Edmund C. Weeks
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Edmund C. Weeks
|image=Edmund Cottle Weeks.jpg
|order= 3rd
|office= Lieutenant Governor of Florida
|term_start=January 24, 1870
|term_end= December 27, 1870
|governor= Harrison Reed
|predecessor= William Henry Gleason
|successor= Samuel T. Day
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1829|3|10}}
|birth_place= Tisbury, Massachusetts
|death_date= {{death date and age|1907|4|12|1829|3|10}}
|death_place= Tallahassee, Florida
|party= Republican
|spouse= Mary Jones
Elizabeth Hunt Crafts
|profession=
|footnotes=
}}
Edmund Cottle Weeks (March 10, 1829 – April 12, 1907) was an American politician who served as the third Lieutenant Governor of Florida.
Early life
A Massachusetts native, Weeks was born in the town of Tisbury, on Martha's Vineyard, to Captain Hiram Weeks and Margaret D. Cottle, a relative of New York Senator Thomas C. Platt. After accompanying his father on a voyage to South America, Weeks studied medicine for three years at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. However, his love for the sea compelled him to become a sailor and later a partner in a boat operating firm. During the American Civil War, he volunteered for the Union Navy in the Battle of New Orleans.{{Citation| last1 = Rerick| first1 = Rowland H.| last2 = Fleming| first2 = Francis Philip| year = 1902| title = Memoirs of Florida| volume = 2| publication-place = Atlanta| publisher=Southern Historical Association| pages = 714–715| url = http://fulltext.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=8d774675433e7c83f93264267aa32247;idno=SF00000009_0001_000;c=fhp;cc=fhp;q1=SF00000009;view=toc;seq=1;size=s;page=nav;subview=fullcitation| access-date = 2008-05-27}} He then commanded the Union Army's 2nd Florida Cavalry with the rank of major.{{Citation| last = Heitman| first = Francis B.| year = 1903| title = Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army| volume = 2| publication-place = Washington| publisher=Government Printing Office| page = 159| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zUoSAAAAYAAJ&q=%22weeks+edmund+c%22&pg=PA159| access-date = 2008-05-27}}{{cite web |url=http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=/fsa/DETAILS.IDC,SPECIFIC=328154,DATABASE=BIBLIO, |title=Florida Cavalry Regiments of the Union Army muster rolls, 1863–1865. |access-date=2008-05-27 |publisher=State Library and Archives of Florida |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231302/http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=%2Ffsa%2FDETAILS.IDC%2CSPECIFIC%3D328154%2CDATABASE%3DBIBLIO%2C |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead }} After the war, he settled in Tallahassee, Florida.{{cite web |url=http://www.flheritage.com/museum/collections/furniture/furniture2.cfm |title=Selected Highlights from the Florida Furniture Collection |access-date=2008-05-27 |publisher=Museum of Florida History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511044753/http://www.flheritage.com/museum/collections/furniture/furniture2.cfm |archive-date=May 11, 2008 |df=mdy }}
Lieutenant governorship
Weeks was appointed to the office of Lieutenant Governor of Florida by Governor Harrison Reed on January 24, 1870, to fill the vacancy left after the dismissal of William H. Gleason.{{Citation| publication-date = 1870-02-01| title = Current Notes| periodical = New York Times| date = February 1870| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B07E6D6103BE63BBC4953DFB466838B669FDE&scp=1&st=p| access-date = 2008-05-27}}{{Citation | year = 1872 | title = The American Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events| volume = 10 | publication-place = New York | publisher=D. Appleton | pages = 299–300 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SdsSAAAAYAAJ&q=january+24th&pg=PA299 | access-date = 2008-05-26}}{{Citation | last = Drew| first = James B. C.| publication-date = 1871| title = Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Florida| volume = 13| publication-place = Tallahassee, FL| publisher=Charles H. Walton| pages = 9–10| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qnkDAAAAQAAJ&q=january+24th&pg=PA9| access-date = 2008-05-26 | year = 1871}} He took the oath of office that same day. However, his appointment was controversial. State Comptroller Robert H. Gamble, claiming that the Governor could not make an appointment to an elected position, refused to pay Weeks his salary until Weeks took the case to the Florida Supreme Court. On his first day presiding over the Senate, a majority of the senators walked out on the session. At the next day's meeting, another senator occupied his seat. After a motion was proposed to arrest him, he left early.
As Weeks's term was intended to be temporary, Governor Reed called for an election to be held on November 8.{{Citation | last = Cocke| first = William Archer| publication-date = 1874| title = Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Florida| volume = 14| publication-place = Tallahassee, FL| pages = 14–15| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ynkDAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA14| access-date = 2008-05-26 | publisher=Printed at the Floridian Book and Job Office | year = 1848}} Samuel T. Day was elected Lieutenant Governor, and when the legislature met on January 3, 1871, Day took office as prescribed by the state constitution.{{Citation | year = 1872 | title = The American Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events| volume = 11 | publication-place = New York | publisher=D. Appleton | page = 308 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=x4wEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22samuel+t+day%22+january&pg=RA1-PA308 | access-date = 2008-05-27}}[http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/memory/constitution/1868/index.cfm Florida Constitution of 1868], Article XVI, Section 21. On January 12,[https://books.google.com/books?id=SdsSAAAAYAAJ&q=weeks+canvass Cyclopædia], vol. 10, p. 303. Weeks again appealed to the Supreme Court, accusing Day of "usurping" his office, which he believed should last for two additional years, the remainder of his predecessor's term. However, the court ruled that Governor Reed had the power to call the election and that Weeks's appointment had expired on December 27, 1870, when the election results were certified.Cocke, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ynkDAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA19 19].
Later life
Weeks later represented Leon County in the Florida Legislature, in the Florida House of Representatives.'Members of the Florida House of Representatives by County, 1845-2012, Florida House of Representatives: 2011, pg. 162 and served as the Leon County sheriff. A Republican, he ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives against incumbent Robert H. M. Davidson in 1878.{{Citation | year = 1879 | title = Official Congressional Directory | page = 11 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d_ItAAAAIAAJ&q=edmund+weeks+republican | access-date = 2008-05-27 | publisher=U.S. G.P.O. | author1 = Congress, United States | author2 = Joint Committee On Printing, United States. Congress}} In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Florida.
Weeks married twice: first to Mary Jones in London, and then to Elizabeth Hunt Crafts in Tallahassee on June 6, 1890. He died in Tallahassee in 1907 at the age of 78.
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120209085846/http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=%2Ffsa%2FDETAILSF.IDC%2CSPECIFIC%3D15042%2CDATABASE%3DFILEUNIT%2C State Archives of Florida Online Catalog: Edmund Cottle Weeks (1829–1907)]
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{{succession box|title= Lieutenant Governor of Florida|before=William Henry Gleason|after=Samuel T. Day|years=1870 }}
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{{FloridaLtGovernors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Edmund Cottle}}
Category:Law enforcement officials from Florida
Category:Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives
Category:Lieutenant governors of Florida
Category:People from Tisbury, Massachusetts
Category:United States Marshals
Category:19th-century American legislators