Leonard Genealogy
(Leonard Origins - Acknowledgements and Preface)
This is the beginning of the Leonard Genealogy Series. The Leonard Origins.
When I first discovered an interest in history at the age of 11 or 12 and began reading into it, I was impressed with the deeds and heroics of the notable personalities of the period. It also occurred to me that I must have had ancestors in that period who participated or were otherwise affected by those personalities and events of those times. But none of them were mentioned in the histories I read. So, I set off with a goal to identify at least some of the Leonard ancestors and learn something about what they were doing when others were leading the way. For example, when George Washington was leading the Revolutionary Army in defeating the British, were any of my Leonard ancestors serving in his army and helping to win the battles my history books discussed?
As years went by I read more and more and slowly accumulated more about the complexities of life. But it wasn’t until I retired from earning a living and could afford the luxury of delving into the details hidden in genealogy that the stories and personalities became evident.
Tracing my ancestry back to the first Leonards to come to America in the 1630s and 1640s wasn’t too difficult, given resources made available by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and ancestry.com. But I slowly learned that the pursuit of one’s ancestry was changing rapidly. As a result, there are new technologies to learn and explore, like dna analysis. There was too much to learn in the number of years I have left, and I am not going to be able to take advantage of all those new technologies.
One area of research I wanted to explore was the origin of the Leonards in England before they came to America. This I leave to a curious Leonard in the future. But I do want to leave some notes that may help in that family research. So that is really the rationale for this book, Leonard Origins.
When I started this research about 30 years ago, I was motivated by a simple curiosity to discover my own Leonard roots and had no intention of writing a book. I naively thought all Leonards sharing the surname were related, although I was rapidly disabused of that understanding. Grandfather Walter Leonard told me we were descendants of the Taunton Leonards, which provided a starting point. I was initially disappointed that the Leonard family didn’t have a detailed published genealogy like, say, my Eddy family ancestors. Learning that lines of descent were not necessarily clear-cut, that descendants of Solomon Leonard, John Leonard, and other Leonards were intermixed with descendants of James, and that many Leonards shared the same given names led to creating a database to organize and track information to prove, at least to me, which Leonards were “mine.” As I dug deeper, I encountered more unpublished sources and more James Leonard descendants. The database grew. In exchanging information with other Leonard descendants, I came to realize that a synoptic view -- being able to see all the possibilities -- was helpful to other Leonard family researchers as well. If you know there are 30 different Thomas Leonards in a given period and have ready access to basic information about them, you have a better chance of identifying and proving which one is “yours.” That is the origin of this compilation. It is also possible to be a descendant of multiple Leonards. My ancestry includes James, John and Solomon.
Based on my early research, I found that there were two models of a comprehensive inventory of James Leonard’s descendants. One was the unpublished work of Elisha Clark Leonard 1819-94 and his grandson, George Marston Leonard 1880-1959. The other was Fanny Leonard Koster 1858-abt. 1930 and her book and charts on the Leonard family. Elisha’s and George’s work appeared to be the more comprehensive, accurate, and better documented, so it formed the starting point for validating and extending the compilation. Fanny’s good work was not ignored, but became one of the principal sources against which each entry was checked. These pioneers deserve recognition.
From childhood, I had an interest in family history. but it seemed like something I could put off until I retired. Mistake! I had assumed that my two grandfathers were all I had and that I’d have just one or two lines of succession to track down. But lines multiply by 2 each generation. Twelve generations back, about the time of the Pilgrims, I had 2048 direct ancestors, then on to 4096, etc, etc. In my research, I tried to follow many lines back, but only one would be a Leonard. And there were a lot of Leonards back in time in the US. The problem became how to identify the “right” Leonard. In Bristol, there were multiple Josephs, and multiple Betsy Bryants. One set was my ancestors, but which one? Town of Middleboro records changed the numbering of Josephs as they moved or died, so Joseph 1 was not the same person over time. So to find “my” Joseph and Betsy I had to determine the basic information for all of them. Once they were all “present and accounted for”, I could thread my way back and forth.
We know from genetic testing of the y-chromosome that there are a number of lines of descendants with the Leonard surname -- we do not have a common Leonard ancestor within the past 20,000 or more years. Y-DNA is passed from father to son for thousands of years, with perhaps a mutation in the Y-DNA code every several hundred years. We also know that the various Leonard lines used the same given names, like James, Thomas, Joseph, and Nathaniel many times over, so there are hundreds of James, Thomas, and other Leonards in America, some related and some not, but confusing to the family researcher. These pages seek to show the descendants of various Leonard patriarchs, the earliest known bearer of the surname in that line.
