Frank Leverett

Among the papers I inherited upon my father's death was a file on Frank Leverett, a famous geologist of the early 20th century. Frank's father was Eben, who was James Walker Leverett's younger brother. He grew up on a farm in Denmark (southeast Iowa), and went to school in Colorado, then Ames. The famous family story about him is that he walked from Ames to Madison, walked! - to get a job which he then kept for thirty years. The job eventually moved him to Ann Arbor, or it is possible that he ended his days teaching in Ann Arbor. In any case many of the letters I have from him are postmarked Ann Arbor.

He married twice, but had no children, which is why I have this information in the file. It's like someone has to inherit it, and pass it along down, and do something with it - old newspaper clippings, articles about his career, etc. I might write a book, simply because I can.

His interest was in finding the places where glaciers had been in the midwest. Glaciers receded, yes, to a certain point, and caused things to happen, and he knew all that, and could tell it by walking and observing. He once said that though this walking trip was about 250 miles (though one account I read said that he walked from Denmark), he actually walked another thousand or so, doing his job, and mapping the line of glacial sedimentation. I would have to do a crash course on geology to write this book, obviously. But I think a guy that walks from Ames to Madison is worthy of some study.

Two glaciers are named after him, one in Greenland, and the other in Antarctica. The one in Greenland is obscure and also goes by another name. It is really hurting from global warming, so its name comes up in studies on how bad things are. But the other one, in Antarctica, is in a crucial spot. If you are going to the South Pole, or you are looking for the shortcut to the South Pole, in order to take supplies to the station or to go there for any reason, you want to find this glacier. It comes out at the sea, at the shortest point from the sea to the South Pole itself. So it is the shortcut.

So Frank wrote all these letters to members of the family; I especially have a collection of maybe a half dozen to his cousin Will who would be my great grandfather. He and Will shared an interest in family genealogy and he was especially interested in getting the details - birth, death, marriage, of everyone in the family. He always said things like, I hope your grandson is doing well, and, sorry to say that we heard of a death in the family. He was very polite and family members were helpful to him; in fact, I sense that much of what I have now, I have because he typed it, or he made it available, or he asked the right person at the right time. So as a genealogist I owe him a debt, which I of course could repay simply by writing this book, however feeble the effort would be.

Biography I feel is a way of saying to the world, look, this guy's life is important. It's a small but important subfield of book writing in that there is a relatively constant market for information about people's lives. I could do Kamala Harris, for example, and make a quick buck no matter how badly I wrote. Now I'm not so much interested in the quick buck, though that would be ok since my stories sell so tepidly, but I am interested in the possibility of showing the world the life of a person the world might just as well ignore or forget about forever. I am having fun with James Walker Leverett, for example; he led an interesting life, and there's much to learn and point out, and the world might forget about him if I don't come along and show us (my family in particular) about the times he lived through.

I feel the same way about Frank. He knew a lot, and did a lot, and it would be a shame if it were just forgotten. Sure, he's memorialized by the glaciers. But they're all melting, and pretty soon it will all be rising seas. More about Frank later.

Joseph and Mary Leverett

Ellen Chase's genealogy of the family of William (1727-1791) and Rachel Leverett

 

Ellen Chase’s Genealogical Record

 

Data furnished by Miss Ellen Chase in reference to the family of William Leverett (1727-1791) and Rachel Watts Leverett.

 

From Will of William Leverett who died at Needham, Mass. Dec. 1791. A copy sent March, 1863 by William Leverett to his brother Washington. “Beloved wife, Raches. Two sons William & Daniel. Seven daughters: Rachel Dana, Polly Cook, Sarah Pratt, Betsey Robbins, Catherine Walker, Lucy Leverett & Rebecca Leverett.”

 

From this it appears that five daughters were married before the will was made. The two youngest daughters, and the two sons were unmarried. Rachel Leverett Dana and Polly Leverett Cook were twins, b. 1759 in Boston.

