Who Was John Parrish Weeks, the First?

John Parrish Weeks was a true Renaissance man. He was an attorney, a skilled woodworker, a township supervisor, a farmer, a lapsed Quaker--but still a religious man. He married another lapsed Quaker, Phebe, and carved a remarkable life for himself out of the Michigan wilderness of the mid-1800's.

He was my great-great grandfather. The line goes like this: John Parrish Weeks>John Irving Weeks>Eva Louise Weeks Knapp>Eliud John Knapp>Marcia Jane Knapp Krech. This makes him the great-great-great grandfather of my own children, Ben and Sarah.

My brother has the exact same eyes and forehead and is a skilled woodworker. My sister is an attorney. I don't know if I share any of the above-mentioned skills of John Parrish, but I share the drive that he must have possessed to take on the Michigan wilderness and make something out of it and his life. That drive and ambition I see in many of his descendants, now spread far and wide.

Below is a timeline of his life. I've pieced it together from many sources. It's merely a skeleton of his life. I wish it were possible to flesh out our perception of him. I may possess just such a possibility because I am the proud custodian of a Journal of his.

John P. Weekes
Memorandum & Account Book,
Grattan, Kent Co., Mich.
August 1, 1871

This book, covered in soft leather and written mostly in pencil, lists the many harvest rakes and chairs he sold to customers across Kent County. It contains a rather bleak religious tract that shows his religious fervor. It contains the legal advice he gave a client. I hope to scan and transcribe most of the pages of this book. It could bear more light on this complicated man.

Meanwhile, take a look at the bones of his life and see what you can make of the man. He was quite something, I think, even by today's standards.



7 Nov 1807
Birth
Dutchess County, NY

“His parents were of Quaker origin and about the year 1812 they went to Vermont where his father engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods, and where [he] acquired his education and prepared for the pursuits of life.”

1812
Moved to Vermont where John Parrish
acquired his education

“In Green Mountains, Vermont; there attended schools and colleges, became learned in two languages besides his own.”

1813 Mother - Margaret Weeks
Died Shoreham, Addison, Vermont

“By 1810 there was a village of about eight dwellings, five of which were log...”
From Kenneth Square website http://www.historickennettsquare.com/walkingtour.html

1832
Emigrated to Michigan
From Buffalo to Detroit
to Washtenaw County, Michigan

“He started for Michigan in 1832, and had General Scott for a fellow passenger from Buffalo to Detroit. He went to Washtenaw County, and after some time spent prospecting, purchased a farm near Chelsea, in Sylvan Township. He sold it in 1844...”



1835 1 Jan
Age: 27
Marriage to Phebe Young Beakes
Sylvan, Washtenaw Co., Michigan
West of Ann Arbor

Washtenaw County, Michigan Dibean Marriage Index
BEAKS & WEEKS, PHEBE YOUNG BEAKS, JOHN PARISH WEEKS, WASHTENAW, 01 JAN 1835

NOTE: The fact that John and Phebe's marriage is recorded in the secular records indicates they are lapsed Quakers. True Quakers never recorded their marriages publically, only within their religious community.



8 Oct 1835
Age: 27
Land Purchase in Washtenaw County, Michigan
U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907

15 Oct 1835
Age: 27
Land Purchase in Washtenaw County, Michigan
U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907

SON Ellwood
Born 9 Dec 1835

DAUGHTER Cecelia
Born 3 May 1837

3 Aug 1839
Land Purchase in Washtenaw County, Michigan
U.S. General Land Office Records,
1796-1907



1 Jun 1840
Superior, Washtenaw, Michigan
1840 United States Federal Census

SON Ellwood DIED 1840 - Age 5

DAUGHTER Margaret Ann
Born 5 May 1840
Sylvan Township, Washtenaw County

1 Aug 1841
Began
J.P.Weeks
Memorandum
& Account Book

1844
Sold Washtenaw Property

DAUGHTER Helen
Born 26 Aug 1842

DAUGHTER Mary Abigail
Born 26 Dec 1844

"Mary Abigail Weeks Byrne was but a small child when she was removed to Kent county, Mich., and located in Grattan. There her father took up 240 acres of land, almost all forest, wherein were deer and bears, and upon which was built their first home, a little log cabin, 16 X 20 Feet. There was neither a school-house nor a church in the vicinity where he settled..."
From: The City of Grand Rapids and Kent County, Mich.: containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens. A.W. Bowen & Co. [Logansport, Ind.]: A. W. Bowen, 1900.

1845
Bought Grattan Property



If you look closely, you can see the J. P Weeks name.



“He cleared and made from the wilderness on Sec. 25, Grattan a fine home from 1845 until death.”

DAUGHTER Henrietta A.
Born 30 Sep 1847

1847
Age: 40
Supervisor for Grattan Township

SON Ambrose Augustus
Born 14 Mar 1850
Grattan Township, Kent County

1850
Age: 43
Residence
Grattan, Kent, Michigan
* 1850 U. S. Federal Census

SON Romanzo
Alphonso Born 16 Jan 1853

SON John Irving
(My Great-Grandfather)
Born 8 Jan 1855
Grattan Township, Kent County

DAUGHTER Celestia A.
Born 18 Jul 1857

Daughter Cecelia
DIED 1857 - Age 28

DAUGHTER Grace Audie
Born 29 Sept 1859
Grattan Township, Kent County

“Having studied law he went far and near to plead the cause in early days; and being a cabinet maker he furnished the country with chairs and rakes which became justly celebrated.”



1860
Age: 53
Residence
Grattan, Kent, Michigan
* 1860 United States Federal Census

1870
Age: 63
Residence
Grattan, Kent, Michigan
* 1870 United States Federal Census



John P. Weekes
Memorandum & Account Book,
Grattan, Kent Co., Mich.
August 1, 1871

1874
Made chair for son John
Irving Weeks’ Marriage to
Jessie Florence Russell



7 Oct 1882
Age: 74
Death of John Parrish
Kent County, Michigan


1882
Burial
Mason Cemetery,
Kent County, Michigan

19 Jul 1899
Death of Phebe Beakes Weeks

1899
Burial next to husband
Mason Cemetery, Kent County, Michigan