Genealogy and History of the Weeks family of Hampden, Massachusetts

Genealogy of the Weeks Family
(version December 6, 2020)
Please email corrections to Mike Clark

Although Sir Walter Raleigh and others made a few ill-fated attempts to establish British settlements in North America as early as 1585, colonization did not truly begin until the successful settlement in 1608 of Jamestown, in what became the Virginia Colony. Other settlements followed, including the founding in 1630 of Piscataqua, also called the Strawberry Banke, on the Atlantic Coast in what was then the Massachusetts Colony.

Strawberry Banke became incorporated as the town of Portsmouth in 1653, and included an area on the southwest outskirts that dates to thirteen years earlier when Captain Francis Champernowne settled there and called it Greenland. Portsmouth became a thriving port, as well as a haven for settlers leaving the Puritan intolerance of other Massachusetts settlements. When New Hampshire Colony was carved out of Massachusetts in 1679, Portsmouth became its first capitol.

Leonard Weeks (c.1635-1707) is first mentioned in the parish records of Compton-Martin in Somerset County, England, which record the names of two of the sons of John Wyke of Moreton in Dorsetshire - an older son William who was baptised in 1637, and a younger son Leonard who was baptised on Aug. 7, 1639 in the Compton-Martin parish church. However, it is likely that Leonard's acutal birth was sometime prior, perhaps about 1635, which would make him about 20-years old when his name first appears in documents in the New World.

It is not known when and how Leonard Weeks came to America, but the first mention of his name in the colonies is on Dec. 6, 1655 when he is listed as witness to a bond in what is now York County, Maine. He next appears in the Portsmouth records on June 29, 1656 when he received a grant of eight acres of land. Because it is said that "when he first went to the part of Portsmouth now called Greenland, he lived one year on a farm owned by Capt. Champernoon", it is likely that Leonard's land grant was in the same area. He received more land in 1660, presumably in Greenland again, and he was living the following year in Greenland on the Winnicut River, where he remained the rest of his life.

Leonard Weeks is mentioned several times in the Portsmouth town records, and he held various town offices. He was elected one of the selectmen (basically a town elder) in 1661. He later became a constable, and for several years he was the sheriff. When New Hampshire colony separated from Massachusetts in 1665, "Leonard Weeks stood for Massachusetts." He married first in 1667 Mary Haines, the daughter of his neighbor Deacon Samuel Haines, and second Elizabeth, who survived him. He died in 1707 at his farm in Greenland. He had seven children, all born in Greenland, who are listed below. The first five were with Mary Haines, and there is speculation that the last two were with Elizabeth, but this is not certain.

children - WEEKS

John Weeks (1668-1711/12) was born June 14, 1668; and died before Feb. 1711/1712. He is said to have had three or more children.

Capt. Samuel Weeks (1670-1746) was born Dec. 14, 1670; and married his cousin Elinor Haines, with whom he had several children. He died March 24, 1746.

Joseph Weeks (1672-1775) was born March 11, 1672; and married Hannah, with whom he had several children. He died Nov. 27, 1775.

Col. Joshua Weeks (1674-1758) who follows:

Mary Weeks (1676-1749) was born July 19, 1676; and married Lieutenant Joshua Brackett, with whom she had several children. She died in 1749.

Jonathan Weeks (d. 1748) married Elizabeth Cate; and died "an old man" on June 27, 1748.

Margaret Weeks (b. 1679) was born June 4, 1679; and may have married Tobias Lear. Margaret and sister Sarah may have been twins born to Leonard Week's second wife Elizabeth.

Sarah Weeks (b. 1679?) may have been Margaret's twin, which would place her birth on June 4, 1679, but this is tentative. She may have married Tobias Langdon.
Col. Joshua Weeks (1674-1758), the son of Leonard Weeks and Mary Haines, was born born 30th June, 1674 in Greenland, New Hampshire; and married Comfort Hubbard in Nov. 1, 1699 in Boston, Massachusetts. Comfort was the sister of Thomas Hubbard, a merchant in Greenland. Joshua lived on a farm at the Bay Side in Greenland that had previously been occupied by Deacon William Weeks. He was the colonel of a regiment, and served as Justice of the Peace. Comfort died March 20, 1756, and was followed by Joshua who died at the Bay Side on June 13, 1758. Joshua and Comfort had several children, all born in Greenland, who are listed below.

children - WEEKS

Martha Weeks (b. 1704) was born in 1704; and married first Chase Wiggin on Jan. 9, 1723, and second Col. Winthrop Hilton on Dec. 9, 1736. She had several children by both husbands.

