DUCK EGGS

When I was a baby I had a bath toy duck with a pull string attached. When I pulled on the string the duck would say, "Wanna buy a duck?"  I also had a self-propelled bathtub boat.... but that's another story.

Years ago while living in San Jose, a young wild Mallard was attacked by dogs and rescued by neighboring kids. I accepted the poor little bird and nurtured him back to health in our back yard.  We named him Dudley (Moore) and as he feathered out into the beautiful colors of a male Mallard, we thought he should get a mate.... so we asked around and found a small suburban farm which had a pond frequented by water foul of all sorts. The owner said she did put out feed for the birds and was sure she could catch one for us. In just a few minutes she came back with a nice fat female who seemed to enjoy the free meals better 'n flying.  She charged us five dollars for the effort... and to buy more food for the birds! We named Dudley's new partner, Susan (Anton).

Dudley bonded to me and followed me everywhere I went in the back yard or sat next to me when I reclined in the summer sun.  Susan, much older than Dudley, was happy eating and floating around in the inflatable pool we bought for them.... they were, after all, ducks, you know.

Then Susan built herself a nest under the bushes against our back fence and started laying eggs! So I figured that duck's eggs must be something like chicken's eggs so I tried one for breakfast. It was larger, richer and great!.... much better than chickens eggs!

This was when it was considered unhealthy to eat eggs.... although the whites were OK, so Betty didn't eat them, but I sure did!  One a day was just right... but then I began to feel guilty eating all of Susan's pre-babys... so I stopped stealing them and in no time she had a nest full and was sitting virtually full time. She was a very dutiful mother.

Well, nature took its course, as they say and we had eleven little ducklings following their mother all around the yard. In the meantime Dudley had changed his attitude toward everyone everything... and instead of following me, would attack me trying to bite me with his 'tongue depressor' lips ....and worse, he'd try his darnedest to kill the defenseless ducklings... and he succeeded in killing two despite the violent and valiant attempts by Susan to protect them.

I finally jailed Dudley in our side yard so he couldn't kill his family before they were large enough to defend themselves.  Fall was coming and the instinct to migrate induced Dudley to teach himself to fly.  Over the nest week or so there were feeble attempts across the back yard, but later he was making it over the fence into the neighbor's yard and then over our roof into the front yard where he would crash and I'd pick him up and put him back in the back yard. At this point, Susan, watching him disappear over the house would let out loud quacking fusses letting us know that Dudley had flown over the house yet again!

Then the day came when responding to Susan's quacking, I rushed to the front yard to see Dudley skim across the lawn, swoop across the street, gaining altitude, clearing the two story across the street and upward until he disappeared high in the sky.

Guess that Susan was really attached to the guy.... but she was far too heavy to fly! So.... she went on a diet! She stopped eating and started flexing her wings testing for lift. It took too long for her to catch up with Dudley, but she skinny-ed down and regained her ability to fly.  In a much more professional manner she finally flew away out of our yard without quacking goodby and leaving her nine juvenile ducklings behind.

The city water department was situated on the edge of a percolation pond which had been allowed to go natural with all sorts of bushes, water plants, reeds and rushes. It was a bird sanctuary, so we thought that would be a perfect place to take our very tame ducklings before they'd get too attached to us. So we carted them in a large cardboard box to the pond's edge and let them out. They were very timid at first and clustered tightly together as they looked at all of the various water foul paddling about.  But they did eventually enter the water.  We came back the next day, they saw us and swam over to us and we made over them a bit.  The day after that, they were clustered a bit farther out in the pond and looked our way but didn't paddle over..... after that, they looked no more and were swimming about just like the other birds.

But! Duck eggs really are the greatest!

GENEALOGY ~ ISAAC GLEASON OF FRAMINGHAM - PURCHASE OF LANDS - 1ST FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

Isaac GLEASON, (Thomas1, Thomas2) was born in Sherborn, MA., in 1674. He died in Framingham, MA, December 5, 1737. He married in Sherborn on December 11, 1700, Deborah, the daughter of Ebenezer & Deborah Leland, who was born in Sherborn on August 16, 1679. They had 4 children: Deborah, Isaac, Prudence and Phineas.

