ALANSON S. WEEKS, Allegan Village, Allegan Co., Michigan

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History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, with Illustrations and 
Biographical Sketches of their Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co.  1880.  Press of J. B. Lippincott & 
Co., Philadelphia.
 
Alanson S. Weeks, son of Samuel and Susannah Weeks, was born at 
Wheelock, Calidonia Co., Vt., Jan. 10, 1812.  He received such an 
education as the meagre facilities of that day afforded, and at the age 
of fourteen he was apprenticed to the trade of a painter and 
chair-maker, serving his time with one Ira Church.  In the spring of 
1834, in company with his brother, Corydon, he started for Michigan; 
their conveyance was a horse and buggy; the journey occupied some four 
weeks, and was devoid of any incidents worthy of mention.  The arrived 
in Detroit on the 12th of August, 1834, where they attended the funeral 
obsequies of Governor Porter, the last of the territorial Governors of 
Michigan.
  After a short rest they started West, their point of destination 
being Kalamazoo, then known as Bronson.  Here Mr. Weeks remained during 
the autumn and winter, working at his trade.  In the spring of 1835 he 
made his first visit to Allegan, and, being favorably impressed with 
its natural advantages, decided to make it his home.  He purchased a 
farm on section 5, in the town of Trowbridge, and returned to 
Kalamazoo, where he remained until the spring of 1836, when he 
purchased property in the village of Allegan and made a permanent 
settlement.  The following year (1837) he was married to Miss Harriet 
N. Peckham.  She was also a native of Vermont, and was born in 1819 in 
Franklin County.  About 1827 her father removed to Canada, and in 1836 
she came to Michigan in company with her brother-in-law, J. P. Austin. 
 She was a noble type of the pioneer woman, and endured cheerfully all 
the hardships and deprivations of the early days.  She died in 1855, at 
the age of thirty-six years, leaving her husband and four children to 
mourn her loss, the youngest being a babe of two months.  For seven 
years the father filled the place of mother and nurse, attending to his 
household duties after his day's work was done.  To his children he has 
been a father in all that the name implies; he early taught them 
lessons of morality, industry, and thrift, and to him they are largely 
indebted for the enviable position they hold among the representative 
man of Allegan County.
  The eldest son, William C., enlisted as a private in the spring of 
1862, in Company I, Fifth Michigan Cavalry.  He participated in many of 
the decisive battles of the war, and was wounded in the battle of Five 
Forks, where he lost a foot; he was taken prisoner, and was confined in 
"Libby Prison" from March, 1864, to August of the same year.  In July, 
1865, he was mustered out, and returned to Allegan, where he has since 
resided.  In 1868 he was elected register of deeds; he discharged his 
duties with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people, 
and in 1871 was re-elected to the same postion.  He has been closely 
identified with the interests of Allegan, and was elected president of 
the village in 1876.  The second son, Harrison S., entered the military 
academy at West Point at the age of eighteen, graduating with honor at 
the age of twenty-two, and was comissioned as second lieutenant in the 
Eight United States Cavalry.  He is at present stationed at Fort Union, 
New Mexico.  The third son, Harold C., learned the business of a 
druggist, but by reason of ill health turned his attention to real 
estate.  In 1870 he bought the abstract records of Allegan County, and 
is at present associated with his elder brother, William C.  In 
connection with their abstract business, they are extensively engaged 
in agricultural operations and breeding Durham cattle, their stock 
being from some of the best herds in Kentucky.  They own a fine farm of 
several hundred acres, about two and a half miles from Allegan village. 
 In his political affiliations the elder Weeks was originally an 
Old-Line Whig, but identified himself with the Republican party upon 
its formation; the three boys each cast their first Presidential vote 
for the immortal Lincoln, and are the staunchest of staunch 
Republicans.  Socially, Alanson S. Weeks in genial and courteous, 
winning the regard and esteem of all.  He is everywhere known as a man 
of unquestioned integrity and honesty.  He has many of the virtues and 
but few of the faults of humanity, and is one of those whose 
identification with any community is always productive of good.  He has 
witnessed and has been identified with the many changes in Allegan 
history, and while his life has been comparatively uneventful, the 
position he holds among those who in the early days laid the foundation 
for the present wealth and prosperity of Allegan County, and the part 
he has taken in its development, are creditable alike to himself and 
his posterity.