maryland, I do not remember to have heard, no doubt, his uncle's will may show to some extent the cause of his return. I have never examined the will. My grandfather, however, settled in Calvert County, Maryland, where he married and added to his profession an extensive mercantile business, and after the death of his uncle, was put in possession of and held certain part of the residue of his estate under his uncle's will to his (James Weems) death, when by his will, his youngest son, my father, John Weems, became possessed there of until, by the law of Maryland, it was transfered to a certain Wm. Chew, the grandson of Wm Loch Jr. in the law suit of Chew vs. Weems as reported will explain why and therefore, ect. The said Wm. Chew, after receiving said property sold it, Loch Eden, and Col. John Weems became the purchaser of it, my father became the purchaser moity, and from him it came to me, and forms part of my present domain: Loch Eden, lying in sight of the Chesapeake Bay, and between Herring Bay and West Rivr. Your great grandfather, Mr. David Weems, aforesaid, the father of Col. Wm. Weems and two other sons, James and Thomas, by his first marriage, and thereafter by a second marriage ad a large family, 17 children--sons and daughters. Your grandfater Mr. David Weems, Richard Weems, and Nathan Loch Weems, youngest children and three daughters of whom I know, vis: Mrs. Mudd and Mrs. Moreton. My grandfather, Dr. James Weems had three sons, Wm. Loch Weems, James Weems, and John Weems, my father, and also two daughters. The eldest married Mr. Samuel Chew of Calvert County, and left one son who married and went West with his family, to Kentucky, I think, and they are about, somewhere, now, I believe, quite wealthy, when last heard from. My grandfather?s eldest daughter maried Mr. Elsey on the East Shore of Maryland, who, when left a widow without any heir, returned to my father?s in Calvert County, where my grandfather was then living and there also lived until she married a certain Mr. Joseph Sprigg, and had one son, the present ex-Governor Samuel Sprigg, now of Prince George County, and died at his birth, or soon thereafter. My grandfather?s eldest son, Wm. Loch Weems, married Miss. Amelia Chapman of Virginia, daughter of Mr. Nathaniel Chapman, who married Miss Constantia Pearson, by whom he had three sons, Nathaniel Chapman Weems, William Loch Weems, and Dr. John Weems, and several daughters, and lived and died at his estate, Billingsly near Upper Marlboro, Prince George County, Maryland. His eldest son, Nathaniel Chapman Weems married Miss Violetta Van Horn of New Jersey, and lived at Billingsly, inherited from his father and where he died leaving four sons and three daughters. Miss Violetta Van Horn was the youngest daughter of Mr. Philip Van Horn, who owned a large estate on the Rariton River, one mile from Elizabethon, N.J., where he built a very handsome residence. His father, a wealthy merchant from Amsterdam, Holland, settled on Wall St., New York. Miss Cornelia Van Horn, the oldest sister of Miss Violetta Van Horn, who married Nathaniel Chapman Weems of Billingsly, married Major Lansdale, who lived and died in Prince George County, adjoining Queen Anne, leaving sons and daughters. Her sister Mary Van Horn married Col. Stephen Moyland of Virginia, had sons and daughters. Their kinsman, Lt. Philip Van Horn Lansdale, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1877 and was killed in action at Apia, Sanroa, 1 April, 1899. He married a Maryland lady.

The sister of my grandfather and your great grandfather, Williamina Weems, who with her mother and brothers immigrated from Scotland to America, married an English gentleman, a Mr. More of Moore Hall, and immigrated to the state of New York, and were the parents of the late Bishop of the P. E. Church of that state, and three daughters, one was the wife of General Cadwallender. The second married Mr. Phineas Bond, the Consul of Great Britain to the United States from the close of the Revolutionary War until his death, somewhere about 1800. The third daughter married a Mr. Ridgley of Dover, Delaware, where the family still reside.

My dear sir, you can add what you know relative to your great grandfather?s family, down to the present generation, no doubt more correctly than myself, from where I have left off for you to carry out.