Isaac settled in Framingham near his father, his house being located about 45 rods southeasterly from what is known in later years as the old Charles Clark house. The old records contain the following entry:
    "Isaac Gleason was chosen to and accepted of the care of our publick meeting house, to sweep and keep it decent and clean for the year 1713, and is to have 19s for said service."

June 16, 1710 [Court] ordered,
    That "the line between the towns [Sherborn, Framingham] be forthwith run and that the 17 families, late in controversy be included within Framingham line, and be accounted part of Framingham forever: And that Sherborn have their 4000 acres confirmed to them, upon their offering the Plot, as is directed in a former order of this Court."

The 4000 acres of "wilderness country land," which Sherborn received as an equivalent for the seventeen families, was located west of Mendon.

The designation, "17 families," was first applied by Sherborn; and was after used as a convenient description well understood by all parties.  But in fact only seven individuals or heads of families of the seventeen, were accounted as inhabitants, and received a "dividend" in the common lands in Sherborn.  These were Isaac Learned, Isaac Gleason, Zachariah Paddlefoot, Samuel Eames, Thomas Pratt, Jabish Pratt, and John Eames.

Each man's proportion to a Tax of Ten pounds to procure a stock of Ammunition, June 27, 1710.  The town was then divided into two constables' wards; the East ward took in all the inhabitants east of Sudbury river and south of Stoney brook; the West ward took all north of Stoney brook and west of Sudbury river. 
    East Ward: (61 heads of household) included:
        John Gleason             2 Shil.    5d.
        Thomas Gleason        1 Shil.    7d.
        Isaac Gleason            1 Shil.    7d.
    West Ward: (50 heads of household) included:
        Philip Gleason          0 Shil.    9d.

June 11, 1711: PETITION SENT TO THE GENERAL COURT.  "To his Excellency, Joseph Dudley: The humble petition of the subscribers sheweth, That there being a tract of land belonging to the Indians of Natick, situated on the southerly or southwesterly part of the Township of Frmingham, a part of which is commonly called Megonchuk, to which there are other lands adjacent belonging to the said Indians "And there being at present no prospect that those lands remaining as they are can be any ways profitable either to their owners or the Commonwealth"
    "Your humble petitioners therefore pray that they may have liberty to purchase 4,000 acres of the said lands; Or that they may hire the same for such a term of years as may be profitable to the Commonwealth, to the said Indians, and to us." 
     Signed: Thomas Drury, Isaac Learned, David Rice, Thomas Gleson, John Town, Nathaniel Stone, Nathaniel Stone Jr., John Stone, John Gleason, Isaac Glesen, Daniel Pratt, Ebenezer Learned, Daniel Bigelow, Thomas Walker, Samuel Wasson, Ebenr Stone.

"Isaac Gleason was chosen to, and accepted of the care of our publick meeting house, to sweep and keep it decent and clean for the year 1713, and is to have 19 s. for said service."

Voted, "That in dignity, the seats shall rank as follows:- the table (Deacon's seat) and the fore seats are accounted the two highest; the front gallery equals in dignity the second and third seats in the body of the ;house; the side gallery equals in dignity the fourth and fifth seats in the body of the house."

The rule of seating varied.  Sometimes a committee was instructed to have regard to "age, and rate of taxation;" at others "rate" alone was regarded.  A new assignment of seats was ordered, once in three, five, or ten years, as circumstances required.

