DIARY OF
A YAPHANK TEENAGER
Francis William Weeks
1883
" DIARY OF A YAPHANK TEENAGER"
Richard C. Chapin
In a quiet country
churchyard, located in the center of Suffolk County, lies
the body of a 17 year old boy, next to the grave of his
mother who died only months before. Francis William Weeks
was laid to rest by a loving father, who had, with his
devoted wife Mary, already buried three other children in
the same consecrated place. Francis would have remained
one more unknown teenager in our history, except for the
fact that he decided to keep a diary, as his father had
done for many years. This is his story.
The first entry in
his diary for 1883 was short and to the point: “At
midnight W.B. (Will Bishop) and I went to the church and
rang the bell. Not a word about the startled community of
those who slept. Nothing about the hasty retreat from the
church. In fact, the morning brought the usual chores and
some skating on the mill pond. In more innocent days,
people used to say: “Boys will be boys!”, and
leave it at that. The date was January 1, 1883, and
Francis William Weeks was almost 16; he and his friend
Will obviously greeted the new year with the enthusiasm
of the young.
Francis was born
the eleventh child of William Jones Weeks and Mary
Croswell Weeks. His paternal grandparents were James
Huggins Weeks and Susan Maria Jones Weeks, among the
early settlers of Yaphank. James, a founder and fifth
President of the Long Island Rail Road, was a native of
Oyster Bay. Susan, a descendent of the Irish pirate Maj.
Thomas Jones, after whom Jones Beach was named, was born
in Cold Spring Harbor, in the home now occupied by the
Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Many of
her ancestors were settlers of Fort Neck, now Massapequa.
Her sister, Eleanor, was the wife of William Sydney
Smith, of Longwood.
Francis’
father, William, was educated at the Bellport Academy and
Yale University. As a civil engineer, he surveyed the
line that now divides Nassau and Suffolk, as well as many
of the farms and roads of Long Island. At various times
in his life, he was responsible for Suffolk schools and
roads, as well as an officer in the agricultural society.
As “Superintendent of the Poor”, he was
responsible for the building of the first county homes
for adults and for children. An inventor, scientist,
horticulturalist, beekeeper, and taxidermist, William is
said to have named Yaphank, which from the time of the
first settlement and up until the arrival of the railroad
had been called Millville.
“Our eleventh
child was born this morning, Jany. 8th, 1867, at one
o’clock, a well formed boy, full head of hair, and
without apparent blemish. Weight 9 lbs.” He
“was baptized this afternoon, July 7th, 1867,in St.
Andrew’s Church, Yaphank, by the Rev’d William
J. Seabury and named Francis William Weeks.” So
wrote William Jones Weeks in his well kept diaries, as he
had done for the birth of each child delivered by his
wife, Mary, beginning with Little Susy. Seventeen years
later he was to write that “Francis ... died this
morning,
Feb. 13, 1884,
twenty minutes before 5 o’clock. Brain affection....
We feel his loss to us. The funeral of Francis took place
today, Feb. 16th, 1884, at 1 o’clock at St.
Andrew’s Church, and he was interred in the family
ground. In the bloom of his youth.”
We do not know if
Francis kept a diary before 1882, except that he wrote
“No. 6”
at the top of the first page of his 1982 diary, and on
April 29, 1883 he wrote in large letters: “Begun
abt. 1877” “Ended Apr. 30 ‘83” If he
was referring to his diary it would indicate that he
began at the age of ten. His last entry actually was Dec.
31, 1883. Nevertheless, we are fortunate to have his own
account of the last two years of his life, and perhaps
the answer to our questions about his untimely death. His
days were filled with work, play, walking, exploration,
hunting, reading, visiting, and, on the Lord's day, with
attendance at Church for the worship of God. He boxed
with Will Bishop, they gathered cocoons and butterflies,
they skated on the millpond, swam and ran races. They
made kites and flew them, they played ball and argued.
They weighed themselves and kept a record of their
height. We meet a young man who is accustomed to hard
work, who enjoys a good time, and who reveals to us in
these excerpts from his diary an eagerness for life. Even
though his formal schooling appeared to be over, he
records many self-study sessions of arithmetic and
shorthand, as well as daily reading in various
disciplines.
We note that,
probably due to poor health (after giving birth to twelve
children), Francis’ mother spent her winters in
Brooklyn. The family business was headquartered in
Brooklyn and a residence was maintained there. Whenever
Francis visited he would take extensive walks around
lower Manhattan. At one time, he worked for his older
brother as a messenger for several weeks during the
absence of the regular employee.
1882
Apr. 22nd, Sat. Cut and covered potatoes. Greased the
wagon. Harnessed a horse. Wrote. Aft. went to the 2nd lot
above the Presbyterian church to play ball, all of the
boys present: but, owing to some little dissension, we
did not have as good a game as last Saturday. Did not get
home to do my work until 9:30. Father, who had been to
Wampmissic, did not return until about 10.
