BURLEIGH
The surname Burleigh is an ancient English family name. The most common spellings are Burleigh, Burley, Burly, Birle, Birley, Birdley and Burdley. No less than nineteen branches of this family in England had or have coats-of-arms.
(I) Giles Burleigh, immigrant ancestor of the American family, was an inhabitant of Ipswich, Massachusetts, as early as 1648, and was born in England. He was a commoner at Ipswich in 164. He was a planter, living eight years on what was later called Brooks street, owning division lot No. 105, situated on Great Hill, Hogg Island. His name was spelled Birdley, Birdly, Burdley and Budly in the Ipswich records, and his name as signed by mark to is will is given Ghils Berdly. He bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth (called elsewhere Rebecca); his son Andrew; his son James; his son John, and an uncle whose name is not given. Theophilus Wilson was executor. Deacon Knowlton and Jacob Foster, overseers, Thomas Knowlton Sr. and Jacob Foster, the witnesses.
Soon after his death his widow was granted trees for a hundred rails and a hundred posts, June 13, 1668. She married (second) Feb. 23, 1669, Abraham Fitts, of Ipswich.
Children:
1. Andrew, born at Ipswich, Sept. 5, 1657; married Mary, daughter of Governor Roger Conant.
2. James, Feb. 10, 1659.
3. Giles, July 13, 1662.
4. John, July 13, 1662, died Feb. 27, 1681.
(II) James, son of Giles Burleigh, was born in Ipswich, Mass., Feb. 10, 1659, died in Exeter, New Hampshire, about 1721. He married (first) May 25, 1685, Rebecca, daughter of Thomas and Susannah Stacy. She died Ot. 21, 1686. Her mother was a daughter of Rev, Witham Worcester, of Salisbury, Mass. His sons Joseph, Giles, Josiah and James made a written agreemtn in 1723.
Children:
1. William, born in Ipswich, Feb. 27, 1692-93; was at Newmarket in 1746.
2. Joseph, April 6, 1695.
3. Thomas, April 5, 1697, see below.
4. James, Exeter, 1699.
5. Josiah, 1701.
6. Giles, 1703; married Dec. 9, 1725, Elizabeth Joy, of Salisbury, Mass.
(III) Thomas, son of James Burleigh, was born April 5, 1697. He married _____.
Children:
1. Thomas, born July 2, 1723, mentioned below.
2. Child, no name or date of birth given.
(IV) Thomas (2) son of Thomas (1) Burleigh, was born July 2, 1723, died June 1, 1805, at Epping, New Hampshire. He married Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Gordon) Haley. She was born Aug. 10, 1725, died Dec. 2, 1809. Her father was the son of Sergeant Haly who was killed by the Indians near Saco Fort in 1695. The former died in 1790, aged ninety-eight.
Children:
1. Joseph, born Dec. 25, 1748, at Epping, died young.
2. Allace, Feb. 15, 1751, died young.
3. Dorothy, July 4, 1753, died Feb. 12, 1839.
4. Joseph, Aug. 7, 1755, mentioned below.
5. Allace, June 20, 1757.
6. Joshua, Oct. 5, 1759.
7. Gordon, Ap;ril 10, 1763.
8. Thomas, Aug. 14, 1766.
(V) General Joseph, son of Thomas (2) Burleigh, was born Aug. 7, 1755, in Dorchester, New Hampshire, died 1838 in Franklin, N.H. He was a soldier in the revolution in 1775, and held an important command under General Stark in the battle of Bennington. At the close of the war he settled in Dorchester, N.H., and served the town for several years in the state legislature. He had formerly lived in Epping, where he had been a farmer, merchant and tavern-keeper. In Dorchester he owned the largest farm in the town, and was considered a man of high character. In 1820 he exchanged his farm for one in Franklin, N.H.
He married Mary Hilton, of Epping. She died Feb. 6, 1821.
Children:
1. Alice, born Sept. 14, 1782.
2. Joseph, April 28, 1784, Dorchester.
3. Mary, Nov. 24, 1785.
4. Betsey, Aug. 8, 1787.
5. Edward, April 16, 1791.
6. Henry, Dec. 25, 1793.
7. Gordon, Aug. 25, 1795, mentioned below.
8. Martha, June 11, 1797.
9. Hilton, Aug. 3, 1799.
10. Asa, March 26, 1802.
11. Job, Dec. 1, 1803, died young.
12. Charlotte, July 27, 1805.
13. Ann, Oct. 1, 1808.
(VI) Gordon, son of General Joseph Burleigh, was born Aug. 25, 1795, in Canaan, New Hampshire, died Jan. 17, 1864 in Middleton, Ontario. He removed to Ticonderoga, N.Y. about 1847. Here he was engaged in the lumberling business until his death. He married Elizabeth Pickering Weeks, born in Greenland, N.H. Sept. 29, 1801, died in Ticonderoga, March 14, 1872. She was of English lineage, and one of her ancestors built the Weeks house, the first brick house erected in New England.
