Great List of Wemyss / Weems Reference Materials and Locations

Since beginning our family genealogy in November of 1992, I have been fortunate to receive information from many other researchers across the country. The Weems line has been very well researched and documented by many sources. I am providing the following narrative on our earliest ancestors in America, based on the combination of many of those sources. One of the most predominate sources used was a book, (or to be more honest, copies of the pages of a book), written by P. V. H. Weems, Captain, U. S. Navy, Retired, Randall House, Annapolis, Maryland, dated April 11, 1945. A second source is a line of descents from David and James Weems compiled by Wm. M. Slayden II, Editor of WEEMSANA, a family newspaper and official publication of the G. H. Weems Educational Fund, from family records of colonial ancestry, letters from family members, charts, wills, land records and the 1850 Census done in June, 1989 and updated through 1992. Another source came to me from Mrs. Sharon George. She provided me with a copy of a notebook that belonged to Robert Francis Ferree Weems. Additionally I have drawn heavily from the recently published work of Sir John Wemyss-Kessler in his book The House of Wemyss, A Thousand Year History and two letters of correspondence between himself and Mason Lock Weems, the orginizer of The Weems Family History web site.

There are several different versions or EXPLANATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH ANTECEDENTS and the circumstances which brought the three immigrant Weems children to the United States. In the endnotes portion of Sir John Wemyss-Kessler?s book The House of Wemyss, A Thousand Year History he has laid out and numbered various versions.

Tradition relates that the mother of Williamina Wemyss, who died in child birth, had requested that her child, if male, should be christened William after her brother, the Earl of March, and it being a girl was christened Williamina out of respect for her wish, hence the peculiar spelling of the name.

David the Third Earl of Wemyss who was appointed by Queen Anne, Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He married (first) in 1679, Lady Anne Douglas, daughter of William, First Duke of Queensbury, sister to James, Second Duke of Queensbury and Dover, and to Wil-liam, Earl of March. David married a second time but had no issue by that marriage. He died March 15,1720 leaving issue by his first wife; James his successor, Williamina-who married William Moore of Moore Hall.

Historical facts show us that the mother of Willimina could not possibly be the sister of the Earl of March. The Earl of March was the brother of Anne Douglas and wife of the Third Earl of Wemyss.

There is a tradition in the family that the wife of David Wemyss, the Third Earl of Wemyss, died in childbirth, and be-lieving her expected child to be a boy requested that it be chris-tened William after William of Orange, being a girl it was chris-tened Williamina.

David, Third Earl, who was appointed by Queen Anne, Lord High Admiral of Scotland, sworn of the Privy Council, and constitut-ed one of the commissioners for concluding the treaty of union with England, married first in 1697, Lady Ann Douglas, daughter of Wil-liam, First Duke of Queensbury, and sister of James the Second Duke of Queensbury and Dover, and William, First Earl of March, by whom he had one surviving son. James -his successor, Williamina ( afterwards Mrs. Moore)

Again the historical facts listed below show us that Williamina was not the daughter of David the Third Earl.

David, Third Earl of Wemyss and Lord High Admiral, by the Grace of Queen Anne, married Lady Anne (nee Douglass) youngest daughter of William, First Marquis of Queensbury. Because of the participation in the Stuart Uprising of 1715, the title of earl was forfeited and not restored until 1786.

William, the third son of the Third Earl David was killed in Battle on Sunday, November 12th, 1715 at Preston Lancashire, England.

Elizabeth (nee Loch) Weems, wife of William, mother of David, James, and Williamina Weems, the Immigrants came to reside with her widowed brother, Dr. William Loch, who had settled in Anne Arundel County Maryland, as early as 1706, where he owned large estates.

The history of the Weems family in America really begins with Dr. William Loch, brother of Lady Betty or Elizabeth ( nee Loch) Weems, who, being at that time, a widower and without heirs, per-suaded Lady Betty to allow him to bring in 1715, her son, James Weems to America as his heir. in 1720 he brought over Lady Betty, David the eldest son, and their sister Williamina.

Again the historical facts show us that the title of the Earldom of Wemyss was not forfeited in the uprising of 1715. The title was forfeited in 1745 and not restored until 1826. William is not a name that the Earldom of Wemyss ever used in 1000 years. When James Wemyss of Wemyss, the third son of James Wemyss, the Fourth Earl of Wemyss, mar-ried Elizabeth, the only daughter of the sixteenth Earl of Suther-land. They named their second son William. He was born in 1760. This William Wemyss' second son was also named William. He was born in 1790.

David Weems the immigrant was the son of Betty and William Weems ( a younger brother of the Third Earl of Wemyss. He was brought to America by his maternal uncle, William Loch.

