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Saturday, November 17, 2018

Surname Saturday ~ WEEKS of Greenland, New Hampshire

The Weeks Brick House
built circa 1710 by Samuel Weeks, my 9th great uncle


WEEKS / WEEKES /  WICKES

Much of the information about my 9th great grandfather, Leonard Weeks (1633 – 1707) is from an 1889 book.  Not many people realize that this information has been researched, updated, and published at the journal of the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.  See below for the information on this book and the journal article. There is also an active Weeks family association that maintains updates on the family genealogy (see below for links to the family association webpage.)

Leonard Weeks is of unknown origins, but he was born about 1633, probably in England, and first appears a Maine record as a witness in 1655.  By 29 June 1656 he received his first grant of land in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  In 1660 he received more acreage, and by February 1660/61 he had settled in what is now the town of Greenland, on the Winnicut River
. 
My ancestor married three times.  First to a daughter of Deacon Samuel Haines, then to Mary Redman, the daughter of John Redman, and third to a woman known only as “Elizabeth”.  He had eight children with Mary Redman, my 9th great grandmother. 

In 1655 the court found Leonard Weeks guilty of swearing and fined him 10 shillings plus court fees of 3 shillings.  However, he must have been respected in the community because the very next year he was elected selectman, and later as the constable and as the sheriff.  His seat in the church at Portsmouth was “No. 4 in front of the pulpit”. 

I descend from his son Joshua Weeks (1674 – 1758) who married Comfort Hubbard.  My 8th great grandparents had nine children and lived in Greenland.  Comfort was the sister of Thomas Hubbard, a wealthy resident of Boston and treasurer of Harvard College.  They lived on the “Bay Side” of Greenland. Joshua was the colonel of the local militia, and was also a justice of the peace.  
In the next generation I descend from the eldest daughter, Mary Weeks (about 1700 – 1765) who married Jonathan Chesley, and they resided in nearby Durham, New Hampshire.

The Weeks Brick House was built by Samuel Weeks, son of Leonard Weeks and brother of Joshua, in 1710 in Greenland, New Hampshire is operated by the Weeks family association, as a organizational member of Historic New England.  This is one of the earliest brick homes build in New England.  It is open for tours by appointment 603-436-8147. See the website www.weeksbrickhouse.org    The family association has an annual family reunion every September.  The WEEKS DNA project is at this link:  https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/weeks-weekes-wicks/about  

Some WEEKS resources:

Leonard Weeks, of Greenland, N. H. & Descendants, 1639 – 1888, by Jacob Chapman, 1889 (available online at HathiTrust, Archive.org, and at Ancestry).

“New Thoughts on the Family of Leonard Weeks”, by Janet Ireland Delorey and Melinda Lutz Sanborn, New Hampshire Genealogical Record,  Vol. 19, Numbers 2 and 3, April and August 2002.

The Leonard Weeks and Descendants in America, a family association  www.weeksbrickhouse.org  and their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WeeksBrickHouse/  

My WEEKS genealogy:

Generation 1:  Leonard Weeks, born about 1633 in England; died about 1707 in Greenland, New Hampshire; married about 1667 to Mary Redman, his second wife, daughter of John Redman and Margaret Knight.  She was born 15 December 1649 and died about 1694.  Eight children. 

Generation 2: Joshua Weeks, born 30 June 1674 in Greenland, and died 13 June 1758 in Greenland; married on 7 November 1699 in Boston, Massachusetts to Comfort Hubbard, daughter of Richard Hubbard and Martha Allen.  She was born 17 January 1682 and died 20 March 1756.  Nine children.

Generation 3:  Mary Weeks, born about 1700 in Greenland, died about July 1765; married on 17 November 1720 in Greenland to Jonathan Chesley, son of Phillip Chesley and Sarah Rollins.  Three children.

Generation 4:  Comfort Chesley m. Stephen Perkins
Generation 5:  Mary Perkins m. Nathaniel Batchelder
Generation 6:  Jonathan Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson
Generation 7:  George E. Batchelder m. Abigail M. Locke
Generation 8:  George E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson
Generation 9:  Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen
Generation 10:  Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ WEEKS of Greenland, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 17, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/11/surname-saturday-weeks-of-greenland-new.html: accessed [access date]). 

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