The Leonard Family

John - the Elder - Leonard

In 1766 John is listed in the NC taxpayers for Bute County. Parts of Bute County would become Franklin County. 

The first land record for John Leonard in Franklin County North Carolina seems to be when he purchased land from Ephraim Gilliam on 12 Feb 1777. The record below is from the Bute County Minutes of the Court of Pleas.

The witness for the sale was Peter Smart, the grandfather of Peter Collins. Peter's daughter, Priscilla, was James Collins' first wife. I have posted on this blog information about the Collins family. 

In the Franklin County Deed Book 1 on page 717 we find that on 2 Feb 1780, Wm Stuart sold John Leonard a tract of 100 acres beginning at the black gum on the Miry Prong and adjacent to William Leonard and Ephraim Gilliam. 

In March of 1793 John and his wife Mary are involved in more land transactions. (See below)

John is found in the Census records for 1790, 1800 and 1810.

In the 1790 Census the census taker wrote down Jones instead of John.

1790

No females are listed on this census. 

1800

It appears that in 1800 John and his wife, Mary, are living in Franklin County and the children are all living on their own.

1810

It appears that Mary has passed away sometime between 1800 and 1810. John is living alone.

An interesting discovery was an inquest into the death of Robert Acres. It seems that on 12 Mar 1803 the inquest into Robert's death, testimony was that Robert came to John's home and continued to drink for days. On the 11th day he was found deceased. The jury ruled the death was caused by drink.

John passed away sometime before June of 1814. In his will he listed his children as:

• William
• Elizabeth
• Frederick
• Mary

This concludes the story of John Leonard. As I find more information I will post it. 

On that note: 

Today I came across the Vestry Book and Register of Bristol Parrish 1720 - 1789. Although it was suppose to be searchable, when I tried to use the search feature, I did not get any results for Leonard or Lennard. I decided to browse through the book anyway and found John Lenard. (This should be the father of the above John Leonard of Franklin County)  He was listed receiving tobacco for "keeping Hudsons child".  Aug 20, 1739 - Nov 6, 1749. I am still scanning through the book and if I find more references to John, I will post it as well. Also found in this book are several mentions of the Gilliam family. Could this be the same family that John bought land from in Franklin County? I am guessing, probably!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pattie