He was referred to as Nathaniel Leonard 2nd and Nathaniel Leonard, Jr., in Middleborough VR's (e.g. at birth of son Nathaniel and son Simeon). There was another Nathaniel Leonard in Middleborough (his uncle), which would have made him the younger of the two and hence "jr." or 2nd. The "2nd" or "Jr." does not mean that his father was named Nathaniel.
There are 18 Nathaniel Leonards listed in "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution." Some served more than once. But there is insufficient information to know if this Nathaniel Leonard served. His brothers, Noah and Joseph, and his father, Joseph 3rd, did serve. Noah was almost the same age as Nathaniel. There are 5 Gideon Leonards, and it's likely that one of them was Nathaniel's brother, although which one is hard to prove. Nathaniel's older brother Noah, Joseph 5th, and his father, Joseph 3rd, served in Capt. Amos Wade's company of minute men that marched to Marshfield in 1775 Nathaniel may have been the Nathaniel Leonard, private, who served in Capt. Elisha Barney's company and Capt. Benjamin Rider's company in alarms at Rhode Island in 1776, but he was probably too young to serve at the time. But it may be more likely that he was the Nathaniel who marched to Tiverton in the alarm of August 1, 1780.
He was an Ensign in the Mass. Militia by the time of the birth of son Simeon in 1803, according to Middleboro VR's. He was also referred to as Ensign Nathaniel Leonard in the Middleboro Gazette of 2/26/1859:2 for the purchase of the herring privilege at Assawaset Brook in 1797.
In the 1790 Census, there is no Nathaniel Leonard listed in Middleborough. He would have been married by then and had a daughter. There is a Nathaniel Leonard, household of 3, one male 16+ and 2 female, listed just over the border in nearby Raynham near Zephaniah Leonard and others who were involved with the ironworks there. This leads to the conjecture that Nathaniel was working as a journeyman at the ironworks there, refining his knowledge of their construction and operation from that experience. He is listed in court records at the time as a millwright. which follows from his father, Joseph, having been a carpenter and millwright.
In the 1800 Census, Nathaniel Leonard 2nd is listed with a number of other Leonards in Middleborough. He must have been born between 1756 and 1774, as he is listed in the "males 26-44" column. The family consisted of 2 males under 10 (Nathaniel and Abraham), 1 female 10-15 (Betsy), and one female 26-44 (Betsy). There is a Nathaniel Leonard with a family of 8 also living in Middleborough in the 1800 Census, but gone by the 1810 Census (died or moved?). This is another Nathaniel.
He was possibly the Nathaniel Leonard, private, who served in Capt. Elisha Barney's company and Capt. Benjamin Rider's company in alarms at Rhode Island in 1776, but he was probably too young to serve at the time.
ECL: "He got into trouble over a horse and skipped off to Canada," according to genealogist Elisha Clark Leonard in his manuscript (p. 172) tracking 7 generations of Leonards. GML: ECL notes "Nat. got into some trouble about a horse, some deviltry, and ran to Canada. Whether father or son do not know. GML." ECL has sparse information on Nathaniel, including birth date, leaving it as 176-. Same is true for other children of Joseph. GML's charts include essentially the same information as ECL's, but trace the descendants further.
There is in the Court of Common Pleas 1796 to 1807 the following cases: "25. Nathaniel Leonard, II, Gentleman (Middleborough) v. Josiah Leonard (Westport Forgeman). Case, that on 13 September 1798 pltf. casually lost 'a brown stallion horse to the value of forty dollars,' which the deft. found and 'converted to his own use,' to pltf's damage of $50. Default by deft. Judgment for $40 and $6.99 costs. Fully satisfied." Nathaniel was the plaintiff and the victim of the pilfered horse. He was not a "horse thief," and the incident does not appear, contrary to Elisha Clark Leonard's description, to have been the cause of his "skipping off to Canada." His son, Nathaniel, would have been 6 years old, so confusion between the two is unlikely. Josiah is listed as a Middleboro and Wareham forgeman in other court cases of the time. Both Nathaniel and Josiah were defendants in cases before the Court of Common Pleas in the 1790 - 1805 time frame, mostly over unpaid debts. Land records indicate Nathaniel's property was attached in 1802, with the threat to send him to debtors prison if he didn't pay up. It seems more likely that he "skipped off to Canada" because of his debts. Josiah went to western New York about 1813, perhaps for the same reason and the potential for economic betterment.
