Zephaniah and his wife lived in Raynham, and most of the records about the family are in the Raynham VR's. Zephaniah was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1761 and served there until he died. Zephaniah is the Leonard who asked his great-aunt, Hannah Leonard Dean to recount the ancestry of the Leonards as she knew it.
One of the more notable family feuds in the 1700's occurred among the Leonards over -- what else -- forges and iron ore. Following is the description in the Leonard genealogy written by ECL, pages 112-115 of his manuscript.
"When Stephen Leonard went to New Jersey, he left his eldest son, Zephaniah, at Taunton to live with his grandfather, Capt. James Leonard. Stephen probably thought that there would be small chance for his boys if he remained in Taunton. Deacon Samuel Leonard was clerk and agent of the old works at Raynham and had boys of his own to advance in life. The Whittinton Works had been bought by his brother who had moved there and built a house. The saw mill Capt. James Leonard had already bought and had placed Seth Leonard there as owner and manager. He still had the right to the West Hearth in the forge (Raynham Forge) in which Stephen had worked, which could afford an opening for Zephaniah who commenced working life at 17 years. No doubt he acquired the bloomers art, for he was a smart, intelligent fellow. His father went to New Jersey and soon after moved his family there. Zephaniah soon became efficient about his grandfather's premises, his property, and his business. When he was 21 years old, Zephaniah found a helpmate in a girl whom he had known a long time. He married the girl, Hannah King, April 24, 1724 when she was just 19.
On March 4, 1725/6, Capt. James Leonard made his will and gave half the house, farm, and lot and orchard on the opposite of the road and next to Forge Pond, about 7 acres, excepting the blacksmith's shop, to his wife, which was all to go to Zephaniah upon her death, together with the blacksmith's shop and all the tools. Zephaniah was to pay to each of his aunts, Sarah Hodges and Elizabeth Hall 75 pounds. He gave to his son Stephen (Zephaniah's father), the other part of his homestead together with other lots. Capt. James Leonard, Zephaniah's grandfather, died two years after the date of his will, leaving Zephaniah practically in control of the homestead. Zephaniah's grandmother kept the homestead as a tavern, in the management of which Zephaniah had control. She died in 1738, and Zephaniah came into possession of it. He had already in 1727 bought his father Stephen's share of the homestead, all that was given to him in his father's will.
All these years he had worked the west hearth of Raynham Forge. The production seems to have fallen off for in 1695/6 each hearth made 14 tons of iron. In 1721 each hearth made about 11 tons, and up to 1721 the iron made in the west hearth was credited to Capt. James Leonard. In 1733 Zephaniah is credited with 9 tons, 9 cwt, 3 qu. 6 lbs. In 1735 he is credited with 8 tons, 16 cwt., when all credits to him cease. Deacon Leonard is afterward credited with making from 20 to 25 tons at both hearths.
Trouble had evident been brewing between Deacon Samuel Leonard and Zephaniah and probably arose from the occupancy of the west hearth. At any rate a quarrel arose and the Deacon obtained a vote of the Proprietors authorizing him to employ such a person at the west hearth as he should deem best. It seems that Zephaniah had dug ore in the mine swamp and dingle on land which belonged to him and sold it, whereas the company claimed exclusive right to all the mining there. Ostensibly for withholding the receipts of this ore from the company, the Deacon ousted Zephaniah, and a long controversy arose that continued in court and church until Zephaniah's death in 1766.
Zephaniah made several efforts to be reinstated at the Forge, but without avail. A friendly law suit was commenced to test the ownership of the ore, but in the meantime lengthy communications passed between the Deacon and Zephaniah. These letters are long and tedious to read.
In the meantime the friendly suit was progressing, but there was another deal going on of more importance to the old Raynham ironworks. Zephaniah was a young man with plenty of push in him, and whilst negotiations with the Deacon were going on, he was laying an anchor to windward. In 1735 he purchased part of the old saw mill on Mill River in Taunton belonging to Jonathan and Joseph Barney, together with its privileges. He made subsequent purchases there and in 1739/40 erected a forge which he called Hopewell. From certain memoranda illusions Zephaniah managed to get hold of the mine or ore about there and in Raynham, which compelled the old company to go to Littleworth some eight miles away for stock. During the controversy with Zephaniah, Deacon Samuel Leonard with his son Samuel, also a Deacon, were buying up the shares of the old company until they had obtained a majority of the stock and controlled the company. The Deacon died in 1745, and his son Deacon Sam died in 1749. The management then when into the hands of Deacon Elijah Leonard, who seems to have been a good old soul, but had no business capacity. The result was that the Raynham works fell into debt and finally in 1770 was sold and turned into another forge.
The Hopewell Forge under the management of Zephaniah flourished, and he became a prosperous man. He was a major in the Militia and in 1761 was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The muster roll of his company is in existence. The law suit between Samuel Leonard and Jonathan Dean, agents for the Raynham Forge, and Zephaniah Leonard, wherein Zephaniah Leonard sued them for pulling down fences, entering upon land, and digging 12 tons of ore, it seems that Zephaniah got the case and 10 shillings damage and the costs. The case was appealed, and the the next Court the judgment was reversed, whereupon Zephaniah brought a writ of error and at the next Court the judgment was rendered for Zephaniah. Then Deacon Sam and Jonathan Dean petitioned the Governor, alleging that Zephaniah was always interfering with the honest intentions of the grant to Raynham Forge and would dig ore in his lands within the limits of said grant. Zephaniah answered the petition to the Governor. There were several affidavits attached to the case.
The following statement from one Anne Smith, who was the daughter of Thomas Crossman and Johanna Leonard, daughter of Thomas Leonard. They say that Josiah Smith was in the French War in 1754-5; that the regiment was disbanded; and when Mr. Smith reached Boston, he was taken sick, brought home on a litter Thursday, and died the following Sunday. His wife caught the disease -- spotted fever --and died two days short of three weeks within her husband's death. "Some months before their death, I had come up to take the oversight of Major Zephaniah Leonard's tavern." It seems that Zephaniah Leonard continued the tavern some years after his grandmother's death. He was a man of thrift and most respectable character. His boys turned out well, and his youngest son, Squire Samuel, as he was called, was the father of the manufacturing interests in Taunton. Thus, Zephaniah and his wife trod the path of life together until the summons came to both of them on the same day, April 23, 1766, when they both died. They are buried in the Plains Cemetery in Taunton under an elaborate monument. Raised some two or three feet from the ground the slab rests upon four pillars and upon the great stone there is cut the emblem of a coffin and the epitaph which was proposed by the Dr. Rev. Fobes. Tradition says that he was presented with a beaver hat for the epitaph, which reads as follows:
Parentibus optimus bene meretibus
Zephaniah Leonard Esquire who died April the 23rd A.D. 1766
To dust and silence so much worth consigned
Sheds a sad gloom o'er vanities behind
Such our pursuits Proud mortals vainly soar
See here the wise, the virtuous are no more
How mean ambition, how contemptuous hate
How dim the tinsel, the glories of the great
Even Leonard's undistinguished fall and
Death and hovering darkness hide us all." Judge, Major Zephaniah Leonard, had person sources.
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