 

Data concerning the Dana family were obtained from Paige’s “Town History of Cambridge.”

 

Rachel Leverett, b. Boston, 1759, m. 1781 Josiah (3) Dana. Joseph (2). William (1). Apparently in Cambridge, Mass. Later lived in Chester, Vermont. They had two children born in Cambridge: Sarah, b. 1784. Josiah Jr. b. 1787. She d. 1800.

 

Concerning Polly, the twin sister, the only data furnished: Polly Leverett, a twin, m. Joshua Cook of Chester, Vermont.

 

The third child, Betsy, died at 2 years.

 

The fourth child, Sarah, or Sally (1765-1791), m. Oliver Pratt in 1788, age 23. She died at age 26, in 1791, the same year as her father. She was alive when he made his will.

 

The fifth child, a second Betsey, b. 1767, m. Elisha Robbins. See Hist. Cambridge.

 

The sixth child Catherine, or Katy, b. 1769, m. before 1791, James Goodwin Walker of Livermore, Maine. Joseph Leverett was raised by this uncle and aunt, and his son James Walker Leverett, was named for this great uncle.

 

The seventh child, William, b. and d. in 1771.

 

The eighth child, a second William, b. Jul. 15, 1773, m. 1799, Lydia Fuller, d. Dec. 9, 1807. They had six children: William, b. Jan. 1800; Sarah Fuller, b. May 18, 1801; Thomas Jefferson, b. March 22, 1803; Joseph, b. Sept. 4, 1804; Washington and Warren, b. Dec. 19, 1805. Lydia Fuller Leverett Married 2d, Joshua Griggs, May 5, 1811. They had two children: George, b. Sept. 1813, John Williams, b. Nov. 30, 1816. She died April 21, 1842.

 

The ninth child Lucy, b. 1775, m. Nov. 15, 1798, Joseph White of Brookline, Mass. They had four children, Joseph, William, Rachel, m. Mr. Hall, and perhaps Mrs. Perry of Pawtucket.

 

The tenth child, Rebecca, b. 1778, m. William or Geo. Robinson. They had six children: 1. William; 2. Rebecca, m. Mr. Tolman of Camden, Maine; 3. Joseph; 4. Rachel, m. Mr. Burns of Belfast, Maine; 5. Deborah, m. Mr. Ginn of Belfast, Me. 6. A daughter who m. Mr. Ireland of Needham, Mass.

 

The eleventh child, Daniel, b. 1780. His son Daniel Leverett was father of George Vasmer Leverett, Boston lawyer (1846-1917). Mrs. George V. Leverett was daughter of Benjamin Leverett, and a cousin of her husband. No data as to other descendants of Daniel Leverett.

18th Century Leveretts

on kindle, $4.99
Paperback $8.40 + shipping, Amazon

Anyone who found their name in this blog, for example in the Otis' genealogy, might be interested in this book. The central dilemma of those who descend from James Walker, or from Joseph before him, or either of the two Williams before that, is that it stops at that second William, and he's in the heart of the 18th century. Records were scarce, especially for people who were impressed from Boston Harbor, or who just appeared from England at what in Boston is known as "the times of hardship." Such was the life of our ancestors. There are two gaps in the ancestry - one assuming that that second William came from a third (it was popular to assume that for quite a while, and it's plausible). In that case, William (~1692) may have been a child of Hudson's before Hudson died. The second theory is that somehow the Leverett men (Joseph and Washington) were right in the lists they made, though they couldn't have been absolutely right. To be brief, their lists, identical, had two Williams descending through two Johns, and before that Knight and Thomas the barber. Though the youngest of the Johns, John Esq. (1758) could not have fathered the oldest of the Williams (~1727), there are ways to envision the descent so that it would be possible for Thomas the barber and Knight to be part of the picture.

This second theory is supported by their own lists of their ancestors, which included two Johns and two Williams.

