William Henry Weekes was one of four of the children of Edward Fullerton Weekes and Mary Jane (McAuley) who missed getting included in the 1891 family portrait that appears on this site. And unless he is in one of the Mystery photos, we have no other record of what he looked like. (One theory is that he might be in Mystery Photos three and four.)
In 1893, at the age of 34 he left Ontario to go to Boissevain, Manitoba, along with Robert Willis.
Boissevain, which has a population of about 1500 in 2003, is located in southwest Manitoba, 25 km from the US border and 75 km south of Brandon. Boissevain has a web site (http://www.boissevain.ca/heritage/) which provides more information about the community. The web site includes a photograph of the main street which may have been taken during the time that William was there.
The Boissevain Library Archivists did a search through their files for us, and found the attached clipping from the Globe newspaper, about William's death. They also found his death certificate in the municipal files. Dr. F.L. Scuaffner reported that the cause of death was "heart disease (one year)". The certificate records his religion as Methodist, and his occupation as farmer. The certificate lists him as 49 years old, but in fact he was 51 when he passed away.
The archivists searched homestead records and local history indexes, and could not find any record of land that William may have owned. Either he purchased land privately, or may have been working for someone else.
There were two newspapers in Boissevain in the time period 1893-1910, the Boissevain Recorder and the Boissevain Globe. Microfilm copies of the newspapers are available through interlibrary loan from the Provincial Archives of Manitoba, and can be searched for other references to William Henry Weekes at some point in the future.
An interesting note for William is that he appears in the 1901 Census as a resident at the home of John A. and Hannah Weekes. We know that he was in Manitoba in the 1890s, and passed away there in 1910. It would appear that he was back in Ontario in 1901.
R.Weekes, April 2003