This book should be considered a work in progress. There are many gaps in the knowledge base. The reader is invited to follow up on some of these for his or her own understanding. This book is the starting or perhaps middle point, not the end point of the reader’s journey into their own family history.
There is a challenge for Leonard family researchers, and that is epitomized in the multiple Josephs in Middleborough in the late 1700s. There was a lot of duplication of given names among the early descendants of James, and that was compounded by the descendants of Solomon Leonard of Duxbury and John Leonard of Springfield, not to mention the descendants of James’ brother Henry. So just because you find that George and Hannah had a son Benjamin born about the right time, it doesn’t mean that the Benjamin you found is the Benjamin you’ve been looking for. You need to find further confirming information to be sure you have the “right” Benjamin with “correct” parents and the “correct” wife and children. The multiple Josephs chapter illustrates the problem and some of the solutions available to resolve it.
If you search the Internet, you will find many erroneous entries where children have been ascribed to the wrong parents or where husband and wife are mismatched. In most cases, these are not deliberate attempts to mislead others nor to claim famous forebears. They are usually honest mistakes that one might expect in a jumble of identical names and incomplete information. At some point, you will be faced with making a decision about what line of descent is yours, based on whatever incomplete information is available.
I have found numerous examples of earlier genealogies where some children were left out. Leaving out a child could potentially lead to missing a substantial branch of Leonards. It is likely my work has also missed some children, so please be aware of that possibility as you examine your own branch of the family.
Y-DNA analysis also can show a break in the genetic line, caused by non-marital relations, adoption by a second family or some other unknown reason.
Another challenge for researchers is the multiplicity of spellings of the name Leonard, particularly if one goes back into old English records. There was no virtue found in uniformity of spelling, and it depended upon the idiosyncrasies of individual clerks and how they translated to letters the local pronunciation of the name. Since most of our ancestors back then were illiterate and could not spell or check the name themselves, they were at the mercy of the clerks and their phonetic transcriptions. Here are some of the variations that appear in the records:
Leonard, Lennard, Leanerd, Lenard, Lenarde, Lenerd, Lennerd, Lennord, Leniyard, Lonard, Loneard, Linard, Linnord, Linett, Linatt, Lynett, Lennett, Lennett, Leanott, Lenot, Lennott, Lennit, Lenny, Lynny, and Linny.[1] Other variations the compiler has come across are Lienart, Lyonnarde, and Linyard. Sometimes the same person is referred to in the same church register by two different spellings. In US records, the most frequent spellings are Leonard, Lennard, Lenord, and Lenard. The Learned family of Woburn, Massachusetts, use the same given names, but they are definitely not Leonards.
Imaginative spellings of our name do also occur in Colonial vital records in the 18th Century and in the United States Censuses.
There were others, now passed on, who contributed over the years. Perez Fobes 1742-1812 is said to have done the first family genealogy back in the 1790s, and a short piece of his is among the documents consulted. John D. W. Hall wrote a piece in one of the early NEHGS Registers on the Leonard family. Elisha Clark Leonard and two other 19th Century Leonard family historians, John Adams Vinton and Manning Leonard, exchanged Leonard family information in the 1800s and appear to have worked through a number of issues as to which Leonards belonged in which families. Lois Leonard Badger and Harriotte Sabrina Leonard Standish 1888-1939 contributed a three-volume manuscript, The Leonard Dictionary, finished in the 1930s. Oliver B. Leonard 1839-1917 researched the descendants of Henry Leonard in New Jersey, and various pieces of his work survive. And there were a number of Leonards who clarified those in their own branches. Helen M. Leonard Edwins 1845-1923 traced the descendants of Ephraim Leonard through four or five generations in New York and the Midwest. Dorothy Stansbury Leonard left a manuscript with NEHGS covering her branch of the family. More recently, Andrea “Andy” Leonard 1928-2007 developed the genealogy of the Osterville, Massachusetts Leonards, although her main published work was on the Crocker family.
Brian G. Awty’s research, “Adventures in Iron,” in two volumes, was published in 2019. Pages 266-274 address the Leonards directly.
There are also books by the Rt. Reverend William Andrew Leonard about the Stephen Banks Leonard family and Caroline Leonard Goodenough, who has both James Leonard and Solomon Leonard ancestry.
