Mother Hubbards Cupboard©

Weems/Wemyss in America
Family Archives

Official Wemyss/Weems Coat of Arms
Border is MacDuff Clan Crest.

The Immigrants | Documentation | Wemyss/Weems Links

A Brief History

Diana Muir is a professional genealogist who became accredited by the LDS Church in 1975 while a student at Brigham Young University. Since then, she has married, raised a family, finished her doctorate in Education but has never forgotten her love for genealogy. Recently, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia and for the first time is able to visit and scour the records of Greene County, Tennessee where her father's family originates. It is here, in "high hillbilly" country where she first connects into the Weems family.

History of the Weemys/Weems Immigrants

There appear to be several independent Weems/Wemyss (perhaps Scottish soldiers during the French and Indian War who received land grants) and at least '3' specific groups of Weems immigrants who came to the Americas; one who went to Nova Scotia (and we are still working on tracing this line), the three children of Lady Betty (Elizabeth) Loch Wemyss, 2nd wife of Sir James Wemyss of Bogie (David Hamilton, James Loch, and Williamina), and John Weems born about 1685 who was living in Middleton, Bucks County, Pennsylvania by 1704 when his son Thomas Weems (married to Elinor Jacoby/Jacobs) was born. John Weems is actually a 2nd cousin of the three mentioned previously. They share the same great-grandfather and it appears that John Weems, born about 1685 was the one of first Weems in America. There is also a Thomas Weems in Baltimore, Maryland who married in 1717 to a Hannah Phillips, and then died in 1721 with only a daughter known to have been born. It is not known if he is related or not. We are currently researching Scottish regimental rosters and Scottish probates to fill in the missing gaps.

The three children of Lady Betty came to America with her brother (or cousin?) Dr. William Loch and grew up, married, and lived in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and the surrounding area. Thomas Weems, b. 1704 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania first settled as an adult in Augusta County, VA. He later moved his family to the Old 96th District in Abbeville County, South Carolina where he lived and died in the Long Cane Creek area just 5 miles south of the town of Abbeville. He may have had a brother, John, who also appears in the 1767 land records of Bucks County, PA and then disappears.

All three Weems branches came to the Americas as part of the "Nova Scotia Scheme," a grand scheme by the British Government to settle Nova Scotia. "New Wemyss" is located on Anticosti Island in Nova Scotia and covered an area of 16,000 acres, or 25 square miles. There is record of land in Nova Scotia being escheated to a Peter Wemyss in 1785. The Nova Scotia scheme eventually included areas all along the east coast from Maryland to Georgia. Sir James of Bogie was specifically named by the King as part of the overseer group for the settlement scheme, and his children (Williamina) inherited land in Nova Scotia, which she passed along to her grandsons in her will.

Within the Weems family you will find a great many lawyers, doctors, and statesman. They were a well educated, socially mobile family and traveled often between the British Isles and America. One man, William Weems, even owned and operated a ship, the "Snow Thane" which traveled to the Carolinas during the early 1800s. The Weems were large land owners and philanthropists, appearing often in court, land, and military records. They married into wealthy families and eventually the younger sons moved west and south to Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee and even California. We have tried here to collect the data that is available so that other Weems can enjoy the heritage of their forefathers and piece together the missing information.

History of John Weems of Greene County, Tennessee

As early as 1767, John Weems, born about 1745, first appears in the records of Orange County, North Carolina where he receives property from William Castleberry, serves as a juror on several court cases, and is assigned as the guardian for an orphaned child named McCarty. John eventually marries Catherine (Kitty) Goodwin, the sister of John Goodwin who also shows up in the Regulator Rolls of Orange County, North Carolina.

At this time it is unknown whether John Weems, b. about 1745 is related to the Abbeville, South Carolina group, or if he is related to the Anne Arundel County, Maryland group. Recently, we discovered a Margaret Weems, born about 1740, also of Orange County, NC who married a Richard Gott and had several children. Margaret and John both lived in Hillsboro and may have been brother and sister. It is hopeful that information about Margaret will lead to additional information about John and tie them into the correct family.  At this time it appears he is most likely the son of Thomas Weems and Ann McIlvain of Bucks Co., PA.

Many of John and Catherine's children are born in the St. Thomas District, called Hillsboro, in Orange County, North Carolina and several married there. Then John Weems receives a land grant for Greene County, Tennessee during the "Big Land Grab" in 1783 when the Hillsboro office was only open for 9 months. His entire family, plus the families of his several of his married children, moved to what is now known as Baileyton, Greene County, Tennessee, right in the heart of the Cumberland Gap.

John and Catherine Weems are both buried in the old churchyard burial ground, now paved over by a county road, but not too far distant from the Weems/Bailey Family Cemetery. The cemetery is directly south of the Thomas Porter Bailey homestead on the south side of Baileyton and can easily be seen from the front of the current church and cemetery. In this small family cemetery lie the remains of Elizabeth Weems (John's eldest daughter) and her husband, Thomas Bailey of Londonderry, Ireland, as well as several other related families, all descendants of John and Catherine (Kitty) Weems.

The links below represent the resources and data that Diana has collected over the past 30 years on the Wemyss/Weems descendants in the Americas. While it appears that most are descended from the three children of Sir James of Bogie Wemyss and Lady Elizabeth Loch, there is also another branch, that of Thomas Scott Weems, who is actually a cousin of their children. Each line has been designated below so that you may see how they weave together over the years.

