Mary Appolonia WEEKS

by Karen Yvonne Hamilton, 2024

Most of this bio is excerpted from my book, Lostmans Heritage: Pioneers of the Florida Everglades.

Mary Appolonia WEEKS was born in July 1859 in Everglades City, Florida, to Sarah Ann MERCER  (1842-1865) and John Leon WEEKS (1832-1900).

Sarah Ann Mercer was the mother of Elizabeth (Lizzie) Raulerson (Lizzie’s father was Jacob Raulerson) AND Mary Appalonia (Mary’s father was John Weeks). Mary Appalonia’s half sister (Lizzie) became her stepMOTHER when Lizzie married John Weeks.

Most in the family from that time period remember her being called ‘Apolony’ most of the time. Other variants on her name include Abelona Christian, Mary Agnes Weeks, and Appollonia, Apolonia.

Mary was the daughter of Cape Sable pioneer John Weeks and Sarah Mercer. Sarah brought two daughters, Martha, born 1856, and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzy), born 1858, from her marriage to first husband, Jacob Raulerson. John Weeks would later tell William Allen Smith that Sarah was a “widdah.” However, further research shows that Jacob Raulerson actually did not die until June of 1886, so he was still living (and remarried) when Sarah Mercer and John Weeks married in 1858. 

Family records indicate that Appalonia Mary Agnes Frances was born in 1863 and her sister, Sarah Jane was born in 1865 to Sarah Mercer Raulerson. 

Mary Appolonia married George L. Christian in Monroe, Florida, on October 4, 1877, when she was 18 years old.

We don’t know much about Mary Appolonia’s first husband, Christian other than that most records list his place of birth as Norway. In 1885, Mary had a daughter, Nina Hamilton, while residing in Pine Level. As Mary was living with Richard as a boarder at that time, it is unclear just who Nina’s father was, or even if Mary was her mother. The child has Richard’s last name.

In 1880, George and Mary lived in Key West.

Mary Appolonia married Richard Edward HAMILTON in 1881 when she was 22 years old.

I am reminded by a family member that “pickins’ was slim in those days.” A little bit southwest of the entrance to Chatham River lies Mormon Key. The story lives on to this day that Mormon Key was so named because of Richard Hamilton and his multiple wives. 

Richard and Mary’s children were:

*Walter Joseph Valentine 1880-1957

*Eugene Joseph (King Gene) 1883-1966

*John Leon 1885-1964

*Mary Elizabeth 1888-1968

*Ann Elizabeth 1893-1953

*Mary Agnes 1895-1970

Richard and Mary raised their brood on a string of islands south of Chokoloskee and down to Lostmans River, which is located a bit north of Key West. In 1900, they lived in Chokoloskee.

In 1910, Mary was living on Summerland Key with two of her teenage daughters, an adopted son, Marion McCloud, and a hired man, William Bayley. Richard is nowhere to be found.

Mary Appolonia WEEKS died on September 13, 1917, in Florida when she was 58 years old. She was buried under a Poinciana tree on one of the islands in the Everglades.

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SOURCES:

Ancestry .com; US Census Records; Florida State Archive, Tallahassee and clerk of courts, various counties; Tallahassee, Florida; Florida, County Marriages, 1823-1982; Copeland Papers: “History of the 10,000 Islands etc.” 1927, p. 1085; Brown, Faye. Weeks Family Connection.