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Historical records matching John Leonard of Bridgewater
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About John Leonard of Bridgewater
Biography
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=80794425
John LEONARD, b. Abt 1645, Duxbury, Plymouth, MA d. Bef 1 May 1691, Bridgewater, Plymouth, MA
Son of Solomon and Sarah Leonard.
From the Leonard Genealogy by Manning Leonard:
JOHN LEONARD was born about 1645 in Duxbury, Massachusetts (now Plymouth County). He married about 1670, Sarah Chandler, supposed to be one of the “three sisters,” a daughter of Roger Chandler. The Chandler family lived next door, so in essence, John married “the girl next door”.
John Leonard seems to have had less of the migratory spirit than his brothers possessed for all his life, excepting a few years of childhood, was spent in Bridgewater, Mass. Whether it was that his brothers had a migratory spirit or whether they moved to escape from the constant anxiety of Indian raids, is unknown. Bridgewater was considered more secure from the attacks of the Indians than the newer towns.
John acquired more general knowledge than any other member of the family, and held positions of more prominence in the town. He was evidently intelligent, and much respected, often employed in fixing boundaries of grants of land, divisions, etc.
LAND
The importance LAND played in the early lives of our ancestors cannot be overestimated. Land was valued as much, or possibly even more, than money or books as something to be inherited. Families were large, with many sons, most of whom needed land to make a living to support their families. The original settlers were granted land from the communities in which they settled. They added to their holdings by further grants from their communities as they expanded, or by purchase and trade. As their families came to adulthood, fathers would give land to their sons to begin their own families, and in some cases, to their daughters who married. When they passed on, the children would inherit. The oldest son, by tradition, received a double portion, if not more, than the younger sons. Yet all needed a way to support their own families. At first, land was abundant, and towns and townships could expand and just make another town. Later, it became a problem.
The Bridgewater Proprietor’s Records [1679] outline land ownership of the Leonard Family in a document entitled “The lands of Samuel Leonard, John Leonard, Isaack Leonard, and Jacob Leonard hear in the town of Bridgewater February ‘79”. (See Book I, pgs. 92-94.)
John Leonard’s land consisted of the following:
- 50 acres of uplands on the south side of the town river, between a neighbor on the east and his brother Isaac on the west; 8 score poles long and fifty poles wide;
- 10 acres at the head of his two 50-acre lots where his house stands bounded at the head by a red oak sapling in a heap of stones and a small white oak bush with a rock at the foot of it;
- 13 acres of swamp lot and 3 acres which he bought from Josiah Edson lying upon a small brook bordering upon the horse plain, bounded by a pine tree marked on two sides and to a red oak marked on two sides and from thence to a white oak marked on four sides standing near the brook and from thence to an ash standing near the swampe and thence to run upon a straight line from the ashe to a small white oak marked on two sides and so to the bounds first mentioned.
Much, if not most, of this land would be what John received as a gift or inherited from his father as several of the brothers’ lands bordered each others. Lands owned by the Leonards covered a considerable part of the present village of Bridgewater.
The Plymouth Colony Records dated 3 October 1665, state that 150 acres of land were granted by the Court unto “the three sisters”, the daughters of Roger Chandler, to each of them fifty acres lying between the Bay line and the bounds of Taunton, Massachusetts. The Taunton records show that ten acres at Cranberry Meadows, part of the land granted to the three daughters of Roger Chandler, was confirmed to John Leonard of Bridgewater, on 12 July 1692.
MORE LAND FOR JOHN LEONARD AND HIS BROTHERS
A grant of land at “Saconett” seems to have been made by the Plymouth Colony to the Leonard brothers after their father’s death. The grant specifically was untraceable, however a series of Court records dated between March 1675 and June 1682 provide “the bones” of what probably was that grant. Application for the land grant was made by John Leonard (Generation 2).
The known Plymouth Colony Court records relating to this grant are summarized below, dating from 4 March 1674/5 through 6 June 1682.
John Leonard appeared before the Court to make application for a grant of land. He requested “a competency of land for the supply of himself and his brethren in the right of his father being one of the old servants.” The court gave him liberty, “in the behalf of himself and brethren, to look out for accommodation in any land that is free, being not conquest land, nor otherwise engaged; and in case they shall not be supplied, that they apply themselves to the Saconett company at their next meeting, that they may be supplied out of that grant; if the company shall see reason, or in that which did belonge to Tommumucke” [copy unclear].