My grandfather?s second son, James, married twice, both times in Virginia. By his first marriage he left two sons and two daughters, vis: James the eldest son and Dr. Nathaniel Weems of the U.S. Navy. I believe their families have become extinct. One of the daughters married a Mr. Mackall, father of the present Dr. Richard Mackall of Calvert County, who formerly owned and lived at Hamlin Point in said county, his father?s homestead--the other daughter married a Mr. Holvday of Prince George County, and left two sons, one of the P.E. Church, and several other sons and daughters; the other married Mr. Thomas Summerville of Prince George County, and had a family of sons and daughters, all highly esteemed and independent--one son, Charles, married a granddaughter of Williamina Moore of New York.

My grandfather?s youngest son, John Weems, my father, Dr. James Weems, having married their mother their mother, Mrs. Crampton, as his fourth wife, we 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 the eldest Dr. James Weems, who after serving throughout the entire Revolutionary War as physician and surgeon, sailed with a large number of others for England, Scotland and France, and was never heard of afterwards, ship, passengers, or crew. The oldest daughter, Mary married the Reverend Dr. Charles H. Wharton, and died at an advanced age, without heirs. Sarah Ann Weems, his second daughter married a Mr. Philip Thomas of West River, and after moved and settled at Rockland on the Susquehanna River, where they both died, leaving several sons and daughters, all deceased except one. Mrs. Boies, now residing in Wilmington, Delaware. Their oldest son, Philip Thomas married a Miss Dudlow of N.Y. City, both deceased, leaving two sons and three daughters, the most of them living. My brother, Wm Loch Weems, six years my senior, married a Miss Kensey, a daughter of Chief Justice Kinsey of N.J., he and his wife both deceased, leaving two sons only, who inherited and reside at Weems For est; Kinsey and Charles Wharton Weems, and each have large familiews. John Weems, as aforesaid, some three years after the death of my mother, married a Miss Miller of Philadelphia, in about eight months she died, and three years after he married a Miss Lee of Blenheim, Charles County, Maryland, who also died in 18 months, and some three years after he married a Miss Gala, by whom he had several children, and with them in 1812, emigrated to Louisville, Ky., or near that place, where he died, leaving three sons and four daughters, all deceased, I believed, except one son, George Washington Weems my half-brother, now residing with a large family, three sons and four daughters, as a commisssion merchant in the City of Baltimore, Md. I, John Crampton Weems, the youngest son of my mother, having married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of John Lee Webster of Hartford Co., Md., deceased about the year 1796. Our children, 14, 8 sons and 6 daughters: John W. Weems, my eldest son, died a few years since, in Nachez, Miss., leaving a widow with two sons and three daughters, now all residing in Baltimore, also Dr. Stephen H. Weems, my second son, late U.S. Consul to Guatemala, and for many years, until eregiously insulted, broken up, and ruined by a revolutionary army in that country, and since brought home by an appropriation from Congress, with his wife and three children, with his entire earnings of 16 years all destroyed and swept from him, and without reperations being made, be either the State of Guatemala or the U.S., to the everlasting disgrace of the U.S. Government; my third son Alexander Wilmington Weems, a bachelor residing in La., on Cornish Island; my son Frank Weems lives with me and has charge of all my estate and my business; one daughter, Elizabeth, married Mr. Estep Tillard, within a few miles of our home here, who lost their first son, Edward, taken home to his God, too lovely to be spared to his earthly parents andy longer, and since his death, God has been pleased to supply his place to them by another lovely son, John W. Tillard, who I trust, God will be good enough to spare to them, unless by so doing he would be thereby lost to himself; there are four daughters remaining at home, one daughter, Martha P. Weems, died some years ago, the other daughters died in early childhood.

Col. John Weems was born in 1727, in Anne Arundel County, and first married Mary Catherine Crompton who was the daughter of his father James' third wife. John and Mary "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 the eldest Dr. James Weems, who after serving throughout the entire Revolutionary War as a physician and surgeon, sailed with a large number of others for England, Scotland and France, and was never heard of afterwards, ship, passengers, or crew." John and Mary Catherine Crompton lived at Loch Eden and had several children.

Colonel John Weems served in the militia under Chase, Paca, and Carroll in the defense of Annapolis. He and his family were predominate and close to our countries first president, George Washington. John Weems and General Washington were intimate friends on and off the battle field. I read that the Weems family received many gifts from President Washington that have been pasted down through many generations. The Weems family have been ask to donate some such items to museums and refused.

