Jesse W. Weik
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Jesse William Weik (August 23, 1857 – August 18, 1930), was a collaborator with William Herndon in writing the first authoritative biography of Abraham Lincoln, published in 1889.
Weik was born Greencastle, Indiana, and was educated at Indiana Asbury College (now DePauw University), in Greencastle, receiving an A.B. in 1875 and a master of arts in 1883.
He was admitted to the bar in 1880, but never practiced.
Between 1885 and 1888, he worked with primary research material compiled by Lincoln’s former law partner William Herndon, as well as several hundred pages of letters and essays written by Herndon himself setting out his own personal reminiscences of Lincoln, and forged the material into the first authoritative biography of Lincoln, which was published in 1889 under the title, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life (Chicago: Belford, Clarke. 3 vols.), listing Herndon and Weik as coauthors.
In 1892, Weik published a revised version of the book (Herndon had died in 1891) titled, Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life (New York: D. Appleton. 2 vols.).
Weik died on August 18, 1930.