This book covers everyone: the Johns, the Williams, Knight and Thomas, Hudson, Joseph and Washington - it lays out the problem. I, the author, see myself more as presenting the issue than making up my mind about the solution. I'm leaning toward the second one, though. Their own written lists cannot possibly be right, but they give a window into what they thought was true, and basically I would, and did, start from there.

The book is not entirely genealogy. Boston was an interesting place. The Leveretts were well known. The place was hopping. Enough said.

Notes on Notes from Ellen Chase

Having just transcribed Notes from Ellen Chase, below, I am astounded. This was a browned piece of typed papers, two stapled together, single space, probably typed by Frank Leverett in the late 1930's. He gives his spin on the notes from Ellen Chase. But the central question I had going in, namely whether Joseph Leverett married a cousin when he married Mary Turner, went unanswered, or rather, answered contradictorily. I will explain.

Joseph married Mary Turner, who he met in Maine, and who was descended from a John Turner of Medfield, Mass. But now it appears that his mother, Lydia Fuller, had a grandfather, Captain Robert Fuller, who married twice: first, to Mary Turner, and second, to Deborah Williams. Ellen Chase at some point says that we are descended from Deborah ("from whom we come"). Frank, the author, seems to think we come from Mary Turner, in which case, it is relevant that this Mary Turner comes from a John Turner of Medfield. This is a subject I will delve into when I get time.

One possible clue is to look at their son, William Fuller, and the way he named his children. At the moment I'm not sure who his children were, besides Lydia, though I have dug it up in the past. But William, who was the Revolutionary War soldier of our line, would have reflected the family of either Deborah or Mary in the naming of his children, possibly. I look for independent verification. I see here the possibility of both Frank and Ellen imposing their own conclusions on the situation.

There is also a contradiction in the general characterization of Lydia. In this passage she is maternal, calming, commanding, and careful. I see her many years earlier, left widowed with six children under eight, sending 6-yr.-old Joseph up to Maine to live with his paternal aunt. Maybe it was me who was imposing a sense of desperation, or inability to handle a growing boy? He comes back through Boston on his way to Illinois, now 30, and visits a mother he hasn't seen in 24 years, as far as I know. To me it's like visiting a birth mother who gave you up for adoption. It's not just like that, it is that.

There are a number of other interesting stories in Ellen's account. One is the connection to John Eliot, worth exploring. Another is the story of John Eaton, who married Alice (Unknown), and was mentally ill. Somewhere in there the Eaton family, who had owned the ridge above the Charles River, in Dedham, where Powder House Rock now stands, gave that land over to the Fullers. Capt. Robert Fuller apparently built that Powder House. It is now one of the oldest standing buildings in Dedham, but it owes its survival to the fact that the woods surrounding it, on a ridge above the Charles downtown, is basically a park, left alone for its historical value. I would like to know why Robert built that Powder House. It has been speculated that it was because he knew trouble (the Revolution) was coming.

Another surprise is that we are related to the Bunkers of Bunker Hill, apparently, and to the Parkers of Muddy River. Of the Parkers of Muddy River I'll say this: Somehow Leverett land moved over to the Parkers in the late 1600's, and I was never able to discern why. But being related would be a good explanation. Parker is one of those names that is so common, that in looking them up you encounter warnings: Don't confuse this John Parker with that one; there are too many of them; it's too hard to tell them apart. Well, as most genealogists do, I'll accept what's given to me, and I'll probably even repeat it, but I'll try to source it and I won't necessarily believe it. One thing I've found is that just because something gets repeated frequently, doesn't necessarily make it true.

Notes from Ellen Chase

Copy of notes sent by Ellen Chase of Brookline, Mass., in December, 1934. They pertain to families that our Fuller ancestors connect with.

“I have nothing new to communicate in reference to the Leverett line. I have busied myself summing up the our main lines as already on record at home. The Leverett portion is small but the Fuller part is ample.