James Sproat Esq. (Taunton) and William and Zachariah Porter (Both Middleborough Traders) attached Nathaniel Leonard (Middleborough Millwright). Case, on note dated 10 January 1794 for £10.2s.5 1/2d. payable on demand to pltfs. "by the Name of William Porter and Co." with interest till paid. This establishes Nathaniel's profession -- a millwright -- which would have classified him as a "gentleman."
Other cases: "12. Isaac Leonard (Middleborough housewright) v. Nathaniel Leonard II, Gent. (Middleborough) and Timothy Wood (Middleborough, yeoman). Case, on five notes dated 13 April 1801 each payable with interest, 4 notes for $20; and 1 note for $3.66. Default by defts. Judgment for $88.74 and $10.59 costs." "41. Isaac Morton (Middleborough Yeoman) v. Nathaniel Leonard II, Gen. (Middleborough). Case, on note dated 9 January 1801 for $75 with interest. Default by deft. Judgment for $78.67 and $9.23 costs." "53. Hushai Thomas, Gent. (Winthrop) v. Nathaniel Leonard II, Gent. (Middleborough). Case, on two notes: dated 5 August 1801 for $20 with interest, on demand; and dated 17 November 1801 for $15 with interest, on demand. Pltf. said that refusal to pay was to his damage of $70. Default by deft. Judgment for $26.89 and $9.50 costs. Appealed by deft.*" "Court allowed $2.25 to Wilkes Wood Esq. on a complaint of Joseph Bump v. Nathaniel Leonard II and Leonard Sears." Leonard Sears was Nathaniel's brother-in-law, married to Nathaniel's sister Abiah Leonard. He and Leonard were tasked by the Court with a coroners inquest on May 6, 1804. But Nathaniel was before the Court again in 1806: "Thompson Baxter, Gent. (Bridgewater) v. Nathaniel Leonard, Gent. (Middleborough). Case, as per writ.* Default by deft. Judgment for $323.03 and $12.76 costs (Common Pleas, 1806)." Nathaniel is not mentioned in Plymouth County court records after 1806.
There are no record of Nathaniel appearing before the Court after 1806.
In Canada he married Jennet (Jennette, Janet, Mary Jane) McDonell (McDonald?). Her father was a Loyalist of Edwardsburg Township, Grenville Co. Earliest record in Canada is an application for land from Jennet Leonard, his wife, dated 21 January 1809, requesting 200 acres of land, apparently promised to those who were of age (21) and would settle there. Nathaniel and Jennette had 8 children, of which Joseph was the oldest. The 1812 records for Edwardsburg mentions Nathaniel Leonard with 50 acres of uncleared land. He served as a private soldier in a troop of Provincial Light Dragoons from June to December 1812 and probably longer. This would have been at the beginning of the War of 1812. He appears twice as a petit juryman for the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace in the Johnstown District, Upper Canada, first in May 1812 and second in November 1816.
He applied to keep an inn in Edwardsburg. Nathaniel and family appear in the 1821 Census and tax rolls, having 25 uncultivated acres and one cow. They rented a place near Spencerville, also known as Spencer's Mill. The family appears again in the 1825 Census. They were at Lot 25, 7th Concession, and after 1828, Lot 20, 9th Concession. That's about the time Nathaniel died.
Apparently, Nathaniel died at a fairly early age (winter of 1828-29), after the census of 5 Apr 1828, when the family was listed with 7 males. Joseph at age 18 took over providing for the family. A deposition from a neighbor in 1850 says that he died intestate and that Joseph Helmer Leonard was his eldest son and heir at law.
