 |
History and Government—Congressional Biographies—MassachusettsJohn Wingate WEEKS
(1860-1926)
Senate Years of Service:
1913-1919Party: RepublicanWEEKS, John Wingate,
(father of Sinclair Weeks and cousin of Edgar Weeks), a
Representative and a Senator from Massachusetts; born near
Lancaster, N.H., April 11, 1860; attended the common schools;
taught school; graduated from the United States Naval Academy,
Annapolis, Md., in 1881; served in the United States Navy as a
midshipman 1881-1883; resigned from the Navy in 1883 and took up
the profession of civil engineering and surveying; relocated to
Florida and served as first chief of the Orlando fire department
1885-1888; land commissioner of Florida Southern Railroad in
Jacksonville 1886-1887; returning to Massachusetts, engaged in the
banking and brokerage business in Boston 1888-1914; served in the
Massachusetts Naval Brigade 1890-1900, acting as commander the last
six years; moved to Newton, Mass., in 1893; member of the Board of
Visitors to the United States Naval Academy in 1896; served in the
Spanish-American War as a lieutenant in the Volunteer Navy 1898;
member of the board of aldermen of Newton 1899-1902; mayor of
Newton 1902-1903; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-ninth and to
the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1905, until
his resignation effective March 4, 1913, to become United States
Senator; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of
State (Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth Congresses), Committee on Post
Office and Post Roads (Sixty-first Congress); elected as a
Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4,
1913, to March 3, 1919; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1918; chairman, Committee on the Disposition of Useless Executive
Papers (Sixty-fifth Congress); appointed Secretary of War by
President Warren G. Harding in 1921, and again by President Calvin
Coolidge, and served until 1925, when he resigned due to ill
health; died in Lancaster, N.H., July 12, 1926; remains were
cremated and the ashes interred in Arlington National Cemetery,
Arlington, Va.
Bibliography
Dictionary of American Biography; Spence, Benjamin.
“The National Career of John Wingate Weeks
(1904-1925).” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin,
1971; Washburn, Charles. Life of John W. Weeks. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1928.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
Related Links
|
24 X 7
Private Tutor
|
24 x 7 Tutor Availability |
|
|
Unlimited Online Tutoring |
|
|
1-on-1 Tutoring |
|