Joshua Weeks (c.1706-1736) was baptized in Hampton, New Hampshire on Nov. 19, 1706; and married Sarah Jenness on Oct. 24, 1734. He died Feb. 10, 1736, just before the birth of his only child, a son.

Comfort Weeks (c.1706-1786) was born about 1706; and married Walter Weeks, with whom she had several children. She died Dec. 1786.

Mary Weeks (c.1710-1765) was born about 1710; and married Capt. Jonathan Chesley, with whom she had several children. She died in Durham, New Hampshire in July 1765.

Icabod Weeks (c.1713-1736) was baptized in 1713; and "was a young man of promise", but died Nov. 3, 1736.

John Weeks (1716-1763) who follows:

Thankful Weeks (b. c.1720) was baptized in 1720; and married George Marshall on April 17, 174, with whom she had four children.

Maj. William Weeks (1723-1798) was born July 28, 1723; and married Elinor Clement on March 20, 1748, with whom he had thirteen children. He died Sept. 17, 1798.

Richard Weeks (b. c.1727) was baptized in 1727; and died young.

Margaret Weeks (b. c.1738) was baptized in April 1728; and married first Ebenzer Smith, and second John Frost. She had several children with both husbands.
Dr. John Weeks (1716-1763), the son of Col. Joshua Weeks and Comfort Hubbard was born in 1716 in Greenland, New Hampshire; and married first on Dec. 10, 1737 Martha Wingate, the daughter of Major Joshua Wingate of Hampton. Martha died of a "violent fever" in 1758, leaving nine children. He married second a girl named Elizabeth. John was a physician by trade, and was a follower of the Methodist theologian John Whitfield, which is said to have displeased his father. Joshua died Oct. 20, 1763 of consumption, leaving a young widow and nine children, all from his first marriage. Both John and his first wife Martha are buried in Hampton, New Hampshire in the Pine Grove Cemetery.

children - WEEKS

Rev. Joshua Wingate Weeks (1738-1806) was born 1738, graduated Harvard University in 1758, and married Sara Treadwell of Ispwich abt. 1762. He died in 1806 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Comfort Weeks (1740/41-1814) was born Jan. 10, 1740 or 1741; and married first Dr. Coffin Moore on March 3, 1760, with whom she had several children. She married second Simon French, and had died Nov. 1, 1814.

Martha Weeks (b. 1742) was born in 1742; and married Capt. Benjamin Randall, but died of consumption two years later, leaving a son.

Mary Weeks (b. 1745) was born Feb. 22, 1745. She married first Adino Nye, and second Joseph Brackett, and had children by both husbands.

Sarah Weeks (1747-1818) was born in 1747; and married Rev. Jacob Bailey in Aug. 1762, with whom she had several children. She died March 22, 1818 at Annapolis.

Capt. John Weeks (1749-1818) was born on Feb. 17, 1749 in Hampton, New Hampshire. He married Deborah Bracket (1749-1831) on Dec. 20, 1770 in Greenland, New Hampshire, and had eight children with her. He died on Sept. 10, 1818, while traveling from Lancaster to Greenland, New Hampshire. He and Deborah are both buried in Lancaster in the Wilder Cemetery. Their son John Wingate Weeks (1781-1853) fought in the War of 1812, and served from 1829-1833 as the U.S. Representative from New Hampshire. Another son James Brackett Weeks (1784-1858) is the grandfather of another John Wingate Weeks (1860-1926), who served as Mayor of Newton, Massachusetts (1902-1903), then U.S. Representative from Massachusetts (1905-1913), next as a U.S. Senator (1913-1919), and also Secretary of War (1921-1925).

William Weeks (1751-1821) was born March 20, 1751 in Hampton, New Hampshire; and married Susanna Haines, with whom he had several children. He died in Chester, New Hampshire in Sept. 1821.

