Identifying Brothers for Harriet C. Howard
As noted in this post, I had a good tip that Harriet C Howard (b. 1820 SC d. 1892 FL), the wife of Seth Howard, was born “Harriet Weeks.”
In addition, I reviewed all the lands applied for through the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 (an index of those applications can be found here) and I noted all those applied for by anyone with the surname “Weeks”. I mapped out the parcels in Hillsborough County, Florida - specifically Simmons Hammock where Seth and Harriet Howard had initially settled after getting married. The results are shown below.
This map is a compilation of the survey maps found on the Bureau of Land Management website for (1) Township 28 South, of Range 20 East, (2) Township 29 South, of Range 20 East, (3) Township 28 South, of Range 21 East, and (4) Township 29 South, of Range 21 East and then the various homesteads were platted on the map using the townships, ranges, and aliquots noted on the various land patents by this researcher.
Plotting these land parcels certainly showed a connection - at least geographically - between Seth Howard and various men with the surname “Weeks”. Of course, I was quite interested in Thomas, William, and John Weeks — both individually and how they might be related to one another and if they were also related to Harriet C Howard, the wife of Seth Howard. This ‘case study’ will review the documents found in the Hillsborough County probate records for these men which will help determine their relationships with each other, as well as with Seth Howard, and will provide solid genealogical proof of three brothers of Harriet Howard — and all without ever mentioning her even once by name! So, here we go:
John Weeks died in 1844 - more on this in a later blog post. I ended up finding out quite a lot of information about John Weeks and his death, but at this point in my research, I just knew that he had passed away between July 20, 1842 when he applied for land under the Armed Occupation Act and August 1, 1849, when his heirs were given the patent for the same parcel of land:
United States, Florida; Armed occupation act settlers records, 1842-1843; Land permits, Knight, John, no. 171-Z The following are not found in index: Abandoned or annulled permits Notices, refusals; acceptances, land claims, permits and surveys; Film # 008570270; Images 1497-1498 of 1768; Land Application 883 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3Q1-N9H3-7?i=1496&cat=540006)
Next, I found a record from 1845 stating that William Weeks had been named the administrator for the estate of John Weeks:
"Florida Probate Records, 1784-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9QY-WSMP?cc=2046765&wc=QCLF-L24%3A350466701%2C350529701 : 20 May 2014), Hillsborough > Administration records 1847-1901 > image 23 of 213; county courthouses, Florida.
I reviewed the estate index for Hillsborough County and none was listed for John Weeks. So, that was all the information that I had for the time being on John Weeks. I wasn’t sure if he was a brother to William Weeks or a son or a father.
Thus, I began researching William Weeks. He married Roxy Ann Platt in 1847.
In 1854, Roxeann Weeks was named the administratrix for the estate of William Weeks.
"Florida Probate Records, 1784-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89QY-W92R?cc=2046765&wc=QCLF-L24%3A350466701%2C350529701 : 20 May 2014), Hillsborough > Administration records 1847-1901 > image 32 of 213; county courthouses, Florida.
Again, there was no estate packet for William Weeks, but there were multiple filings with the Probate Court on behalf of his estate. Those can be found here and here and here. The final accounting of his estate lists all seven of his living children at the time of the distribution of the estate and John Weeks was listed as the guardian of William’s infant children (i.e., under the age of legal majority at the time, which was 21). Levy and John Weeks.
"Florida Probate Records, 1784-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89QR-R33H?cc=2046765&wc=QCLX-SP8%3A350466701%2C350534301 : 20 May 2014), Hillsborough > Inventories 1846-1859 and 1885-1893 vol A-B > image 67 of 567; county courthouses, Florida.
So, to recap: (1) William Weeks had been the administrator for the estate of John Weeks in 1845, (2) John Weeks was named a legal guardian of two of William Weeks’ children in 1856, and (3) one of William’s children was named John Weeks. With this in mind, I began to theorize that the John Weeks who died in 1844 was likely William’s father or uncle and the John Weeks named as a guardian of William’s sons, Levy and John Weeks, in 1856 was likely a brother.
Next, I began researching Thomas Weeks. Finally, I was in luck - he had a probate packet (i.e., an Estate Case File) that can be reviewed here. He died sometime between May 1855 and July 24, 1855 (I determined this by examining each item contained within Thomas Weeks’ probate packet and noting the last date on which he was alive and the first date that probate proceedings began).
Thomas P Kennedy is the administrator of the estate of Thomas Weeks of Hillsborough County who died in 1855 and was married to Mary Jane Burnett.
Thomas P Kennedy had a law firm, Kennedy & Darling, and he practiced with John Darling. He also owned a mercantile with Antoine Wordehoff named Kennedy & Wordehoff. Through my research on Thomas P Kennedy, I can find no familial connection between him and Thomas Weeks. However, Thomas Weeks did owe Kennedy & Wordehoff over $21 at the time of his death and Thomas P Kennedy was a lawyer, so maybe this was standard practice for him to work as the administrator on an estate that owed money to his mercantile.
