By Tracy Gupton

Sandy Weems, a descendant of the four doctors interred in the Weems family’s section of Old Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia, has agreed to participate in this year’s “Meet Your Ancestors” event slated for November 2nd at the historic burial grounds on what was once the plantation of West Columbia and East Columbia founders Josiah and Mary Bell. “Doctors” is the theme of Meet Your Ancestors 2024. The annual program, which will begin at 5 p.m. two Saturdays from today, is being sponsored as usual by both the Columbia Historical Museum and the Columbia Cemetery Association.

Sands Smith “Sandy” Weems III, who recently celebrated his 91st birthday, will be portraying Dr. Mason Locke Weems II who was born in Virginia September 10, 1806, and died in Columbia on February 22, 1856, at the age of 49. While regaling visitors to Meet Your Ancestors November 2nd with the interesting history of the three generations of physicians in his family, the former West Columbia city manager and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel will be able to stand among the graves of a variety of relatives who helped shape his fine character and personality. Sandy Weems was named “Citizen of the Year” by The Facts newspaper in 2023, receiving a well-deserved, long overdue honor for his lifetime of serving his community and coming to the aid of his fellow citizens.

In addition to his father, Sands Smith Weems Jr., who had the American Legion pavilion named in his honor following his tragic murder in his West Columbia hardware store on January 20, 1975, many other family members are interred at Columbia Cemetery in the same block as Sandy’s Dad. The graves of Sands Smith Weems Sr. (1873-1961) and Anastatia “Nan” Robinson Pickett Weems (1880-1964), Sandy’s grandparents, are located nearby.

A succession of Weems family physicians resided in a beautiful house near the banks of the Brazos River in East Columbia. In 1962 the Texas Historical Commission dedicated the Greek revival house as a Texas historic landmark. The home was built about 1847 by Dr. Mason Locke Weems II. Both his son and grandson, who carried on his family name and profession, lived in the historic house after Dr. Weems died in 1856 near the town that served as the Republic of Texas’s first capital 20 years earlier. The basement of the house was used as a hospital during the Civil War. Several years after the end of the Civil War the house was moved to its present location from across the street about 1869 to avoid Brazos River floods and later enlarged and remodeled.

Dr. Mason Locke Weems II was born on September 10, 1806, in Prince William County, Virginia, the son of “Parson” Weems who was famous for creating the story of America’s first president, George Washington, confessing to chopping down a cherry tree as a child because he allegedly could not tell a lie. Dr. Weems’ wife, Ascenath Otis Slade Weems, born in England in 1809, outlived her spouse by over 40 years. When she died at the age of 89 on March 1, 1899, she was buried at Masonic Cemetery in Chappell Hill, Texas, in, fittingly, Washington County. But her husband and the other three Doctor Weemses are all buried at historic Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia, Texas.

A Texas State Historical Association website post reveals about Dr. Mason Locke Weems II that he and his wife lived for two years on Bay Prairie in Matagorda County when first coming to this area of southeast Texas. They eventually moved to a plantation six miles below Wharton, the TSHA post went on to say, and Dr. Weems “was an incorporator of Matagorda University in 1845 and of the Columbia, Wharton and Austin Railroad in 1854.

“He was probate judge of Wharton County for several terms and on July 2, 1849, qualified for chief justice of the (Wharton) county,” according to the TSHA information about Dr. Mason Locke Weems II. “An extensive planter as well as a doctor, he carried on a correspondence on various Texas agricultural subjects with the United States Patent Commissioner. Weems was a master Mason and a Unitarian.”

The second Dr. Weems, Mason Locke Weems III, was born in 1831 in Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia, and lived to the advanced age of 86. He was laid to rest near his father at Old Columbia Cemetery following his death on December 11, 1917. His wife, Anna Eliza Smith Weems, preceded him in death by 10 years. She was interred at Columbia Cemetery following her passing on March 1, 1907.

The next Dr. Weems, Mason Locke Weems IV, was born in West Columbia on July 6, 1861, and passed away at 59 on August 15, 1920, in Brazoria. His widow, Nettie L. Winfield Weems, lived nearly a half century without her husband. She was born in New York City on December 15, 1874, and lived to be 94 years old. Nettie Weems was buried near her husband at Old Columbia Cemetery after her death on May 11, 1969. Mason Locke Weems IV’s siblings were Marcus Aurelius Weems (1867-1946), who was also a West Columbia doctor, Zuleika Ewell Weems (1871-1942) and Sands Smith Weems Sr. (1873-1961) who was a well-known merchant in first East Columbia and later West Columbia. S.S. Weems Sr. married Anastacia Robison Powell Pickett Weems in 1902. She outlived her husband by three years, being laid to rest at Old Columbia Cemetery following her death in 1964. Descendants of the Weems physicians, including Sandy Weems, are still residing in the West Columbia area today.

The Chesney sisters of West Columbia, Donna Ruth Chesney Loggins and Patricia “Tissie” Weems Chesney Schwebel, were both delivered by Dr. Marcus A. Weems whose January 1946 newspaper obituary said when he died that he had been “a pioneer physician who has tended the ills of Brazoria County residents for more than 50 years,” and that this fourth Dr. Weems “died at his home here today (January 3, 1946)” in East Columbia.

“Friends from East and West Columbia and from across the state will gather at the West Columbia Methodist Church at 3:30 p.m. Friday for funeral services,” the obituary continued. “Burial will be in the West Columbia Cemetery.”

Dr. Marcus Weems’ obituary went on to read, “This gentle, cheerful humanitarian had attended the birth of more than half the persons in this community, he had treated their childhood diseases, set their broken bones and administered to the sick of all ages

“In his busy 79 years he has found time to take part in community activities and his beautiful pioneer home built on the bank of the Brazos River more than a hundred years ago by his parents was a social and cultural hub of this community.

“His father was also a Brazoria County physician who came to East Columbia in 1836 to begin his practice. He was active for 50 years until his death more than 15 years ago.”

The obituary closed with, “Dr. Marcus was one of the vanishing school of ‘country doctors’ who took his little black bag over all ties of roads in any kind of weather at any time of day or night in order to treat the ill.”

While talking to “Meet Your Ancestors” visitors about Dr. Mason Locke Weems II, Sandy Weems will easily shift gears into expounding on the merits and history of the two other doctors in his family with the same name, Mason Locke Weems III and Mason Locke Weems IV, and Dr. Marcus Weems. Four other former doctors who are buried at Columbia Cemetery will also be portrayed by actors for the education and entertainment of visitors attending the November 2nd Meet Your Ancestors event.