Thomas Leonard

GEDCOM Note

Caution==There are multiple Thomas Leonards from the same family. Thomas' nephew Thomas (brother Henry's son) also eventually ended up in New Jersey (near Monmouth). Nephew Thomas (brother James' son) went to Connecticut. This profile's Thomas Leonard does not appear to be associated withthe iron industry.

Biography ==Thomas is the youngest known son of Thomas and Elizabeth White. Alice Everett reports that he and sister Sarah were baptised at Publow, Somersetshire.<ref>Everett, Alice Allen. "Leonards of Monmouthshire and Somersetshire, England." The American Genealogist, Volume 53, 1977. Page104. By Subscription. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/12345/104/0</ref>

These are the only records found:

• Thomas Leonard is on a list of those taking an oath of allegiance toKing Charles II in February 1665 at Elizabethtown, New Jersey.<ref> Monnette, Orra Eugene. First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge Olde East New Jersey 1664-1714, Part One. Los Angeles CA: Self-Published, 1930. Page 102. </ref>
• Thomas Leonard was listed as a 1672 "Patentee(s) for Lands in the Woodbridge Patent." A "Halleck Codriack" (later mentioned as kin in Thomas Leonard's will) was also on the list as a patentee in 1670.<ref> Monnette, 1930, Part Four. Page 519 </ref>
• "Thomas Lennards" was on "the list of the persons who have taken an oath in the town of Woodbridge - 7 Sept. 1673."<ref>Monnette, 1930, Part One. Page 89. </ref>
• Thomas Leonard is on a list of settlers originating from Pistaqua, New Hampshire to Piscataway/Woodbridge, New Jersey. (As is "Hulick Codriack")<ref> Monnette, 1930, Part One. Page 77. </ref>
• In the office of the Register of Colonial Deeds at Trenton, is founda transfer dated July 26, 1677, for sixty acres of land in Woodbridge, from Thomas Leonard to John Jones.<ref> Monnette, 1930, Part Six. Page 1089.</ref>
• On 19 May 1682 Thomas Leonard of Woodbridge wrote his will. Wife Ketherin and my kinsman Halick Codriack sole heirs. Halick Codriak executor of real and personal estate Legacy of a 2 year old heifer to the boy, “that now livith with me,” called Thomas Cromwell (son of John of Newbury and Woodbridge.)<ref> Monnette, 1930, Part Five. Page 813.</ref> Witnesses to the will were Henry Greenland, John Gilman and Samuel Moore. The will was proved 1st day, 1st month, 1682/3 in Middlesex Co., New Jersey.<ref>Nelson, William. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Volume XXIII. Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Volume I 1670-1730. Patterson, NJ: State of New Jersey, 1901. Page 291.</ref> No further trace is discovered of him or his heirs, if he had any issue. Whether it was he who was drowned at Piscataway (probably referring to the Piscataway River,) is not definitely known. There is a tradition, reported by his niece, among the New England family that one Thomas Leonard thus met his death.<ref>Deane, William Reed. Genealogical Memoir of the Leonard Family. Boston, MA: Self-Published for the New England Historic-Genealogical Register, 1851. Page 20. </ref>

Research Notes==There's no evidence as to when Thomas left England and whether he actually lived in New Hampshire. We don't know where he met and married wife Katherine (probably birth surname Codrick.) It's possible he was a Protestant or Quaker (like his sister) who went there seeking religious freedom and when it became restricted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he (and many others) left to become the first settlers of Elizabethtown, New Jersey.

Sources

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