John Leon WEEKS was born in September 1832 in Beaufort, South Carolina to John WEEKS (1790-1844 b. Carteret, NC) and Margarita BENNETT (1794-1843 b. Carteret, NC).

He was married three times and had 13 sons and five daughters.

He married Deborah Tanner in Hillsborough, Florida, on June 22, 1852, when he was 19 years old.

He then married Sarah Ann MERCER in 1858 when he was 26 years old.

He married his step-daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” RAULERSON in Monroe, Florida, on March 18, 1878, when he was 45 years old.

FROM THE BOOK Lostmans Heritage: Pioneers in the Florida Everglades: “Mary Appolina is the daughter of Cape Sable pioneer John Weeks and Sarah Mercer. Sarah brought two daughters, Martha and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzy) into the marriage after her first husband, Jacob Raulerson died. The family records indicate that Appalonia Mary Agnes Frances was born in 1863 and her sister, Sarah Jane was born in 1865. In 1862, John Weeks and his wife, Sarah sailed down the west coast from Cedar Key and settled at Chokoloskee Bay with Martha, Lizzy, and their baby daughter, Mary. Sarah died there a few years later giving birth to Sarah Jane, called ‘Sally’ by the family. Some years later, when Mary and Sally were older, John Weeks married his stepdaughter, Lizzy, and they had seven children: Mathew, David, Josephine, William, Alfred, John, and Mary Elizabeth.”

Copeland Papers: “History of the 10,000 Islands etc.” 1927

John was baptized at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Key West in 1876 when he was 46 years old.

From the book “Florida’s Last Frontier” by Charlton Tebeau: “John Weeks is elsewhere described as a Union sympathizer who took refuge in Key West during the War between the States. He was among a number of persons who located at Cape Sable to produce vegetables for the town of Key West.”  

“Florida’s Last Frontier” by Charlton Tebeau

He died on December 11, 1900, in Collier, Florida, at the age of 68, and was buried in the Rosemary Cemetery in Naples, Florida.

READ MORE in this article, “Who was the first settler of present day Collier County?”

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SOURCES:

Ancestry .com; US Census Records; Florida State Archive, Tallahassee and clerk of courts, various counties; Tallahassee, Florida; “Florida’s Last Frontier” by Charlton Tebeau; Copeland Papers: “History of the 10,000 Islands etc.” 1927, p. 1085; Brown, Faye. Weeks Family Connection.