As an incident of this [French and Indian] war, in 1726, Isaac Gleason, son of the first [Framingham] Thomas, sold his one-third of the paternal estate to Daniel How, who at once opened a tavern, which he kept for about ten years.  It stood on the Old Connecticut path, about forty-five rods southeasterly from the old Charles Clark house.  In 1736 or 37, he sold to his son-in-law, Samuel Gleason, who continued the house of entertainment, known throughout the region as Gleason's tavern.  Mr. How moved to Westmoreland, N.H., where in a new and exposed frontier settlement, he led an eventful life for about eight years.  When the war broke out in 1745, he and his family were forced to leave their home and flee across the Connecticut river to a fort in the "Great Meadow", now Putney, Vermont.  The family were obliged to remain here; and he died in the fort, before the close of the war.

 HIGHWAYS - July 15, 1737.  "Return of a highway from Southborough line, via Brackett's corner, to Sudbury: beginning at Southborough line on land of Isaac Gleason, and so as the way is now occupied through his land, then through Ebenezer Frizzell's land, as the way is now occupied, then . . . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Genealogical Dictionary of New England, page 256, by Savage
Genealogical Register, page 563
Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Gleason of Watertown, Mass. 1607 - 1909,
Published  by John Barber White, ed. by Lillian May Wilson. Haverhill, Mass.,1909
The History of Framingham, Mass., by Josiah H. Temple, 1888, New England History Press.

GENEALOGY ~ 1600's Framingham, Massachusetts with Photos of Gleason's Pond

GENEALOGY ~ Thomas Gleason (1637 - 1705) of Framingham

Thomas2 Gleason, (Thomas 1), was born in 1637 in Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England.   He married in 1663 Sarah ?-, who died in Framingham, Mass., July 8th, 1703.  He m. second Mary --.  He died on July 25, 1705 in Framingham, Middlesex Co., MA at age 68.

The History of Framingham Massachusetts - Temple

First Settlers:
      Only a part of the men who received grants of land within our territory became actual settlers. 
      The first man to build upon our soil was John Stone, who removed from Sudbury and put up a house at Otter neck of the west side of the Sudbury river in 1646 or 1647.  By what right he held or claimed the land here is not known--probably that of squatter sovereignty,--but so far as appears no one questioned his title. 
     The next settler was Henry Rice, who received a deed and built a house on his father's grant in 1659.  John Bent bought land of Henry Rice, came on in 1662, and built near the fordway over Cochituate brook, on the west side of the Old Connecticut path. 
     Thomas Eames settled near Mt. Wayte in 1669.  Joseph Bradish was here at this date, but his location is unknown.  Two of John Stone's sons, Daniel and David, settled near their father as early as 1667. 
     And these were probably all the inhabitants living within [Framingham] limits when [King] Philip's War broke out and put a stop to settlement.  These families were all from Sudbury. 
     The first recognition of the place by the colonial government as in a sense a distinct plantation, is in 1675, when Framingham was taxed one pound and was required to furnish one soldier for the country's service.  The death of King Philip in 1676 and the killing in battle or hanging of the principal hostile chiefs, and the destruction of the Indian villages and strongholds, gave assurance of a permanent peace and settlers began to come on in considerable number.

Thomas Gleason settled in Sudbury, Mass., in 1665, on the east side of Cochituate Pond, or Long Pond, as it was uniformly called in the early records. This pond lies partly in Natick, partly in Sudbury, and partly in Framingham.

Sept. 29, 1673 he bought by exchange from Benjamin and Mary Rice the northerly one half of eighty acres, (Edmund Rice had given a deed of this farm to his son Benjamin), which lay between Beaver dam brook, Gleason's pond and Gleason's hill; the southwest corner bound being a tree at the Beaver dam.  John Death bought the southerly one-half of the Benjamin. Rice land in 1673, but did not build till 1677. His house stood near the Beaver dam.

Called by the first settlers, 'Little pond' and for a time 'Bigelow's pond',  Gleason's Pond, as it is still called, covers about 13 acres. 'Gleason's Hill' is in the southeasterly corner of the town, north of the Boston and Albany railroad and is the present location of the headquarters for the Denison Label Co., the top of the hill remains forested.  They were both  named for Thomas Gleason, and for four generations his descendants lived upon the pond's southern borders. Thomas' own home was built near it in 1678. 

