Leonard-Rupe-Stephenson Genealogy



 

Attic Treasures

 

A History of Our Leonards

(Information should be considered as a secondary source)

The Leonard coat-of-arms is a gold shield crossed by a red band bearing three gold fleurs-de-lis.

Among the early families prominent in Monmouth was that of the Leonards, who are said to descend from Thomas Leonard, of Pontypool, England, who was born about 1550. There seems to be some confusion about the early generations of Leonards in our country, but these are the facts as described by both Franklin Ellis and William Hornor.

Leonardville is situated in the northeast part of Middletown township, near the bay. It received its name from the family of Leonard who came to what is now Monmouth County and built for James Grover the iron-works at Tinton Falls, then called the "Falls of Shrewsbury". James and Henry Leonard came from England, in 1642, to Taunton, Mass., and from that time to about 1667 were engaged in constructing ironworks in the eastern colonies. James Grover, one of the Monmouth patentees, settled in Middletown in 1667, and while he was surveyor of the township, he discovered traces of bog-ore at or near the Falls of Shrewsbury. He sent for the Leonards to come to New Jersey and construct iron-works, which they did.

Henry Leonard's saw-mill was mentioned in records of Middletown and Shrewsbury on August 27, 1697 as being located on "Saw-Mill Brook on the Manasquan Road" according to Ellis.

According to Hornor, Henry Leonard (3) and his supposed brother, James were sons of Henry (1) who lived in Pontypool, England. Hornor said that James Leonard purchased land in Monmouth County, but did not come here himself. Henry lived in Middletown, probably beginning about 1676. These accounts seem to conflict, but were researched by these two authors from information they had available.

Hornor says that Henry Leonard may have been in partnership with Governor Lewis Morris and Thomas Moore of Southhold in the manufacture of iron, but he is not positive about this.

Henry may have had two wives, the first one named Mary, and the second Hannah. Hannah was the daughter of William Johnson of Elizabethtown and widow of Joseph Holden.

The children were: Captain Samuel (4), whose wife was named Sarah, and who died in Shrewsbury in 1702; Nathaniel (5); Thomas (6), of Shrewsbury, whose wife could have been named Esther and there may have been no children; Sarah (7), who married Job Throckmorton; a daughter (8), who may have married Thomas Morford; and it is supposed, John (9) who died in 1711, having married a widow, Elizabeth Moore; and Henry (10), who was twice married.

Nathaniel Leonard (5), son of Henry (3) married Hannah, widow of Joseph Grover and daughter of William Lawrence. His children were: John (12); Thomas (13), born in 1708; Lieutenant Nathaniel (14), born in 1712, who married Deliverance Lippett; and Nathaniel (15).

Henry Leonard (10), supposed son of Henry(3), died in 1739, leaving a widow Lydia. By his first wife he had: Mary (21); Sarah (22); Susanna (23); Parthenia (24), who married a Cook; Margaret (25); Samuel (26); and Thomas (27).
By the second wife there were six children, one of whom was named Elizabeth.

John Leonard (12), son of Nathaniel (5), may have been the Captain John Leonard, of near Crosswicks, who was murdered in 1727 by Wequalia, a prominent Indian chief, in his own yard. Wequalia was hung. Captain John Leonard, by his wife Margaret, was father of Thomas (29).

Lieutenant Nathaniel Leonard (14), son of Nathaniel(5), married Deliverance Lippett. His children were: John (30); Nathaniel(31); Joseph (32); Samuel(33); Sarah (34); Annie (35); Captain Thomas (36).

Captain Thomas Leonard (36), son of Nathaniel (14), married, in 1786, Alice Lawrence. His children were: William, Joseph and Elizabeth. It was from this line that many of the Middletown families were descended.

Aside from Samuel Leonard, a soldier of the Patriot Army, the greater number of the Leonards were Tories.

John Leonard of Upper Freehold, was a prominent Loyalist and served with the British armies. He died in exile in Nova Scotia. He married, first, Magdalen Ritchie and, secondly, Frances Schooley. His children were: Magdalen, Elizabeth, Mary and two sons who shared their father's banishment.

According to an account of court proceedings in Ellis' History of Monmouth County "The sales of Loyalist property in New Jersey, adjudged to be forfeited and confiscated during the war of the Revolution" took place in 1779, when the properties of Thomas Leonard and John Leonard in addition to properties of many other Loyalists were sold at public vendue."

Ensign John Leonard, who may have been the son of the above John, lived in Middletown. He died, an exile, in Canada.

Captain Samuel Leonard was another Loyalist who died in Canada.