Col. John Weems married Elizabeth Miller of Philadelphia about three years after the death of his first wife. His second marriage lasted only eight months before his new wife died. Three years later John married his third wife Alice Lee of Blenheim, Charles County Maryland who also died after about 18 months and this marriage also resulted in no children. Then, after another three years, John married his fourth wife Mary Swan Gala. Mary was a widow and had family in the Louisville, KY area. Evidently the children of John's first marriage were very opposed to his fourth marriage due to the number of children Col. John and Mary had. They had a total of 10 children. Due to that opposition to his new family, Col. John left Weems Forest in 1812 and emigrated to Cave Hill, Louisville, KY. It has been told that George Washington was sadden to hear that his dear friend Col. John Weems was leaving and the two men exchanged coats, vests and pipes upon their parting. The vest that George Washington gave to Col. John was a white satin vest with gold trim. In John's later years he became too heavy to wear the coat and had inserts sewn into the seams.

Among other interesting thing refereed to by Mrs. White was that she felt a desire to know the whereabouts of two relics which she had seen some years ago and which she could vouch were genuine gifts from Gen. Washington. The relics consisted of a white satin coat and vest, embroidered with gold, and having on them the coat of arms of the Washington family; and a pipe of china in a case, the bowl of which was as large as a cup. On it were also the family crest and Washington's name. The relics were the property of Mrs. James Nichols, who had inherited them as a keepsake from her father. Her father Gen. Weems, who used to won a large tract of land where Cave Hill now is. He and Washington had always been intimate friends both in private life and on the field of battle. The last time they met was when Gen. Weems said he was going to move out to Kentucky. Gen. Washington was much affected and as a token of the love they bore one another they exchanged coats and pipes. Mrs. Nichols, although quite poor, valued the gifts too highly to part with them. Mrs. White says she has curiosity to know if any one ever did purchase them from the Nichols family, as Mrs. Nichols died some years ago, and had doubtless left them to her son, Mr. James Nichols. If any of the readers of the Courier-Journal can give an account of the whereabouts of these relics it would be gratifying to Mrs. White, who says they were too valuable to be lost sight of, and that Congress should endeavor to obtain them, as they were really Gen. Washington's clothes and pipe.

(To the Editor of the Courier-Journal.) Some weeks ago the Courier-Journal contained some reminiscences of an old lady, Mrs. James J. White, of Portland, in which she referred to some relics of George Washington. It may be interesting to others to know the whereabouts of the vest and pipe of which she spoke, and for whose genuineness she can vouch.

These valuable relics are now in the possession of a granddaughter of Col. Weems, formerly Miss Kate Nichol, now Mrs. James O. Griffin, of Elk City. Kan. When Col. Weems expressed his intention of emigrating from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, Gen. Washington suggested that they exchange coats, vests and pipes, in token of that deep and tender mutual sentiment that had existed between the two for so many years, not only in the hazardous life of honored warfare, but in the rare tranquillity of private citizenship, and so they pledged anew a deathless friendship.

Col. Weems came to Kentucky and purchased a large tract of land, the present site of Cave Hill, at the beggarly price of fifty cents an acre. Here he built the house which until recently stood just beyond the cave, and here he reared a large family.

Mrs. Griffin's mother was Kittie M. Weems, the Colonel's second daughter, and from her Mrs. Griffin inherited the pipe and vest when she was a little girl. The coat, together with a gold shoe-buckle, once worn by Gen. Washington, and given by him to col. Weems, has been lost trace of, but it is supposed that they fell into the possession of Thomas Weems, a brother of the Colonel, thence descended into another branch of the family.

