John E. Weeks

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John Eliakim Weeks (June 14, 1853 – September 10, 1949) was a Republican American politician from Vermont who served as the state’s governor and later as a U.S. representative.

Weeks was born in Salisbury, Vermont, the son of Ebenezer Weeks and Elizabeth Dyer Weeks. He grew up in the area, attended local schools and Middlebury High School, and worked as a farmer and businessman. He ran hay and livestock operations, sold insurance, handled estates, and became a leader in banking, serving as president of the Addison County Trust Company and the Columbus Smith Trust Company and sitting on the boards of the Brandon National Bank and the National Bank of Middlebury.

His political career began in the Vermont House of Representatives (1888–1890). He later served as Assistant Judge of Addison County (1892–1894) and was elected to the Vermont State Senate (1896–1898). Weeks returned to the Vermont House (1912–1917) and was Speaker from 1915 to 1917. He then became Director of State Institutions (1917–1923) and Vermont Commissioner of Public Welfare (1923–1926).

Weeks was elected governor in 1926 and served from 1927 to 1931. His term followed Vermont’s devastating 1927 flood, and his administration focused on flood recovery and road-building, paving about 49 miles of roads each year on a pay-as-you-go basis. In 1928 he became the first Vermont governor elected to a second two-year term, seeking an exemption from the Mountain Rule to help manage the flood recovery effort.

In 1930 Weeks was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Vermont’s 1st District, serving March 4, 1931, to March 3, 1933. The district was slated to be eliminated, so Weeks chose to serve one term to avoid a primary fight between two incumbents.

After leaving Congress, Weeks returned to his business interests in Middlebury. He was a longtime trustee of Middlebury College, receiving honorary degrees of M.A. (1912) and LL.D. (1927), and he also received an honorary LL.D. from Norwich University in 1927.

Weeks married Hattie Jane Dyer in 1879; they had no children. Hattie died in 1942. John E. Weeks died in Middlebury on September 10, 1949, at the age of 96. He is buried at West Salisbury Cemetery in Salisbury, Vermont, and remains the longest-lived Vermont governor.