I have a lot more than what's on this page.
To see my research notes (clues and rumors, etc) about William click here.
Born 17 May 1812 - According to The Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, OR (Dodge, 1898), William was born near Louisville, KY. Louisville is in Jefferson County (has not changed counties since William's birth). However, the book, Genealogical Material in Oregon Donation Land Claims, states that William was born in Nelson Co, KY.
I tend to trust the land claim, paperwork that William or his wife most likely completed, more than I trust a book written after William's death. Although Nelson County is not far from Jefferson County, given the mode of travel I would not say that Louisville is "near" - but that's a matter of opinion. So far I have only found one possible match for William's father in Nelson County - Abraham Weakly, in Nelson Co, KY in the 1810 and 1820 census records. (Alternate spellings were common in those days.)
Assuming that William was born in Nelson County, KY, then Abraham Weakly is probably his father. There is a record of a Nelson County, KY marriage of Abraham Weekley and Nancy Marks on 12 Apr 1802. That is 10 years before William was born.
In the 1880 Census record, William's father's birthplace is listed as Pennsylvania, and his mother's, Virginia. It was said that he was the youngest of three children. I wonder if this last detail, (published after his death in "The Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, OR" (Dodge, 1898). p. 98) is accurate, but even if it is, it's possible that William had only 2 full siblings in addition to half siblings.. There are more than three children in the census records for Abraham Weakly, some probably from a previous marriage(s). I believe that Nancy Marks is Nancy "Ann" Bull, who, according to Ancestry.com's OneWorld tree, married Isaac Marks, 21 Oct 1791 in Shenandoah Co, VA. JoanneIkeda50 at Ancestry.com lists the children as being 3 girls and a boy. The girls are named Betsy, Polly, and Susannah, and the boy, Isaac, born 10 Feb 1798. Given that Isaac Marks died in Nov 1798, Isaac was probably the youngest.
Isaac (the husband) died 10 Nov 1798, 3 years and 4 months before Nancy Marks married Abraham on 12 Apr 1802. He was a little bit younger than Nancy. I estimate Abraham's birth year to be between 1775-1784, while Nancy was born between 1766-1770, which would make her at least 4-5 years older than Abraham.
Abraham disappears from Nelson County, KY Census records after 1820, while Nancy can be found next door to her son, Isaac Marks, in the 1830 and 1840 Censuses in Nelson Co, Kentucky. Interestingly, Isaac's son (Nancy's grandson) was named Isaac Taylor, as was one of William and Irene Weekly's sons. I have found other connections of the Marks and Weekly families, which you can find in William Notes.under the subheading Marks Family.
Another possible lead I am working on is a man named John Weekley, who may prove to be William's father. It's possible that: 1) Nelson Co is not the correct birthplace for Wiliam; 2) there was another Weekly family that lived in Nelson Co, between the 1810 and 1820 Censuses, but was not there when either Census was taken.
14 March 1841 - William married Irene Jane Skaggs, in Jackson or Johnson County, Missouri. The record does not have any names of parents or personal information. It is difficult to read: State of Missouri [illegible word], County of Johnson, I, William White, preacher of the gospel do certify that I solemnized the Rites of Matrimony between William E Weekley and _ _ _ Skaggs on the 14th of March 1841. [illegible word under my hand this the 15th day of March 1841.
William White
On the left side is written Wm E Weekley and _ _ _ Skaggs.
They were possibly married in Jackson County, Missouri. In the Douglas County, Oregon land claim, it is stated that they were married In Jackson County. Also, the name of the preacher, William White, appears in the 1840 Census in Jackson County but not in Johnson County.
1850 Census: Fristo (Fristoe?), Benton County, Missouri
Listed as Wicklee - it's definitely them: William, 35, born in Kentucky, Irene, 26, born in Tennessee, and son John, 7, Born in Missouri.
I believe the location to be Township 40, Range 21-W, Section 29.
Click here to see a map of section 29. The land purchased by John S Weekly in 1849 was in section 29, the SE quarter of the NW quarter; and the SE quarter of the NE quarter. Adjacent land was purchased by Temperance Swift, who is listed as a next door neighbor of William and Irene in the 1850 Census. So I think that William and Irene were living on the land purchased by John S Weekly. I do not know whether it was purchased in the name of their 7 year old son, or if it was another relative of theirs.
They must have lost their daughter, Nancy Jane, and their son, Stephen, before the 1850 census. I got the birth dates of Nancy (born 1845) and Stephen (born 1849) from the notes of Verna Weekly, daughter of Jefferson Davis Weekly. I have no records of their deaths, but The Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, OR - (Dodge, 1898) stated that Nancy and Stephen were deceased. They do not appear in any census records with William and Irene. Isaac was born in 1850, but does not appear in the Census, because he was born after the cutoff date.
