Ante-Bellum Wealth, Ante-Bellum Guilt: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Prosperity”

The Financial Life and Times of the Edward R Weir Family: Ante- and Post- Civil War

Edward Rumsey Weir: 1839-1906 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

 

Edward Rumsey Weir wrote a brief memoir, which principally focused on the period of his life before and during the Civil War. The memoir provides a window into the life of a prosperous merchant and plantation-owning family. As I noted in the previous posts, Edward R. Weir was in temperament an abolitionist, but as a practical businessman, he continued to own slaves. His wealth was built and maintained upon the work of those human beings, as he acknowledged and regretted.

His memoir begins with a description of his ante-bellum holdings and home: 

“When war broke out, I was a well-established farmer/merchant in Western Kentucky. I had business activities that[extended] throughout the region even into southeastern Illinois. The centerpiece of my entrepreneurial activities was my 1200+ acre plantation. At the heart of the plantation was the main house.

“The Weir Mansion had two main stories and an attic and basement and a porch stretching three quarters of the way across the front of the house. The porch roof was held two stories high on four square pillars. There was a small balcony overlooking the front entryway. On the main floor, there were four windows and a door across the front. On the second floor, there were four windows and a doorway to the small balcony across the front.

Edward R. Weir mansion, date unknown.

“Behind the house was the summer kitchen. The summer kitchen was used for cooking during the summer months to keep any heat so generated from the main house. Winter cooking was done in the winter kitchen in the basement. In addition to my spouse, my children and me, there were four domestic servants (slaves) living in the mansion.”

The Summer Kitchen, after Weir's death

The Edward Weir house is also described in a paper on Old Buildings in Greenville” written in the 1930s by Martha Beth Shelton, and reprinted in the 1990s. (See below) Miss Shelton wrote:

“The present home of L.Z.Kirkpatrick was originally the home of E.R. Weir, son of the pioneer, James Weir. This house was built about 1840 for Mr. Weir by Richard Guynn…It took a year and a day to build it, and Mr. Guynn only had a negro man to help him.

This house was one of the best built homes in the county. Close to the house was probably the most symmetrical stone-lined well ever made in Kentucky. Around the house were brick cabins built for slaves, and also the green houses and the icehouse. These have all been torn down, but the solid old house still stands. There is also the remains of is hexagon shaped brick office in the front yard.”

Photo from Otto Rothert book

In addition to his land, Edward Weir owned slaves who worked the land. It isn’t clear what crops Weir produced on his plantation. I researched Kentucky plantations online. It appears that hemp and tobacco were the top crops grown that were labor intensive enough to require dozens of enslaved workers. Cotton was rarely grown in Kentucky.

Four sisters, servants in the Weir home

In addition to his plantation business, Edward Weir also took over much of his father’s mercantile business. As noted in the footnotes to his memoir written by the memoir’s editor and Weir descendant Douglas B. Brockhouse,

“  After the death of his father, James R. Weir, in 1842, Edward R. Weir, Sr. took over the operation of the family businesses.  By most standards, Edward R. Weir, Sr. was a wealthy man.  Though he sold off some of the more distant establishments, the business empire Mr. Weir was managing was still quite extensive and generated a great deal of revenue for the times.”

Weir was a strong supporter of the Union when the Civil War broke out and as a result, was the target of angry attacks from Confederate supporters. Prior to the war, the family seems to have lived in comfort. But war disrupted that life. There are references to their fears of Confederate raids and the potential ransacking of their home. Edward’s wife had their slaves bury the family silver in the yard to hide it from Confederate raiding parties, and the family decamped to Illinois for a period.

Edward Weir used his own funds to organize, outfit and arm several units of Union infantry. He used his personal wealth to protect and preserve the Union. His descendant reported in the memoir’s footnotes that Edward’s support was financially devastating:

“The War took its toll on the wealth of Edward Weir, Sr.  Though the War was good for his mercantile business, his efforts to support the Union troops were not.  During the War years, the outflow of moneys to purchase goods for the Army far exceeded the profits made.  Thus, to survive after the War, Edward Weir was required to commence liquidating his assets.  By the time of his death in 1891, from a farm of over a 1,000 acres and a plantation estate house and a mercantile business consisting of several stores, Edward Weir had only a farm of several 100 acres and no mercantile business.  Yet, despite the hardships financially, when asked during the latter years of his life, if he would have supported the Union cause as much as he did knowing his support would leave him penniless, Edward Weir always responded in the affirmative.”

This account was backed up by newspaper articles reporting his death in 1906. The Ohio County News of Hartford Kentucky noted that “He was at one time in life accounted a wealthy man, but at the time of his death had lost nearly all of a once comfortable fortune.” The article went on to note, “He was a man of strong personal characteristics.”

Ohio County News, Feb 11, 1891

The Owensboro Messenger death notice added that “he had many original and quaint ideas”—presumably quaint ones like slaves deserving freedom, blacks deserving decent and equal treatment, and that the Union should be preserved.

Both articles noted that President Harrison had appointed him Greenville postmaster. I expect that was a reward for Weir’s financial and political support for the Republican Party and cause, and a way to give him financial security as he grew old.  

While Edward Rumsey Weir experienced prosperity, he felt guilt at the price his slaves paid for that prosperity. That guilt seems to have motivated him to use his wealth to serve a greater good and support the Union in the Civil War. He may have lost his monetary wealth as a result, but I believe he died a spiritually rich man.

 

Sources:

The Recollections of Edward R. Weir Sr., written 1888. Douglas B. Brockhouse, Ed. MSS 651, Western Kentucky University, Weir Family Collection (MSS 651) Manuscripts & Folklife Archives. Western Kentucky University, mssfa@wku.edu

“Death of Edward R. Weir”. Owensboro Twice a Week Messenger, Owensboro, KY, Feb. 12, 1891.

A History of Muhlenberg County, Otto Arthur Rothert. Publisher J.P. Morton, 1913.

“Edward R. Weir Dead.” The Ohio County News, Hartford KY. Feb. 11, 1891.