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SIXDIARY OF A

YAPHANK TEENAGER

This story, with notes by Fr. Chapin, appeared in theWinter 1997 issue of the Long Island Forum, alongwith a generous collection of photographs.

In a quiet country churchyard, located in the centerof Suffolk County, lies the body of a 17 year old boy,next to the grave of his mother who had died just afew months before. Francis William Weeks was laidto rest by a loving father, who had, with his devotedwife Mary, already buried three other children in the

same consecrated place. Francis would have remained one more unknown teen-ager in our history, except for the fact that he decided to keep a diary, as hisfather had done for many years. This is his story.

The first entry in his diary for 1883 was short and to the point: “At midnightW.B. and I went to the church and rang the bell. Not a word about the startledcommunity of those who took to bed at sundown. Nothing about the hastyretreat from the church. In fact, the morning brought the usual chores and someskating on the mill pond. In more innocent days, people used to say: “boys willbe boys!”, and leave it at that. The date was January 1, 1883, and Francis Will-iam Weeks was almost 16; he and his friend Will Bishop obviously greeted thenew year with the enthusiasm of the young.

Francis was born the eleventh child of William Jones Weeks and Mary CroswellWeeks. “Our eleventh child was born this morning, Jany. 8th, 1867, at oneo’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’sChurch, Yaphank, by the Rev’d William J. Seabury and named Francis WilliamWeeks.” So wrote William Jones Weeks in his well kept memoranda, as he haddone for the birth of each child.

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 inlarge letters: “Begun abt. 1877” “Ended Apr. 30 ‘83” If he was referring to hisdiary it would indicate that he began at the age of ten. His last entry actuallywas Dec. 31, 1883. Nevertheless, we are fortunate to have his own account ofthe last two years of his life, and perhaps the answer to our questions about hisuntimely death. His days were filled with work, play, walking, exploration,hunting, reading, visiting, and, on the Lord’s day, with attendance at Church forthe worship of God. He boxed with his friend Will Bishop, they gathered co-coons and butterflies, skated on the millpond, swam in Lower Lake, and ranraces. They made kites and flew them, they played ball and argued. They weighedthemselves and kept a record of their height. We meet a young man who isaccustomed to hard work, who enjoys a good time, and who reveals to us inthese excerpts from his diary an eagerness for life. Even though his formal

Francis William Weeks

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The Octagon House, from the north-west, home of Francis William Weeks

Octagon House Breakfast Room

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schooling appeared to be over, he records many self-study sessions of arith-metic 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 head-quartered in Brooklyn and a residence was maintained there. Whenever Francisvisited he would take extensive walks around lower Manhattan. One letter fromBrooklyn to his sister Hallie, written in beautiful handwriting, tells how Francis’older brother Archie recommended him for a job as a law firm messenger forseveral weeks during the absence of a regular employee. He did so well that theemployer kept him on after the regular employee returned. He earned $3.50 perweek, and described the building as eight stories high, with two elevators. In hisleisure time, he joined the Young Men’s Christian Association for lectures, en-tertainment and the use of a gymnasium.

EXCERPTS FROM A YAPHANK TEENAGER’S DIARY1882

Apr. 22nd, Sat. Cut and covered potatoes. Greased the wagon. Harnesseda horse. Wrote. Aft. went to the 2nd lot above the Presbyterian church to playball, all of the boys present: but, owing to some little dissension, we did nothave as good a game as last Saturday. Did not get home to do my work until9:30. 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 forbreakfast as usual, and wrote a little with a pencil and read. Helped Fathertake 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 homeon horseback. Harnessed to the other wagon and rode with Father to thestation P.O. Harnessed one horse to the blue wagon and the other [“Mink”] tothe 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 thestars 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 thepremium, but only Honorable Mention. Weight, Oct 7th, 124.

Oct. 14th, Sat. Very heavy rain. Studied Arith. Will & I melted lead andmade about 40 bullets in the workshop. Frank [Will’s younger brother] cameand stayed an hour or two. He brought Will’s boots, which he wore over hisshoes and we had a hard pull to get them off; finally Frank got down on thechopping block and held on to the bench with one hand and a heavy box withthe other and I succeeded in pulling them off.

Francis records his sighting of the Great Comet of 1882, with an orbit of 760years. It was the third comet that his father had seen in his lifetime, and it was tobe the last for both.

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Oct. 15th, Sun. 4:30 Father woke us to see the comet in the South-east; itwas quite bright and appeared to be about 20 feet long, but it was really50,000,000 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 madeit look very well. Walked to the store.