Oct 5th, 1678 he was received as an inhabitant in the town of Sherborn, where he enjoyed civil and religious privileges, his estate being taxable there up to 1700.

Thomas was a signer of a petition March 3rd, 1692, to the General Court at Boston to purchase adjacent land from the Indians at Natick Bounds for the incorporation of Framingham. The name of his son Thomas Jr. appears on the same petition.

PETITIONS FOR INCORPORATION --

"Humbly Sheweth That your petitioners some of us have there dwelt neer fforty Yeares, And have from time to time Increased our numbers, And more especially of Late, Soe that now wee are about fforty ffamilies, Some having built and some building, And wee hope may sincerely say that we have endeavoured to attend the Worship of God, Some of us att one Towne & some att another as wee best might, butt by Reason of our remoteness, four ffive and some six miles from any Meeting ;house, Are uncapable to carry our ffamilyes with us nor yett to sanctifie God's Sabbaths as wee ought besides many ofher Inconveniences in our present circumstances. . . . . . . Yor petitioners doe therefore humbly request ye favour of yor excellency and this Honbl Court, That by the authority of this Court we may be made a Township & have the order and privileges that have beene accustomed to others in our circumstances i.e. Some Easement in our Taxes that wee may the better bee enabled to carry on our publick Town charges; . . .
 [this petition was signed by 30 persons including Thomas Gleason Sen. and Thomas Gleason Jr.]   
  
 The location of Thomas Gleason'sfarm near Sudbury is sometimes described as being in Natick's Bounds in the town of Sherborn, but between the years 1667 and 1710 it was recognized as a part of Framingham.  The early records show a number of land transfaers made by Thomas Gleason.

His Will, proven Sept. 10, 1705, is as follows:

WILL OF THOMAS GLEASON:
    In the name of God Amen - the Thirtieth Day of April, in the Year of our Lord God One Thousand seven hundred and five, I, Thomas Gleason of Sherborn in the County of Middlesex, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England (Husbandman) being sick and broak of body, but composed mentally, of disposing mind and memory, Thanks be given unto God therefore, Calling unto mind the mortality of my Body and knowing that it is appointed for all men Once to Dye, Do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament; That is to say, principally and first of all, I Give and recommend my Soul into the hands of God that Gave it: and for my Body I recommend it to the Earth, to be buried in a Christian like and decent manner = nothing doubting, but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by the might power of God. And as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life, I Give, Divide and Dispose of ;the same in the manner and form following:
    ITEM. I give and bequeath to my well beloved son Thomas Gleason and to his assigns three acres of land lying in the township of Sherborn, it being a town right which fell to me in the divided land Lying adjoining to John Eames Land; which is all that I bequeath unto him, the said Thomas Gleason, by reason of the lands he lives on which I formerly passed a deed unto him of.
    ITEM. I give and bequeath to my well beloved daughters Patience Gleason and Mary Gleason and to their assigns, all my household goods and household moveables, to be equally divided between them, also to them I bequeath the use and improvement of one of the rooms in my now dwelling house until they shall be married, and no longer.
    ITEM. To my son-in-law John Gibbs, who married my daughter Ann Gleason, I give and bequeath Five Shillings in money to be raysed and payed out of my estate.
    ITEM. I give and bequeath to my well beloved daughter Sarah Morse, one cow.
    ITEM. I give and bequeath to my grandson John Gibbs, one cow and his bringing up, and if he shall continue with and faithfully serve my son John Gleason until he arrive at one and twenty years of age, I ordain that my son John Gleason pay unto him ten pounds to be Levyed out of his portion of my Estaate.
    ITEM. I give and bequeath to my well beloved sons Isaac Gleason and John Gleason ( whom I likewise constitute make and ordain the executors of this my last will and testament) all my other estate that may or shall be found after my decease, not above bequeathed, whether it be in lands, messages or tenements or Town Rights, which may be to be taken up in the Town of Sherborn - Moveables not within mentioned or bequeathed to any other - whatsoever to them and to their assigns freely to be possessed and enjoyed by them and to be equally divided between them.
    ITEM. I ordain and appoint that my sons, said Isaac and John Gleason, pay the following Legacys to be raysed and dLevyed out of thier portions of my Estate hereby to the bequeathed, each one of them to bear and equal share of the said Legecy - That is to say:
    To my Daughter Patience Gleason Fifteen Pounds alsoe, to be paid unto her alsoe within three years after my decease.
    To my Daughter Mary Gleason Fifteen Pounds alsoe, to be paid unto her alsoe within three years after my decease.
    And I do hereby utterly Disallow, Revoke and Disannull all and every other former testaments, Wills and Legacys and Executors by me in any way before this time named, willed and bequeathed, Ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and Testament; In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and year before written.

