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BISHOP W. M. WEEKLEY

Bishop William M. Weekley, D.D.

William M. Weekley was born in a valley, in back of the present Fairview Church, on September 18, 1851. He was appointed to a circuit as a minister in 1870 at the age of 19. He had been diagnosed as seriously ill with "consumption", and was not expected to be able to complete his work. In fact, doctors did not expect him to live very long. His circuit consisted of nine churches, and required that he ride a horse over 100 miles of rural mud roads to complete one visit to each. He not only completed his circuits, but by the time he was 26 years old, his health had greatly improved, and he had been elected presiding elder of the Parkersburg conference. In 1890 he moved to Rock River conference in Illinois and and within two years, was a presiding elder there. About 1905 he was elected Bishop and served as an active Bishop for twelve years at which time he requested that he not be re-elected. At that time, he was made Bishop Emeritus. He represented the United Brethren Church at the Parliament of Religions at the Worlds Fair in Chicago. He was the author of three books, including one titled "Twenty Years on Horseback," and co-author of another. Bishop William M. Weekley, D.D. died at Parkersburg, WV on January 8, 1926.