Mr. Henderson's occupation was afterwards that of a local army contractor, &c., as may be gathered from an advertisement which is to be observed in the Oracle of September 6, 1806:—"Notice. The subscriber having got the contract for supplying His Majesty's troops at the garrison with fresh beef, takes the liberty of informing the public that he has engaged a person to superintend the butchering business, and that good fresh beef may be had three times a week. Fresh pork and mutton will be always ready on a day's notice; poultry, &c. Those gentlemen who may be pleased to become customers, may rely on being well served, and regularly supplied. If constant customers, &c., a note of the weight will be sent along with the article. Families becoming constant customers, will please to send a book by their servant, to have it entered, to prevent any mistakes. The business will commence on Monday, the 1st of September next. R. Henderson, York, Aug. 28, 1806."
The grazing ground of Mr. Henderson's fat cattle was extensive. In the same paper we have a notice bearing his signature, announcing that "the subscriber has a considerable number of fat cattle running at large between the town and the Humber. They are all branded on the horns with R. H." The notice continues: "If any of said cattle should be offered for sale to butchers or others, it is hoped no one will purchase them, as they may suppose them to be stolen. A number of fat cattle is still wanted, for which cash will be paid."
The result of the election at York in 1804 is announced in the Oracle of June 16. As was probably to be expected, Mr. Macdonell was the man returned. Thus runs the paragraph: "On Monday last the 11th instant, the election of a Knight to represent the counties of Durham and Simcoe and the East Riding of the County of York, took place at the Government Buildings in this town. At the close of the poll, Angus Macdonell was declared to be duly elected to represent the said counties and riding. We have not yet been able to collect any further returns," the Editor adds, "but as soon as practicable they will be laid before the public."
On the 4th of the following August, accordingly, the following complete list was given of members returned at the election of 1804. Alexander Macdonell and W. B. Wilkinson, Esqrs., Glengarry and Prescott. Robert Isaac D. Grey, Esq., Stormont and Russell. John Chrysler, Dundas. Samuel Sherwood, Esq., Grenville. Peter Howard, Esq., Leeds. Allan McLean, Esq., Frontenac. Thomas Dorland, Esq., Lennox and Addington. Ebenezer Washburn, Esq., Prince Edward. David McGregor Rogers, Esq., Hastings and Northumberland. Angus Macdonell, Esq., Durham, Simcoe and East Riding of York. Solomon Hill and Robert Nelles, Esqrs., West Riding of York, First Lincoln, and Haldimand. Isaac Swayzey and Ralph Clench, Esqs., 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ridings of Lincoln. Benaiah Mallory, Esq., Norfolk, Oxford and Middlesex. John McGregor, Esq., Kent. Matthew Elliott and David Cowan, Esqrs., Essex.
The Mr. Weekes who, as we have seen, was an unsuccessful candidate for a seat in parliament in 1804 was nevertheless a member of the House in 1806, representing the constituencies to which he had previously offered himself. In 1806 he was killed in a duel with Mr. Dickson at Niagara, another victim to the peculiar social code of the day, which obliged gentlemen on certain occasions of difference to fire pistols at each other. In the Oracle of the 11th of October, 1806, we read the announcement: "Died on Friday, the 10th instant, at night, in consequence of a wound received that morning in a duel, William Weekes, Esq., Barrister-at-law, and a Member of the House of Assembly for the counties of York, Durham and Simcoe." In the next issue of the paper, dated October 25, 1806, we have a second record of the event in the following terms, with a eulogy on Mr. Weekes' character: "It is with sentiments of the deepest regret that we announce to the public the death of William Weekes, Esq., Barrister-at-law in this Province; not only from the melancholy circumstances attendant on his untimely death, but also from a view of the many virtues this Province is deprived of by that death. In him the orphan has lost a father, the widow a friend, the injured a protector, society a pleasing and safe companion, and the Bar one of its ablest advocates. Mr. Weekes was honest without the show of ostentation. Wealth and splendour held no lure for him; nor could any pecuniary motives induce him to swerve in the smallest degree from that which he conceived to be strictly honourable. His last moments were marked with that fortitude which was the characteristic of his life, convinced of the purity of which, he met death with pleasure.
"His funeral was delayed longer than could have been wished, a form of law being necessary previous to that ceremony. He was interred on Tuesday, the fourteenth. His funeral," it is added, "was attended by a respectable assemblage of people, from the house of John MacKay, Esq., in the following order:—mourners, John MacKay, Esq.; three Members of the House of Assembly, of which he was a member: viz., Ralph Clench, J. Swayzey, Robert Nelles; Dr. West, Surgeon of the American Garrison, Dr. Thomas, 41st Regt., Dr. Muirhead, Niagara; the Gentlemen of the Bar; the Magistrates of the place; and a numerous concourse of people from town and country."
This duel, as we have been informed, was fought on the United States side of the river, near the French Fort.
Mr. Weekes, we believe, was an unmarried man. He was fond of solitary rambles in the woods in search of game. Once he was so long missing that foul play was suspected; and some human remains having been found under a heap of logs on the property of Peter Ernest, Peter Ernest was arrested; and just as the evidence was all going strongly against him, Mr. Weekes appeared on the scene alive and well.
One more of these inhuman and unchristian encounters, with fatal result, memorable in the early annals of York, we shall have occasion to speak of hereafter when, in our intended progress up Yonge Street, we pass the spot where the tragedy was enacted.
Mr. Weekes was greatly regretted by his constituents. "Overwhelmed with grief," they say in their address dated the 20th September, 1806, to the gentleman whom they desire to succeed him, "at the unexpected death of our late able and upright Representative; we, freeholders of these Counties of York, Durham and Simcoe, feel that we have neglected our interests in the season of sorrow. Now awake, it is to you we turn; notwithstanding the great portion of consolation which we draw from the dawning of our impartial and energetic administration. (The allusion is to Gov. Gore.)