Children:
1. Lucretia Morse, born Sept. 19, 1828, in Hebron, N.H.
2. Henry Gordon, June 2, 1832, mentioned below.
3. Brackett Weeks, Aug. 18, 1834.
4. Charles William, March 27, 1836, in Concord, N.H.
5. Mary Elizabeth, Feb. 20, 1841.
(VII) Henry Gordon, son of Gordon Burleigh, was born June 2, 1832, in Canaan, N.H., died at Whitehall, New York, Aug. 1900. He was reared at Concord, N.H., and attended the public schools there. At the age of fourteen he came to Ticonderoga, N.Y. When a young man he became interested in the transportation business and gradually enlarged his field of operations. In 1866, finding that Ticonderoga was not suited to his purposes as headquarters for his business, he located at Whitehall, New York. His business continued to increase until he had from a hundred to a hundred and fifty canalboats which passed through his hands. His business extended to Ottawa, Quebec and Montreal in Canada with southward to New York City and Philadelphia. He owned iron mines on Lake Champlain from which he shipped large quantities of ore. He carried Canadian lumber to New York and brought back coal from Pennsylvania to Canada. He had an army of employees and became the owner of one of the largest transportation concerns in the country. His energy, enterprise and encouragement helped enormously in the development of northern New York and greatly increased the prosperity of many of the towns and cities of that section. At the outset the business did not present a brillinat future and he won success only after hard work and a plucky, persistent effort, overcoming great natural difficulties. That he deserved and won all the success that he achieved is universally conceded. He was interested in other enterprises and institutions. He was president of the old National Bank of Ticonderoga and director of the Commercial Insurance Company of Albany, the Bay State Furnace Company of Port Henry and the Lake Champlain and Port Henry Towing companies. In business he was catious and far-sighted and gave mature consideration before reaching a decision, but events proved the soundness of his judgment.
In public life he won a high place in national affairs. He was from early manhood an active and leading Republican. He was secretary of the first Republican convention held in norther New York; was delegate to the Republican national convention in 1884 when Blaine was nominated for president, and at the request of President Arthur he made the motion to make Blaine's nomination unanimous. He was also a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1888 when President Harrison was nominated first and also in 1892 when Harrison was again nominated. Mr. Burleigh was elected supervisor of the town of Ticonderoga in 1861, and held that office through the trying period of the civil war, and he was prominent in raising troops for the army. The full quota of volunteers were always raised in that town each requisition for troops and no drafts made.
After coming to Washington county, he was nominated and elected to the state assembly, serving in that body during the session of 1876, and was chairman of the committee on canals. Samuel J. Tilden was then governor of the state. In 1883 Mr. Burleigh was elected from the congressional disrict comprising the counties of Washington and rensselaer to the forty-eighth congress, and was re-elected to the succeeding congress. He was a wise and useful representative, giving of his wide business experience and sagacity, his time and enthusiasm to his constituents and country, in the fullestg measure. Fro more than thirty years he was one of the Republican leaders of northern New York. He was a member of the Republican Club of New York City.
He married, in 1869, Jennie E. Richards of Ticonderoga. She died in August 1899.
Children:
1. Charles Richards, born Oct. 10, 1867; died April 12, 1905.
CORRECTION by Mike McDonald:
1. Charles' birthyear is actually 1876, not 1867. The error is Cutter's;
not yours.
2. Henry Gordon Jr., mentioned below.
3. James Weeks, Oct. 3, 1881.
(VIII) Henry Gordon (2) son of Hon. Henry Gordon (1) Burleigh, was born at Whitehall, N.Y., in August 1872, died at Ticonderoga, N.Y., Nov. 30, 1903. He was educated in the public schools and became a prominent business man. He was president of the Ticonderoga Electric Light and Power Company. In politics he was a Republican. He was a member of Mount Defiance Lode, No. 794, Free and Accepted Masons of Ticonderoga; of Carillon Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Ticonderoga; of De Soto Commandery, Knights Templar, of Plattsburgh; of Oriental Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Troy, N.Y.; of Ethan Allen Lodge, Odd Fellows, of Ticonderoga, and of the Knights of Pythias of that town. He was a prominent member and vestryman of the Episcopal church. He served on the board of education of the town for a number of years.
He married, June 17, 1896, Susie T., born at Plattsburgh, daughter of Henry Clay Sanborn, born at Plattsburgh, and Colonette D. (Holcomb) Sanborn, born at Whitehall, N.Y. Henry Clay Sanborn was son of John Hibbard Sanborn, born in New Hampshire, died in 1895 at Plattsburgh, aged eighty-six years; served in the civil war as quartermaster; was a lawyer in Plattsburgh, and in later years a farmer; married Cornelia Mead, of Plattsburgh.
Children:
1. Lucretia Morse, born at Whitehall, April 2, 1897.
2. Mildred Virginia, born at Ticonderoga, April 20, 1900.
3. Henry Gordon 3d, at Ticonderoga, Nov. 23, 1903.