M. L. 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 can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my 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.

Early life

Mason Weems was born on October 11, 1759, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the youngest of nineteen children. His family traced its 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, he studied theology in London.

Minister and traveling bookseller

Returning to the new United States, and with the help of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, Weems was ordained in the Episcopal Church. In 1784, he became the rector of All Hallows Parish in his native Anne Arundel County, served as chaplain of a school for girls, and preached to local African Americans. He soon began disseminating prayer books and established a charitable society to relieve widows and orphans. However, his tendencies toward Methodism (whose ministers were itinerant) proved unpopular with his bishop, Thomas John Claggett, so by 1792, Weems resigned as rector and began a traveling ministry, which included selling books on behalf of Mathew Carey, a prominent Philadelphia publisher who had emigrated from Ireland to flee persecution based on his Catholic faith.