LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION: Fonds
No.: PR2198
TITLE: Abel Weekes fonds
CREATOR: Weekes, Abel
DATE RANGE: 1990
EXTENT: 0.01 m of textual records

HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Abel Seneca Weekes was born on a farm in the Mosa Township near Glencoe, Ontario in 1866. He took an apprenticeship in land survey in Glencoe in his youth. Following his apprenticeship, he surveyed areas of Northern Ontario. From 1887-1890, Code and Robertson employed Weekes to survey Clifton, Ontario. In 1894, Weekes moved to Western Canada. He worked in a variety of positions including working as a prospector, miner, and surveyor. In 1897, Weekes and some friends decided to move to the Klondike. Weekes spent several years traveling to reach the Klondike. Upon reaching the Yukon in 1898, he spent five years working in various stores, as a trapper, and as prospector. In 1904, Weekes returned to Alberta, and The Canadian National Railways (C.N.R.) hired Weeks as a surveyor. In 1919, he was made Chief Land Surveyor of C.N.R. While working for C.N.R., Weekes lived in Edmonton, but following his retirement from C.N.R. in 1931, he moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Weekes held membership with the Dominion Land Surveyor's Association, the Ontario Land Surveyor's Association, an executive member of Alberta Land Surveyor's Association, and President of the Saskatchewan Land Surveyor's Association, and the Engineering Institute of Canada.

Weekes married Miriam Millicent Smith of Bothwell Ontario in 1906. After Miriam's death in 1925, Weekes married Anne Whitford of Ireland in 1926. Weekes died in 1936.

SCOPE AND CONTENT: The fonds consists of a copy of an unfinished account of Abel Weekes’ journey to the Klondike. The account details transportation, diet, disease, climate, encounters with First Nations Peoples, and geography.

ARRANGEMENT NOTE: Material arranged according to original order.
GENERAL NOTE: Information for the biographical sketch sourced from The Winnipeg Tribune, April 29, 1936, available at http://www.slsa.sk.ca/Biographies/022.html (Accessed May 29, 2007).

From Provincial Archives of Alberta
Photo and more