Witnesses:
    Isaac Larned, Jr.                Thomas Gleason    (Seal)
    John Swift                        His  (X)
    John Death, Jr.                 mark     
                                       
    Will proved Sept. 10, 1705. Jeremiah Morse, husband of Sarah Gleason contested the will, but did not offer sufficient evidence to hinder the probate.
    An Inventory of all and Singular the Goods and Chattels of Thomas Gleason of Sherborn, late deceased, as it was taken by us, the Subscribers, August ye 7th, 1705.

                                                                                                  £      s      d
Imp's   His apparel                                                                    04    10    00
Item    Books, arms and amunition                                           03    10    00
Item    Beds and bedding with other linen                                11    00    00
Item    Household stuff as Pewter, Brass & Iron                      03    02    00
Item    Tables, chairs and other wooden ware in the house      03    15    00
Item    The loom and tackling belonging to it                           01    10    00
Item    His tools and utensils for Husbandry                             03    03    00
Item    Corn in the house and other Provisions                         02    10    00
Item    His Corn in the Field                                                      20    00    00
Item    His Horse, Cattel and Swine                                          26    00    00
Item    His Lands & Buildings                                                  170    00    00                   
The Total Sum                                                                          249    00    00
                                John Death, Senior.
                                Thomas Pratt, Senior.   [neighbor and husband of sister Susannah]

    Sept. 10, 1705, Isaac and John Gleason exhibited the above and made oath as to its correctness in Probate Court.

{From Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Gleason of Watertown, Mass. 1607-1909, by John Barber White, Haverhill, Mass. Press of the Nichols Print. 1909, and from The History of Framingham, Massachusetts., by Josiah H. Temple, 1888, New England History Press.}



                           

GENEALOGY ~ Thomas Leeson/Gleason and Family from Sulgrave England to Cambridge MA

That Thomas Gleason, Sr. was born in 1607 in Sulgrave, Northampton Co., England and in 1635 he married Susanna Page is not controversial.  However, the claim that she was born in 1622 in Levenham, Suffolk, England, a distance of 117 miles is in grave doubt when there were several more appropriate Page's who lived in Wellingboro only 34 miles from Sulgrave, (see earlier Addenda). We should also consider that if she was born in 1622 she would have been 15 years younger than her husband and only 14 when she had her first child!  However, she did die in Boston, Mass, Jan. 21 1691. He passed earlier in 1686 in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., MA, at the age of 79. 

Thomas, early took the oath of fidelity at Watertown, MA, and is named in 1657 on the town record of Cambridge. The early records contain no entries of consequence regarding Thomas, and from the little that can be gathered from this source, it would seem that he was of a somewhat arbitrary disposition, which not infrequently got him into trouble with town authorities on minor matters of conduct. He was also fined on at least one occasion because his pigs escaped their pen and ran through the streets of town. Note that Thomas and family originally lived in Watertown, but the town of Cambridge (the home of Harvard University) was created from Watertown while they were there.