Dec. 24th, Sun. Read. Went to church in aft. Mr. Sharp preached a veryshort sermon. Read.

Dec. 25th, Mon. Christmas. 7:00 Skated on our pond. Father gave me agold pen & $3.00 & I received several other useful presents. Went toGrandmother’s to dinner, Sunday School children came in the aft. & weregiven 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 gotquite dark & most everyone had gone off. Waited for Frank & he finally camewith a lantern & walked home with me. Stayed for some time to see if anyonewould come to skate on our pond; but as they did not, we went to the mill-pond, 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 inthe bogs and collecting a large number of sticks & small logs, with which wesoon had a large fire going. And when those were partly burnt, some of theboys got several big boxes filled with hay which they put on and lasted sometime. But as it was so dark and the fire did not light up very much though itwas quite large, we did not do much but stand around and talk. F.B, W.B. & Iwere the last to leave & we poured the box which had been used as a seat ontothe fire which blazed up for some time. Reached home about 10.

1883Jan. 3rd, Wed. Rode to the station and to the store with father. Went to thewoods near the river and cut considerable wood with Will. Edmund Howellalso cutting for James Smith. In the afternoon went to the mill pond andskated. 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 inthe afternoon and read a book in the evening.

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 meethim at station. Split wood. Went to the station and got Father, when he toldme 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.

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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 tothe 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; weequipped ourselves as soon as possible, and ran to the place and found it to beCapt. Coomb’s store. Did all we could in all stages of the fire which lastedabout 3 hours, till twelve.Jan. 21st, Sun. Capt. Coomb’s store was all burned; some furniture wassaved 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 12o’clock. Practiced writing and read. Went to the store with some letters andhad an exciting snowball battle with the schoolboys, about 20, in companywith Ben, G. Dew, F.B. Hulse. We finally won and drove them into the school-house. Wt. 138. Read in the evening.

Francis accompanied his father to the Brookhaven Town meeting at the Davishomestead in Coram. The building still stands near the crossroads of MiddleCountry Road and Route 112.

Apr. 3rd, Tue. Started for Coram with Father about 7:30 o’clock. When Ireached there I walked around and hunted for some cocoons, also watchedsome boys play ball. Numbers there; very pleasant. Saw much. Stayed from7 to 5:30 in an upper room with the seven or nine Inspectors & 15 other menwhile the votes were counted.

Apr. 4th, Wed. As they did not finish till 5:30 we came home early thismorning feeling rather sleepy, but not much worse otherwise. Unharnessedhorse 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 [centennial] cel-ebration of the evacuation of N. Y. by the British, Nov. 26, 1783. Saw theprocession which was 8 miles long.... Heavy rain.

Francis kept a cash account record in the back of his diary. A sampling of onemonth gives us an idea of the meticulous care given to his finances and someidea of his expenditures. Note that although this month indicates that he re-ceived a regular allowance, many other months show that he earned odd amountsof cash for work, for barter, and for game sold. Besides candy, Francis oftenbought 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 icecream at J. Whitbeck’s where Regie [younger brother] and I ate 3 plates apiece.”

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St. Andrew’s Sunday School, 50th Anniversary

Last Days of the Octagon House

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Cash Account — June

Received Paid4 From Father .505 “ “ .50

For Candy .10 “ Hat 1.00“ Suit from F. 9.75 “ Suit 9.75

6 Debts 1.269 Candy .10

Gourd seeds .10Candy .10

10 From Father .5015 Accordion Books .28

Stamps .06Cuffs .05

17 Contributions .05From Father .50Unaccounted .71

18 Salt .0824 From Father .5025 Collars .20

W., C. R., etc. .3626 Br’t over 6.88 4.4827 Found in purse .0130 Spent .89Whole amt. 6.89 5.37

Dec. 29th, Sat.Cut wood a little while in the swamp. Went down in aft. tofinish a tree and striking harder than was necessary to cut a stick, the axe cutmy 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.

IN THE BLOOM OF HIS YOUTH

This was Francis’ last entry. He died just 13 days later. His grieving fatherwrote: “Francis ... died this morning, Feb. 13, 1884, twenty minutes before 5o’clock. Brain affection.... We feel his loss to us. The funeral of Francis tookplace today, Feb. 16th, 1884, at 1 o’clock at St. Andrew’s Church, and he wasinterred in the family ground. In the bloom of his youth.”

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