Searching for Heritage

Much like my last post on the descendants of the Abbeville, SC Weems family, I thought it would also be helpful to put together a basic summary of the known descendants of the Greene County, TN Weems family . This will be a starting point for further exploration and speculation about the common history the two families might share, which is genetically and historically distinct from other known Weems/Wemyss families. John Weems was born around 1741 or 1745 according to family historians of the 20th century, although it is important to note that none of the historical records from Orange County, NC or Greene County, TN provide his exact age or birth year. He first appeared in Orange County, North Carolina around 1767 and settled in Greene County, Tennessee with his nine children around 1792. He died in 1812. His wife went by the name Kitty, which was a nickname for Catherine, but her maiden name is unknown. Aside from these basic facts, not much else is known about John's origins.

In a previous post , I outlined most of the known historical records tracing several seemingly unrelated Weems family lines through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee during the middle to late 1700s. Although many internet sources have mistakenly combined or confused these separate lines, a close examination of the available records will hopefully clear up any further misunderstanding. These next posts will dive deeper specifically into the family of Thomas Weems and Eleanor Jacobs of Augusta County, VA and later Abbeville, SC. (Note: I have seen Eleanor's first name spelled Eleanor, Ellenor, Elinor, and Ellinore. Variations of her last name include Jacobs, Jacoby, Jacobse, and Jacob. I tend to use Eleanor Jacobs for consistency, but to my knowledge there is not necessarily one correct or incorrect spelling. Similarly, the Weems family used the spelling variations Weems, Weams, Weemes, Wims, and several others, all derived from the original Wemyss.) Notably, multiple Y-DNA test

After my last post , I thought it might be useful to take an even closer look at some of Diana Muir's far-fetched claims about the Weems family history and journals. Although I intentionally tried to avoid getting sidetracked with irrelevant details, there is still plenty to expand upon regarding the exact circumstances of her alleged discovery of the journals, as well as the validity of her self-published research and long career as a professional genealogist. Not wanting to leave any stone unturned in my attempt to verify the journal story, I decided to reach out and get the opinions of a few experts in Greene County, Tennessee. If there was ever any chance these journals actually existed, there would hopefully be some kind of documentation, or even the vaguest memory of this "old trunk" being stored in a basement for over a century. After all, someone must have known enough about the journals to bring them to Diana's attention in 2005 when she mentio