Leonard Genealogy - John

Descendants of John Leonard 1615-76, of Springfield, MA

John Leonard is said to have been born in Bilston, Staffordshire, England, which is near Kinver where James’ son Thomas was born in 1641.  He was reputed to be the son of Nathaniel Leonard, a skilled iron-master from Wales, who came to the Avalon district of Nova Scotia seeking iron and became governor there about 1624.  Nathaniel was also reputed to be father of Henry and James, although we now know that was not the case.  This or another Nathaniel was said to have been killed by an industrial accident at the forge in Pontypool, Wales, in 1615.  And there’s a John Leonard,perhaps this one, who was recommended as a sea cook for the Royal Navy in 1635.
 
In any event, a direct male descendant of John Leonard has tested in Haplogroup J2 matching descendants of James and Henry.  Until more documentary evidence is found, it appears John was related to James and Henry, probably as a cousin.
 
John joined the group from Boston moving to the Connecticut River Valley in the late 1630’s and eventually settled in Springfield, MA, by 1640.  His descendants mostly remained in the Springfield area until the westward movement to New York in the years following the Revolutionary War.
 
Descendants of John are listed through 9 generations,stopping there to avoid listing living people. Most branches of John’s descendants have not been researched beyond 7 generations, so there’s a lot of work to be done yet.
 
The basic source of information on John Leonard’s descendants is the work of John Adams Vinton in “The Giles Memorial,” 1864, pp.291-310.