Also included are materials supplied by various Leonard family researchers of the current day. Wardwell C. Leonard, Jr., who grew up in “the next town over,” has been an indefatigable searcher into the origins of Seth Leonard and has in the process found many Leonard materials of use in this book. Frank Leonard in Texas, refugee from the Nine Mile Valley in Montana, has sent materials tracing the descendants of James’ grandson Stephen in New Jersey to New York and west to Nebraska and Montana. Nora Leonard Roy and Connie Leonard Volkman share some of the same lines as Frank and have been generous in contributing further information on descendants in the Midwest, particularly the diary of Stephen Rose Leonard. Philip Leonard in Utah has contributed a lot of information about the descendants of Bradford Leonard, one of the early Mormon pioneers. His cousin, Robert, was responsible for bringing a copy of ECL-GML’s work to the LDS genealogical library in Salt Lake City and added much to Utah Leonard research. Kathleen Leonard Rodegeb has done a lot of research on Silas Leonard, an early settler of western New York, and his descendants, reflected herein. Jessie Deith in Illinois has also contributed to this effort. Barbara Leonard and Emily Leonard Stewart filled in information about Loyalist Leonard branches that went to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Through the efforts of Arlene Cook, Jan Jordan, John Graham Leonard and Eric Leonard, we solved another New York State Leonard mystery. Benjamin Leonard in Atlanta got me participating in Y-DNA testing, which has since proven its value, and also led to a descendant line of his in New York. Through Y-DNA testing, we found Stuart Leonard in England, a descendant of one of James Leonard’s ancestors and a whole new line of distant cousins in England. Descendants a generation or two from the Leonard surname have also been helpful. Eric Bowler in Canada and Debbie Buchanan in Illinois have been instrumental in my learning of a whole large branch of Leonard cousins in Canada and points west, also proven up through Y-DNA testing. Judy Drake King and Polly Lynn have helped with New England lines. Ralph Leonard of Connecticut and Malcolm “Mac” Leonard of Arizona sent documentation on the Job Mason Leonard and William Leonard/Sarah Bolton branches. Ola Humphries has filled in the lines of some descendants who migrated south. John P. Leonard of Pittsburgh has made a huge effort to identify the origins and descendants of Charles Carroll Leonard 1819-1864, identifying some 400 Charles Leonards in that period in an effort to break through that particular brick wall. Y-DNA testing seems to indicate that Charles Carroll Leonard’s branch is Solomon Leonard descendants. In my own branch, Art Leonard in New York, Howard Clarke in New Hampshire, Owen Leonard in Rhode Island, Charlotte Vaughan and Violet Leonard Whitfield in North Carolina, Judy Leonard in Arizona, and Madilyn Leonard in Maryland have filled out specific lines and added cousins.
I’ve tried to access and use information from genealogists from times past, such as Constance Leonard 1745-1836(?) who, back in the 1800s, traced many of John Leonard of Springfield’s descendants and Helen M. Leonard Edwins 1845-1923 of Wisconsin’s efforts to document the descendants of Ephraim Leonard.
Bill Barton, a descendant of James’ brother Henry, has researched and written several well-documented pieces on the origins of James and Henry. Through him, I’ve learned of the work of the Wealden Iron Research Group in England and in particular, Brian K. Awty. Their work on the history of iron refining and some of the people involved in technology transfer in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteen centuries may eventually yield solid genealogical information about the early origins of the ironworking Leonards. Bill is now deceased, but his work lives on in the inspiration and new direction he brought to Leonard research.
What’s made genealogy interesting over the past thirty years are the wonderful resources accessible on the Internet. I would particularly like to recognize the New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS), whose website, AmericanAncestors.org (formerly NewEnglandAncestors.org), has been invaluable in checking out the origins of various Leonards without having to make the trip to Boston or to a well-endowed library. Another resource that has become essential is Ancestry.com, which has not only continuously expanded its available resources, but also updated and innovated in the presentation of genealogical information. Of particular assistance has been their collection of censuses from 1790 to 1930, which provide not only additional information, but also a check against family genealogies. One of the best Leonard genealogies on Ancestry.com is the one posted by Patty Leonard Dossetti, which includes both descendants of James and Solomon. There are many other good sites out there that have been helpful, such as Footnote.com for Revolutionary War pension records, GenesReunited in England, and GeneaNet in France. Cyndi’s List is very helpful when one is looking for specialized resources, and Google Books has made many old treasures available. The Generations Network, NEHGS, and the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, MD, have put much genealogical information, including books, on CDs that are readily searchable and an important source of information.