1.     Thomas Fuller came to Massachusetts about 1635. He died in 1690 – connects with Ralph Fuller of Worwell in Aldeburgh, Norfolk County, England, near Needham. He married Hannah Flower in 1643. Thomas Fuller had dealings with the Indians, and is figured on the Town Seal receiving a deed. He was on a committee to have charge of money left for a Latin School. He was a Lieut. of the Dedham Co. In 1672, he gave five pounds to Harvard College. Was on a committee to lay out Deerfield, Mass. Representative in General Court.

 

2.     John Fuller (1645-1719) son of Thomas, was wounded Dec. 19, 1675 in the Narragansett Fort fight. Representative 1696, 1705-1711, 1715-17. Married Judith Gay in 1672, daughter of John Gay who came in the “Mary and John,” which brought west of England party.

 

3.     Capt. Robert Fuller ((1685-1769) married Mary Parker in 1713. He was Selectman, Town Clerk, and Treasurer continuously. John (1) Parker came in the “James” from Marlboro, Wiltshire, England. John (2) Parker, born 1666, Died 1729, married Mary Turner, daughter of John Turner. He or his father in King Philip’s War. Mary Turner died in 1715. Mary Parker, 1684, who married Capt. Robert Fuller seems to have been daughter of John (2) Parker and Mary Turner. John Turner was our ancestor, concerning whom Miss Chase gave the following; John (1) Turner of Medfield, Mass., where he dug a well in 1665. The selectmen made a very thorough business in settling with him, clearing all accounts “from the beginning of the world unto this day, as well as for killing of wolves, as for other things.” In 1675 he contributed 2 bushels of corn to the new brick college. (Harvard?)

After Mary Turner’s death John (2) Parker married Deborah Williams. Miss Chase says “Through whom we come,” but does not make clear our connection with her. She came of the Roxbury family. She then gives the following notes on the Williams family:

In Yarmouth, England, Stephen (1) Williams married Margaret Cooke. Their son Robert was the settler. He was Warden of the Guild of Cordwainers in Norwich, England. He sailed on the “Rose” and was one of the Apostle Eliot’s flock in Roxbury, Mass. Was member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He married Elizabeth (3) Stalham. Christopher (1) Stalham married Joan Drake. John (2) Stalham of Norwich, England married Alice Gibson. Elizabeth Stalham was not keen about leaving home, but dreamed if she got to America she “would become the mother of a long line of worthy ministers of the Gospel.” Nine year after her death two descendants, cousins, John and William Williams graduated (from Harvard?) and the record ever since has been remarkable. Bishop Williams of Connecticut; the Founder of Williams College; a President of Yale College; a Chief Justice, etc. sharing her blood.