As indicated above there was no one named William in the family of the Earldom of Wemyss during this period

Williamina Wemyss, age 16 ( 1704-1784), David Wemyss(61), age 14 (1706-1779) , and James Wemyss, age 12 (1708-1781) , the children of Colonel William Wemyss, third son of the Countess of Wemyss and James Lord Burntisland of Scotland, came to America with their mother, Lady Betty Wemyss, after the death of their father at the battle of Preston in 1715. Lady Betty and her children were brought to America by her brother, Dr. William Loch, a well-to-do- land owner and physician who lived at Loch Eden on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

Again as historically indicated, the Countess of Wemyss had no male child named William. If the family was in the Battle of Preston during the 1715 uprising it was on the side of the royal establishment not the Jacobites.

There are several traditions in the Moore family concerning the name of Williamina. One is that her mother died in Childbirth, and believing her expected child to be a boy, requested he be named William, after William of Orange, being a girl, she was christened Williamina. This reference was taken from the Life and Correspondence of Rev. William Moore, as previously mentioned. See story #2.

Another story is that Williamina's father, William, a younger son of James, the Fourth Earl of Wemyss, was killed in battle before Williamina was born, her mother dying in childbirth , re-quested the child be named William, and to respect her wishes the baby was christened Williamina. This story was taken from the Calendar of Ridgely Letters, published in 1948.

The historic facts show there was no son of James the Fourth Earl that was killed in battle. The only son who was in a battle was James' (35) eldest son David Lord Elcho, who was at the Battle of Culloden.

Laurence C.Wroth in 1911 wrote that Williamina was the child of a younger brother of David, Third Earl of Wemyss. This claim was based on a manuscript in the possession of Miss Harriet Reynolds of Bradshaw Maryland. This documentary evidence suggests that this could very well be true. Whether his name was William or James is a debatable question and even more debatable is whether he was a younger brother of the Third earl or an elder half brother. Third Earl David was the son of Lord Burntisland and the Count-ess of Wemyss.

In this case the younger brother of David, Third Earl would be one of the younger male children of David's mother, The Countess Margaret. In this case David did not have any living brothers. To our best knowledge Sir James Wemyss of Burntisland was never married before and had no children by any other wife.

Margaret, Countess of Wemyss is chosen as the starting point for this discussion of titles and ancestry because it was her third son, Colonel William Weems who inherited no titles but was the father of the immigrant ancestors of the Weems family in America, and thus there were no titles brought to America by David, James Wemyss, his two sons. Indeed they changed the spelling of their surnames from Wemyss to Weems which was more in keeping with the pronunciation of the name and too, their father had joined the Jacobite Rebellion against the English Crown and had been killed at the battle of Preston in 1715.

Note. .This is the source of the information in the International Genealogy Index. This information was placed in the Index by Robert Evens Smith, Post office box 73, Clarkston, Washington 99403. His phone is (509) 758-7232. I also received the same information from Monroe Houston Jr. of 24 Sunset Drive, Laurel Mississippi, 39440. His phone is (601) 428-1704.

Margaret, Countess of Wemyss who had in 1672 married a distant cousin, Sir James Wemyss of Burntisland, by whom she had three sons, David, John, James. Her eldest son, David, became the Fourth Earl of Wemyss, succeeding on the Countess Marga-rets death in 1705. Available records give no account of her second son, John, as they do her youngest son, James.

James, the youngest brother of David (3th Earl) married Miss Loch who's brother, Dr. William Loch had emigrated to Colonial Maryland earlier in the 17th century where he had settled in Anne Arundel County and accumulated a large estate. Sometime prior to 1722 and probably in 1715, Dr. Loch visited his homeland, being unmarried and at an advanced age without heirs, he, with the consent of his sister, upon his promise to make them his heirs, brought back to Maryland her two youngest sons, David and James Wemyss. He als o brought back without a similar promise to make her an heiress.

The parentage of these three children as here given is verified by H.H.Bellas Esq. in his manuscript notes on the Weems/Wemyss Family in the possession of miss Harriet Reynolds1 of Bradshaw Maryland. See Story #7.

The noteworthy historical facts used to evalutate the various stories including story 8 and 9 included the following:

Margaret, Countess of Wemyss was born in 1659, she died 1705. Sir James Wemyss of Burntisland her husband married Margaret in 1672, and he died in 1682.

David, born in 1678 and succeeded to his mother's title in 1705 as Third Earl. He died in 1720.

John, born in 1680 died in infancy.

Anna, born 1675 married and had issue.

Margaret, born 1677 married and had issue.

Catherine, born 1682 died young.

The Countess Margaret married a second time to Sir George M'Kenzie, Vicount Tarbat, afterwards Earl of Cromartie, but had no issue by him.

David Wemyss the Third Earl married first in 1697 Anna Doug-las, only daughter of William, first Duke of Queensbury. Anna met a tragic fate only two years after her marriage. In 1700 she caught her clothes on fire and sustained such injury that she died ten days later. She had two children.

