“DAD” WEEKS, PIONEER, TAKES HIS LAST TRAIL
Private intelligence was received in Terrace this week that yet another of
the real old-timers and pioneers of the district had taken the last long trail,
in the person of Samuel Charles Weeks, who died in Calgary General Hospital
on Friday, November 13, 1925.
“Dad” Weeks, as he was commonly known, came in 1905 to Kitsumkalum,
which in the early days was one of the largest settlements on the lower Skeena
River. There he took up a pre-emption close to the river and made it home
until a year or two ago, when he decided to visit his old home in New Brunswick,
returning in a few months to Kitsumkalum, where for many years he combined
the duties of postmaster with those of the farm.
The ranch itself he developed into the largest producer of strawberries in
the Valley for a number of years. The late Mr. Weeks was last heard of in
Edmonton after leaving this district for good. He is survived by a nephew
in that city and other relatives in New Brunswick.
Generous to a fault, “Dad” held a warm place in the hearts of
many travellers up and down the line during the days of railway construction,
and great was his never-failing hospitality. His ability to entertain with
stories of the pioneer days gained him many and varied audiences.
The people of the Terrace and Kitsumkalum have particular reason to be grateful
to Mr. Weeks, who, about fifteen years ago, donated a portion of his farm
for what is now used as a cemetery for the district. A more beautiful location
could not have been chosen, nor a more generous impulse actuate its giving.
The late Mr. Weeks was born in 1845 and arrived in Skeena in 1904 and the
following year settled at Kallum. His wife and son predeceased him a number
a years.
The Terrace Herald
November 27, 1925