James Weir: Difference between revisions

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, James}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, James}}
James Weir was born at Greenville, Ky., June 21, 1821; graduated at Centre College, Danville, 1840, and at the Transylvania law school, Lexington; entered upon a successful practice of the law, at Owensboro, where he still lives (1873); has never engaged in politics, and never ran for office. About 1849-50, he wrote three novels (“Lonz Powers, or the Regulators,” “Simon Kenton,” and “Winter Lodge,”) which, abounding in beautiful and thrilling passages, attracted considerable attention in their day; they were published in Philadelphia, and the scenes located in the early West. In 1869, at its organization, Mr. Weir was elected president of the Owensboro and Russellville railroad which – (in March, 1873) was running regular trains to Stroud City, Muhlenburg co., 36 miles; had the grading nearly completed to the Tennessee state line, at Adairville, Logan co., 86 miles ; and was confident of extension, in 1874, to Nashville, Tenn., 120 miles – forming part of a great through route from that city to St. Louis, Chicago, and Cincinnati.
'''Source:''' ''Collins historical sketches of Kentucky''. History of Kentucky. Lewis Collins, revised and enlarged by Richard H. Collins, Collins & Co., Covington, Ky, 1874. Courtesy of the Daviess County Bicentennial Committee

Latest revision as of 20:47, 23 November 2016

James Weir. One of the oldest members of the Daviess County bar, and a prominent business man of Owensboro, was born in Greenville, Ky., June 16, 1821. His father, James Weir, was born near Charleston, S.C., and belonged to a Presbyterian family of Scotch-Irish descent, that emigrated to America from the north of Ireland. His mother, Anna Ramsey, was born in Virginia, and was a niece of James Ramsey, who is justly entitled to the claim of being the first to apply steam as a means of propelling boats. His father came to Kentucky toward the close of the last century. He first adopted the business of surveyor, and afterward exchanged this for a mercantile career, and his business extended over a wide extent of territory. He carried on, and managed, under his own supervision at the same time, stores at Equality and Shawneetown in Illinois; at Henderson, Morganfield, Madisonville, Greenville, Lewisburg, Hopkinsville and Russellville, in Kentucky, and at Gallatin, in Tennessee. Although a large amount of capital was necessarily involved in this extensive and wide-spread business, it was his boast that he never borrowed a dollar, nor failed to meet a debt at its maturity.

James Weir, the subject of this sketch, was educated at Centre College, at Danville, Ky., one of the oldest institutions of the State. After graduating here he entered the law school of Transylvania University, in Lexington, where he prepared for the legal profession. March 1, 1842, he married Miss Susan C. Green, daughter of Judge John Green, of Danville. Mr. Weir settled in Owensboro in 1848, and devoted himself to the practice of law, gaining a high standing at the bar as a chancery lawyer. He found time, however, to give to literary pursuits, and in 1849-’50 three novels appeared, of which he was the author.

During his residence in Owensboro, Mr. Weir developed business qualities of no ordinary character, and when the Deposit Bank was organized in 1859, he was chosen its President, and still continues in that position. To his management is chiefly due its present high standing among the banking institutions of Kentucky. He was the first President of the Owensboro & Russellville (now the Evansville, Owensboro & Nashville) Railroad. This office he retained from 1869 till the latter part of 1878.

Mr. Weir has never mingled in politics, nor has he ever been a candidate for any public office. He has attended strictly to his professional business, and since 1850 has had little time to indulge his inclination for light literature, or at least to no greater extent than to be the author of some fugitive pieces which have appeared from time to time in the popular magazines of the day. His ample means have not had the effect of making him selfish or illiberal. He has taken part in every public enterprise which promised to be of benefit to the community. In 1880 he opened a large factory for the manufacture of carriage material, a more full account of which is given in the history of Owensboro. Mr. Weir’s charities have been wide, but unostentatious. While his abilities as a financier have been of service in building up his own fortune, they have also exerted for the promotion of the interests of the city and county of which he is a resident.

Mr. Weir’s residence is one of the most magnificently frescoed buildings in this part of the world. The work cost over $12,000, and was done by an ex-officer of the Confederate army, of foreign birth and education. The elegant historic paintings on the ceiling of the library, in the groupings and combinations, are a constant source of study and pleasure.

As an Author

Mr. Weir demonstrated his capacity as a literateur when comparatively young. Before he was thirty years of age he wrote and published three stories, which were bound in book form and supplied to the regular trade by the chief publishing house of Philadelphia, Lippincott, Grambo & Co. The works are the following.

1.  Simon Kenton. This is a novel in which it is designed to give a sketch of the habits and striking characteristics of the population of the western portion of North Carolina immediately following the war for independence, and in it to introduce Simon Kenton, the great scout and Indian fighter, and also his constant opponent and enemy, Simon Girty, the tory and renegade. In this volume the character in which Kenton was interested and connected came off victorious.

2.  The Winter Lodge is a sequel to Simon Kenton, and transports all the characters to Kentucky in an early day when first settled; and in it are introduced many of the most striking characters of that period, and many   incidents in the early history of Kentucky, with sketches of scenery, the Mammoth Cave, etc., and also the battles in which Simon Kenton and Simon Girty were engaged, and the habits and marked characters of the   early pioneers. The name “Winter Lodge” is derived from the name of a cabin erected by Kenton for the hero and heroine of these two volumes, and ornamented with carpets of buffalo hides, lined with fur. Mr. Weir intended in his younger days to write a sequel to this volume, running down to the War of 1812, and the death of Kenton and Girty, but increasing business on his hands prevented him. In Collins’ History of Kentucky there is a sketch of the life and times of Kenton, and Girty was a desperado who figured largely among the pioneers of Kentucky and Indiana.

3.  Lonz Powers; or, the Regulators: A romance of Kentucky, based on scenes and incidents in this State. This interesting story was published in two duodecimo volumes, 319 and 364 pages, in the year 1850, by Lippincott, Grambo & Co., Philadelphia.

Source: History of Daviess County, Kentucky. Chicago: Interstate Publishing Co., 1883. Print.


James Weir was born at Greenville, Ky., June 21, 1821; graduated at Centre College, Danville, 1840, and at the Transylvania law school, Lexington; entered upon a successful practice of the law, at Owensboro, where he still lives (1873); has never engaged in politics, and never ran for office. About 1849-50, he wrote three novels (“Lonz Powers, or the Regulators,” “Simon Kenton,” and “Winter Lodge,”) which, abounding in beautiful and thrilling passages, attracted considerable attention in their day; they were published in Philadelphia, and the scenes located in the early West. In 1869, at its organization, Mr. Weir was elected president of the Owensboro and Russellville railroad which – (in March, 1873) was running regular trains to Stroud City, Muhlenburg co., 36 miles; had the grading nearly completed to the Tennessee state line, at Adairville, Logan co., 86 miles ; and was confident of extension, in 1874, to Nashville, Tenn., 120 miles – forming part of a great through route from that city to St. Louis, Chicago, and Cincinnati.

Source: Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky. Lewis Collins, revised and enlarged by Richard H. Collins, Collins & Co., Covington, Ky, 1874. Courtesy of the Daviess County Bicentennial Committee