Page 23 of the probate packet linked above showing the amount owed by Thomas Weeks to the mercantile owned by Kennedy and Darling.
After reviewing just the first 10 pages of the Old Administration 1847-1901 book of the Probate records of Hillsborough County, Florida, I found multiple examples of either Thomas P Kennedy or John Darling acting as administrator for various estates, so I believe that this is why T.P. Kennedy acted as administrator for Thomas Weeks’ estate: to make sure the debt to him was paid plus to collect the administrator’s fee.
Thomas P Kennedy died before the final settlement of the estate of Thomas Weeks. After his death in August 1858, it appears that John Darling and Henry Proseus were appointed as the administrators of the estate of Thomas P Kennedy and they immediately began to settle the estate of Thomas Weeks by paying the outstanding vouchers in September of 1858 and the final settlement was made in December of 1858.
I did not alter the order of the probate packet although the pages have been cropped for easier reading and duplicate scans of various pages have been omitted. The order of the pages does not fit into a linear timeline and the pages are not in an order that tells the story of this record in the best way possible, but I will try to make the correlations as easy and obvious as possible for the reader.
On the first page of the probate packet, Thomas Weeks’ date of death is left blank. His “widow and relic” is described as a “minor”. And, per her age, yes she is. Interestingly, she was married to Thomas Weeks shortly after her 14th birthday, but by the time of the administration of his probate, she was 17 and the mother of one child, but is still considered a minor. Her father, Labourn Burnett had already died, and he was not available to administer Thomas Weeks’ estate for her.
Also, on the first page, Thomas P Kennedy notes that he advertised his intention to apply for the letters of administration for the estate of Thomas Weeks and that he has been doing so for the past six weeks with no objections filed. The date of said application is September 4, 1855. Thus, he began advertising by July 24, 1855, at the very latest. This indicates that Thomas Weeks had died by July 23, 1855, at the very latest.
On page 5, the items to be auctioned from the estate are listed. Of interest is the “undivided claim of the widow’s inheritance”. It is also noted that the auction will be held at the home of Thomas Weeks, the deceased. Page 9 gives the accounting of the items sold. Multiple items were purchased by John Weeks. Other purchasers include Daniel McLeod and Matthew Burnett, who is Thomas Weeks’ brother-in-law. The entire accounting is labeled as having occurred in Alafia, Hillsborough County and as we know, it was to take place at Thomas Weeks’ home, so he lived in Alafia before his death. The amount of $50.50 matches the final settlement provided by Darling and Proceus on Page 3 of the probate packet.
On page 15, James J Wilson and Seth Howard are appointed as appraisers for the estate. On the 1860 census, the households of James J Wilson and Seth Howard are listed right next to one another. It is interesting that at the auction, none of the stock cattle or hogs were sold and neither was Thomas Weeks’ home, all of which was the main value of his estate.
On page 19 is an accounting of the exempted items in the estate. These are the items that were given for the use of the “widow and one child of Thomas Weeks”. These items totaled to a value of $200.
Page 21 notes that the final settlement of the estate is being reported by Darling and Proceus and pages 22-45 show all the outstanding vouchers, each of which match the “Cr” side on page 3 of the final accounting provided to the judge of the probate court. Particular things to note are that Dr. Rice’s bill was dated March 15, 1855, and denoted 5 visits. The last charge at the mercantile on Thomas Weeks’ account was on May 5th, although this researcher supposes that the charges could have been made by the widow on her husband’s account at the store. But this information coupled with Voucher 13 to A.J. Rowe which denoted that it was “for cash loaned to him during his last sickness” and it was dated May 1855.
Now back to page 3 of the probate packet. All the line items on the “Cr” side, which is the money paid out from the estate to pay all his outstanding debts. This column totals $307.95. So, the estate owed $307.95 to pay the creditors. But the auction only brought in $50.50, which is the first line item on the “Dr” side of the accounting of the estate. Oddly, the “Dr” side of the accounting is listed as if it also totals $307.95, but it only totals $207.95. After applying the $50.50 from the auction, the remaining $157.45 to pay the creditors against the estate came from 3 sources: 1. John Weeks 2. Estate of Burnett from Mary Hilliard (she is Mary Jane Burnett Weeks’ mother) and 3. Michael Alderman (he married Thomas Weeks’ widow, Mary Jane Weeks, in 1856).
Excerpt from page 3 of the probate packet linked above showing debits into the account for the estate of Thomas Weeks.
So basically, #2 and #3 are like saying that the widow owed those creditors: her portion of her father’s estate went towards paying the creditors and her husband paid a large chunk of the outstanding debt as well. But who is John Weeks? And why did he pay down a portion of Thomas Weeks’ debt?
