Roger Chew Weightman (June 15, 1787 – February 2, 1876) was an American politician, civic leader, and printer. He was the eighth
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
from 1824 to 1827.
Early and family life
Weightman was born in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
, in 1787, moving into the new capital in 1800 and taking an apprenticeship with a local printer. His father Richard Weightman was an emigrant from Whitehaven, England. Chew was his mother's maiden name.
Printer and soldier
Weightman bought the printing business in 1807,
[http://www.geocities.com/heartland/plains/7347/rogchew2.html]
/ref> making him a congressional printer. He maintained a number of shops on Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4) ...
, about ten blocks from the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, from about 1813 onward. He was a successful businessman, running a book store and owning several buildings, including ones used by the city for offices until City Hall was built.
Wieghtman served in the Army during the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of Bladensburg
The Battle of Bladensburg was a battle of the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812, fought on 24 August 1814 at Bladensburg, Maryland, northeast of Washington, D.C.
Called "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms," a British force ...
. In August 1814, Weightman (by now a First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment.
The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...
in D.C.'s Light Horse Cavalry) was apprehended by the British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
troops descending on the White House during the Siege of Washington, a battle in the War of 1812, and made to march with them to the Executive Mansion. Rear Admiral George Cockburn
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars an ...
made Weightmann accompany the invaders into the mansion where the admiral teased him with mischievous relish. When Cockburn told him to select a memento of the visit, Weightman chose an item of value, only to be told by the admiral that everything of value would be destroyed and the he must instead select a worthless souvenir. Weightman choose a souvenir (albeit one of no monetary value) to remember the day the American capital was defeated.
Mayor of Washington D.C.
After serving seven one-year terms as an alderman on Washington's city council, the council elected Weightman in 1824 to serve out the remainder of the late mayor Samuel N. Smallwood's term. In 1826 he ran against former mayor Thomas Carbery
Thomas Carbery (or Carberry) (June 26, 1791 – May 23, 1863) was the sixth mayor of the City of Washington (now Washington, D.C.), serving from 1822 to 1824. He ran again for mayor in 1824 and 1826 but was not re-elected.
Early life
Thomas ...
; four years prior, Weightman had run against Carbery for mayor and lost by a narrow margin, but had then pressed the matter in court in a legal battle that lasted until the end of Carbery's term. In 1824, Weightman won more decisively by the use of blustery promises and insults against his opponent. One handbill from the era reads,
NOTICE EXTRAORDINARY.
R.C. Weightman, a man of known liberal principles; all those who vote for this gentleman at tomorrow's election, will have general permission to sleep on the Benches in the Market House, this intense warm weather. May the curse of Dr. Slop light on all those who vote for Tom Carberry.
While mayor, Weightman headed the 1825 committee for the inauguration of John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...
, then the following year chaired the national memorial committee for the president's deceased father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
and his successor Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
.
In 1827, Weightman became cashier of the Washington Bank, and resigned his position as mayor. He would run again, unsuccessfully, against Walter Lenox
Walter Lenox (August 17, 1817 – July 16, 1874) was Mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1850 to 1852. He was the only Mayor of Washington City born within Washington City and one of only two born in the District of Columbia.
Early life
Lenox was ...
in 1850.
Thomas Jefferson's last letter
The last letter that Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, the third president of the United States and the writer of the Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
, ever wrote was sent to Roger C. Weightman. It was a letter declining an invitation to join a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The letter says:
Later years
Weightman was always heavily involved in the civic activity of the District.
During the 1820s, Weightman was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences
The Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences (1816–1838) was a literary and science institution in Washington, D.C., founded by Dr. Edward Cutbush (1772–1843), a naval surgeon. Thomas Law had earlier suggested of such a socie ...
, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
and John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...
and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.
In the years following his mayoralty, Weightman would be curator of the Columbia Institute; a founding member and officer of the Washington National Monument Society
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
; Grand Master of the Freemasons
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
of the District of Columbia; chief clerk, and later librarian, of the United States Patent Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
; and the center of Washington's social activity. He managed the Washington Turnpike and led the citizen's committee for building the C&O Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, wh ...
.
From 1827 to 1837 he served as a Justice of the Peace. He continued to serve in the Militia of the District of Columbia, rising to the level of Major General. During the Civil War he helped organize Union Troops, pitting him on the opposite side in the war as his oldest son.
In addition to his busy social and professional life, Weightman was a noted and generous philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
— generous enough that his sizable fortune had dwindled to very little by the 1870s, when Weightman was living on his pension as a soldier and employee of the Patent Office. However, upon his death on February 2, 1876, his funeral was one of the best attended and most remembered of the era.
Family
In 1814, he married Louissa Serena Hanson and together they had ten children, including Richard Hanson Weightman
Richard Hanson Weightman (December 28, 1816 – August 10, 1861) was an antebellum delegate to the United States Congress from the Territory of New Mexico. He was also a district commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard during the ...
who would serve as New Mexico territory's delegate to Congress from 1851–53, and then die in the Civil War as a Colonel in the Confederate Army. Louissa died around 1839.
Honors
A school built at 23rd and M, NW in 1887 was named the Weightman School in his honor. It later became the Roger C. Weightman School for Crippled Children and still later Roger C. Weightman Elementary School. It was razed sometime after 1938.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weightman, Roger C.
1787 births
1876 deaths
Mayors of Washington, D.C.
19th-century American politicians
Politicians from Alexandria, Virginia