Captain Paul T. Weimar

Captain Paul T. Weimar, who has been master of the schooner Middlesex since the year 1892, has sailed since he was a boy of fifteen. He has been on the lakes for twenty-eight years, and before he began his work here he had had several years' experience on the ocean.

He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, December 12, 1852, the son of George T. and Eliza (Gosebeck) Weimar, both natives of Germany. The father was a wood carver and an excellent workman, and in 1866 he emigrated to Chicago, all the family following in 1868, except our subject, who had already begun his career as a sailor. The parents are yet living in Chicago, and it is remarkable that both of their two sons became lake captains, and that both of their two daughters married lake captains. The children of George T. and Eliza Weimar are as follows: Fred T., a lake captain and vessel owner, of Chicago; Martha, now Mrs. Lovdall, widow of Capt. Henry Lovdall; Christina, Mrs. Fred Lovdall, wife of a well-known lake captain who sails and owns the schooner Magill; and Paul T., our subject.

Paul T. Weimar began sailing on the Baltic sea in 1867 on the full-rigged brig Dara, hailing from Wismar, Germany, and making the ports of the Baltic and the English ports. He then signed articles for a two-year cruise on a full-rigged bark, and for that length of time was on the Mediterranean and in the West Indies. Returning to Germany at the expiration of his contract, he followed his parents to Chicago, and in 1870 began sailing from that city, going before the mast on the schooner M. J. Wilcox, Capt. Lyman Miner. For five seasons he remained with Captain Miner. Our subject became mate of the schooner D. R. Martin in 1877, and again in 1879. During the winter of 1879 Captain Weimar purchased the schooner Glad Tidings, and sailed her as master for thirteen years, when in 1892 he sold the vessel, which is still in commission. In 1892 Captain Weimar became master of the schooner Middlesex, a three-mast vessel, owned by the Shores Lumber Co., of Chicago, and engaged in all kinds of carrying trade, but principally lumber. For the past six years, Captain Weimar has remained in command of this vessel.

In 1878 he was married at Chicago to Miss Anna Urban, a native of that city and the daughter of Michael Urban, one of the early business men of the city. Three children have been born to Captain and Mrs. Weimar namely: Martha and Anna, both attending the high school of Chicago, and Grace. In 1882 our subject moved to Lake View, and there on Racine avenue built a handsome residence. Later he sold this and, buying a lot, fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet, on the corner of Roscoe and Seminary avenues, he erected a three-story brick building, fronting on Seminary avenue, the first floor for store purposes and the upper two for flats. Then on Roscoe avenue he erected a fine two-story flat building. Captain Weimar is a prominent member of the A. O. U. W., and one of the well known vessel men of the Great Lakes.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.