On Jedidiah's death, he may have been sent to live with an uncle Abiel on his mother's side. One source, W. B. Gay's "Historical Gazetteer of Tioga Co, NY 1895-1888," Syracuse, 1887, states on p. 121 that Asa was the son of Abiel Leonard of CT, but no documentation of that has been found and the evidence points to his having been the son of Jedidiah. If Jedidiah had had a brother, Abiel, that would have been the logical choice, but no such brother has been found. The Abiel of Norton who married Abigail Elliott seems highly unlikely. The Abiel of Norton doesn't have relatives who married a Cook and a Ball. There's no evidence that Abiel of Norton spent any time in CT.
He was baptized in November 1759.
He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He served more than 3 years with the Continental Army. His pension application mentions his 3 years of service in the CT guard. He served two 3 month enlistments, a 3 year enlistment with the Revolutionary Army, and some extra time for a total of 3 years and 9 months. His initial enlistment was from the town of Bolton in CT. His pension record lists the various places where he was stationed and the battles in which he served. It also lists his date and place of birth, as well as those of his wife and children.
On February 23, 1791, four young men from Stockbridge, Elisha Willson, Capt. Abram Brown, Isaac Brown, and Daniel Ball left Stockbridge with ox teams and sleds, loaded with goods, westward to brave the trials and difficulties to pioneer life. Two of the party had been in the corps of surveyors who, in 1786 and 1790, had marked the trail and had selected the Newark Valley as the place they would settle.
Asa, Olive, and their family dwelt in Stockbridge, and afterwards in West Stockbridge. Asa worked by the month in Stockbridge in the marble business. In February 1793 Capt. Asa Leonard and his son Solomon set out with the Slossons to settle in Berkshire, Tioga Co., NY. Capt. Asa and his son went further up the Newark Valley, to lot 344, where they eventually settled. Asa had paid 109 pounds in cash for the lot. Asa had started for the town in 1793, but at Choconut (now Union), NY, the illness of his wife compelled him to stop at his brother-in-law's and then to return to Massachusetts. So it was not until 1797 that his permanent settlement was made. See "History of Tioga, Chemung, Tomkins, and Schuyler Counties, New York," pp. 124 to 129, for the history of early Berkshire.
Asa was a tanner, currier, and shoe maker in partnership with Ebenezer Cook, under the name of Leonard and Cook, his brother-in-law (Ebenezer's wife was Elizabeth Churchill, sister of Asa's wife).
Asa was appointed a lieutenant in the New York Militia in 1797. That year, the commander-in-chief of the New York militia thought it proper to form a militia in the county of Tioga, and Asa was appointed a lieutenant in Capt. Isaac Brown's company. In 1800 Capt. Brown died, and Asa was appointed to succeed him. In 1804, Asa resigned.
There is this little piece from page 279 of the October 1928 edition of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record that pertains to Asa's will:
"Asa's will dated 12 December 1834, proven 20 Jan 1837, wife Olive; grandson George Griffing; three fifths of the estate equally to Levi and Henry Leonard and the heirs of Louis G. Leonard; ;my grnadchildren, minors, Charles T., Julius Y., and Harriet S. Leonard; my daughters Polly Ball, Lucy wife of Josiah Ball, Anna Griffing, widow of Henry; Nancy, wife of Isaac Hitchcock, and Amanda, wife of John B. Royce. Grandchildren were children of a son Asa, dec'd."
Berkshire was known as Brown's Settlement until 1808, when the territory comprising Richford, Berkshire, and Newark Valley was formed from Owego (then called Tioga) and given the name it now bears, from Berkshire County, MA. The cemetery was on land donated by John Brown.
An Asa Leonard died 5 January 1845, age 69 (b. 1776), per Hartford Courant 18 Jan 1845. Relative of this Asa? Capt. Asa Leonard had person sources.
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