The History of Howard Weeden
Howard Weeden began painting at an early age. She once said: “I cannot remember a time when I did not paint and draw.” After the Civil War, she began to use her talents with the brush and pen to supplement the family income. Miss Weeden made the West Parlor into her studio with her work desk and easel being located near the west window where the light was the brightest. Since she was always very near-sighted, she said she needed all the light she could get to help with her painting. Throughout her life Miss Weeden had the problem of extremely poor eyesight and very delicate health. However, her poor eyesight enabled her to do the most delicate brush work, and she sometimes used a brush with only three hairs to paint her portraits. While she used oil paints earlier in her career, Howard Weeden became internationally known for her watercolor portraits of former slaves painted in the last decade of her life. Also during the 1890s, Howard Weeden began to publish her poems. These poems were often written in African American dialect and were published with black and white renditions of her famous portraits. There were four books of poetry and they were: Shadows on the Wall (1898), Bandanna Ballads (1899), Songs of the Old South (1901), and Old Voices(1904).
Howard Weeden and her older sister Kate never married nor had children of their own. These two ladies lived out their lives here at the Weeden House in “noble poverty” with Howard painting and writing to generate income and Kate seeing to the housekeeping. Howard died at the house on April 12, 1905 at the age of 58. Kate remained at the house until her own death in 1915. The home then passed to a nephew, Robert Patton Weeden and his wife Mattie Beasley. They rented the house out to other families. Upon Robert’s death, his daughter Mary Weeden Bibb inherited the property and sold it at public auction.