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Note: [WEEKS4.FTW] Leonard Weeks of Greenland, NH and descendants, 1639-1888 by Jacob Chapman; Albany, NY Munsell's Sons, 1889, 207 pg. p.1 The name WEEKS is said to have been a Devonshire name of Saxon origin; but it was also common in parts of Somersetshire. tadition says that Leonard came from wells, in that country. The parish records of Compton Martin contain the name of LEONARD WYKE, bapt. 1639, and his brother WILLIAM about two years earlier, sons of JOHN WYKE of Moreton, which is in that parish. We know nothing more of the father of Leonard, nor of the time when Leonard landed in America. His name appears first as witness to a bond in York co., ME, 6 Dec. 1655, and next in the Portsmouth Records, 29 June, 1656, when he received a grant of 8 acres of land, in Portsmouth. ["When he first went to the part of Portsmouth now called Greenland, he lived one year on a farm owned by Capt. CHAMPERNOON."-AM HAINES] July 5, 1660, he received grants of 44 acres, of 34 acres and 10 acres ofland. In Feb. 1660-1, he had settled at Winnicut river, now Greenland, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1707. In June 1682, LW testifies that "20 yrs. ago, he put his horse into his father REDMAN's pasture, by leave & license of sd. father Redman," "which pasture joineth to the east end of ye planting of lot of JOHN REDMAN jr." JOHN REDMAN, sen., is named, about the same time. From this it seems that he may have married, first a dau. of John Redman sr., or more probably his widowed mother may have married John Redman sr., who is said to have come from the same vicinity, and settled in Hampton, not far from the place occupied by LW. In 1667, he married MARY, dau of Deacon SAMUEL HAINES of Portsmouth, his neighbor. She was the mother of 6 children. During the political contest in 1665 respecting the separation of NH from MA, "LW stood for MA rather than for the crown." We find in the court records, 1660, 4th mo. 26. "LW, for swearing by God and calling JOHN HALL of Greenland, ould dog, & ould slave, & that he would knock him in ye head," fined "10 shillings for swearing, & to have an admonition for his reviling and threatening speeches, & fees of court, 3 shillings." In the year following , he was elected one of the selectmen of Portsmouth. He was afterwards constable and for several years sheriff. In 1669, he was "on a committee" with men from Dover and Hampton, "to lay out the highway between Greenland & Bloody Poynt." His seat in the church, at Portsmouth, was No. 4 in front of the pulpit... I find records of four deeds, made on 23 april 1706, and acknowledged 15 May 1706, pobably instead of a will, in which he conveys to his 4 younger sons, SAMUEL, JOSEPH, JOSHUA, and JONATHAN, his lands, retaining possession himself during life and making also some provision for the elder son JOHN, and for his now wife ELIZABETH and dau. MARY, MARGARET and SARAH. He died. March 1707-8.
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