The generous temper and affable manners of Mr. Leonard seemed to have fascinated those who were in his household. The nurse who was entrusted with the care of the infant daughter of his first wife, would never leave him. She went with his family in all their wanderings, first to Boston, then to Halifax, London, and Bermuda, then to the United States, back again to the West Indies, then to London, and died in their service. His Deputy Sheriff, who had been a Captain in the Provincial service, a person of great address, wit, and accomplishments, followed his fortunes and was killed in the battle of Germantown, then a Major in the British Army. A young gentleman educated at Harvard College, and in his office, went with him to London where he died.
Daniel Leonard married twice. His first wife was Anna, daughter of Hon. Samuel White of Taunton, his second Sarah Hammock of Boston, who died on the passage from Bermuda to Providence, R. I., aged 78. He left a daughter Anna, who married a Mr. Smith of Antigua, Harriet who died in London in 1849, Sarah who married John Stewart, a captain in British army and afterwards Collector of the Port of Bermuda. Sarah had four children. The eldest Duncan Stewart, on the death of an uncle who died childless, succeeded to an ancient Lairdship in Scotland. His brother, Leonard Stewart, was an eminent physician in London. His sister Emily married a Captain in the service of the East India Company, the other sister, Sarah, married a Mr. Winslow, descended from the ancient governor of Plymouth, and a relative of Lord Lyndhurst, (Copley) whose private Secretary he was during his Chancellorship.[218] Mr. Leonard had an only son Charles, who was born when the mob attacked his house, and was feeble-minded. He entered Harvard College in 1791, but did not graduate. He was subsequently under the guardianship of Judge Wheaton, and was found dead in the road in Barrowsville, near Taunton in 1831. Col. Ephraim Leonard, who lived till the close of the Revolution devised his large estate to his grandson Charles. It was understood, however, that the father and sisters of Charles were to participate in the enjoyment of the property. Had Daniel Leonard returned from banishment and taken the oath of naturalization and allegiance to the new government, he would have inherited this large estate, but this he would not do, nothing could swerve him from his loyalty to the old flag.
JUDGE GEORGE LEONARD.
Major George Leonard was the third in descent from James, the immigrant. He removed in 1690 to Norton, then a part of Taunton, where he became the proprietor of very large tracts of land, and was in fact the founder of that town. Here this family, as possessors of great wealth and of the largest landed estate probably of any in New England, have lived for over two hundred years. Major George was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. His eldest son George, the subject of this sketch, was born March 4, 1698. He was in office from early manhood until old age. He served his town in nearly every capacity and was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in 1725; a member of the Council in 1741; and Judge of Probate in 1747; while in the Militia he rose to rank of Colonel. In 1740 he was dismissed from the bench, in consequence of his connection with the famous Land Bank scheme, but was restored six years afterwards, and became Chief Justice. He was called a "neutral" by Clark the historian of Norton, and he remarks that though the most influential man in town he took no active part in public affairs during the war. A neutral in the Revolution was a Loyalist, the Revolutionists did not allow such a thing as a "neutral" to exist. The fact was that he was an old man, whom all classes respected, and on that account they did not molest him, and drive him out.
He died in 1778, in his eighty-first year. "Tradition," says Clark, "has universally given him a character above reproach, and of sterling worth." He married Rachel Clap, of Scituate, who bore him four children and who died in 1783, in her eighty-second year.
George Leonard, son of the former, was born in 1729, and graduated at Harvard University in 1748. He held several important offices under the Colonial government, and after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, was a member of Congress. It is said "he was a genuine specimen of an American country gentleman," that "he was a kind and considerate landlord, who never raised his rents, and who regarded his old tenants as his friends," that "he was tenaciously attached to old customs, and wore the short breeches and long stockings to the day of his death."
COLONEL GEORGE LEONARD.
Was the son of Rev. Nathaniel Leonard the brother of Judge Leonard and fifth in descent from James the immigrant. He was driven forth from his native land and settled in New Brunswick in 1783, and was much employed in public affairs. The year after his arrival, he was appointed one of the agents of government to locate lands granted to Loyalists, and was soon after made a member of the Council, and commissioned as a Colonel in the militia. He died at Sussex Vale in 1826, at an old age. His wife Sarah, died a year before aged eighty-one. He had several children. His daughter Caroline married R. M. Jarvis, Esq., in 1805, and his daughter Maria married Lieutenant Gustavus Rochfort of the Royal Navy in 1814. His son, Colonel Richard Leonard of the 104th Regiment of the British army and Sheriff of the District of Niagara, died at Lundy's Lane in 1833.