An obituary appearing in the Canadian Christian Advocate, Hamilton, Ontario, dated July 4, 1877, about Nathaniel's son, Rev. Joseph Helmer Leonard, says: "His father was a citizen of Massachusetts and went to Canada to erect large mills, being a very skillful builder of such machinery. Joseph pursued this occupation up to the age of 18, when his father died and left him and his widowed mother in charge of seven younger children."
It is possible Nathaniel Leonard visited Canada in the years before he "skipped off."
In Massachusetts, Nathaniel was listed as a millwright, as was his brother Joseph. His father was listed in several court suits as a carpenter or joiner. His father worked as a carpenter/joiner for the Oliver complex of mills and iron slitting forge on the Nemasket River in the village of Muttock in Middleborough in the late 1700's until he died in 1783. It seems likely that Nathaniel and his brother learned their trade from their father and also worked for the Oliver mills. Land records indicate they lived in Muttock. Jesse Bryant, Jr., father of Nathaniel's wife Betsey, was foreman of the Oliver complex during that period. That period was also the start of a century of mill construction along New England's streams, the Slater mill built in 1790 in Pawtucket, RI, celebrated as being the first cotton/woolen mill in the US.
During the War of 1812, Nathaniel served as a private in a troop of provincial light dragoons from June to December 1812 and possibly longer. He may have been a part of Lt. Col. "Red George" Mcdonnell's troops who captured Ogdensburg in 1813 (in retaliation for the American attack on Gananoque in 1812). His friend, Joseph Helmer, after whom it is postulated his son was named, died during that attack, as well as Joseph's wife. Nathaniel died before claiming his entitlement of land for military service; and his son Joseph, as his heir, made that claim in 1850 (Ont. Archives RG 1, C13, vol. 133, p. 88). "I certify that Nathaniel Leonard deceased, late of the township of Edwardsburg, has a certificate from the Adjutant General of Militia lodged in this office for One Hundred Acres of land, as a private in a troop of Provincial Light Dragoons..." (MS658-350-2484 and 2485, Military Claims, War of 1812).
The War of 1812 must have cut into Nathaniel's mill business, as in 1812, 1816, and 1817 he applied for and was granted a license to keep an inn at his home in Edwardsburgh, the 10 pounds for his license being his tax for the years.
His borrowing of money and being sued for nonpayment continued in Canada. A sample of court cases: From Archives of Ontario, Johnstown District Court Case Files. RG22-416-0-1296 Year of 1825 Trueman Raymond sues Nathaniel Leonard for non-payment of promissory note dated 6 April 1821 to the amount of £9-11-3. This debt is settled by court order on 11 Feb 1826 in the amount of £10-0-6.
The first iron smelting in this part of Canada occurred at an ironworks at Lyndhurst in 1801. It is unclear whether Nathaniel had any part in its operation. It started under Wallis Sunderlin of VT and later operated by James Schofield, who apparently left to return to New York. It operated until 1811, when it was destroyed by fire. Nathaniel is listed as a gentleman and millwright in a court suit in MA; his father was a carpenter/joiner and possibly a refiner of iron.
Nathaniel was a Presbyterian, his wife Jennet was raised a Roman Catholic, and their children were left free to pick their own religious affiliation. They were buried in a United Church cemetery in Kingston.
Information on this branch of the family courtesy of Lisa Leonard and Eric Bowler via the Internet April 4 to 8, 2002. Eric says the information about the Leonards came to him from Molly Leonard, who was living on Taiwan in 1999. Eric also supplied documentation concerning Nathaniel. In particular, the annual local census and tax assessment rolls for Edwardsburgh provide detail as to the family from 1810 to 1832, when the family disappears from the Edwardsburgh rolls. It would appear that Nathaniel was travelling a large part of the time, one would guess due to his work, and that the family rented a house near town while retaining most of the acreage granted to Janet/Jane.
Check Russ Waller, Frontenac Co. Loyalist Families, Kingston, ON December 1996, p. 158.
Much of the research on the Canadian end was done by Eric Bowler of Toronto. He noted Molly Leonard as the first to identify Nathaniel as being both the MA and the Ontario same person. Ensign Nathaniel Leonard had person sources.
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