The vest, now yellowed with age and worn in the folds, is of white rep silk, with the regulation high collar. It is beautifully embroidered with gold tinsel in a delicate vine pattern down the front and around the bottom and the pockets, and embellished with gold spangles. With increasing age Col. Weems inclined to portliness, and it twice became necessary to insert a piece of silk into the vest under each arm, that the Colonel might continue to wear it upon what he considered the three red-letter days of each year, the Fourth of July, Washington's birthday and his own birthday, when it was his custom to proudly don full regimentals and wear them throughout the day. It was a notorious fact that Gen. Washington never smoked. The pipe was presented to him by a Hessiam soldier, and as a gift he prized it, aside from its authentic value. The stem is of a beautiful, dark hard wood and originally consisted of seven joints of two sizes, the long and short joints alternately fastened together with bands of ivory. There are now only five joints, tow of them having been stolen. The bowl is of Dresden, curiously fashioned, four or five inches tall, and about as large around as a dollar, capped with a galvanized gold top fastened with a slender chain. Upon the face of the bowl is a beautifully wrought, old-fashioned W, the Washington crest, traced in Dresden flowers. Altogether the pipe is so long that the smoker must rest it upon the floor when seated in an ordinary chair.

For many years the Smithsonian Institution and other noted institutions and persons have endeavored to obtain possession of these relics, but Mrs. Griffin refused to part with them because of their treasured associations. It is said that Horace Greeley used to refer with pride to one well-remembered time when he smoked this pipe that was once George Washington's. GEORGIA A. Martin. 510 East Gray street, City

Currently we have not been able to locate any deed information to support the information suggesting that Col. John Weems owned land in KY. We have found information about the land that the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, KY is now on and it refers to the land being rented. There are no Weems listed as renters or land owners. We may be able to find more information as we are able to locate more detailed information on the sons of Col. John Weems.

From the October 21, 1813 Maryland Gazette we know that John Weems "departed this life on Tues., Sept. 7th, at his residence near Louisville, in the state of Kentucky, in his 77th year. He was formerly a resident of A. A. Co., MD."

From Vol. 6 of The Filson Club History Quarterly , page 151 we know that John Weems left the following information...

After Col. John's death his widowed wife moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania. It appears that she may have moved back and fourth between the Uniontown, PA area and the Louisville, KY area. The 1820 census for Jefferson County, KY lists Mary with one son age 5-10 and two daughters ages 5-15. Traces of the family can be found over the next few years in both areas.

Colnel John Weems resided at Loch Eden, and his son Hon. John Crompton Weems inherited the family seat, married and resided at Loch Eden. I have heard my father say, that, with the furniture imported when our ancestors came over from Scotland, Widow Weems with her children, two sons, David and James, and one daughter, Williamina. They brought a large secretary in which all papers were kept, which had private and secret departments, where were many valuable relics, among the papers a complete tree of the Loch family and Weems, which were highly valued by the owners of Loch Eden, and were all lost when Loch Eden was destroyed by fire. The family was absent when the fire occurred, and everything was lost, as told by my father, who left Maryland for Louisiana in 1825 or 30 and 1835 returned and married Miss Anne E.C. Mullikin, my mother. Their summers were spent in Maryland for many years, until the death of my grandfather--my mother?s father, Wm. B. Mullikin, who lived on his plantation in Prince George County, Maryland. My father?s sister, Mrs. Mary Mullikin, Mrs. Violetta Wilson, and Miss Cornelia Weems lived in the same neighborhood--a regular correspondence was kept up with our near relatives during the life of our parents, and I still correspnd with my father?s nieces in Prince George County: Miss Corrie Mullikin and Mrs. Cornelia Ash... (the remaining copy of this letter is printed in the section on Williamina Wemyss.)

David Hamilton Weems, the youngest son of Col. John Weems and Mary Swan Gala Weems was born in 1805 in Maryland. He lived only a few years in Maryland before the family moved to Kentucky. David grew up on the large family home of Cave Hill, Louisville, KY, then with his mother in Uniontown, PA.

David was married three times. Once to a Rachel Lindsay with whom he had three children. Another marriage was to a Mary A, which resulted in six children. The marriage that we are familiar with was to Isabelle Daugherty or Doughday near 1929 or 1830. Isabella was born in PA in 1809 and we believe that she and David were married in PA. All of the children that we have identified for David and Isabella were born in PA. I have found some reference to the Fayette Co., and Uniontown area of PA. David's younger sister Alice Weems marriage announcement was found in the La Fayette the History and Genealogy of Fayette County Pennsylvania; Volume 1 Number 3.