Our Leonard Line of Brunswick Co, N.C.
The first of our line to arrive in Brunswick County, NC, in about 1730~~from New Jersey was Samuel Leonard known as "The Judge". His Will of 1782 lists three sons, no daughters.
Samuel was listed first, so he was probably the oldest. Henry was listed second, and Jacob, our ancestor, third. There is no record of who the wife and mother was. Samuel arrived in Brunswick County either in company with, or shortly after the other Leonards, either brothers or cousins, from Cape May, New Jersey. Leonards in New Jersey all related, had given names of Nathaniel, Jacob, Thomas, Samuel, Henry & John.
Jacob Leonard married Eleanor (Elinor) Miller, and had two sons and two daughters.
Jacob, Jr.,married Margaret A.,
Rebecca married Frederick Sullivan
Esther in. John Poitevent, and
Thomas Esq., wife unknown.
Jacob was a colonel in the American Revolution and later served in the State Legislature. He died in about 1790, and his widow married WILLIAM Gause. Esther and John Poitevent went west with three of the Leonard sons of Thomas , Esq., listed below.
Thomas, Esq. ,our great (4) grandfather was on the 1800 & 1810, and 1820 census of Brunswick County as head of household, and had five sons and a daughter: John, Jacob, Benjamin Smith, William Washington, Thomas Charles and Eliza (m. Col, Samuel Lespeyre).
It is believed that Jacob inherited the home after the: death of Thomas Esq. Benjamin Smith and Thomas Charles traveled and lived together in Alabama and Mississippi. William was reputed to have been a sheriff in Alabama before going on West. Thomas Charles and Senjaman Smith Leonard are in the same households in the 1840 and 1850 Mississippi Census. Benjamin Smith Leonard was named after Benjamin Smith in Brunswick County, believed to be related t&the Leonards.
Thomas Charles Leonard is believed to have obtained his license as physician while living in Alabama in the 1830’s. where his two song. James Austin and Thomas Charles, Jr. were born. - He is listed on the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses as either doctor or physician. His first wife is completely unknown, and is believed to have died in Alabama and he remained a widower until about 1854, when he married Susan Mitchell. The 1870 census revealed Thomas, 61; Susan, 36; William, 15;. Forrest 8., 14: Thomas (1) 12: Anne. 10: John. 8: Oscar. 6. and Robert. 4. Dr. Thomas Charles Leonard died July 23, 1872 at age 63. Me is buried, together with his second wife Susan and some of his children and grandchildren (of his second marriage) in Napoleon Cemetery in HancocK County. Mississippi, very near the Louisiana line. The inscription on his stone reads “Thomas Leonard D July 23 1872 Age 63 Native of Bruns wick County, North Carolina.” His wife’s stone- is inscribed “SUSAN M1TCHELL Wife of Dr. T. C. Leonard Sept. 27. 1831.
Feb. 7, 1907.” The only daughter of this union, listed on her stone as Annie N., was 12 years old at the death of her father, and was 17 when she died. Their son Oscar was still living at age 97 Sliddell Louisana 1961.
--Thomas Jr. and James Austin Leonard were in Texas from about 1957 until after the Civil War in the Jasper - Newton County ares, where they owned and farmed land. Botn sold out shortly bef ore the onset of the Civil war and both served in the Confederacy. After the
Civil War, James Austin Leonard was in Trinity County where he made a power of attorney and travelled to West Texas, where he was killed, reputedly because of an individual he met. His place of death has not been ascertained, that information having died with yjose in the family that knew, but his death has been pinpointed to April 1871.
Capt. Thomas Leonard, Jr. married Sarah Youngblood 25 march 1866 in Newton County, Texas and they were in Polk County, Moscow Community in 1870, and to Houston County Volga Community in the 1880's. Capt. Thomas died there 27 Feb. 1906, and Sarah Ann died there while residing with her daughter Ida Ora on June 14, 1912.
It can be noted that Jacob Leonard, oldest child of this union saw fit to name one of his sons Poitevent, after the family connection from Brunswick County and later Mississippi.
Families allied with the Leonard Family who migrated to North Carolina in early 1730's from Cape May New Jersey are:
Holden, Hewett, Willetts, Ludlam, Bement, Robinson
Families intermarried with Leonards in New Jersey who may have come to North Carolina are:
Williams, Johnson, Almey, Throckmorton
7 March 2004
Art by © John O'Brien Used with Permission
All Graphics © By Sysster Designs
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