My Genealogy Hound

David Patten Weems was born in Tennessee, near Greenville, February 8, 1838, and is the son of Rev. John Weems, of the Missouri Conference, and also a native of Tennessee. The mother, Rhoda (Meeney) Weems, was born in Russell County, Va. The father carried on farming in connection with his ministerial duties, and thus continued until 1848, when he decided to push westward, but died at Burkesville, Ky., while on his way. The mother and six children then came to Missouri, where a brother of Mr. Weems lived, settled on a farm on Indian Creek, and there David P. Weems grew to manhood. At the age of eighteen he began clerking and merchandising on Indian Creek, and before he was twenty he became a partner in the business with his employer, the firm being known as Boone & Weems. This partnership lasted until 1860, when Mr. Boone died and Mr. Weems gave up the business; then in the fall of that year he moved to Rocky Comfort, where he sold goods for about a year. During the late war he enlisted in the Confederate service, in Gen. M. M. Parsons’ brigade, and was in active service until 1865. He enlisted as a private, and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant; was wounded at Helena, Ark. After the war he tilled the soil for one year in Arkansas, and while there married Miss Amanda L. Reagor, a niece of Col. Boone, and her he buried in Washington County, Ark. Mr. Weems abandoned farming and began clerking in a mercantile establishment, of which he soon became a partner, in the firm of Ritchey & Weems, of Rocky Comfort. Here he remained two years; then went to Ripley, and from there to Newtonia in 1871, where the firm changed to D. P. Weems & Co., remaining so until 1883, since which time he has conducted the business alone, having purchased the interest of Mr. Ritchey. May 27, 1869, Mr. Weems married Miss Minerva Boone, a daughter of Col. Noah Boone, a descendant of the noted Daniel Boone. Mr. Weems by his marriages became the father of the following named children: Emmett H., Rhoda L., Georgie A., Eula B., Walter O., Bessie I., Minerva O. (deceased), David P. (deceased), William F. (deceased) and Mary Magdalene, also deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Weems are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he has been a trustee of the same for some time. He is a Royal Arch Mason, as is also his son, Emmett H. Mr. Weems has served as county revenue collector, county judge of Newton County, and postmaster at Newtonia. He is president of the savings bank, in which he is a stockholder. He has 900 acres of good prairie land, and is a well-to-do farmer. He has more land in Texas.