The Consummate Canadian: A Biography Of Samuel Weir Q.c

THE CONSUMMATE CANADIAN A Biography of Samuel Edward Weir Q.C. Mary Willan Mason Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. This page intentionally left blank THE CONSUMMATE CANADIAN The Consummate Canadian A Biography of Samuel Edward Weir Q.C. Mary Willan Mason Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Mason, Mary Willan, The consummate Canadian : a biography of Samuel Edward Weir Q.C. Natural Heritage Books Includes index. ISBN 1-896219-40-3 (bound) ISBN 1-896219-38-1 (pbk.) The Consummate Canadian Mary Willan Mason 1. Weir, Samuel E. (Samuel Edward), 1898-1981. 2. Weir, Samuel E. (Samuel Edward), 1898-1981 — Art collections. 3. Art, Canadian. 4. Art, Modern — 19th century — Canada. 5. Art — Collectors and collecting — Ontario — Niagara-on-the-Lake — Biography. 6. Lawyers — Ontario — Niagara-onthe-Lake — Biography. I. Title. Published by Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. P.O. Box 95, Station O, Toronto, Ontario M4A 2M8 N5230.C22W45 1998 709'.2 C98-931048-5 Copyright©1999 The Weir Foundation All Rights Reserved No portion of this book with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher. Design by Derek Chung Tiam Fook Colour Separations by Colour Innovations, Toronto, Ontario Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Printing Limited, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. acknowledges the support received for its publishing program from the Canada Council Block Grant Program. We also acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of the Association for the Export of Canadian Books, Ottawa. TAIQT Tf oicr LUJNlhJNlb /n/oivnri7ivnric lABLJLUJb Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 1 The Weir Family 2 The Bawtenheimer Family 25 3 An Impoverished Beginning 40 4 His Early Years Of Practice 59 5 The Young Politician And The Emerging Collector ... 72 6 Sam The Master In His Own Firm 84 7 An Interest In Art Broadens 90 8 The Early Years Of War 98 9 The War And Sam's Deepening Concern For His Father 10 TaxesAndTheLittleMan 11 Achievement, Prominence and Success W. 11 101 108 114 12 Art Invester, Avid Horticulturist and Businessman . 119 13 The Library And The Growing Collection 125 14 A Summer Trip To Remember 135 15 A Turning Point In The Weir Collection 142 16 London, Wall Street And Possibly Paris 172 17 Advice, Personal Grief And Canadian Art 183 18 Family And Friends 192 19 A Fraud Case, A Foundation And A Floundered Relationship 20 The Plague Of 111 Health 197 208 21 From The Centennial Year To The Shaping Of River James and Susannah Sutton Weir 282 213 Robert and Martha Sutton Weir 283 22 Knowledge And Experience 221 Richard and Margaret Moir Weir 284 23 River Brink And Domestic Tranquility At Last 227 24 Sam's Last Romantic Fling 244 25 A Time Of Frustration 261 Sources 286 26 Letters and More Letters 266 Credits for Illustrations 289 27 The Angel Arrives And The Marriage Ends 271 Index 292 28 The Final Days 277 About The Author 312 Brink The Weir family Archibald Weir 281 The Bawtenheimer (Badenheimer) Family Johann Peter B