After this time, the Court ordered certain individuals to “run the line betwixt the lands of Saconett and Punckateesett to Dartmouth bounds, and to lay out Tatamamuckes thousand acres of land, and to make distribution thereof unto those to whom the Court has granted it, and also that tract of land that the country are to have from Mamanuitt” [copy unclear]. After which, the Court granted 150 acres of Tatamanuckes land, to Samuell and John Leanardson, among several others.
After they had “run the line betwixt the lands”, the description of the boundaries follows:
We whose names are under written, being ordered by the Court, October, 1681, to run the line between the lands of Saconet and the lands of Pocassit proprietors, have done as follows: We began on the westerly end or side of a great spruce swamp, at a white oak tree marked formerly by men appointed there unto, and carried it on the same point of compass east northerly through the said swamp, and marked a white oak tree on the east end or side of the said spruce swamp, having a flinty rock and stones on the west side of the said tree, and so by a range of trees marked on the east and west sides to Cokesit River or Brook, and there marked a white oak tree on two sides with an heap of stones against it. This line was run November, 1681, by us.
Signed: William Bradford, Joseph Warren, William Paybody.
Finally, on June 6, 1682, the court declared this new area as a new township, having “the liberties of a town, as other towns of this Colony, and shall be called by the name of Little Compton.”
Mr. Leonard died in the year 1699, leaving to his widow, five sons and one daughter – all of age but the daughter – a large tract of valuable land extending into what is now the beautiful village of Bridgewater. A partition of his estate was made on August 30th, 1701, which is recorded in the Probate Records of Plymouth (Book 1, pg. 360).
CHILDREN OF JOHN & SARAH CHANDLER LEONARD
(All birth and death dates remain unknown.)
- John Leonard Jr. John’s share in his father’s estate was the homestead, to be held with his mother during her lifetime. After her death, by deed dated 6 March 1709/10, he conveyed it to his brother Moses, and went to live with him at Marlborough. He probably continued with him, unmarried, until his death. He was with Moses in Worcester as late as 25 February 1726.
- Enoch Leonard. Enoch married Elizabeth Hooper, dtr. of William and Susannah Hooper of Reading. She was born 8 July 1689. They had a son, Enoch Jr., born in 1707, and a daughter Elizabeth, born in 1719, both in Bridgewater; and probably several children in between but no record. Enoch Leonard, either this man or his son, built what was known as “Enoch’s Dam” on Town River in Bridgewater. Three deeds record land sales: (1) for £500, “3 score acres where I dwell” (May 1, 1717); (2) for £600, “the homestead where I live” (Feb. 14, 1737) sold to his brother, Solomon; and (3) “20 acres of our homestead” on 17 April 1744. No trace of this family afterwards has been found.
- MOSES LEONARD was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, probably about 1677. He married Mercy Newton.
- Josiah Leonard. Josiah married (1) on 2 November 1699, Marjoram Washburn; he married (2) on 21 November 1717, Abigail Washburn. His will, from which much of our knowledge of his family is derived, was dated 6 February 1743 and was proved 21 May 1745. His son, Josiah Jr., was sole executor. They had eight children all of whom married.
- Joseph Leonard. Joseph married 19 November 1712, Hannah Jennings. They had several children all born in Bridgewater except the last, born in Pomfret, Connecticut.
- Sarah Leonard. She married on 28 July 1708, Thomas Washburn.
References
- http://josfamilyhistory.com/htm/hopkins/robinson/robinson-leonard-g...
- Solomon Leonard and some of His Descendants - Memorial: Genealogical, Historical, and Biographical, of Solomon Leonard, 1637, Duxbury and Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and some of His Descendants. By Manning Leonard, Southbridge, Mass. Press of Knapp, Peck & Thomson, Auburn N.Y. 1896, pp. 33 and 37/38 Archive.Org
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John Leonard of Bridgewater's Timeline
| 1645 |
1645
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Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, Colonial America
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| 1677 |
May 12, 1677
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Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
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| 1678 |
1678
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Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Province of Massachusetts
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| 1681 |
1681
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| 1683 |
1683
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Bridgewater, (Present Plymouth County), Plymouth Colony (Present Massachusetts), (Present USA)
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| 1684 |
1684
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Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts
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| 1685 |
1685
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Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts
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| 1692 |
1692
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| 1699 |
November 21, 1699
Age 54
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Bridgewater, Plymouth County , Massachusetts Bay Colony, Colonial America
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| 1923 |
March 6, 1923
Age 54
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