Page:One of a thousand.djvu/652

 6 3 3 WEEKS. WEIL. Mr. Webber has done much to develop his native place. Largely to his energy are due the ample railroad accommodations enjoyed by his town. He has devoted much time and means to various benevo- lent and religious objects — the Village Improvement Society, public library, etc. He is treasurer of the Congregational church, and superintendent of the Sunday- school. He has always declined any politi- cal office, his business calling being more to his taste. WEEKS, ANDREW GRAY, son of Ezra and Hannah (Merrill) Weeks, was born in North Yarmouth, Cumberland county, Maine, June n, 1823. He obtained his early education in the public schools of Portland, Maine. In 1839 he went to Boston for employ- ment, and entered the apothecary store of Frederick Brown. He left this place in ANDREW G. WEEKS. 1841, engaging immediately with Smith & Fowle, remaining with them ten years, when he left and formed a co-partnership with his present partner, W. B. Potter, in the wholesale drug business. In 1847 Mr. Weeks was married in New York City to Harriet Pitt, daughter of Charles and Harriet (Pitt) Pierce. Of this union were four children : Harriet Emma (died in infancy), W, B. Potter, Andrew G., Jr., and Hattie P. Weeks (now Mrs. S. P. Anthony). Mr. Weeks is a member of the Massa- chusetts Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter. He has frequently been offered various posi- tions of honor and trust, his qualifications being well known and eagerly sought by those interested in securing his active co- operation. But his time and energies he wisely dedicates to his chosen work, and it is rarely he is found absent from the daily management of his own business. He is, however, a director in the Equitable Fire & Marine Insurance Company oT Provi- dence, R. I., and also of the Theological Library of Boston. He is a warden of Emmanuel church, and a member of sev- eral social clubs in the city of Boston, where he resides. WEIL, CHARLES, the son of Jacob and Theresa (Bruell) Weil, was born in Merz- bach, Bavaria, July 5, 1845. His parents emigrated to the United States when he was twelve years of age, and up to that time he had the advantage of the foreign schools. Circumstances were such that he could reap but little benefit from the edu- cational opportunities of this country. At the age of fourteen he left the English high school at Ann Arbor, Mich., in order to commence active business in a wholesale house in New York. At the age of seventeen he came to Bos- ton, and at nineteen, in connection with his present partner, Mr. Dreyfus, estab- lished the wholesale furnishing house, then as now known by the firm name of Weil, Dreyfus & Company. During the great fire of 1872 in the city of Boston, they were en- tirely burned out. Mr. Weil, however, was the first of the Boston merchants who re- paired to New York after the fire to re- place his stock, which fact called forth at the time a very flattering article in the " New York Herald " on the courage and energy of a firm whose loss was very large, and who were so little disheartened by such a calamity. Mr. Weil early became identified with the best interests of his adopted country, and has ever shown a keen interest in her cher- ished institutions. He is a thorough Ameri- can, and a staunch supporter of the princi- ples of the Republican party, and though in no sense a politician, his active interest in public affairs has often been recognized and his counsel sought by public men. The title of " Colonel " by which he is familiarly known, was derived from his holding that rank in the military staff of Gov. Ames.