THE GENERATIONS OF THE LEONARD FAMILY

SAMUEL LEONARD & HANNAH TABER

Samuel Leonard was the father of Captain John Wood Leonard of New Bedford, Massachusetts.  He was the son of George Leonard of Middleboro, Massachusetts,  and Mary Allen (this Allen line goes to the Mayflower with John Howland).  He married Hannah Taber of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, who was a Quaker.  She was the daughter of Benjamin Taber and Hannah Gardner (of Nantucket).

CAPTAIN JOHN WOOD LEONARD

This is Captain John Wood Leonard.    He was a whaler, and later retired to make his fortune in Salina, Kansas.  He married Sylvia Ricketson Tucker (pictured at right with John Wood Leonard II), and they had four children.  When he died (a young man of 27), his widow Sylvia walked home to Dartmouth, Massachusetts with her 4 small children:  Will, Joe, Alice and John Wood Leonard II.    Sylvia remarried  to Captain Jonathan Hawes, who was affiliated with the Acushnet Saw Mill.  His daughter Addie Hawes became the first wife of John Wood Leonard II, (pictured at right and below), and mother of "Uncle John", the first born of the children of John Wood Leonard II.

JOHN WOOD LEONARD AND ALICE ASHLEY

Here are Captain John Wood Leonard II and his wife Alice Ashley, daughter of John Sherman Ashley and Mary Purrington (Nye) (see below.)

Together they had 14children, (15 including "Uncle John," who was the child of JW Leonard from his marriage to Addie Hawes.)  They were Faith, Hope, Charity, Gerome, Ashley , Paul [pictured below],  Matthew, Ruth, Mary, Sylvia, Alice, Mark, Sally and Luke.

JOHN SHERMAN ASHLEY, JR.  AND MARY PURRINGTON NYE 

John Sherman Ashley, Jr. of Rochester, Massachusetts was the son of John Sherman Ashley Sr. and Mary (Molly) Gooch Brown.  He married  Mary Purrington Nye, daughter of Pardon Nye and Sally Todd Ashley (see below.)  This is our grandpa who went west in the Gold Rush to California in 1849.  Grandma Mary later lost her husband, her brother John, and six children to disease, all in 2 years.  A remarkable red-head, she ran an 1,000 acre farm with the help of her four remaining daughters.

PARDON NYE AND SALLY TODD ASHLEY

Pardon Nye, who was born in 1791 and died in 1839, married Sally Todd Ashley, daughter of Abraham Ashley and Mary (Polly) Purrington.  This is our family's line to the Mayflower via Peter Browne.  They were the parents of Mary Purrington Nye.

PAUL COOLEDGE LEONARD & MAY WINONA STEVENS

Here are "Pa" and "Waddah".  Paul Cooledge Leonard was the son of John Wood Leonard, Jr. and Alice Ashley (pictured above).  He married May Winona Stevens (born in New Jersey and known as Stevie), daughter of John Henry Stevens and Mary Noe (Clark) (pictured below.)

They resided as what was known as "the farm."  Halcyon Farms, pictured at left was located on Howland Road in Lakeville, Massachusetts.  Though the original farm has been sold, its spirit lives on at Halcyon Farms New York, the home of John and June Leonard and their children.  

Paul and Stevie's children are Nancy Liebowitz Thurston, Ruth Kendall (deceased), John Wood Leonard III,  and Susan Loomis.  Their grandchildren include Peter, Sylvia, Edward & Daniel Liebowitz; David and Jonathan Kendall; Sara, Dorothy, Lucy and Thomas Loomis; and Fransje, John, and Seth Leonard. 

JOHN HENRY STEVENS AND MARY NOE CLARK

"Waddah's" father was John Henry Stevens, son of Richard Stevens and Anna Marie Beyer.  He married Mary Noe Clark when she was only 18; he was 45.  (Nancy's note:  Aunt Bibi called him a "dirty old man.")  They has five daughters including  May Winona.  Mary Noe Clark  was the daughter of Arthur Clarke and Rosaltha Francisco.  Rosaltha is the line to Anneka Jans, one of the first landowners in New York. 

Genealogical information for this page was provided by Nancy Leonard.

It was designed and edited by Lucy Loomis.

Last edited 7/23/2000.

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