In 1639 Squa Sachem had deeded to the town of Charleston, her lands lying in what is now Medford, reserving to herself certain tracts on the west side of Mysticke Pond.  By her will, she bequeathed all her property to certain Prominent citizens among whom were Gov. John Winthrop and Edward Gibbons. The latter secured possession of the lands on tbe west side of Mysticke Pond, and this was the land subsequently leased to Thomas.

In 1658 Thomas Gleason removed to Charlestown, and on Dec. 3, he leased a portion of the Squa Sachem lands.  Soon after this lease was made a question arose as to the rightful ownership of these lands, and in March 1662, the town of Charlestown instituted a suit against Thomas Gleason, for the purpose of obtaining possession. All of Thomas Gleason's resources were swallowed up in the litagation, and the case was unsettled when he died in Cambridge in the spring of 1686. In 1663, he leased a farm of Capt. Scarlett. 
   
CHILDREN :
        I. Thomas, born probably, in Eng, 1637; married 1st Sarah -- married 2nd Mary ---,
        II.  Joseph, born Watertown, Mass, 1642; married 1st, Martha Russell; married  2nd Abigail Garfield.
        III. JOHN, born Watertown, Mass. 1647; married Mary Ross.
        IV.  PHILIP, born Watertown, Mass, 1649-51; died Framingham, Mass, about 1690; was a soldier in King Philip's War 1676: Capt. Jos. Syll's Co.
        V. NATHANIEL, born 1651; died Apr.21, 1676; was killed on the night of Apr. 11, 1676 in the Sudbury Fight with King Philip's Warriors. The brave Col. Wadsworth and his men, perhaps 50 or 60 in number, were ambushed most of them slaughtered.
        VI. ISAAC, born Watertown, Mass, 1654; married Hester Eggleston.
        VII. WILLIAM, born Cambridge, Mass, 1655; married Abiah Bartlett.
        VIII. MARY, born Cambridge, Mass. Oct. 31, 1657.
        IX. ANN, born Charlestown, Mass. 1659; died Arlington, Mass.

Note that Susannah, presumably the first born daughter in the family, is not listed above ahead of Thomas, because she was listed in the wills of both William and Hanna Page. It is also interesting that William's will referred to the family as Leeson's whereas Hanna's will, dated much later named them as Gleason's!

To further identify Susannah we find in the "Descendants of Thomas Pratt" the following descendentcy:

1  Thomas Pratt  b: 1615 in England
.  2  Thomas Pratt  b: 1636 in Watertown, Massachusetts
....  +Susannah Gleason .......................   
So, our Susannah was the wife of the first native born Pratt in America!

GENEALOGY ~ ORIGINS of the GLEASON FAMILY in ENGLAND and NEW ENGLAND

The first page of the ‘Gleason Bible,’ “Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Gleason of Watertown, Mass, 1607-1909” by John Barber White in 1909 states, “ In the very early records it is frequently spelled Leson, or Leeson; later it appears with some 30 variations in spelling, such as Gleizen, Glezen, Gleeson, Gleazen, Glysson, Gleazon, Gleison, Gleyson, Leason, Leison, Lesen, Eison, Eason, etc.; but the late Joseph Meade Gleason, in his notes, states that all those in this country of early date, bearing this name, of whatever method of spelling “are descendants of Thomas Gleason, of Watertown, Mass., as we have fortunately been able to determine by the public records of the New England states.”  The Emigrant Thomas, himself spelled his own name in several different ways.”

He also claims, “The first mention of the name in America is found in the records of Watertown, Mass., where one Thomas Gleason took oath of allegiance, June 1st, 1652.”

His argument for the association with the Leesons of Northants is that “In the English records, the name is invariably spelled without the “G”, and appears, generally as Leeson, and a rather numerous family of that name lived in Northampton County, England.  This, coupled with the fact that, in the earliest records in this country, those of Watertown and Cambridge, Mass., the name appears as Leson and Leason, respectively, affords grounds for the belief that Thomas of Watertown was a descendant of the Leesons of Northampton County, and this belief is further strengthened by the similarity of Christian names, used by the Northampton County family and those appearing in the early generations of the American family.”

