Person Page 656

What we know of the origins of James Leonard comes from Hannah Leonard Deane, his daughter, who made a deposition to her grandnephew, Zephaniah Leonard, as follows:



“February 2, 1732-3, Hannah Deane, sister to Capt. James Leonard late of Taunton deceased, gave to the subscriber the following account of her relations, etc –

1st Namely her Great Grandfather’s name was Henry Leonard

2nd Her own Grandfather’s name was Thomas Leonard

3rd Her Father’s name was James Leonard

Her Grandmother’s name was White

Her Mother’s name was Martin

Her Father’s brothers’ names were the eldest, 1. Henry Leonard

2. William Leonard

3. John Leonard

4. Philip Leonard

5. Thomas Leonard

Margery

Joan

Sarah

James, her Father, lived and died at Taunton, New England

Thomas was drowned at Piscataway.

Henry went to New Jersey.

Philip lived at Marshfield and died at Taunton.

William & John never came out of England.

Margery married Henry Samson of Ireland, Lt. of the City of Gallaway.

Sarah died at New Salem.

Joan never came out of England.

Said Hannah said her eldest brother was Thomas Leonard, next James, Joseph, Benjamin, John, Uriah.

The sisters were Abigail and Rebecca.

They all had children save John, who died at about 20 years of age.

Henry, who removed to New Jersey, lived and married his wife in Lynn in New England, from thence he removed to Toppsfield, then removed by way of Taunton to the Jerseys. When he was in Taunton, he had seven likely children, namely,

The eldest Samuel married Sarah Brooks

Nathaniel

Thomas married his wife in Virginia

Henry

John married A. Almy (originally)

The daughters, the eldest married Throgmorton; next Mary.

So far Hannah Deane, originally Hannah Leonard, gave me an account.



Zephaniah Leonard”[2]



Further research does support this deposition.

· Records have been found in the Parish Church of Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire of the baptism of Margery, daughter of forgeman Thomas and Elizabeth Leonard, on March 13, 1624/5. This is the earliest record of a child of Thomas and Elizabeth (White) Leonard. Cleobury Mortimer is a small village on the Rea River on which there were forges.[3] Cleobury Mortimer is not far from Kinver on the Stour River, another town noted for early ironworks and Leonards.

· Mary Leonard was baptized September 12, 1627, in Cleobury Mortimer and died later that year. She was also the daughter of Thomas Leonard.[4]

· William Leonard was baptized there November 30, 1628, and also died later that year. Thomas was listed as “of the forge, fyner” in that record. A fyner was one who is charge of the hearth where cast iron was made malleable.[5] It is possible but undocumented that there was a second child named William who lived and remained in England. There is a marriage record of a William Leonard of Crewcarne, Somersetshire, marrying Mary Coxe on January 22, 1654. There is also the mysterious William Leonard, born about 1680-90 who married Sarah Bolton of Bridgewater, whose origins and relationships are unknown and may have been a later immigrant son or grandson of the William who remained in England.[6]

· Philip Leonard’s residence in Marshfield and association with Henry Leonard in 1652 at the ironworks has been documented.[7]

· Sarah Leonard, daughter of Thomas, was baptized February 23, 1633/4 in Publow Parish, Somersetshire. Publow was also the site of an ironworks. In 1676, Sarah married Robert Fairbanks in Ireland, and they left Dublin for New Jersey in 1677. When Robert died, Sarah married John Thompson in New Jersey. Her will in 1720 confirms her relationship to Henry and Thomas Leonard of New Jersey and James Leonard of Massachusetts.[8]

· Thomas Leonard, son of Thomas, was baptized April 20, 1636, in Publow Parish. When he came to America is unknown, although it is thought that he was in New Haven, CT, before moving to Woodbridge, NJ, and that his wife’s name was Katherine. We do not know if they had children or if Thomas was engaged in ironworking trades.[9] His will mentions wife Katherine and his kinsman Halick Codriack, but no children, save a legacy of a 2-year-old heifer to “the boy that now liveth with me” called Thomas Cromwell.



