Who was Parson Weems?

The Company is named for Mason Locke Weems (Parson Weems,) a legendary independent book salesman who traveled the Mid-Atlantic and Southern states from 1794 to 1825.  A former Anglican minister and pamphleteer, Weems is best remembered as the author of the largely “invented” biography of George Washington, which introduced readers to the fictional story of Washington chopping down a cherry tree.  Weems’ thirty-year career has been the basis of several book-length essays, an opera, a ballet and a famous Grant Wood painting