Apr. 29th, Sat. 7:00 Ploughed. Went to
the station for a barrel of coal. Ploughed in the
afternoon. Rubbed the sprouts off of potatoes.
9,000,000,000.
May 23rd, Tue. 6:00 Wet and rainy. Walked
over to Grandmother’s for breakfast as usual, and
wrote a little with a pencil and read. Helped Father take
out Grandmother’s stove and put it in the tub-house.
Bound oat straw. Harnessed Gypsy to the blue wagon and
took it to Robbins’ shop; rode home on horseback.
Harnessed to the other wagon and rode with Father to the
station P.O. Harnessed one horse to the blue wagon and
the other [“Mink”] to the brown wagon; the
latter for Clara and Grandmother to go to Longwood. Drove
around the lot while Father mended the fence and so on.
Looked at the stars some in the evening; some of them
looked as big as the moon.
Oct. 1st to 13th, Occupied with various
things. Went to the [Suffolk Co.] Fair on the 6th with
Frank Bishop and had a fine time. Father paid my fare. I
took two cases of insects, but as there was a larger case
there I did not get the premium, but only Honorable
Mention. Weight, Oct 7th, 124.
Oct. 14th, Sat. Very heavy rain. Studied
Arith. Will & I melted lead and made about 40 bullets
in the workshop. Frank [Will’s younger brother] came
and stayed an hour or two. He brought Will’s boots,
which he wore over his shoes and we had a hard pull to
get them off; finally Frank got down on the chopping
block and held on to the bench with one hand and a heavy
box with the other and I succeeded in pulling them off.
Francis records his sighting of the Great
Comet of 1882, with an orbit of 760 years. It was the
third and last comet in his father’s lifetime.
Oct. 15th, Sun. 4:30 Father woke us to
see the comet in the South-east; it was quite bright and
appeared to be about 20 feet long, but it was really
50,000,000 miles.
Dec. 21st, Thu. Skated and worked some.
Got some greens for the church....
Dec. 22nd, Fri. Will, C.J.(?) & I
trimmed the church all in one day and made it look very
well. Walked to the store.
Dec. 24th, Sun. Read. Went to church in
aft. Mr. Sharp preached a very short
sermon. Read.
Dec. 25th, Mon. Christmas. 7:00 Skated on our pond.
Father gave me a gold pen & $3.00 & I received
several other useful presents. Went to Grandmother’s
to dinner, Sunday School children came in the aft. &
were given gifts of
candy, etc.
Dec. 30th, Sat. Went up to the millpond
and skated all of the morning. Aft. cut wood and about
4:00 went to the pond and skated some time until it got
quite dark & most everyone had gone off. Waited for
Frank & he finally came with a lantern & walked
home with me. Stayed for some time to see if anyone would
come to skate on our pond; but as they did not, we went
to the millpond, where about 10 or 15 young men were
skating around in the dark. After some trouble owing to
the darkness, we succeeded in getting ashore in the bogs
and collecting a large number of sticks & small logs,
with which we soon had a large fire going. And when those
were partly burnt, some of the boys got several big boxes
filled with hay which they put on and lasted some time.
But as it was so dark and the fire did not light up very
much though it was quite large, we did not do much but
stand around and talk. F.B, W.B. & I were the last to
leave & we poured the box which had been used as a
seat onto the fire which blazed up for some time. Reached
home about 10.
1883
Jan. 3rd, Wed. Rode to the station and to the store with
father. Went to the woods near the river and cut
considerable wood with Will. Edmund Howell also cutting
for James Smith. In the afternoon went to the mill pond
and skated. Went up to Davis’s and stayed a while.
Read a book.
Jan. 4th, Thu. After breakfast I went over to the barn
and harnessed Gypsy, shelled some corn and took Father to
the station to go to Brooklyn. Unharnessed and cut wood
at the woodpile. Wrote this. Went to the store in the
afternoon and read a book in the evening.
When Francis writes about the
“church”, he refers to St. Andrew’s
Episcopal Church, built in 1853 by his grandparents in
memory of his sister Susan Maria. “Little Susy”
was buried on St. Andrew’s Day, 1850, seventeen
years before Francis was born.
Jan. 7th, Sun. Read. Took a walk in the
woods and had a small fire. Took Grandmother to church in
the sleigh in the afternoon.
Jan. 8th, Mon. “16th Birthday”
Wt. 135 Ht. 5’5” T.S. Homan came last night
with a telegram from Father. Sad news, to meet him at
station. Split wood. Went to the station and got Father,
when he told me that Mother died Sunday at 6
o’clock.
Jan. 10th, Wed. A great snow storm.
Cleared the snow from the barn, etc. and went to the
station with Father to send a telegram.