From the above, we know that the parents of Henry, James, Philip, and Thomas were Thomas Leonard and Elizabeth White. We know that Thomas was a skilled forgeman and fyner and probably trained some or all of his sons in that skill. We know that Thomas moved around in the application of his skill, spending 1624-28 in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, and 1633-36 in Publow Parish, Somersetshire. We do not know whether Thomas and Elizabeth also spent time in Pontypool, Monmouthshire (now Gwent, Wales) where Henry and James were rumored to have been born about 1618 and 1620.[10] An article by W. D. John and Anne Simox reported that James and Henry left the Hanbury ironworks at Pontypool about 1646 and migrated to the English colonies.[11] But because they left from Pontypool to come to America doesn’t mean they were born there.



Bill Barton has an excellent presentation of the facts surrounding the establishment of an iron industry in Massachusetts in the 1640’s.[12] John Winthrop, son of Gov. Winthrop, sailed to England in 1641 to get the necessary support, materials, and workmen to set an ironworks in Massachusetts. The recruitment of skilled workmen, in particular, was not easy.[13] It should be remembered that the 1640’s were a time of civil war in England. The Royalists drew their strength from the western shires, and Cromwell’s troops subsequently destroyed many of the forges in the area, since they had been supplying the Royalists with cannon.



We do know there were Leonards in Pontypool in the early 1600’s. A Thomas Leonard is mentioned in a deed of July 29, 1633, bordering lands of John Powell, John Gerbon, and Philip Morgan in Trevethin (a parish near Pontypool, with a bridge near the swamp and pool there in 1490, the pool later becoming a forge pond). An ironworks was in operation there before 1634, when there’s a record of a complaint against John Wylde for failure to collect monies from it, instead selling iron at a discount to his friends. Thomas Morgan was recorded as selling charcoal to the forge in 1640. The ironworks were apparently owned by the Hanburys, who also owned similar works in Bilston, Staffordshire.[14]



Manning Leonard visited Europe in 1864, taking a side trip to Pontypool. He found the old records in Pontypool badly kept and uninformative about early Leonards. But he did discover several Leonards living in the area, including a John Leonard who took him to a graveyard near the ancient church of Trevethan, 2 miles north of Pontypool, where he found inscriptions from an early recording the deaths of John and James Leonard.[15]



I also visited Pontypool in 2002 and found evidence of Leonards living in the area from the 1600’s to the present day. Among the old documents in the Monmouthshire (Gwent) County Records Office in Pontypool were Gwenllian, wife of Thomas Leonard, buried March 15, 1656; Mary Leonard married Alexander Lewis January 26, 1656; a son of Philip Leonard was born October 27, 1656. There is a will of Thomas Leonard, yeoman of Trevethin, proven February 28, 1658. The inventory was signed by Morgan Leonard. None of the 11 children of “our” Thomas are mentioned in the will, so it is another Thomas Leonard.[16] Later records showed a Thomas Leonard, son of Jacob Leonard, born baptized January 9, 1699; Ann, daughter of James Leonard, baptized March 13, 1702; Sarah, daughter of James Leonard, baptized March 13, 1702; and a John and Mary Leonard who died at age 84 in 1774. Another researcher has found that another James Leonard was working in the iron industry there, having three children – William, Thomas, and Anne – baptized in Trevethan between 1696 and 1703.



There are supposedly two articles by Stanley G. Leonard published before 1977 in the Pontypool Free Press: Local Links with Early United States Iron Industry” and “The Early Iron Men of America.” I spent a number of hours at the Gwent County Records Office going through old copies of the Pontypool Free Press without finding the two articles in question. That there have been Leonards in the area is certainly well established in various newspaper articles.



My hypothesis is that the Pontypool Leonards of the 1600’s are related to “our” James, Henry, and Philip, our distant cousins, if you will. The naming patterns bear striking similarities to those of James and Henry’s descendants. If earlier generations repeated names the way James’ descendants did, there would be a number of Jameses, Thomases, Johns, Philips, and the like in succeeding generations, some of whom stayed in Monmouthshire, some of whom migrated elsewhere. A more diligent researcher than I with more time to dig through Monmouthshire records and newspapers may be able to establish the facts and relationships.



