John Eliakim Weeks Papers

John Eliakim Weeks, son of Ebenezer Holland and Elizabeth (Dyer) Weeks was born June 14, 1854 in Salisbury, Vermont. He was educated at the Middlebury High School and after leaving school assisted on the home farm for many years.

As a young man he was interest in public affairs, and from 1884 to 1886 he was assistant judge of Addison county. He represented Salisbury in the Legislature in 1888 and in 1896 he was elected state senator of Addison county and during that term was appointed trustee of the Vergennes Industrial school. In 1898 he moved to Middlebury where he was engaged in the grain business and dealing in wool and livestock.

In 1906 Judge Weeks he was state cattle commissioner and chairman of the state penal board. In 1913 he was reappointed to the latter for a term of six years. He also served as director of state institutions from March 31, 1917 until Feb. 20, 1923 when he was appointed Commissioner of Public Welfare. He resigned this position on July 15, 1926 to become a candidate for governorship. He was a member of the 72nd Congress from 1931-1933 from 1st Vermont district and a member of the State Institution Commission for Public Welfare for 28 years.

In his home community he held many town and village offices. These included director and president of the Addison County Fair Association, trustee of Middlebury College, president of the Addison County Trust Co., director in the Middlebury Hotel Corporation, the Brandon National Bank and the National Bank of Middlebury. Fraternally he was a member of the Union Lodge No. 2 Free and Accepted Masons, Mt. Calvary Commandery Knights Templar, Mt. Sinai Temple, Mystic Shrine and the Rotary Club.

He married Hattie Jane Dyer of Salisbury on October 14, 1879. In September, 1926 he received the Republican nomination of Governor by a large plurality vote against two other candidates. He was the 64th governor and served two terms – 1927-1931.

John. E. Weeks was much beloved for his fine qualities of mind and heart and respected as a high type of Vermonter. He traced his ancestry to John Alden, one of the first Pilgrims who landed from the Mayflower, and his religious preference was Congregationalist. He died September 10, 1949.