Jan. 11th, Thu. Cleared snow from church
paths, etc. to prepare for funeral. Went up and engaged
Ed Hammond to toll the bell. Harnessed the horses to the
sleigh and rode to the church.
Jan. 19th, Fri. Rode with Father and cut
wood on a lot near the Pres. church. Read papers till
evening. Julia (older, married sister) said there was a
fire; we equipped ourselves as soon as possible, and ran
to the place and found it to be Capt. Coomb’s store.
Did all we could in all stages of the fire which lasted
about 3 hours, till twelve.
Jan. 21st, Sun. Capt. Coomb’s store
was all burned; some furniture was saved and four
buildings, two barns, woodshed and ice house. Ins. about
$8,000. Quite a large fire.
Feb. 14th, Wed. After breakfast we worked
up trees in the swamp til 12 o’clock. Practiced
writing and read. Went to the store with some letters and
had an exciting snowball battle with the schoolboys,
about 20, in company with Ben, G. Dew, F.B. Hulse. We
finally won and drove them into the schoolhouse. Wt. 138.
Read in the evening.
Francis accompanied his father to the
Brookhaven Town meeting at the Davis homestead in Coram.
The building still stands near the crossroads of Middle
Country Road and Route 112.
Apr. 3rd, Tue. Started for Coram with
Father about 7:30 o’clock. When I reached there I
walked around and hunted for some cocoons, also watched
some boys play ball. Numbers there; very pleasant. Saw
much. Stayed from 7 to 5:30 in an upper room with the
seven or nine Inspectors & 15 other men while the
votes were counted.
Apr. 4th, Wed. As they did not finish
till 5:30 we came home early this morning feeling rather
sleepy, but not much worse otherwise. Unharnessed horse
and practiced writing. Practiced shorthand & walked
around the pond. N.B. I take care of the stock (two
horses & two cows) three times each day, and do the
work connected therewith.
Oct . 4th, Thu. Went to the Suffolk Co.
fair and inspected the pumpkins, squashes, etc. Also
walked around Riverhead some.
Nov. 26th, Mon. Went to Brooklyn on an
excursion to the celebration of the evacuation of N. Y.
by the British, Nov. 26, 1783. Saw the procession which
was 8 miles long.... Heavy rain.
Francis kept a cash account record in the
back of his diary. A sampling of one month gives us an
idea of the meticulous care given to his finances and
some idea of his expenditures. Note that although this
month indicates that he received a regular allowance,
many other months show that he earned odd amounts of cash
for work, for barter, and for game sold. Besides candy,
Francis often bought raisins, pies and cake. In
summertime, he occasionally bought ice cream. On July
31st he wrote: “Father went to the city. Went to
store in aft. & got ice cream at J. Whitbeck’s
where Regie (younger brother) and I ate 3 plates
apiece.”
Cash Account -- June
Received Paid
4 From Father .50
5 “ “ .50
For Candy .10
“ Hat 1.00 “ Suit from F. 9.75
“ Suit 9.75
6 Debts 1.26
9 Candy .10
Gourd seeds .10
Candy .10
10 From Father .50
15 Accordion Books .28
Stamps .06
Cuffs .05
17 Contributions .05
From Father .50
Unaccounted .71
18 Salt .08
24 From Father .50
25 Collars .20
W., C. R., etc. .36
26 Br’t over 6.88 4.48
27 Found in purse .01
30 Spent .89
Whole amt. 6.89 5.37
Dec. 29th, Sat. Cut wood a little while in the swamp.
Went down in aft. to finish a tree and striking harder
than was necessary to cut a stick, the axe cut my leg
quite bad just above the ankle. Went up and fixed it.
Dec. 30th, Sun. Had to stay in all day on
account of my foot. Read.
Dec. 31st, Mon. Read and looked over some
Books.
This was Francis’ last entry. He
died just 13 days later. The cause of death
was, according to his father’s account, “brain
affection”; today we would probably call it
infection and blood poisoning .
Notes
Sources include:
Chapin, Richard C., Little Susy’s Church,
A History of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1988
Hawkins, Benjamin, Francis’ Diaries, given to Enid
Tooker for St. Andrew’s Church (copy to be deposited
in Longwood Public Library)
Weeks, William Jones, Journals, Jamaica Public Library,
Longwood Public Library
Weeks, William Jones, Memoranda (re. births, baptisms
& deaths),complements of his granddaughter, Nathalie
L. Dickieson, 1980.
The Rev. Richard C.
Chapin, who has written articles for the Forum in the
past, is retired, living in Montrose, PA. Vicar Emeritus
of St. Andrew’s Church, Yaphank, he was also
Chaplain of the Patchogue Fire Dept. and Ambulance Co.
and teacher / coordinator of Eastern Suffolk B.O.C.E.S.