There were Leonard ironworkers also in the Bilston area of Staffordshire (near Birmingham, Warwickshire) about the time of the emigration of Henry, James, Philip, and Thomas and thereafter. James Leonard’s son, Thomas, was born August 8, 1641, at Kinver, on the River Stour, near Bilston. Bilston was the center of the “Black Country” iron industry.[17] Apparently, the early Leonards left a claim to the ownership of some heavily mortgaged ironworks there.[18] Early in the 19th Century, an ironworker in Bilston by the name of James Leonard sent a letter to James Leonard, ironworker in or near Taunton, stating that the extensive iron works there in Bilston belonging to the Leonards. The Leonards in Taunton decided not to undertake the expense of an extended suit to regain the works.



According to Hannah Leonard Deane, the father of Thomas Leonard was Henry Leonard. Efforts to find a candidate Henry Leonard have come to naught. There were recorded Henry Leonards in England during the appropriate time, say 1550 to 1600, but none of them appear to have been ironworkers living in Monmouthshire, Somersetshire, Shropshire, or Staffordshire. Probably the most likely candidate is one Henry Leonard who must have been a reasonably wealthy merchant in Chester, Cheshire.[19] An order dated June 2, 1618, gave him the use of 100 pounds of the City’s money on payment of 5% per year interest to set 51 poor people to work in fustian making. A further order was that if the Company of Mersers and Ironmongers would not take the 100 pounds on conditions offered by Henry Leonard, they were to refer themselves o the Mayor for such action as was thought fit. Barton notes that the only Henry Leonard listed in the Chester Freemen’s Rolls 1392-1805 is a Henry Leonard, weaver, son of Thomas Leonard, shoemaker listed as “defunct” on September 18, 1615. That Henry apparently passed away before the City’s order to (presumably) another Henry.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thomas Leonard is called "the Immigrant." He was one of the last of the 13 children of Sampson Leonard and Margaret Fiennes, Baroness Dacre, of Knol in Kent and Herstmonceux in East Sussex. Being one the last of many children of a titled family didn't stand for much. Thomas is found as a skilled iron worker in Pontypool, Wales. He is a skilled iron worker there. He also married Lydia White there in 1600. Thomas Leonard and his son Henry Leonard, and another son, made the trip to Massachusetts, where all three worked in the colonial iron forges. Lydia died in Pontypool, Wales in 1701. Thomas died in Taunton, Bristol Co, MA on 6 Nov 1638. Thomas Leonard, along with his son became the founders of an roaming iron-working dynasty that lasted over 200 years.

John Tisdale was murdered by Indians in King Phillip's War. His will was administered 1 November, 1676, but was not settled until 1677, the eldest son taking a double portion, and the residue being equally divided among the sons and daughters.

Joseph got left the house but as the Indians burned it I'm not sure what was settled on.

Will of John Tisdale, Sr. Taunton, (1675)

I, John Tisdale, Sr., of Taunton, being sick and weak yet of perfect memory, doe dispose of estate as followeth:---

I give to my eldest son, John Tisdale, all my tract of land on the east side of Taunton River, bound on the south by Meadow Brook, on the north by Stone Bridge Brook, on the west by the Great River and higway and on the common on the east, with the housin that is on it to him and his heirs forever, being six score acres, more or less.

Also to James Tisdale land on which his house stands and about five acres east of Great River, and four lying by Stone Bridge, and also land called new lot west of Great River (six acres) only the mowing meadow that is in it his mother shall enjoy while she lives, and also my lot at Swansey and my meadow at Sakegegunsett (Segreganset?), and my share in Iron Works after the death of his mother.

Also I give to my son, Joshua Tisdale, my share of land at Assonett and the meadow that appertaineth to it and my two acres of meadow in Assonett lying near John Hathaways house.

Also to my son, Joseph Tisdale, the house I now live in and the housin about it, and the lands and meadows adjoining to it, and the old orchard with the two acres of land that joynes it, and three acres of swamp lying by James Burte's land and my Apes meadows with two acres of land on the west side of it, to him and his heirs forever, but Joseph shall help Joshua to build for him as good a house as that I now live in.

To my daughter Elizabeth 5 pounds.

To my daughter Sarah, 5 pounds, of which she has received 300 of iron for that there is but 5 shillings due.