Major Thomas Leonard had been Sheriff of Monmouth. He died in Nova Scotia. The British Crown made him a large allowance to cover his property losses.

An anecdote about him, recounted by Franklin Ellis follows:

On Lahaway Creek, near its junction with Crosswicks Creek, is the farm of John G. Meirs, which in the time of the Revolution, was occupied by the noted Tory, Thomas Leonard, who was denounced by the Freehold Committee of Vigilance, and who, subsequently, escaped to New York.

At the close of the Revolution, when New York was evacuated by the British, Leonard went to St. John's, New Brunswick, where he settled. During the Revolution, Leonard and his wife lived in a small house on this farm. He must have been a troublesome fellow, for a party of Whigs or Continentals were concealed nearby in watch for the traitor. They must have known that he was in the house, so a raid was made for his immediate capture. The wife saw them coming, and as there was no possibility of escape from the dwelling, she made him flee to the cubby-hole at one end of the peak of the hip-roof. The entrance was so small that the man had to strip off his clothing before he could squeeze into the poke-hole. The pursuers were now at the door. Carrying her husband's clothes in her arms, the woman ran downstairs, put them on the seat of the chair and sat on them. At this moment the door was forced open. The demand was made, "Where is your husband?" But the woman gave no sign; not moving from her seat and keeping her countenance imperturbable.

The men began at once a search of the house, but all in vain. Puzzled and baffled, they left, without having caused the woman to stir from her seat. The effect was that Leonard received a thorough scare, and concluded it to be no longer safe for him to remain at home. But how to escape, when so determined a hunt was kept up for his life? He was evidently a man of some shrewdness, and was equal to the emergency.

Having blackened his face, he changed clothes with his old lame Negro slave, and actually passed the party that had surrounded his house the day before, not one of them suspecting that the old black fellow that was limping by was old Leonard, the Tory himself. He got away safe to Nova Scotia, and never came back again.

After the Revolution his property was confiscated and sold at a very low figure. It was afterwards bought by General Forman, and about 1833 it came into the possession of the family of Meirs.

Captain John Leonard(12), father of Major Thomas(29), according to the following account by Franklin Ellis; shows us a different story of his death from the one described by Hornor previously.
"There is now standing on the farm, at a considerable distance from the house, an old walnut tree. A tradition has long existed to the effect that near this tree was the residence of the father of the Loyalist, and that this one, the elder Leonard, when walking in his garden, was shot by an Indian, concealed behind some gooseberry bushes. As no vestige of any residence or garden had been seen for many years, unless the old walnut-tree may date back to that time, Mr. John G. Meirs placed no confidence in the story. However, when Mr. Meirs set a man to dig a trench not far from the tree, to drain the land, the digger turned up an old-fashioned silver spoon, on which was engraved the initial L. This spoon Mr. Meirs believed to have belonged to the father of the Loyalist who had been killed near that spot. "The man who was killed was Captain John Leonard, murdered in 1727 by Wequalia.

Members of the Leonard family continued to live in Atlantic Highlands. One of these was Thomas Leonard, son of William and Elizabeth (Applegate) Leonard who was born September 5, 1815. His education, under not very efficient teachers, was necessarily limited because he and the older children assisted on the farm or in the store.

Thomas, until he was twenty years old, worked chiefly on the farm. He then entered his father's store, and, in 1840, succeeded him in business, while his father retired to his farm. His father resided on the farm until his death, July 19, 1872.

On February 5, 1840, Thomas Leonard married Mary A., daughter of James and Patience Hopping, of Middletown. Their children were: James H., born January 8, 1841; Thomas H., born June 30, 1843; Edward H., born February 13, 1853; and John J., born March 6, 1856.

Thomas Leonard succeeded in having a post-office established at Leonardsville, and received the appointment of postmaster, with the office located in his store. In 1882 he retired from business, his son, Edward H., being his successor.

Mr. Leonard, on the organization of the Atlantic Highlands Association, was elected its treasurer. He was also treasurer of the New York and Atlantic Highlands Railroad. He was formerly, in his political associations, a Democrat, but later became a Republican. He had been, like his brother, Richard A., actively identified with the temperance cause, which he supported for more than one-half a century. He was a member of the Baptist Church and he also served as a deacon in the church.

The Leonard family had many interesting members who contributed to the development of Monmouth County.
Jean Fiske

BIBLIOGRAPHY Ellis, Franklin, History Of Monmouth County, New Jersey, published under the patronage of the Shrewsbury Historical Society, Polyanthos, 1992.
Hornor, William S., This Old Monmouth of Ours, Reprinted for Clearfield Company, Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1990.