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��Hon. William Dennis Weeks.
��Wingate, James Brackett, Mary Wig- gin, and Sally Brackett Weeks. These were all born in Greenland except the last named, who was born in Lan- caster in 1789, married Edwards Buck- nara, and is still living.
Capt. John Weeks was a man of much physical and mental ability. He was captain of a company or- ganized for the defence of the colony, and was called with his company to the defence of Portsmouth from an anticipated attack by the British upon that place during the Revolution. He had prior to that period been on hunt- ing and exploring expeditions north- erly into what is now Maine, and into the " Cohos country." In 1786 he sold his farm in Lee and came to Lancaster, " taking up tvvf) rights" of land in the beautiful and fertile val- ley of the Connecticut, where he built his log house and commenced clearing the land. The next year he returned to Lee and brought his fam- ily to their new home, which has dur- ing nearly all these years been in the name. Capt. Weeks was promi- nent in the affairs of his adopted town, and was a delegate from the Upper Cohos to the convention which met at Exeter to ratify the constitu- tion of the United States. He died very suddenly at Wakefield, in 1818, while on a journey to Portsmouth.
Hon. John Wingate Weeks was for many years one of the foremost men in the state. He was an original and active thinker, a man of fine presence and genial temperament. ^He com- bined the trade of joiner with farm- ing, but on the breaking out of the war of 1812 was appointed to a cap- taincy in the 11th Regiment U. S. A., and served under Gen. Brown in the
��Canadian campaigns, was conspicu- ous for his gallantry and bravery, and commissioned major for heroic con- duct at Chippewa. At the close of the war he resigned his commission in the army and retired to his farm, intending to devote his time to his farm and books ; but he was succes- sively elected county treasurer, sher- iff, senator from the 12th district, appointed in 1828 one of the commis- sioners to establish the boundary line between New Hampshire and Maine (Hon. Ichabod Bartlett being the other New Hampshire commissioner), and served in congress two terms, from 1829 to 1833. He declined all further political preferment, and lived until his death, which occurred in 18o3, upon the farm which his father cleared. He wrote a good deal upon various topics, was consulted upon grave political questions l»y the active leaders of his party, dispensed a lib- eral hospitality, and at his death was sadly missed l)y all.
James Brackett Weeks, than whom a nobler man in his station of life never lived, soon after attaining his majority, jiurchased a lot of land on the southerly slope of what is now called Mt. Prospect, the most easter- ly of the three Martin Meadow Hills, and commenced at once work upon it. He soon after married Miss Betsey Stanle}', a daughter of Lieut. Dennis Stanley, one of the early settlers of the town, a woman who inherited the virtues of constanc}' and vigor, and withal those of sound sense and wo- manly grace, from her parents. The life of Mr. Weeks was one of unob- trusive goodness and charity. He sought no political honor, preferring the quiet of his home, with his family
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