Mason Locke Weems

Mason Locke Weems (October 11, 1759 – May 23, 1825), usually referred to as Parson Weems, was an American minister, evangelical bookseller and author who wrote (and rewrote and republished) the first biography of George Washington immediately after his death. Some popular stories about Washington thought during the 20th century to be apocryphal can be traced to Weems, including the cherry tree tale ("I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet"). Weems' biography of Washington was a bestseller that depicted Washington's virtues and was intended to provide morally instructive tales for the youth of the young nation. Recent examinations of Weems, particularly by James Bish, and Dr. Richard Gardiner have found that Weems knowledge and sourcing may have been stronger than assumed by previous scholars. Weems corresponded with Washington, had family ties to Washington, and evidently relied on members of the Washington family for information. Early life Mason Weems was born on October 11, 1759, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the youngest of nineteen children. His family traced their ancestry to Scotland. When he was ten years old, his parents sent him away to study at the Kent County Free School in Chestertown, Maryland (which later became Washington College). During the 1770s, Weems studied medicine in Edinburgh, then in the 1780s after a religious conversion, Weems studied theology in London. Minister and traveling bookseller