To my daughter, Mary, my share in North purchase and my lot at Rumford.

To my daughter, Abigail, my land on north-west side of Three Mile River. To my grandchild, John Tisdale, 30 acres of land on southeast side of Apes Meadow, and the remainder of my estate wholly to my wife as my sole executor.

APPRAISAL OF ESTATE OF JOHN TISDALE, SR.

"The inventory of the estate of John Tisdall, Sr., of Taunton, late deceased, exhibited to the Court of His Majesty hell'd at Plymouth the 2d of November, 1676, on the oaths of John Tisdall and Joshua Tisdall:



Item. 4 oxen 17 pounds

Item. A cart and a paire of wheeles and three yoaks with the irons 4 pounds

Item. 6 Swine and three Little piggs 4 pounds, 6 shillings

Item. 4 Calves and three yearlings 5 pounds

Item. 1 Steer and 2 two year old heiffers 5 pounds

Item. 6 Kine 17 pounds

Item. Brass Kettle and a Brass skillett, 1 Feather bed and 2 paire of sheets,

3 blankets, 2 bolsters, 2 feather pillows, 1 Rugg and a towell ton

Item. 1 Chamber pott and a platter and a porringer and two spoons 6 shillings

Item. 1 Chamber pott more, an apple roaster and an Indian bagg 2 shillings, 6 d.

Item. 1 paire of loomes and what belongs to them 1 pound

Item. 1 tubb, 1 paile and other timber ware 16 s.

Item. 4 borers (augers?) 4 s.

Item. 3 glass bottles and pound and a quarter of wool, 1 small bar iron

Item. 2 Guns and his wearing apparil 4 pounds, 16 s.

Item 8 yards of Bedticking and table napkins and pillow beares 2 pounds 12 s.

Item. 2 board clothes 5 s.

Item. 2 Beds, bolsters and ropes 3 pounds 17 s.

Item. Wollen yarn and a paire of Stilliyards 2 pounds 1 s.

Item. 3 Hoes 5 s.

Item. 6 platters and other small pewter 2 pounds, 5 s., 9 d.

Item. 1 Iron skillett, two brass pans 14s. 6 d.

Item. 1 brass kettle, 1 Iron Pott and Pott hooks 1 pound 4 s.

Item. 1 Copper, 1 Iron Pott and a seive 1 pound 4 s.

Item. 2 Barrell and a paile and butter tub 7 s.

Item. An axe, one paire of andirons and a spitt 1 pound 5 s.

Item. 1 frying pan, 2 plow chains and a log chain 1 pound 4 s.

Item. 2 shares and Coulters 10 s.

Item. 3 paire of pitchforks and a warming pan 6 s. 6 d.

Item 4 seives and troughs and pole rings 13 s.

Item. 1 Horse and Saddle 2 pound 5 s.

Item. 4 sheep and beif the country had for souldiers 3 pound 10 s.

Item. 2 hydes 1 pound

Item. debts owing to him by others 8 pounds

Item. 3 spinning wheels 10 s.

Item. his share in the Iron Works 20 pounds

Item. 1 hyde and a bar 1 pound 16 s.

Item. hinges for dores and half of a wheel plow and pot hangers 1 pound 16 s.

Item. a barn and other small buildings 20 pounds

October (76)

George Macy

William Wetherell

Debts owing from the estate:

Item. to rate for souldiers wagers 9 pounds

Item. To things found out since the aforenamed particulars, as horse traces,

a cross cut saw, and old harrow, and old cheese press, one half an

hundred of cedar boards, and part of a chain.

The lands of John Tisdall deceased:

Item. Meddow land, plowed land, pasture land where his house was, eighteen acres.

Item. 20 more at the Three Mile River and 2 acres of meddow

Item. his part in the North Purchase.

Item. seaven more below his house lying upon the great river.

Item. more meddow and upland, 6 acres

Item. his lands at assonett whichis well know.

Item. three acres of meddow that hee bought, being at the foot of it (three more neare untothat, right in meadow)

(Here the record is missing.)



Phyllis Dearbornadded this on 27 Jan 2012
lovemybookoriginally submitted this to Hamilton-Bullock Family Tree on 10 Oct 2008

The Will of John Tisdale.