Mr. White hired a Mr. Lea in England to attempt to find the ancestors of both Thomas Leason/Gleason of Watertown and his wife Susannah Page.  Mr. Lea found the Leesons of Sulgrave and a list of wills of other Leesons and a few Pages, all of that area.  However, any connection to those families was purely speculative as indicated in the above paragraph. (see addenda)

What we do know is that Thomas and Susannah and a couple of their children, Thomas, Jr. and Susannah, Jr., immigrated from England as Puritans to Watertown, Mass. where he eventually took the oath of allegiance.  White standardized on the name Gleason for his genealogy, however, at the time they arrived, their name was recorded as Leason.

The will of William Page (wife Hannah/Anna) dated Dec, 16, 1664, “mentions his kinsman, Thomas Leason; to his kinsman, William Leason, [Thomas’ youngest son], then living with him, £10 at the age of 22 years.” [Genealogies and History of Watertown, Dr. Henry Bond, 1855, p.383: Page]

Widowed, remarried to Edward Winn and re-widowed, Anna’s will dated Sept. 9, 1685, lists the entire Gleason family in order -- “.... brother-in-law, Gleason, 40s,; kinsman, Thomas Gleason [Junior], 20s.; wife of Thomas Pratt [Susannah Gleason], 20s., and bequests to her kinsmen, Joseph, John, Philip, Isaac, William, Mary and Anne Gleason.”  The only son not mentioned was Nathaniel who was killed by Indians in 1676. [Genealogies and History of Watertown, Dr. Henry Bond, 1855, p.656: Winn]

Therefore, so far as I can determine, the association with the Leesons of Northants is speculative and that the legal name of Thomas’ family was Leason until at least 1664 but was then changed to Gleason by 1685.  It is almost certain that William and Susannah Page are not related to the well known John and Phoebe Page of Watertown and there is no mention of them in either William Page’s will nor in Anna’s.

I find it fascinating that there was a Thomas Leeson, son of Thomas Leeson, christened on 28 Oct 1607 in Saint Mary’s, Nottingham, Nottingham, England.  I haven’t had an opportunity to check out the source which is FAL Number 503797.  As you all know, 1607 is the reported birth year of our Thomas!  Of course at just about this time, the Leesons lost their manor in Sulgrave and the eldest son, Thomas, [Thomas’ father?] was not around to administer his father’s estate!  So where was he?  Were any of the Leesons Puritans?  One most certainly didn’t just come to Watertown without the right religious credentials!

Addenda I: Since I wrote this several years ago, we had occasion to find two descendants of the Leeson’s of Sulgrave and in a very interesting experiment comparing the DNA from several of Thomas’ descendants including myself with the Stoesbury-Leeson’s found that we were indeed closely related - if ten generations can be considered close! In other words we stemmed from the same ancestors.

Addenda II: THE PAGEs OF NORTHANTS,  & WATERTOWN, etc.

    William Page of Watertown, in will Dec.16,1664, proved Apr.4,1665, described Thomas Leason and children as kinfolk and in fact, has Thomas' youngest son living with him.  Although Bond lists William as the son of John Page of Watertown, [page 383 (2)], he later refers to him as Junior, ["Genealogies and history of Watertown," Bond, page 656 Winn].

    William Page's wife, Anna/Hannah, made a will dated Sept.9,1685 and proved on Nov.1,1686, lists 'brother-in-law' Gleason and mentions each of Thomas' children in order except for Nathaniel who had been killed in 1676.[Bond, page 656 Winn].

    It is reasonable to assume that Susannah Page, Thomas' wife, was the sister of William Page, above and that if he was a junior, that their father's name would be William, also.

    The will of Thomas Leeson, Esq. lord of Leeson-manor in Sulgrave, Northants, England makes a bequest to his servant, Alice Page in 1614.  This Thomas is thought to be the grandfather of Thomas Leason/Gleason of Watertown.  He also makes a bequest to his daughter Jane [Leeson] Pargiter. ["Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Gleason," White].

