Weems, Mason Locke, 1759–1825, American author and preacher, b. Anne Arundel co., Md., studied theology in London. He was ordained in 1784 and served various Episcopal parishes. For 30 years after 1794 he was a traveling agent for Mathew Carey, bookseller and publisher. Parson Weems is chiefly known for The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington (c.1800), in the fifth edition of which appears the famous cherry-tree story. He fictionalized this and other biographies he wrote to increase their interest. Weems also wrote moralistic tracts, such as The Drunkard's Looking Glass (1812).
See biography by H. Kellock (1928, repr. 1971).
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