Ward Cotton Weeks (c.1753-1780) who follows:

Joanna Weeks (1755-1826) was born Dec. 31, 1755; and married Levi Folsem in Newmarket on Dec. 4, 1777, with whom she had several children. She died July 17, 1826 in Tamworth.
Ward Cotton Weeks (c.1753-1789), the son of Dr. John Weeks and Martha Wingate was baptized July 15, 1753 in Hampton, Massachusetts; and married Mary Barker of Exeter on Aug. 12, 1774. Ward is a Revolutionary War Veteran, who served as a solder in 1775 in Captain Samuel Gilman's Company in Col. Enoch Poor's regiment. Later that year he was promoted to sergeant, and he was among those who received regimental colors. His company in 1777 was assigned to the northern army commanded by Zebulon Weeks, and it took part in the Battle of Saratoga.

Chapman (1889, p. 20) writes that Ward in 1778 was working as a clothier in Exeter, New Hampshire in partnership with his father-in-law Jonah Barker. He then became a "master mariner" and died at sea sometime before August of 1789 of yellow fever in the West Indies, leaving behind a very young son. His great-grandson James Lord Weeks in a brief family history written about 1894 states that Ward Cotton Weeks died on June 8, 1789 on board ship at Cape Francis in Santo Domingo (Haiti). Presumably he was buried at sea.

The father-in-law of Ward Cotton Weeks is probably the Jonah (Josiah) Barker of Exeter who was born on March 30, 1727 in Stratham, New Hampshire, and married Mary Heard (Martha Hurd) on March 7, 1746 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He had a large family of several children, including a daughter named Mary. Family tradition states that he served as a private during the American Revolution in Capt. Weare's Company, Col. Schammel's 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. He is said to have died on Feb. 2, 1808 in Exeter, New Hampshire.

children - WEEKS

John Wingate Weeks (c.1787-1865) who follows:
John Wingate Weeks (1787-1865), the son of Ward Cotton Weeks and Mary Barker was born in 1787, probably in Newmarket, New Hampshire (according to Cutter, 1910). He shares the same name as two descendants of his great uncle Capt. John Weeks - namely John Wingate Weeks (1781-1853), who was a member of the U.S. Congress, and another James Wingate Weeks (1860-1926), who was U.S. Secretary of War. The John Wingate Weeks we are interested in married Hannah Durgin (c.1764-1852) on March 3, 1801 in Wakefield, New Hampshire. There is some controversy on her name, which appears in some family trees as Hannah Perkins and in others as Hannah Durgin Perkins.

Chapman (1889, p. 20) writes that John resided initially in Wakefield, where his father owned land, but he moved at some point with his new wife to Cornville, Maine, where several of their children were born. They may have also resided by the time of the 1820 U.S. Census in North Hill, Maine, but his is uncertain. They were definitely living in Brighton, Maine when the 1830 census was taken. Hannah died on Sept. 22, 1852 at the age of 77 in Brighton. Anderson (1990) then reports that John at the age of 73 next married a woman named Mary Greene (b. c.1800) on Nov. 2, 1857, most likely in Brighton, but their place of marriage is not given. Interestingly, neither Chapman (1889) nor Cutter (1910) make any mention of this Mary Greene. John died on May 1, 1865 in Brighton at the age of 87 years, and both he and first wife Hannah are buried in the Brighton Village Cemetery. We know nothing more of second wife Mary Greene. Both Chapman (1889) and Cutter (1910) list several children for John and Hannah, with many of the details presented below originating from Cutter (1910).

children - WEEKS

John Weeks (1806-1882) who follows:

Gilman Weeks (b. 1809) was born May 3, 1809 in Cornville, Maine.

Caroline Weeks (c.1812-1848) was born about 1812, probably in Cornville, Maine; and died Nov. 10, 1848.

Hannah Weeks (1817-1845) was born Dec. 16, 1817 in Cornville, Maine, and died Jan. 1, 1845.

Bradbury (Bradford) P. Weeks (1819-1822) was born about 1819, probably in either Cornville or North Hill, Maine; and died Sept. 8, 1822 in Brighton, Maine. He is buried in the Brighton Village Cemetery.

Noah Weeks (1820-1852) was born about 1820 somewhere in Maine; and died Nov. 5, 1852 in Brighton, Maine. He is buried in the Brighton Village Cemetery.

Mary Weeks (c.1824-1842) was born about 1824 somewhere in Maine; and died on June 6, 1842 in Cornville, Maine.