4.     Lieut. Robert Fuller (1714-1788) married Sarah Eaton. Was long Selectman and Town Clerk, and in 1767 a Representative. The Eatons are traced back five generations before Sarah Eaton as Follows; 1) Wm. Eaton of Kent, married Jane Hussey; 2) Nicholas Eaton, married Katherine Masters. Said to have been Mayor of Doer, Church Warden, etc. 3) John Eaton, helped build a foot bridge over Charles River; a surveyor owned the land on which the old Powder House yet stands. Married in England. Abigail, widow of H. Doman. 4) John Eaton, married Allice Ellis? 5) Wm. Eaton, married Mary Starr. 6) Sarah Eaton, married Robert  (4) Fuller, as above. The Starr family are traced back four generations from Mary Starr as follows: Thomas (1) Starr, a wool merchant of Cranbrook, Kent, England; Comfort (2) Starr M.D. Church Warden in Ashford, Kent; came to America in the “Hercules.” He had a sister named Sure Trust. He lived near Miles Standish in Duxbury, a while. In 1638 an early benefactor of Harvard College. In 1639 subscribed toward first Town House in Boston. Was buried in King’s Chapel ground. Inventory “over 613 pounds.” John (3) Starr gave 10 acres to Harvard College. Married Martha Bunker, daughter of George Bunker of Charlestown. He (Bunker) gave Woburn its Common, and 8 acres to Harvard College. In the Anne Hutchinson controversy he was one of the Charlestown men taking sides with Sir Harry Vane, Cotton and Wheelwright. Was banished, and the written remonstrance deemed seditious. Ten of the twelve then recanted, but Bunker and James Brown stood their ground, and were ordered disarmed unless they gave satisfaction. Deacon Comfort (4) Starr of Dedham, married Mary Stone. Mary (5) Starr married Wm. Eaton. The Stone line. - they lived in Great Bromley, where the settlers, Simon and Gregory Stone were christened. Simon Stone, settler, sailed in the “Increase,” bringing his 4 yr. old son Simon, Marie 3 yrs. and John, 5 weeks. In 1894, a pear tree of his planting, said to be still bearing fruit, had a trunk 3 ft. in diam., 6 ft. from the ground. The son, Simon Stone Jr. married Mary Whipple. In 1675 he was chosen to keep the town book of Watertown. He spelled off hand “Sider for old Thorpe beryall, etc.” He was often representative. Mary Stone married Deacon Comfort Starr (see above).  The Whipple line. Matthew Whipple, clothier of Hocking, Essex, England, married Joanna -----? Deacon John Whipple, settler, a ruling elder, agent for Mr. Saltonstall in his business affairs, foefee of a grammar school, clerk of the writs, Representative, married Sarah Hawkins. Mary Whipple his daughter married Simon Stone Jr. (see above).

5.     Lieut. Wm. Fuller (1743-1802) married Sarah Hunting in 1769. Soldier on Lexington Alarm Rolls. Helped fortify Dorchester Heights. Served at time of Gen. Burgoyne’s leading these parts. Selectman, assessor, town treasurer, Representative, school committee man, justice of the peace, and died leaving an estate of  $20,000.00. 

 

6.     Lydia Fuller (1777-1842) married 1^st Wm. Leverett (1773-1807) in 1799, 2^nd Joshua Griggs in 1811. Is buried in Brookline. Miss Chase’s Aunt, Maria Dalton, writes of her grandmother Lydia Fuller Leverett Griggs: She made long winter visits at our house and delighted once a week to give Catherine an evening home, while she sat with her knitting work by the nursery grate till the children were asleep. The even click of her needles was of itself a lullaby, while her erect dignified figure, dimly discerned by the firelight, for she would have no other, seemed the impersonation of protecting care. The embodiment of executive force too was this honored grandmother of the good old Fuller stock. Not stern in manner, nor severe in speech, not exacting in disposition, but commanding by nature. As soon as she crossed our threshold her presence was felt from the top to the bottom of the house. Increased punctuality, frugality and fidelity in the kitchen, discipline and order in the nursery, invariably attended her coming, and human nature in the household generally, was held to the end of her stay at the highest pitch, willy nilly, by her unconscious influence.” 

 

7.     Joseph Leverett (1804-1878) married Mary Turner 1828. Descendant of John Turner of Medfield, Mass. See P. 1.

Transcriber's Note: This was typed onto a browned piece of paper that I found in genealogy files. I suspect it was typed in the 1930's by Frank Leverett but have no direct evidence. Frank, or whoever the author is, puts his own spin on the information, so I don't believe Ellen Chase can be quoted directly here.

Wead/Mead article, American Genealogist 1949

This is a very crinkly old paper, so crinkly I should transcribe it before it’s too late.

            The American Genealogist – January 1949 – Vol. XXV No. 3 July 1948

Page 160

            The Second Wife of Hudson (3) Leverett by Frederick W. Wead, Esq., of Boston, Mass.

