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From:
Subject: Susan Maria Weeks
Date: 25 May 2005 11:04:01 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Classification: Query

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/jUB.2ACI/1033.1

Message Board Post:

On 5/25/05 (9:08:00 AM MDT), in a posting to the Suffolk County Ancestry Board that was 'gatewayed' to , Graham Johnson () asked,

"I am looking for the ancestors of Susan Maria Weeks, my great grandmother. Per her son's civil war pension application and family Bible, she was born in Patchogue, NY in 1823. She married Edward Johnson in 1842 and lived in Cromwell or Middletown, Connecticut for the rest of her life. Weeks is a common surname on Long Island but I have not been able to make a connection between her and other Weeks. Any suggestions?"


First, for those researching their Wicks/Wickes/Weeks/Weekes roots, or if you simply want to learn more about life in New York City at the end of the 18th Century, or if you're simply looking for a good summer read, I recommend:

"The Trial of Levi Weeks" by Estelle Fox Kleiger, Laurel Paperback, March 1991, ppg. 240 (includes Appendix, Notes and Index). (Alternate title: "The Manhattan Well Mystery".)

This case has more going on than the OJ trial:

1. It's the first recorded murder trial in New York City and in the U.S.A.
2. The defense is led by BOTH Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

From the back cover:

On December 22, 1799, Gulielma (Elma) Sands, a young woman residing in a Greenwich Street boardinghouse, borrowed a muff from a neighbor, left the house, and disappeared. On Christmas Eve, three young boys playing in Lispenard Meadows found Elma's borrowed muff floating in the Manhattan Well. Nine days later, Elma's body, violently battered, her gown "torn open with great violence" was grappled from the depths.

LEVI WEEKS, HER LOVER AND A FELLOW BOARDER, WAS ARRESTED FOR HER MURDER.

Did he do it? Would he be convicted? With brilliant suspense and historical accuracy, author Kreiger recreates the sensational trial of Levi Weeks and lets us witness his defense attorneys--Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr--in action ... in a real life murder mystery that is also a unique portrait of America's past.


Second, for questions such as yours, you may want to contact the Patchogue-Medford Library (the library can suggest which local newspaper might have this information and other possible sources of information):

Patchogue-Medford Library
54-60 East Main Street
Patchogue, NY 11772

Tel: 631/654-4700
Fax: 631/289-3999

Reference eMail:

http://pml.suffolk.lib.ny.us/index.htm


The pertinent current geography:

The Village of Patchogue (incorporated in 1893) is in the southwest part of the Town of Brookhaven, in the south-center part of Suffolk County. There are 8 villages (municipal corporations) and 36 hamlets (unincorporated areas) all or partly in the Town of Brookhaven. There are no cities and 10 towns in Suffolk County. There are 2 Indian reservations in Suffolk County. (I'm including after my name a NYS Geographic Glossary with the NYS definitions of county, city, town, village, hamlet and postal zone.)

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Village of Patchogue in the Town of Brookhaven is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of North Patchogue; on the east by the Hamlet of East Patchogue; on the south by the Great South Bay; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Blue Point.

And, as occurs in every one of Suffolk County's 157 communities (0 cities, 31 villages and 126 hamlets), the hamlet and the postal zone that use the same name, have different borders. Places with a Patchogue mailing address may not be in Patchogue. These places with a Patchogue mailing address that are not in the Village of Patchogue are in the Hamlet of Blue Point, the Hamlet of North Patchogue, the Hamlet of East Patchogue, the Hamlet of North Bellport and the Village of Bellport.

For those who have their copy of the 2004 or earlier edition of the LI Population Survey or have already downloaded the report from the Long Island Power Authority web site (eMail me directly if you need instructions on how to access and download the report), you'll find the Village of Patchogue (incorporated in 1893) in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County on pages 14 & 24 (map) and 25 (population estimate).

I hope this information is useful or, at least, interesting.

Walter Greenspan

Cities, Towns, Villages, Hamlets and Postal Zones in New York State

New York State is divided into counties.

County
A county is a municipal corporation, a subdivision of the state, created to perform state functions; a "regional" government. All counties are divided into cities, towns and Indian reservations.

City
A city is a unique governmental entity with its own special charter. Cities are not sub-divided, except into neighborhoods, which are informal geographic areas.

Town
A town is a municipal corporation and encompasses all territory within the state except that within cities or Indian reservations. Towns can be sub-divided into villages and hamlets.

Village
A village is a general purpose municipal corporation formed voluntarily by the residents of an area in one or more towns to provide themselves with municipal services. The pattern of village organization is similar to those of a city. A village is divided into neighborhoods, which are informal geographic areas.

Hamlet
A hamlet is an unincorporated area in one or more towns that is governed at-large by the town(s) it is in. A hamlet is divided into neighborhoods, which are informal geographic areas.

Postal Zone "City" and "Town"
A postal zone "City" and "Town" is an administrative district established by the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the mail. Postal zone "City" and "Town" may not (but are encouraged to) conform to municipal or community borders. Thus, postal zone location does not always determine city, village or hamlet location.


Please be aware: In many areas of New York State, the problem of non-conforming postal zones leads to a situation where the majority of places have a different community name in their mailing address than the community where that place is actually located.

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