Alva Weeks was born about 1826 somewhere in Maine.

Joanna Weeks was born about 1827 somewhere in Maine.

There is also a Ward C. Weeks (c.1799-1893) who is buried in Brighton. It seems likely that he is somehow related to the above family, but we do not know the details. Perhaps the middle initial of his name stands for Cotton. If so, then he may be the Cotton Weeks who resided in Wellington, Maine, and is listed by both Chapman (1889, p. 51) and Cutter (1910) as one of the sons of John Wingate Weeks. If this second assumption is correct, then Ward C. Weeks was born when his father was only 17 or so years of age, and several years prior to his father's marriage to Hannah Durgin Perkins? Irrespective of his relation to John Wingate Weeks, Ward C. Weeks died at the age of 94 years and 6 months on May 20, 1893, and is buried in the Brighton Village Cemetery. Tombstone inscriptions indicate that he married a woman named Silence (c.1798-1857), who is buried with him along with their sons Leander Weeks (d. 1855) and William H. Weeks (d. 1865).
John Weeks (1806-1882), the son of John Wingate Weeks and his wife Hannah, was born Feb. 10, 1806 in Cornville, Maine; and married Amanda Lord (1810-1890), the daughter of James Lord (1770-1841) and Olive Goodwin (1777-1846) of Athens, on June 24, 1828 in Wellington, Piscataquis County, Maine, which is next to Athens. Amanda, who had been born on Sept. 15, 1810 in Brighton, Maine, was also the grandaughter of Joseph Goodwin (1754-1838), a Revolutionary War veteran.

Cutter (1910) writes that John Weeks was educated in the Maine public schools, was a miller by trade, a Methodist, and a Democrat. Although Cutter calls him a miller, John gave his occupation in the U.S. Census of 1880 as a retired grocer. John and Amanda moved their family from Maine to Ware, in Hampden County, Massachusetts in 1850, and then sometme before 1855 they moved to Greenwich, in the same county. John died February 22, 1882 in Springfield, Massachusetts, afterwhich Amanda returned to Ware, where she died on Nov. 5, 1890. Both John and Amanda are buried in the Aspen Grove Cemetery in Ware, Massachusetts.

children - WEEKS

Adeline Sophia Weeks (1828-1902) was born on May 20, 1828 in Brighton, Maine; and married Nathan Grosvenor Reed (1821-1911) on May 24, 1849 in Warren, Massachusetts. She died on Nov. 16, 1902, probably in Ware, where Masonic membership records indicate her husband died.

Johanna Weeks (1830-1902) was born on March 8, 1830 in Wellington, Maine. She married her first husband Amasa (Amos) D. Tinkham (c.1827-1854) on Dec. 20, 1853 in Enfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Amasa died a few months later, and is buried in the Quabbin Park Cemetery in Ware. Johanna then married Henry Greene (1828-1909) on Oct. 20, 1855 in Ware in the same county. She died as Joanna Greene on Jan. 25, 1902 in Warren, Massachusetts, and both she and her second husband Henry are buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Warren.

Lydia S. Weeks (1833-1855) was born in 1833 in Maine; and married Philander C. Emery (1831-1900) on Nov. 27, 1854 in Enfield, Maine, and then married him in a second ceremony the very next day in the nearby town of Ware. She died in 1855, and is buried in the Aspen Grove Cemetery. Philander survived her by several years, and he was still alive during the 1880 U.S. census and living unmarried in Athens, Maine. However, he remarried at some point to Sarah E. Harmon (neé Herrin, 1851-1917) of Maine, and they relocated to Lewis and Clark County, Montana, where Philander died on April 3, 1900 in Marysville, Montana. He and Sarah are buried in nearby Helena, Montana in Forestvale Cemetery.

Malinda (Melinda) Lord Weeks (1836-1927) was born July 16, 1836 in Athens, Maine. She married Henry H. Warner (1839-1916) on June 1, 1862 in Ware. They had only one child - a daughter named Ada May Warner (1867-1926). Malinda died in 1927, and she is buried with her husband in Ware in the Aspen Grove Cemetery. Her obituary states that she was one of eight children who came with her family to Ware in 1850, and that was the last surviving member of her family when she passed away.