Many thanks to Sir John Kessler who wrote the book "The House of Wemyss; A Thousand Year History" which has added so much narrative and substance to the lineage of the Wemyss Lairds, and to all the other researchers who have donated their research to this public forum. All information here is copyrighted but free to be used to personal use, but may not be published in book format, or used for commercial gain. If you have any questions, or would like to add additional names to the database, please contact Dr. Muir at dianamuir@amdg.ws. 

(Please be patient as the links are being built! Last updated 13 Jul 2005)

The Immigrants:

·         Descendants of David Hamilton Wemyss/Weems

·         Descendants of James Loch Wemyss/Weems

·         Descendants of Williamina Wemyss/Smith

·         Descendants of Thomas (Scott) Weems (Redfern Branch)

·         Descendants of John Weems of Baileyton, Greene County, TN

·         Weems of Color

·         Barnesvile, MD area

·         Abbeville, NC area (Charlie Weems)

·         Henry County, AL - Descendants of Moses Weems, son of Thomas Weems, b. 1704

·         "Weems/Wemyss In America" Copyright 2003 - Please email for lookups due to copyright issues.

Foreign Origins:

·         Irish Connections - Descendants of Sir Patrick Wemyss/Wemys of Danesfort, Kilkenny, Ireland

·         Burntisland, Fifeshire, Scotland

·         Canadian Connections

·         Italian connections

·         Australian/New Zealand Connections - John Wemyss - 3ggfather of Russell Crowe

Family Crests

·         Official Crest of Sir James of Bogie

·         Marriage Crest of Thomas Bailey and Elizabeth Weems (dau of John Weems) of Baileyton, Greene County, TN

·         MacDuff Clan Crest

·         Family History Scroll

Family Histories

·         House of Wemyss: A Thousand Year History

PDF format: Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED/COPYRIGHTED
MATERIAL) Read format only.) Book may be bought on CD Rom from Heritage Books for approximately $25.00.

·         WEMYSS: A Brief History

·         Memorials of the Family of Wemyss of Wemyss, by Sir William Frasier, 3 Vols.(Edinburgh, 1888) (Index
 included - pages in pdf format requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

The Famous and The Infamous

·         Major James Wemyss (40th and 63rd Foot Regiment of Scotland) Ancestor of Alexander (Greene Co., AL)

·         Williamina Wemyss/Moore (Picture from 1750s)

·         The Songbook of Lady Margaret Wemyss (age 12-18) in the National Library of Scotland

Wemyss/Weems Archives and Documentation

·         By Location

·         Abbeville County, SC

·         Anne Arundel County, MD

·         Etowah County, Alabama

·         Floyd County, Georgia

·         Franklin County, GA

·         Greene County, AL

·         Greene County, TN

·         Gwinnett County, GA

·         Henry County, AL

·         Henry County, GA

·         Newton County, Missouri

·         Orange County, NC

·         "New Wemyss," Anticosti Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

·         Weems Gedcom File

·         Surname Index to the Weems Gedcom File in HTML Format

·         Weems/Wemyss Portion of the Gedcom Index

·         Weems/Wemyss of Color Gedcom

·         United States Census Records

·         1790-1880 Weems in Georgia

·         Colonial - Pre-1790

·         1790

·         1800

·         1810

·         1820

·         1830

·         1840

·         1850(person-by-person index coming soon!)

·         1860

·         1880(Person-by-Person)

·         1890 Fragment

·         1881 Canadian Census

·         1881 England Census

·         1900

·         1920

·         1930

·         Family Bible Records

·         Family Bible of Gustavus Weems of Anne Arundel County, MD

·         Military Records

·         Civil War Records Confederate and Union

·         Civil War Pension Records

·         Miscellaneous Civil War Records

·         Weems Cemeteries

·         Weems Cemetery, Wanda, Newton County, Missouri (includes pictures and transcriptions

·         Weems Cemetery, Perry County, TN

·         Weems Cemetery, Montgomery County, TN

·         Weems Cemetery, Dickson County, TN

·         Weems Cemetery, Hawkins County, TN

·         Individual Probate Records (Wills, Administrations, Guardianships)

·         Scotland Wills for Wemyss/Weemys/Weems/Weams

·         Estate Proceedings of Henry Weems Sr., b. 1741, d. 1813, Abbeville, SC

·         Vital Records

·         British Isles Vital Records - Edition 2, LDS Church (Briths/Baptisms/Marriages 1550-1850)

Weems Links

·         To Subscribe to Weems Family Mailing List (Enter only the word "subscribe" in the message text.)

·         Dick Cullen's Weems Family Page

·         Weymss Castle (East & West)

·         Wemyss Castle and a Little History

·         Castle Wemyss Estate (Sugar Plantation in Jamaica 1802-present)

·         Elcho Castle - Belongs to the Earls of Wemyss - Perthshire

·         Some Weems or Wemyss Family History (William Lock Weems IV of Hickman County, TN)

·         Whims/Dent Family

·         Jesse Weems’s (Texas) Home Page (include the tartan and picture of West Wemyss Castle)

---

To Contact the Webmaster or to add a link
Last updated 11 Sep 2007
(All information contained herein is free for personal use
but may not be published for commercial gain
without written consent of the webmaster and author.)