Lawrence Leach - Lawrence Leach

I believe Giles is the son of Lawrence. My father's aunt kept a family record passed down through the Leach family. Giles has always been included in every records I have ever seen.

I am a relative of Lawrence Leech. I have a family history my uncle had prepared several decades ago. It lists Giles as one of Lawrences' 10 children, showing a birth date of 1632 in Salem, Ma

Hi Katherine,
I'm trying to get to the bottom of the early Leach people in the US as my y-DNA matches people who appear to be US descendents of Lawrence Leach and sons. It sounds like you have a lengthy and old paper record of the Leach family in the US, and I am very interested to find out more. When was it initially started and by whom? Did the early stuff taken from the compilation done by Phelps in the 1920's, or was your record started before that compilation?
When I look at trees in Wikitree and on Ancestry there are some major differences. The one on Wikitree seems to be backed up by a lot of sound research from early records, and all Lawrence's UK-born children come from Berkshire, where he was married, which seems to make more sense than the scatter across into Kent seen elsewhere. And if Lawrence came from a place called Ash it makes more sense that he came from Ash in Berkshire rather than Ash in Somerset, as is quoted in some places. Any help you can give to clear this up would be much appreciated!
And also, I see you say Lawrence's burial place is wrong on Geni here - do you know where he is actually buried as I think we should correct that.
Cheers,
Tony

Hi, Tony,
I did not see your comments until just now. My father had an aunt who was a Christian Scientist and she was the one who kept and passed down the family history. She was married to my grandfather Joseph Leach's brother, Daniel. I believe the history was passed down through the generations. All my Leach ancestors were from Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex County, in Massachusetts. There is sometimes confusion since Salem and neighboring Beverly were one at some point and all of it was one territory, including all the way up to Maine. I have read that Lawrence had a mill and a road was built to Beverly for access to the mill. I descend from his son, Robert, who was one of the founders of Manchester. It is possible Lawrence was buried in Salem or Beverly, but there is no record of his burial. He and his wife were members of the First Church of Salem. I recently learned there was a Leach burial ground in Beverly, but I do not know who is buried there. Lots of projects for some day. I have been through the ancient burial grounds in Manchester, but not for many years now. We never saw a grave for Lawrence and Elizabeth there.
As far as the burial in the Old North Church crypt, that's just crazy talk. Apparently, that crypt was only recently discovered and it is quite small. There are not many buried there and they would likely have been Boston people connected to that church.
As far as I remember from the family records, the son Giles was born in Salem, but removed to Bridgewater on the south shore. Some people may find that unlikely, but it is no more unlikely than the son James, who removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. People did spread out in those days, although I don't know how they accomplished it. As a side note, I found there is a Leach Island off the coast of Portsmouth. Must check that out some day.
As far as the Ash question, thank you for clarifying that. I read that Lawrence was from Gravesend, Ash, but his wife was from Berkshire. My sister and I seemed to remember hearing something about Kent from my father, but that was so long ago that I am not sure now. I don't know how far apart these towns are from each other or whether that is factual.
If I come across anything more, I will certainly share it here. I hope we can bring poor Giles back into the fold.

Hi Katherine,
looks like we only find this conversation by chance! Also just seeing this now.
That's great information, and I will tidy up the burial location for Lawrence. In all probability his grave is lost - but definitely is not in the crypt.
I'm having some luck with DNA matches to confirm some of Lawrence's sons - I have two guys in the USA who are definitely descendants of his son John - one, John, I've managed to contact (but he's not on Geni), and the other does not reply to email but he has a unique name, Boyden, so I've managed to identify him and build his tree. These two match my own yDNA (I-M253), and they descend from Lawrence's son John (who is not in dispute as one of Lawrence's sons) and so this pretty much pins down Lawrence's yDNA too. Descendants of Giles Leach show a different yDNA group (I see it's now hidden on Geni, and I don't remember what it was, but when it was visible it didn't match mine) - so either Giles is not connected to Lawrence, or maybe there's a later 'paternity event'! I think it is maybe a case of needing to identify other possible Leach individuals or families that could have arrived in North America around the early to mid 1600's.
The Kent connection is an interesting one. I've got some limited hearsay evidence that my ancestors from the late 1700's were connected to 'a Leach family from Westerham in Kent who were early settlers in America', but there are no records that confirm a family there. I'm betting on the village of Ash in Berkshire (northwest of London) being Lawrence Leach's true place of origin - the Kent connection is most likely a reference to the point of departure, or where they maybe lived immediately prior to departure.

Hello. I am a Giles Leach descendant so this is important to me. Are we any closer to resolving this issue?

Also, if Elizabeth was born around 1585 (I know that is not confirmed), she is 47 when Giles is born?? Anyone want my DNA?

Hi Matthew, sorry it has been a long time getting back here! Have you tested your DNA? From everything that I can see, there is no change in opinions and Giles is not considered a son of Lawrence.

Yes, re testing my DNA.