Libraries remain important as well. I never would have gotten started with this project without the resources and assistance of the Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton, the home of everything Leonard (well, certainly James Leonard and descendants). With the help of manuscript materials there, originally the Director, Jane Hennedy, and their able archivist, Andrew Boisvert, and now the current Director Katie MacDonald and her assistant, Elizabeth Bernier, I’ve been able to access original materials I would never have known existed. The Rhode Island Historical Society library in Providence has an extensive collection of papers, newspapers, books, microfiche, and maps that were also invaluable. And for the volume of worldwide genealogical resources as well as a center of continuous innovation, there’s the incomparable LDS genealogical library in Salt Lake City. Another important resource is the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, CT.
While the focus of one book in the series remains the descendants of James, my database includes the descendants of Henry, Solomon, and John as well and has been enlarged through information supplied by Bill Barton in Connecticut, Cliff Leonard of Florida, Alice Leonard Gillespie in West Virginia, Dick Leonard in Oregon, and Rick Leonard in Seattle, Steven Leonard in New Hampshire, and Jennifer Stone Randolph (Touchstone Genealogical Services). Allan Vaughan has done a huge amount of original research on Solomon’s grandson, Benjamin, who went to New Jersey and whose descendants spread from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, to Ohio, and then to points west.
An unsung hero is Madeline Stickney Baker Leonard, wife of G. Marston Leonard, who donated ECL’s and GML’s manuscripts and papers to the New England Historical Genealogical Society and the Old Colony Historical Society. Without that donation back in 1960, much irreplaceable research into the Leonard family would have been lost.
Organizing material in a searchable database and then being able to print it out in useful formats is essential in putting together a compilation. For the software underlying my Leonard database and producing the descendant narratives, we have Bruce Buzbee and RootsMagic, Version 7, to thank.
Special thanks are also due to my wife, Susan M. Falsey, for her patience and support during long hours of years of research and also for her assistance in research proofreading, and resolving the many computer problems that emerged in formatting and producing the final product.
I want to thank all the folks and organizations noted above. But also, there are many unsung heroes over the years, who kept their records and artifacts, and passed them on to the next generation and beyond. Without their diligence, there would be a great loss in historical records, family stories and a feeling of “life” to the generations from which they descended.
These books are my final contribution to the research on Leonards and beyond. I hope others can take the work forward on a comprehensive level, looking at more than their single line. There are problems to be solved, data to be found and more treasures to be uncovered. The rapid technological change in information storage, retrieval and analysis make this a perpetual project, and it needs a new person to take over!
This series of books represents an attempt to organize my research on Leonard families over the past 25 years. As I learned more about those bearing the surname ”Leonard”, it became obvious that I wasn’t going to complete documentation of all the branches of the Leonards. Age and illness have forced me to stop research in 2020. This series represents my progress as far as that year. It’s now time for another descendant to step forward to push knowledge another step forward.
There are a lot of Leonards out there. Most family historians concentrate on their own branches’ direct ancestry, forgetting that that more ancestors remain hidden in generations untouched and undiscovered. The 12 generations between me and James Leonard, 1620-1691, number 2048 individuals who lived and loved over the years between 1620 and 2020 and who potentially contributed to the gene pool.
A family history cannot be complete if it ignores their wives and sisters. Every generation expands by a power of two for the direct line of parents, doubling the number of ancestors of us all and then expands again by by multiples of multiples of two if one includes the siblings of the direct ancestors.
As I went about compiling what I initially envisioned as 12 generations of Leonards between me and my ancestor James, I found a lot more ancestors to document and research. The following pedigree chart names but 62 of them spread over 6 generations. It would require 62 more pages of charts, each identifying 62 more ancestors to include all of my 2048 Leonard ancestors.
Pedigree chart of the author, covering 6 generations, demonstrating the power of doubling each generation
Abbreviations
The common abbreviations for the months of the year -- Jan, Feb, Mar, etc. -- are used throughout. The common two-letter abbreviations for the States -- MA, RI, CT, etc. -- are used throughout.
Common to most genealogical work:
- = born
- = married
- = died
VRs = vital records
Court records
dcd. = deceased
dtd. = dated
exec. = executor
inv. = inventory
prob. = probated
People frequently referred to in the text:
ECL is Elisha Clark Leonard.
GML is George Marston Leonard.
WCL is Wardwell Coles Leonard, Jr.
SBL is Stephen Banks Leonard
HLS is Harriotte Leonard Standish.
Organizations:
NEHGS is the New England Historical Genealogical Society, Boston
American Ancestors is the current website name of NEHGS
OCHS is the Old Colony Historical Society, Taunton.
[1] Robert Leonard, The Origins of the Leonards, undated manuscript. Robert lives in Bitten, Somersetshire, near the town of Bristol. He’s traced the Leonards in his family in that part of England from the 1600s.