Pelatiah Leete III

Pelatiah Leete III built the Pelatiah Leete House in 1765. The Leetes have owned land at Leetes Island since 1640, when the town granted the island to William Leete, one of the founders of Guilford. He became governor of the colony and later became governor of Connecticut. The family built a number of houses on the property, but the oldest one to survive today was built by Pelatiah Leete III. In 1781, during the Revolutionary War, the British raided Leete’s Island, burning a house and two barns, but were turned back by local citizens.

Two families - Pelatiah Leete and his wife Bethiah Norton, and brother Simeon Leete and his wife Zerviah Norton, sister of Bethiah, originally occupied this house. Each family had three children. In June of 1781, Simeon was wounded by the British in the Battle of Leetes Island and died in the house the next day.

Sources:

• http://leetehouseguilfordct.com/history.html
• http://historicbuildingsct.com/?cat=41&paged=3, third house on list
• Families of Early Guilford, Connecticut, Vol. II [database on-line]. Page 867. AncestryImage