David, Lord Elcho, born in 1698. He died in December 1715, in his eighteenth year of his age, unmarried.

James, who succeeded as Fourth Earl was born in 1699. He succeeded in 1720 on the death of David the Fourth Earl. He died in 1756.

David, the Third Earl married a second time in about 1708 to Mary Robertson, eldest daughter of Sir John Robertson of Farmwood, Northamptonshire, England. she died in 1712 without issue. David, the Third Earl, married thirdly in 1716 to Elizabeth, daughter of Henry, Lord Sinclair She died in 1721 with issue.

David, born after 1716 but apparently died young as no further notice of him has been found.

Elizabeth, married in 1734 to William, 16th Earl of Sutherland. She died in 1747, leaving issue.

Margaret, married in 1740 to James, 9th Earl of Moray. She died in 1779, leaving issue.

James, Fourth Earl of Wemyss was the second of two sons born to David, the Third Earl and Anne Douglas, his first wife. James married in 1720 to Janet, daughter and heiress of Colonel Francis Charteris of Amisfield of Haddington County. Janet Charteris died in 1778.

David Lord Elcho who was born in 1721 and died in Paris in 1787. In 1745 Lord Elcho joined Prince Charles Edward, and was made Colonel of his troops of Horse Guards. He took an active part in the rebellion, and marched with the Prince into England. He was present at Culloden, and escaped into France. His estates were forfeited as a result. He never married and had no issue> He is counted as the Fifth Earl.

Francis, de jure Sixth Earl was born in 1723. He under the will of his maternal grandfather, Colonel Charter-is, of Amisf ield, succeeded to his extensive estates, and assumed the surname of Charteris in addition to Wemyss. But even though Francis assumed the title of Earl, on the death of Lord Elcho, he was never recognized officially as Earl of Wemyss as the title was still affected by the forfeiture of 1745.

James, the third son was born in 1726. He entered the Royal Navy in 1741. Under the entail of 1750 he suc ceeded to the ancie nt estate of Wemyss, except the Elcho estates which were made over to his elder broth-er, Francis. He married in 1757, Elizabeth, only daugh ter of William, sixteenth Earl of Sutherland. She died in 1803. They had issue.

Frances, born in 1722 and married Sir James Stuart of Denholm whom she survived until 1789, leaving issue.

Walpole, born in 1724 married in 1754 and died in 1755 without issue.

Anne born in 1727 married in 1746 but she died without issue.

With regard to the two Jacobite uprisings, the first in 1715 and the second in 1745. In the case of the one in 1715 according to the recently published book called THE INGLORIOUS REBELLION, THE JACOBITE RISING OF 1708,1715,1719 BY CHRISTOPHER SINCLAIR-STEVENSON, which very clearly shows that the Wemyss Clan contributed 300 troops to the royal establishment during the 1715 uprising. It was as a result of David, Lord Elcho, who joined the uprising of 1745 as a Colonel of the Horse Guards on the side of Prince Charles Edward which caused the forfeiture of the estates and titles of the Wemyss family. The attainder of 1746 was not reversed, until May 1826 about 75 years later.

NOW THAT WE ARE ABLE TO COMPARE THE TRUE HISTORICAL RECORD WITH OUR 9 STORIES ABOVE, LET US REMOVE THOSE PARTS OF EACH STORY THAT ARE INCORRECT AND SEE WHAT WE HAVE LEFT.

Story 1.. The mother of Williamina died in childbirth

Story 2... The mother of Williamina died in childbirth That Williamina was named after William of Orange.

Story 3.. All of this is incorrect except that Wm. Loch brought the three children, David, James, and Williamina to America.

Story 4.. Same comment as Story 3.

Story 5.. .same comment as Story 3.

Story 6.. The mother of Williamina died in childbirth. That Williamina was named after William of orange.

Story 7.. In this story it is suggested that the father of David, James and Williamina might be James. This James might be a half brother of David the Third Earl.

Story 8.. All of this is incorrect.

Story 9.. .This is mostly plausible. Obviously if James is Sir James Wemyss of Bogie, the father of the three children in question then historically he cannot be one of the sons or stepsons of the Countess Margaret. Sir James Wemyss of Bogie who, in fact, is the actual father of the three children in question is the cousin of the Countess Margaret. Whether Wm.Loch received the consent of his sister, and mother of the three children, to bring them to America,is not possible if she had died previously in childbirth as suggested. With regard to the immigration by the family it may very well be true as is stated in this story.

At this point in my research the biggest ongoing controversy among Weems researchers, is still which version of the above stories should be believed. Two letters posted on the internet in January 1997 continued to address these concerns and the development of an internet home page for Weems researchers.

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The continuation of the Earl of Wemyss Line