Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/361

 Hon. William Dennis Weeks.

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��and friends, and the exercise of a lib- eral fnitli, tintranielled by partisan bonds or tiieoloiiical creeds. He died in 1858, having attained the age of 74 years, with the fullest respect of all who ever knew him.

His children, who all lived to man- hood and womanhood, were three sons and four daughters. The daugh- ters inherited the virtues of their par- ents, but have all gone to the "undis- covered country " save one, — Mrs. Persis F. Rice, now of Dublin, N. H. Martha E., with the devotion of a true woman, did what she could to relieve the sufferings of the wounded soldiers in the hospitals during the late civil war, and died, a martyr to her philanthroi)ic efforts, in Boston in 1873. The sons were Hon. James Wingate Weeks, still prominent in po- litical and business life, Hon. William Dennis Weeks, and John Weeks, ICsq., a resident of Buffalo, N. Y., and a successful and respected business man of that city. The subject of this sketch was born on the 28th day of February, 1818. The place of his birth is one of the most beautiful in all this beautiful country. It is so elevated that a fine view of the Pres- idential range in its entire extent, the Franconia and Pilot mountains, with the intervening woods, streams, ponds, farms, and villages, are spread out to the beholder ; and perhaps the gran- deur of this scenery, so constantly be- fore him in his boyhood, stamped upon his character some of its rugged elements of independence and sturdy manliness, softened and blended by their lights and shades.

His boyhood was mostly spent on the farm, doing the customary work incident to a hilly farm, where there

��was little to relieve the monotony of life excei)t the varied beauty of the distant hills, and the sport of the woods and streams then abounding with game and fish, and in the ath- letic games indulged in by the boys as they met at '' raisino;s," '^ loggiu";- bees," and the intermissions of school hours, in all of which he took an in- terest and excelled his mates.

At the district school he gained the rudiments of his education, and with attendance a number of terms at Lan- caster academy his school days ended. The academy was taught at that time by Nathaniel Wilson, its first priifCi- poZ, we used to say, who was suc- ceeded by Walter P. Flanders, and he by William H. Hadley. They were instructors well fitted for their duties. Young Weeks was not brilliant as a scholar, but he gained the respect of his teachers and associates by his ap- plication to ills studies, his manly qualities, and his unswerving integri- ty. In all the manly games he was champion, and in differences that might arise in the various matters that occur in school life he was often appealed to as an arbiter, and the justness of his decisions was never questioned.

During the winters he taught school in his own and other districts, g-ivinsf eminent satisfaction, for his education was founded on a solid basis, and faithfully and well he discharged his duties. Arriving at man's estate, he went solidly at work on the farm, and here showed his peculiar aptitude for agricultural pursuits by adopting the most advanced methods, procuring the best stock, which he tended and reared to the best advantage.

In 1839 political parties in town

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