The Widow and the Judge

             Joseph Weir, a merchant in Owensville, died without a will in 1846, leaving his widow Elizabeth with four children under the age of 10.  

       The Chancery Court of Maryland ordered the Weir house sold at auction to pay Joseph’s debts.  One-third of the proceeds would go to the Widow as her dower.

But Elizabeth Weir had her own ideas.  Instead of one-third of the cash, she wanted one-third of the house.  Her children were schooling next door at the Methodist Parsonage.  Her village neighborhood was the social and commercial hub of the region.  She wanted to stay in this good place.

She petitioned the Judge, suggesting that her house could be a duplex:

  “My dwelling house is a desirable place of residence for myself and my children whom I have to educate.  I therefore pray that an assignment may be made to me of such portions of the dwelling and outhouses as may be considered equivalent to one third of the accommodation and one third of the lot.”  Sep.1847.

The Judge was convinced.  He called for a Property Plat to designate Elizabeth’s portion.  An auction would take place after three weeks’ notice in the newspaper.

On March 7 1849, on the steps of the Annapolis Court House, the Weir property was auctioned “subject to Elizabeth’s use of one room and the kitchen on the first floor and one room on the second floor, plus one-third of the Lot.”   

Elizabeth’s neighbor, John Hopkins,  purchased the property for $600. 

By 1860 Elizabeth's son Richard, a house painter, was able to buy back the house for his mother.  

     In 1864 Elizabeth sold the house to James & Charlotte Cheston who updated it with Gothic windows on the 3rd floor, gingerbread trim at the roof lines, floor-length bay windows in the parlor, and decorative porch posts.  

      The Weir House became Owensville’s Victorian Painted Lady.

CHANCERY COURT PAPERS #6560-4 1849   

 

Weir / Cheston House c1900