James Weir’s Waveland: A Truly Artistic Home
James Weir: 1821-1906 (First Cousin 4x Removed)
While researching James Weir for another blog post, I
discovered some fascinating information about his lovely home in Owensboro,
Waveland. I also found an entertaining newspaper piece that implied he sowed a
few wild oats when he was young and first living on his own. I decided these
items deserved more research and a post of their own.
As I wrote in my previous post, James Weir was the son of
James Weir and the nephew of my husband’s third great-grandfather Samuel Miller
Weir. James Weir attended college—quite rare in the 1840s—and earned his law
degree. He practiced law and then branched out into banking. He was also renowned
as a novelist, writing three novels in the 1850s. James married Susan C. Green
in 1842, and they had ten children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.
The rather amusing and suggestive news item about James
Weir’s younger days was found in the Owensboro Examiner’s September 10, 1875
edition, in a column entitled “Scraps of Local History”. The writer was
recalling prominent city residents of thirty years earlier, so in the early to
mid-1840’s. One paragraph caught my eye. It reads as follows:
“About the same time
of which we are now speaking, James Weir, Jr., began house-keeping, first in
and then outside the town. Of this, family delicacy forbids us to say anything,
as all are still living, except to say that the mother of Mrs. Weir was among
the best women of her day, or any day, and that her father was among the
grandest men upon whom Christianity ever put her shining crown…”
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding this paragraph, but it seems to
imply that James Weir was sowing some wild oats once he had moved out on his
own, and that he had perhaps compromised his future wife. Otherwise, why would
his wife Susan Green’s parents need to exercise their Christian charity and be
among the “best” people of their day? It sounds as if the young man was causing
concern among his sweetheart’s family. Since James and Susan were, by 1875,
important, influential people in the community, I wonder how they reacted to
this news item and the suggestion that their long ago conduct (or at least
James’) was too risqué to discuss openly.
The information on the home James built in 1858 was also
fascinating. Prior to 1858, James and Susan and their children lived in a house
at Third and Daviess Street, just blocks from the Ohio River. Now this section
of Owensboro is the central business district; the Chamber of Commerce Office
is nearby.
 |
| Area of James and Susan Weir's first home in Owensboro |
As their family grew, they needed a larger home. James
bought a 400 acre parcel from John Howard, described in “Some Historic
Landmarks of Owensboro” (see citation below) as stretching from “McFarland
Street south to the old McHenry farm about one mile out Frederic Street. It
extended west about one-half mile.”
 |
| Waveland location marked in blue--note that neighboring property is listed as Weir Park |
James sold off much of the acreage to other well-heeled
Owensboro residents. The article noted that “many of the principal residences
of Owensboro are standing on” the original Weir property. Weir kept about
twenty acres around the homesite. The map above shows the area in 1878 when
Weir owned 35 acres and had donated parkland next door. The parcel was located
north of Griffith Street and between Walnut and Frederica, an area that now has
businesses like CPAs and attorneys housed in the remaining large old homes.
According to the Historic Landmarks article, Waveland was:
“an unpretentious
square brick house, which originally cost less than $20,000. The brick work was
done by a contractor named James Wilhite, and the carpenter work by Bonnie
Trible…All the lumber used was yellow poplar, then plentiful, but now so rare
and valuable.”
“The house was out of the ordinary for architecture...”
according to the article, which quoted a representative from the Carnegie
Libraries, who toured Waveland while searching for a site for a new library,
that no other house he’d ever toured “had come up to this one for completeness
in every way.”
Waveland had 12 rooms, plus servants’ quarters. Outbuildings
of brick and log housed Weir’s slaves before the Civil War. The 1860 census’
Slave Schedules show that James Weir owned 21 human beings, the youngest only a
few months old. The Historic Landmarks articles claims that “after the
emancipation, many of them (slaves) remained with him on account of his
kindness towards them.”
I would like to believe that his kindness was the reason.
The 1870 census does show that four black employees lived in the household:
Elya Davis, 50; Mary Davis, 12; David Lewis, 29; and William Hunter, 15. The
census indicates none of these workers could read, so apparently Weir’s
kindness did not extend to educating his slaves. The family also had two
live-in white employees, probably a nanny and a cook or housekeeper.
Waveland’s most striking feature was its art. The Historic
Landmarks article states:
“The frescoing of this
house, which was considered the finest in this part of the country, was done in
1870 by Captain Buler, a Prussian army officer who had fought through the Civil
War as a Confederate officer. The cost of frescoing was $12,000, and the
designs were magnificent, such as are now rarely seen.”
I have found no images of the frescos or any record of a
Confederate officer with the surname Buler. If he completed any other artworks,
I find no record of them.
A description from Collins’ Historical Sketches (see citation
below) said that Waveland, set “on a gentle knoll south of the city, is one of
the most magnificently frescoed buildings on the American continent.” The
writer noted that the fresco painter “is at once artist and scholar; the
elegant historic paintings on the ceiling of the library, in their groupings
and combinations, are a constant source of study and pleasure”
Another article provides some descriptions of the frescos: “The
broad halls and large airy rooms were beautifully frescoed and the library with
the picture of ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ on the ceiling, [contained]
well-filled bookshelves, for Mr. Weir was a great reader…”
James Weir continued to live in the home for the rest of his life. He died at Waveland on January 31, 1906 at the age of 84.
His son, Dr.
James Weir, died the same year in August. Following the son’s death, the home
was put up for sale, and the buyer chose to tear it down just two years later
so the property could be subdivided into numerous home lots. It is a pity that
such a richly decorated home did not survive. As a result, the frescos have
been lost, and their artist left unnamed and forgotten.
Sources:
“Some Historic Landmarks of Owensboro”. https://wckyhistory-genealogy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Historic-Landmarks-of-Owensboro.pdf
Map of Owensboro, Ky. by McDonough, Leo & Co.;
Chamberlain, E.J., 1878.
Description of Weir House. Collins' Historical Sketches of
Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Volume 2, By Lewis Collins. Collins & Co.,
Covington KY. https://books.google.com/books?id=FjE_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=james+weir+house,+owensboro&source=bl&ots=Pk2An5-zW5&sig=ACfU3U2RajZmLR0_JuAs6wt87OodjbCfXw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj84_TIlrCBAxWNk2oFHaTiCpg4FBDoAXoECAgQAw#v=onepage&q=james%20weir%20house%2C%20owensboro&f=false
Articles about Weir’s life and Waveland. https://wckyhistory-genealogy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Jerry20Long20-20Weir2C20James20281821-190629.pdf
Owensboro Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky., Sunday, 2 August 1908,
p.1:.OLD WEIR HOME THING Of PAST
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