Evening star., 1961-02-19
By JAMES C. WILFONC, JR.
Contributing Writer

IT'S PART of our heritage that Americans
Il are an Independent lot While elaborate
plans were still being laid for the 1882 George
Washington Bicentennial, the debunkerS were
already in full cry, denouncing some Of our
most cherished fables and traditions They
overlooked one thing. though: it didn't really
matter whether the cherrytree yarn had any
basis offact or whether it was possible to throw
silver dollar across the RappahannOck River
These stories had served a purpose in their
origins and in their retelling In shattering
some of our more cherished native lore, the
detractors were possibly doing US disservice,
although if anyone was hurt by their fulmina
tions it was only those dead a century or more
Their activities though. were rubbing off un
fairly on some early authors who deserved bet
ter treatment than they were receiving.
Due in large measure to these writers Of a
generation back the average person today
looks on "Parson" Weems as a mere pamphle
teer with little respect for the truth, or perhaps
as an extroverted book salesman with more
gall than scruples or literary talent.
This is far from the case, and he earned
deserved place in the history of both Maryland
and Virginia References to him today are apt
to be belittling, but he was not a literary med
icine man palming off hoaxes from a buck
board wagon. He was highly-cultured indivi
dual who was first a physician, then a clergy
man and last, to cap an incredible career, one
of Americas first men-OfletterS.
Mason Locke WeemS was native of Anne
Arundel County, Md, born in 1859 in what
todays newspapers would refer to as the Wash
ington area. By the age of 18 he had fulfilled
prevailing requirements for the practice of
medicine. His then turning to the pulpit hints
of his strong moral character. This phase of his
career was not marked by setting up his own
camp meeting ground or the renting of a vacant
loft for his purposes. He was, in fact, ordained
by the Bishop of Chester and confirmed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1764. From 1874
to 1889 he filled the pulpit of one ofMaryland's
more fashionable churches, All HallOws at
Birdsville. This little gen. still standing passed
its first century under Weems charge. His name
is also inscribed in the records of the exclusive
South River Club neighbor to All Hallows and
quite likely Americas oldest social society,
with origins in 1772 This. too, still stands, and
its limited memberships are willed from father
to son. These indications of the social strata
Weems knew so intimately tell cOnclusively Of
his substance as a person and the regard in
which he was held.
Weems married Dumfries Wa) girl with
strong Maryland ties. Her uncle was DIR. James
Craik, Surgeon General of the Continental
Army, whose palatial home, La Grange. still
stands at La Plata Mrs. Weems' own home, Bel
Air, also still stands near DumfrieS, and both
are further evidence of the stature of the re-
doubtable parSon. The much revered POhick
Church nearby numbered George Washington
among its vestrymen, but despite this distinc-
ton it was without a regular pastor from 1885
to 1900. In the fashion of the day, itinerant min