John Milton Weeks (1840-1921) was born on Aug. 31, 1840 in Maine; and married his first wife Sarah P. Shumway (1835-1906) on June 1, 1862 in Belchertown, Massachusetts. His second wife was Charlotte (Lotta) Sargent (b. c.1845). He died on Aug. 8, 1921 in Maumee, Ohio, and he is buried in Waterville, Ohio in Wakeman, Cemetery. Cutter (1910, p. 843) confirms both marriages and further states that John had no children.

James Lord Weeks (1842-1923) who follows:

Charles A. Weeks (b. c.1844) was born about 1844 in Maine. He is known from the 1850 and 1860 U.S. census.

Anderson (1990) lists Hannah Weeks (b. c.1842) and Jane Eliza Weeks, (b. c.1844), both born in Brighton, Maine, as daughters of John Weeks and Amanda Lord. However, neither of these girls appear in the U.S. Census of 1850, when the family was living in Ware, Massachusetts; and neither appear in the 1855 Massachusetts State Census, when the family was living in Greenwich. Chapman (1889, p. 51) confirms the names Hannah and Jane Eliza, but identifies Hannah with a Hannah M. Weeks (b. c.1828), who was born in Hardwick and was 43-years of age when she married a lawyer named Franklin D. Richards on Feb. 2, 1871 in Ware, Massachusetts. However, the name and birth place of this other Hannah seems inconsistent with the facts above. Furthermore, the names of Hannah M. Weeks parents, though difficult to read in the Ware town register, appear to be Sherrick and Alice Weeks, not John and Amanda Weeks, which makes it likely that the info given in Chapman (1889) is incorrect. Lastly, Cutter (1910), who may have communicated directly with members of the above family, mentions neither Hannah nor Jane Eliza.
James Lord Weeks (1842-1923), the son of John Weeks and Amanda Lord, was born March 1, 1842 in Brighton, Maine. He became a blacksmith's apprentice to Luther Bridges (1813-1881) of Warren, Massachusetts as a teenager, and married Luther's daughter Martha Emeline Bridges (1842-1906) on Aug. 19, 1862 in Warren. He listed his occupation as blacksmith on July 1, 1863 when he registered for the Union draft during the Civil War, and the U.S. Census of 1880 shows him still working as a blacksmith. However, he appears to have become a farmer in later years. Martha died on April 21, 1906 in Hampden, Massachusetts, and town records give her age at death as 64 years, 10 months, and 21 days. This gives her a birthdate of about May 31, 1841, which is consistent with census records. James died on Jan. 29, 1923 in Hampden, and both he and Martha are buried there in the Prospect Hill Cemetery. They had only one surviving child.

children - WEEKS

John Weeks (1870-1870) was born Aug. 17, 1870 and died the same day. His twin brother James survived.

James William Weeks (1870-1910) who follows:

Herbert Edwin Weeks (1877-1878) was born in 1877 in Hampden, Massachusetts and died there on Sept. 11, 1878, where he is buried in the Prospect Hill Cemetery.
James William Weeks (1870-1910), the son of of James Lord Weeks and Martha Bridges, was born with his twin brother John on August 17, 1870 in Hampden, Massachusetts. John died the same day, and James survived. However, he was so small that his parents are said to have used a shoe box behind the stove for his crib, and to have called him "Wee Willie Weeks". He grew up an only child and married Alice Maud Smith (1871-1910) on Dec. 7, 1892 in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Alice had been born about Feb. 1, 1871 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and her parents were Daniel Smith, Jr. (1841-1915), and Susan Hovey (c.1847-1873). Her mother Susan died of small pox on May 10, 1873 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, when Alice was only about 3-years old, so Alice was raised by her father's sister Lorena Smith Bond (1838-1915), and Lorena's husband Philip Bond (1832-1906). Alice's father Daniel was a Civil War veteran, who from 1861 to 1862 served in the 10th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and died on Feb. 21, 1915 in the Chelsea Soldiers Home. He is buried in one of the Soldier's Home plots in Forest Dale Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts. Alice, as with her mother, died young on March 12, 1910 in Palmer, Massachusetts, just a few days after the birth her fifth child Philip. Her husband James died only three months later on June 14, 1910, and both James and Alice are buried in the Weeks family plot in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Hampden. Their children, ranging in age from an infant to 15-years old, were subsequently sent to live with friends and relatives.

children - WEEKS

Edward Carl Weeks (1894-1941) was born May 10, 1894 in Hampden Massachusetts. He had an ailment, possibly epilepsy, and was in an institution in Monson, Massachusetts from the time his mother died in 1910, possibly right up until his own death in Monson in March 1943. He is buried in the family plot in the Propsect Hill Cemetery in Hampden.