Hudson (3) Leverett, son of John (2) Leverett and Hannah (Hudson) Leverett, born at Boston Mass., 3 May 1640, died there between 10 Oct. and 1 Dec. 1692, married first at Boston 20 Aug. 1661, Sarah Payton, dau. Of Capt. Bezaleel and Mary (Greenow) Payton, born at Boston 9 Aug. 1643, d. there 7 June 1679 (Kings Chapel Records). Sometime before 21 Sept. 1681 when he and his wife witnessed the Will of William Cheney (Suffolk Probate, #I 1189) he married a second wife, Elizabeth. That she was the daughter of Matthew and Hannah (Andrews) Gannett of Scituate and the widow of John (2) Tay is proved by the following records:

            The will of Matthew Gannett, dated 23 Aug. 1694, proved 15 Nov. 1694 (Supreme Court files #3042), names his daughter Hannah Adams, Abigail Dodson, and Elizabeth Leverett, and grandchildren Esther Palmer, David Adams, Thomas Leverett and the four children of his son Joseph deceased.

            The will of the widow Hannah Gannett (Plymouth Probate, #8544), dated 18 Oct. 1700 proved 31 July 1701, named Elizabeth Leverett executrix.

            Hudson Leverett’s unproved will (printed in Sewall’s diary 3:31) was dated 10 Oct. 1692 and names wife Elizabeth, sons John and Thomas, daughter Mary, wife’s daughter Elizabeth Myhem, and cousin Esther Palmer.

            Suffolk Registry of Deeds, 16:368: on 16 Sept. 1692, Hudson Leverett set up a trust for the benefit of his wife Elizabeth with David Adams (her brother-in-law) and his brother Abraham Adams as trustees. This included some land in New London, Conn., which Hudson had bought of Thomas  Bell.

            The Boston Vital Records show that Elizabeth Tay married Paul Myhem on 17 Dec. 1689. She was the daughter of John Tay, son of William and Grace (Newell) Tay, who was baptized at Boston 21 Nov. 1647 and died at Weymouth, Mass., 21 Oct. 1678. It will be noted that John Tay’s death occurred at a reasonable time for his widow to marry Hudson Leverett, whose will called Elizabeth (Tay) Myhem his wife’s daughter.

            Elizabeth Leverett died at Roxbury, Mass., 16 Dec. 1714. Administration was granted to “her brother” Joshua Winsor on 5 Mar. 1714-15. Joshua Winsor was the father of Rebecca Winsor who married at Boston, 11 Dec. 1701 Thomas Leverett.

            There is no record of the birth of Thomas Leverett, but that he was the son of Hudson Leverett by his second wife Elizabeth is indicated by the will of her father Matthew Gannett (above) and also by the fat that he was not named in the will of his grandfather, Gov. John Leverett (Supreme Court Files, #1759) which was made 15 Mrch 1678-9 and proved 25 March, 1679, although his brother John was named in it. Hence he was presumably born later than March 1679, and Hudson’s first wife (Sarah Payton) died only three months thereafter.

            Furthermore, on 11 May 1705, John (4) Leverett sold as “lawful heir” land which had belonged to Bezaleel Payton without consideration of his brother (Suffolk Registry, 22:280). Also when John (4) brought suit in May 1707 against his Aunts for his share of his grandfather’s estate, he ignored the rights of the children of Thomas (4) and it was not until 11 July, 1725 (Suffolk Registry 39:41) that John’s two daughters, Sarah (5) Leverett and Mary (Leverett) Dennison, agreed to a division of the land with Knight (5) Leverett, son of Thomas (4).

The Will of Matthew (1) Gannett is printed in the book “Fifty Ancestors of Henry Lincoln Clopp, who came to New England – From 1620 to 1650” p.46

Transcriber’s note: This paper was found in a file of genealogical papers and was very old. The numbers were printed above and the names and without parentheses; I transcribed them as being in parentheses. Having never seen the actual American Genealogist article, I have no idea if this typewritten version is accurate, but it seem authentic based on my knowledge of what Wead said. By the way there is also some uncertainty, in whether the author is called Wead or Mead. I have seen both. –TL, 6-2020.