After leaving Missouri in 1853 (a journey of about 6 months), they arrived in Oregon in August, originally settling in Portland, Oregon. According to Irene's obituary, they stayed there for about a year. (I have read a different pioneer family's account that the Umpqua Valley was considered more fertile than the Willamette, so this may have been a reason for moving.) They settled in Tenmile, Douglas County, Oregon in 1854.
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From the book, Genealogical Material in Oregon Donation Land Claims, Vol 3: #761, Weekly, William E; Douglas co; b 1812 Nelson Co, Ky; Arr Ore 5 Aug 1853; SC [Settled Claim] 19th June 1854/ 1 Apr 1855; m Arene (Irene) Jane 14 Mar 1839, Jackson Co, Mo.
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In the book "History of Southern Oregon" by AG Walling, pg 289, Chapter: Indian Wars, (War of 1855/6) the name William Weekley is listed among the men of Company H, under Captain Samuel Gordon. Mustered at Roseburg, Nov 25, 1855. Discharged February 16, 1856.
I feel sure that this is "our" William. The spelling is wrong, but there were no other Weeklys (any spelling) in Oregon censuses for quite some time after William and Irene arrived, and Roseburg is near Tenmile.
Irene must have stayed at a fort during this time with the children: John, 12; Isaac Taylor, 5; Ursula, 2; and Mary, who was born in October 1855. There was a fort in Scottsburg (near Reedsport) and one in Jacksonville. I have not looked into the possibility that there were other locations, and I don't know where they went. Most residents in the area fled to a fort, according to Walling.
"Pioneer History" by Orvil Dodge, states that William was compelled to leave his home in 1855 on account of the Indian outbreak, and returned the next year to find his place in ashes.
From what I have read in Walling's "Oregon History" book, it seems that men from Company H stood guard where needed. I have yet to find any accounts of conflicts that involved Company H, nor any deaths.
While there would have been opportunities to "reenlist", I don't find William's name on other records of recruits at later dates. The records are incomplete, though. William was older than most who were volunteering. Most were in their early 20's, while William was 43 in 1855.
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The Eighteen Mile House
While living near Roseburg in Tenmile, Douglas Co, Oregon, the Weeklys conducted the Eighteen Mile House (stage station) until about 1873 (moving to Gravelford, Coos County). See reference to the Weekly place in Tenmile below in the comments from William P. Mast.
Queen Victoria Krantz's obituary (she married Willliam and Irene's son, Isaac Taylor Weekly) reads: "In coming into Coos county, Miss Krantz who was the oldest child, drove a team of mules, the second team that ever came into Coos county over the Coos Bay Wagon Road. The family had camped at the 18 Mile House, that distance west of Roseburg and had been waiting 6 weeks for the opening of the road."
Edmund Weekly's obit reads, "The house in which he was born was known for many years at [as] the Eighteen Mile House stage station."
Click above to read about the land and see photos.
The Weeklys and the Coos Bay Wagon Road:
In company with Captain Harris, Marple, Wat Bagley, Martin Davis, William Jackson and R.M. Gurney, [William Weekly] helped to locate the trail known as the Old Coos Bay trail, from the Weekly place through to the South Fork of the Coos river. (-Pioneers of Coos and Curry Counties, Oregon (Dodge, 1898), pg 98)
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From "Pioneers of Coos and Curry Counties, Oregon" (Dodge, 1898) these are accounts that mention the Weekly place and the trail that eventually became the Coos Bay Wagon Road:
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About April 25th, 1872, the subject of this sketch, William P. Mast, with his family, and several other families, numbering about sixty-six persons besides the little children, set their faces westward, from western North Carolina, bound for [Oregon]....In course of time they arrived, by the accommodation of the "Emigrant Car", at the City of Sacramento; from there to Red Bluff and then by wagon twenty miles out into the country where they camped and proceeded to invest in horses and wagons to continue [to Oregon]. After a long, tedious journey, with wagons piled high with trunks, boxes, etc., they pulled up at the foot of the Coast Range, in Douglas county, at what was then Wm. Weeklie's farm, about June 10, 1872, where they pitched their tents and the head of the families proceeded on horseback to explore the wilds of Coos county.
... The Coos Bay wagon road was not opened when we first arrived but was during that year.
p. 406
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In the latter part of June, 1866, the writer, in company with Rev. W.M. Palmer, started from Douglas county to Coos river. There was no wagon road from Weekly, in Douglas county to our destination, nothing but a mountain trail and very poor at that.
