Weems descendent found murdered

A descendant of Parson Lock Weems — the colonial-era Dumfries man made famous by spinning virtuous tales of George Washington’s boyhood — was found murdered in a shallow grave in Brazoria County, Texas, on Thursday morning. Brazoria County is 45 minutes south of Houston on the Gulf Coast.

Holmes Powell Weems, 61, of West Columbia, Texas, was buried in a Texaco oil field in Brazoria. Authorities were led to his make-shift grave by Weems’ son-in-law, Widener Michael Weems, 23, of Bay City, Texas, Brazoria County Sheriff’s officials said. He was arrested Wednesday night and charged with aggravated kidnapping. Sheriff’s deputies are still searching for Bobby Alexander Weems, 21, also of West Columbia. He is charged with kidnapping as well.

Holmes Weems’ daughter Emily married Michael Weems, who is the son of Holmes Weems’ first cousin.

Weems’ corpse was undergoing an autopsy in the Galveston County, Texas, medical examiner’s office Friday morning. A doctor there said it was a “private” autopsy and as such, results would not be released to the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger.

He had been missing since Dec. 26.

According to court records obtained by The Facts newspaper in Brazoria, Texas, Emily Weems said she and her husband went to her father’s house with their baby and her brother-in-law Bobby Alexander Weems.

“My dad went into the kitchen and got hit in the back of his head by Michael Weems,” Emily Weems said in court documents published by The Facts. Michael Weems had a tennis racket in his hand, the court document states.

Michael and Bobby Weems buried Holmes Weems’ body in the oil field, then drove to a cotton field where Bobby vandalized the truck, Emily Weems said in The Facts.

The case is centered around money, sheriff’s officials told The Facts.

It is unclear what the exact relationship between Parson and Holmes Weems is, although one police official in Brazoria said the two are seven generations apart.

Parson Weems gained fame by writing the famous story about George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree at Fredericksburg’s Ferry Farm on the Rappahanock River. It was he who penned the words, “I cannot tell a lie.” The story has become part of the fabric of American culture.

It was in Dumfries that Weems recorded those tales, Lee Lansing, Dumfries town historian said on Friday. As a minister and author, “he rode horseback up and down the East Coast selling his printed matter,” Lansing said.