Finally, we must review pages 7-8 and 46-49 together. These portions of the file are similar in that they are the only portions of the estate that Michael Alderman (Thomas Weeks’ widow’s new husband) is handling a portion of the probate, however, he is not an administrator for the estate.
Page 7 of the probate packet for Thomas Weeks linked above. (See my postscript below about this image)
Partial transcription of pp 7-8:
Received of Michael Alderman one dollar
in full of all claims against the Estate of
Thomas Weeks late of Hillsborough County
deceased in right of myself or otherwise --
witness my hand and seal
Attest John weeks
Page 8 of the probate packet for Thomas Weeks linked above.
Receipt of John Weeks
In favor of Michael
Alderman _________
& Estate of Thos. Weeks
Page 48 of the probate packet for Thomas Weeks linked above.
Partial transcription of pp 46-49:
Receipt of Seth
Howard in favor
Of Michael Alderman
& estate of Thos Weeks
Page 49 of the probate packet for Thomas Weeks linked above.
Tampa May 8th 1857
Received of Michael Alderman Ten dollars
in full of all claims against the Estate of
Thomas Weeks Late of said county dec'd
in right of my wife or otherwise
Witness my hand and seal Sc
attest his Seal
Simon Turman Seth X Howard
Matthew P Lyons Mark
The first thing to note is that the boiler-plate language is the same in both portions of the file, suggesting that whatever relationship is going on between ‘Michael Alderman and the estate of Thomas Weeks’ and that of ‘John Weeks’ would be very similar to the relationship between ‘Michael Alderman and the estate of Thomas Weeks’ and the ‘wife of Seth Howard’.
The second thing to note is that they are each acknowledging that by receiving this payment from Michael Alderman, they are being compensated “in full of all claims against the Estate of Thomas Weeks”. Who would have a claim against the estate? The first priority would be the creditors (see the vouchers already addressed). The second priority would be the family allowance, which was paid to Mary Jane Weeks and was valued at $200. The final priority would be to pay the distributions to any heirs of the estate. In this instance, the heirs would be the widow and child of Thomas Weeks. Yet Mary Jane’s new husband is acknowledging that John Weeks and the wife of Seth Howard have a claim against the estate of Thomas Weeks. This denotes a familial relationship between Thomas Weeks to both John Weeks and the wife of Seth Howard.
On Thomas Weeks’ application under the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, he stated that he was “a single man over the age of eighteen and able to bear arms”. He did not list himself as the “head of a family”, which he would have done if he had children at the time of his application. Thus, John Weeks and the wife of Seth Howard are not Thomas Weeks’ children. (email me if you aren’t able to locate this application and I will point you in the right direction, but I’ve attached and sourced it under his profile in my publicly available tree on ancestry.com)
Likely, John Weeks and the wife of Seth Howard (who we know is named Harriet though research independent of this particular record currently being discussed) are brother and sister. We also know that William Weeks died in abt. 1854 in Hillsborough County and that he was the administrator of the estate of John Weeks. Thomas Weeks likely took over the administration of the estate of John Weeks (their father) once his brother, William, passed away around 1854. Thus, his siblings Harriet Weeks Howard and John Weeks were still due a portion of their father’s estate, which would be payable by Thomas as the new administrator.
So, in conclusion, John Weeks and the wife of Seth Howard, i.e., Harriet Weeks, are Thomas Weeks’ siblings. William Weeks who died abt. 1854 was also their sibling. Likely, John Weeks — who applied for land via the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, is the father of these four siblings (an additional case study on this will be posted at a later date).
P.S. - While preparing this blog post, I was gathering the pertinent images and using my proof argument that I had written some months ago to use as the basis for this post. Since the time of the writing of my proof argument, I have done a ton more research on the brother of Thomas, Harriet, and William Weeks: John Weeks. I know for certain that he could not write and did not sign his name. So, I have to admit, when I was attaching the image of page 7 of of Thomas Weeks’ probate packet to this blog post, I had a moment of freak-out when I saw the signature for John Weeks. I mean, I have done a lot of research and I feel that my documentary evidence is air-tight. But this one signature was about to flip everything I thought that I knew on its head.
But them I thought back over everything that I had researched and the quality of the evidence and sources that I had procured. Once I took that step back and did my mental checks, I knew that my conclusion was correct. So, with that confidence, I re-examined the document and the signature of John Weeks.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that “weeks” was written in a very particular way and that “levy weeks” had signed his last name in exactly the same way. As a reminder - Levy Weeks is one of William Weeks’ sons that John Weeks was made the guradian of when William’s final estate was probated (see above). Because the signature is so specific, it is clear that the same person signed both names. Thus, Levy Weeks signed for his uncle, John Weeks, who could not sign his own name. At least, I’m pretty certain this is what happened. Until I find a another document also signed by Levy Weeks, I can not be 100% certain, but as of this writing, I have not yet obtained another source with Levy’s signature.