-C.B. Marsters (writing for Orvil Dodge's book), p. 454
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1860 Census: Tenmile, Douglas County, Oregon
1870 Census: Ten Mile Precinct, Douglas County, Oregon
1872 - Coos Bay Wagon Road opened.
1873 - Moved to Coos County, Oregon. Interestingly, in the 1880 Census you will find their daughter, Ursula, her husband, Innis Rose (married in '72), as well as William and Irene's sons, Isaac (Taylor), John, and Edward living in Missouri Precinct in the same area as William and Irene, who still have the three youngest boys at home. In fact their daughter Mary was the only child of theirs who did not live in Missouri Precinct at that time. James and Angeline Bright, parents of their future daughter-in-law, Mary (who married Robert), lived there as well.
A land record shows that William obtained property in Coos County from the Government on 3/30 1882 (28S, 11W, section 30, aliquot parts 7, 8, 9, 10 on the East Fork of the Coquille River - click on "property" above to see the map. In section 30, William pretty much owned every lot south of the Coquille River.
I ordered the file on this land from National Archives. There is no genealogical information in the paperwork...
Affidavits were filled out from John S Weekly, William and Irene's son; and Innis E Rose, husband of Ursula Weekly, William and Irene's daughter.
Factoids include:
Price paid for the land: $15.02
Crops grown: Corn, wheat, oats, barley, tobacco, and "all kinds of garden stuff".
The date of residence was given as "about the last day of October" 1873, according to William.
According to John's affidavit (Innis Rose's is essentially the same), the first house was built the summer after they went there. Improvements to the property included 2 barns, 75 acres cleared, 30 acres in cultivation, an orchard. About 50 acres fenced. Total value of the improvements, about $1500.00.
William estimated the improvements differently: nearly 100 acres cleared, about 50 acres in farm, an orchard. He notes: the house that I know [now] live in was built about 3 years ago. My first house was built as soon as I went there.
I found a real estate listing on Weekly Creek, and it said that there was a Myrtlewood forest there. Weekly Creek was later said to be on his son Robert's property, so he may have inherited part of the land or obtained a lot that included another part of the same creek). Here is a link to Weekly Creek on Mapquest. This is probably a better map to the area, though.
The Homestead Act allowed people to obtain land after homesteading on it for 5 years. The paperwork was submitted in a timely fashion, but the land was not granted to William from BLM until they had been there for 9 years. There was a backlog on land grant paperwork at the time and it was common for it to take years to complete the process.
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What was it like in the Missouri Precinct in 1873? I found a story entitled "The Sturdivant Homestead" in the publication "Early Day Stories" by Coos-Curry Pioneer Historical Association, 1944-45 [Story] Contest. The Studivants also arrived in 1873,the same year that William and Irene moved there. The Sturdivants were close neighbors of the Weekly family.
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1880 Census: Missouri Precinct (also called GravelFord), Coos County, Oregon.
Re: William, in the disability column it says "BrainFvr" - Brain Fever?
23 November 1889: William died in Gravelford, Coos County, Oregon.
William is buried at Dora Cemetery, Dora, Coos County, Oregon.
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From "The Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, OR", Dodge, 1898. p. 98:
Weekly, William Elze, was born near Louisville, Ky., May 17, 1812, and was the youngest of three children. By trade he was a mill wright. He came to Oregon in 1853. In 1854, through the misrepresentation of others, he sunk $600 [adjusted for inflation, this is about $14,000 in 2006] in the Randolph mines*. On the old Weekly place, in the Ten-mile precinct, he built one of the first saw mills in Douglas county. In company with Captain Harris, Marple, Wat Bagley, Martin Davis, William Jackson and R.M. Gurney, he helped to locate the trail known as the Old Coos Bay trail, from the Weekly place through to the South Fork of the Coos river. In 1855 he was compelled to leave his home on account of the Indian outbreak. On his return the next year he found his place in ashes. He was one of the share holders and contractors in the Coos Bay wagon road, which was opened for travel in 1872. He moved to his farm at Gravel Ford, and remained there until his death, which took place Nov. 23, 1889. His wife's maiden name was Irene Jane Skaggs, and they were married in 1841. Their children's names are John Samuel, Nancy Jane (deceased), Isaac Taylor, Ursula, Stephen (deceased), Mary, Francis**, Edmund E., Jefferson D., Robert L., and William Elze.
*The Randolph Mines were gold mines that initially seemed promising.
**Francis was just Mary's middle name.
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Books that mention William and his family:
Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, by Orvil Dodge, 1898
The Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1911, by Joseph Gaston - two of William's sons are featured, and there is some detail about William and Irene.
Pioneers and Incidents of the Upper Coquille Valley, by Wooldridge - contains edited obituaries of many individuals from William's family, including Irene. William died in 1889, and the book starts with 1890.
