Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish : variant of Wemyss, reflecting the usual pronunciation of that name.
- David Weems (Wemyss) emigrated from Scotland to Herring Bay, Anne Arundel Co., MD, some time before 1722. Mason Locke Weems, born near Herring Bay in 1759, was a clergyman who wrote a biography of George Washington, in which the first account of the cherry-tree story appeared.