Albert Sidney Weeks (1897-1918) was born Aug. 2, 1897 in Hampden Massachusetts, and went overseas with the U.S. Army during WWI, where he was killed by machine gun fire in France on Aug. 9, 1918. He was serving as a corporal in the 4th Division, 47th Infantry Regiment, and he died during the Second Battle of the Marne. He is buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in Picardy, France (Plot B Row 14 Grave 21).

Hilda Rose Weeks (1899-1900) was born Sept. 27, 1899 in Hampden Massachusetts, and died on Sept. 2, 1900 in Hampden, a few days before her 1st birthday. She is buried in the family plot in the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Hampden.

Helen Louise Weeks (1902-1982) who follows:

Philip James Weeks (1910-1966) was born Feb. 20, 1910 in Palmer, Massachusetts. When Philip's parents both died shortly after his birth, he was sent at first to live with Charles and Nellie Hastings. Later, he went to live with Bertha Davis (nee Peasé) (1886-1966) and her first husband Frank Davis (1888-1930), who adopted him and changed his name to Philip Weeks Davis. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Interior Design, and worked from 1939 to 1942 as a saleman for the Paine Furniture Company of Boston. When WWII broke out, he served as a warrant officer in the U.S. Army, then returned to Paine Furniture after the war as an interior decorator, and remained there for the rest of his life.

Philip was gay, and died unmarried, after a short bout with kidney disease, on Dec. 24, 1966 at the New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He is almost certainly buried in the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Hampden, where both his parents and step-parents are buried. He is probably in grave #8 of the Weeks family plot, which is known to be have been vacant before he died.
Helen Louise Weeks (1902-1982), the daughter of James William Weeks and Alice Maud Smith, was born on March 12, 1902 in Palmer, Massachusetts. When both her parents died prematurely in 1910 in Palmer, Helen was placed in the care of her Sunday School teacher Jennie Effie Brainerd. She grew up in Palmer, and married her first husband Arthur Webster Harris on June 30, 1927 in Palmer. However, Arthur was several years older than she, and they divorced not long after the 1931 birth of their only child Jean Alice Harris (1931-2011). Helen then placed Jean in the care of family friend Bertha Cloon, and traveled all around the United States teaching cooking classes, until she married her second husband Navy officer Lt. Commander Lawrence "Larry" Earl Hall (1896-1970) in 1948 in Sparks, Nevada. The web page on Bertha Cloon has some more information on Helen and Jean, up until the time of this second marriage.

Larry, who was a career officer in the Navy, eventually got assigned to the Naval shipyards at Vallejo, California, which resulted in them moving to northern California. He and Helen eventually rented an old Victorian House that they moved to on Rockville Road in the orchards on the outskirts of Fairfield. Although Larry by now had retired from the Navy, he worked for a few more years as a corrections officer at the medical facility for the California state prison in nearby Vacaville.

Commander Hall died May 6, 1970 of a heart attack, when he was on a fishing trip in Chester, California, but his home at the time was still at the Rockville house. His ashes were scattered at sea, Helen's first husband Arthur Webster Harris remarried, and he died in New Hampshire, the year after Commander Hall passed on. He is buried at the Oxbow Cemetery in Newbury, Vermont. Helen stayed on at the Rockville house and died on April 22, 1982 in Fairfield, California. Her ashes were scattered at sea somewhere offshore of the resort community of Santa Cruz, California. Helen had two children, one from each marriage, who are listed below.

Helen's second husband Lawrence Hall had previously been married to Leah Nympha Walker (1897-1979), with whom he had four children - Robert Laurence Hall (1920-1979), Phyllis Leah Hall (1923-2010), George Harry Hall (1927-2007) and Harold Walker Hall (1930-2015). All four children married and had children of their own, Phyllis being married three times with her final husband being Wayne Babbitt McGinnis (1933-1992).

Of the first marriage (to Arthur Harris)

Jean Alice Harris (1931-2011), see Harris Genealogy

Of the second marriage (to Lawrence Hall)

Lynn (Toby) Weeks Hall (1945-2016) was born on June 12, 1945 in Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, and moved with his parents in the early 1950s to rural Solano County, where they lived near Fairfield in a two-story victorian house on old Highway 40. He then served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, and managed to stay in California when the Navy trained him as a heavy equipment operator, and stationed him at Port Hueneme, near Oxnard. He then married Ruby (Debbie) Lee Gray (b. Nov. 9, 1940) on Aug. 2, 1970 in Sacramento, California, not long after his Navy discharge.

Toby and Debbie lived initially in Fairfield, not far from his parents, and he got a job working as a heavy equipment operator for CalTrans (i.e., the California Dept. of Transportation). He eventually transferred with CalTrans to Susanville, but quit when he managed to got a job as a corrections officer at the state prison in Susanville, following in the footsteps of his father who had been a corrections officer at the state prison in Vacaville. Toby and Debbie later moved to the Reno and Sparks area of Nevada, where he worked at another prison, and finally to Gray's Harbor in Washington state where he retired. Debbie died after a long battle with Alzheimers disease on Feb. 25, 2009 in Aberdeen, Washington. Toby then married his second wife Colleen M. Devine on Dec. 18, 2014, probably in Aberdeen. He passed away on July 23, 2016 at the Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington due to complications from double bypass heart surgery. He is buried with a military headstone in the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Washington.

When Toby was in the Navy at Port Hueneme he had a daughter, Michelle Rebecca Colgate (born Aug. 31, 1967 in Oxnard), with Charlotte Moore (1943-2002). Then when he married Debbie, he also became stepfather to Debbie's four sons from her previous two marriages. Her first husband was Walter Edward Erwin (b. 1939), with whom she had one son - David Lee Erwin, who was born on Oct. 3 1958 in Napa, California. Her second husband was Lloyd James Vangundy (b. 1939), with whom she had three sons - John Vangundy, who was born on March 14, 1961 in Kellogg, Idaho, Daniel James Vangundy, who was born on April 5, 1962 in Fairfield, CA, and James Allen Vangundy, who was born on March 20, 1966 in the same city. Both Daniel and James eventually changed their surnames to Hall. Tragically, Daniel committed suicide on Sept. 30, 1998 in Sparks, Nevada. Toby's stepson John joined the Navy, and passed away on Oct. 15, 2011 in Aberdeen, Washington.

RELATED WEB SITES:

Jennie Brainerd

REFERENCES:

The documentation for many of the dates and places listed in this history are found in the Ancestry.com online databases (subscription required).
Amanda Lord in the Oster Family Tree on Ancestry.com.
Anderson, Carol Denise and Weeks, Sysan J. (1990), The Weeks family as we have found it, self published by Susan J. Weeks at Meredith & Gilmantown, New Hampshire, 180 p. A digital version of this book is available at familysearch.org. With regards to the history of the Weeks family prior to 1900, Anderson adds very little new information beyond what was already presented many decades before by Chapman (1889) and Cutter (1910).
- The author as deedaffyd1 maintains the Nicholas Wycke/Weeks family tree on Ancestry.com. However, some of the details in this tree for the lineage that interests us from Ward Cotton Weeks to James William Weeks do not seem to agree with family papers and public records, and need to be resolved.
Chapman, Jacob (1889) - Leonard Weeks of Greenland, N.H. and his Descendants, 1639-1888, Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers, New York, 184 p. This is the primary reference for Leonard Weeks of Greenland, and his descendants down to John Wingate Weeks (Generation V in the above lineage). Although Chapman continues the line of descent, the data for generations VI and VII (as defined above) is scant and in at least one instance incorrect. Fortunately for the lineage shown here, Cutter (1910) picks up where Chapman leaves off.
Cutter, William Richard (1910) - Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, v. II, p. 841-843. Cutter follows the specific branch of the Weeks family we are interested in and picks up where Chapman (1889) leaves off.
Grave and burial locations where known are listed with tombstone photos (when available) on
Lineage written by James L. Weeks c.1894-1898, with an 1898 note by his son James William Weeks, and additions by his grandson Philip James Weeks: family papers, 1 p.
Melinda Lord (Weeks) Warner Obituary: from an unknown newspaper.