    The Pargiter's, lords of a manor in neighboring Gretworth not only married into the Leeson family through Jane (with interesting results), married into the Washington family who possessed Sulgrave manor, ie: Ann Pargiter married Lawrence Washington, (a grandparent of George) but Robert Pargiter married Phyllis Page, daughter of ___Page, Esq. [page 124-5, "History of Northamptonshire," Bridges]

    Therefore we are looking for a PAGE family located not too far away who favored the name William.  White lists a number of PAGE wills in the Archdeaconry of Northants from about 1510 to 1647.  If we concentrate on the William PAGEs we find the following:

        1510-20    William PAGE  Orton Rothwell   Book A  138
        1545-48        "         Wellingborough                        L  33
        1549-57        "         Wellingborough                        K  135
        1556-57        "         Hackleton                                 N  303
        1578-89        "         Wellingborough                        V  327
        1590-1602    "         Wellingborough                        W 208
        1591-1615    "         Kettering                                   Y  135
        1612-            "         Hollwell               2nd Series.    V  44
        1613-            "         Braybrook                  "              T  181
    And finally:
        1629- Alice PAGE Wellingborough          "              O  198

    It is very interesting that the village of Wellingborough produced four William PAGEs and an Alice Page.  It would be nice to be able to examine the 1590-1602 will recorded in Wellingborough along with that of Alice PAGE!

GENEALOGY ~ A Decendancy Chart of the Stotesbury-Leeson's of Sulgrave, Nortants, England

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Our Thomas Leeson (Gleason) (1607 -1686) should be in this chart, on the "Thomas - Susan - Jane - Arthur" line but isn't listed. This is the reason we American Gleason's had DNA testing with established descendants of the Stotesbury-Leeson family to prove the relationship. 

GENEALOGY ~ A List of 12 Generations of Gleason's

Since my database contains over 3,300 individuals and you, my readership are only interested in a small fraction of deceased souls, I am restricting this effort to my (our) paternal Leeson/Gleason grandparents which consist of the following twelve gentlemen and their wives. In many, if not most of these ancestors, there is much more information concerning their lives which I hope to present but I think I should touch on a few aspects of genealogy for those of you who aren't familiar with ancestors and among other things, the base 2 that Noah had such a fixation on. 

10G ~ Thomas Leeson (abt 1547-aft 1614) Sulgrave, Eng  & Joan Lowe (abt 1550-bef 1614 Co. Derby, Eng   
 9G ~ Thomsa Leeson (abt 1577-1621 or 1628) Sulgrave, Eng & Margaret Kirton? (1580-? Great Brington, Eng
 8G ~ Thomas Leeson/Gleason (1607-1686) Sulgrave, Eng & Susanna Page (abt 1611-1690/1691) Sulgrave?, Eng
 7G ~ Thomas Leeson/Gleason (1637-1705) Sulgrave, Eng & Sarah ? (abt 1640-1703)
 6G ~ Isaac Gleason (1674-1737) Middlesex, MA & Deborah Leland (1679-?) Sherborun, MA
 5G ~ Isaac Gleason (1706-1777) Sherborn, MA & Thankful Wilson (1706-1800) Framingham, MA
 4G ~ Benjamin Gleason (1749-1814) Framingham, MA & Mary Cole (1753-1839) Westmoreland, NH
 3G ~ Bildad Gleason (1787-1854) Westmoreland, NH & Cynthiia Gilmore (1790-1877) Westmoreland?, NH
 2G ~ William 'Nelson' Gleason (1816-1896) Westmoreland, NH? & Rebecca Riser (1821-1870) Schenectady, NY
 1G ~ William James Gleason (1838-1913) Binghampton, NY & Julia Amy Lee (1845-1927) Coventry, NY
GF ~ Walter Ernest Gleason (1872-1936) WI & Mabel Stuart White (1877-1914) Fulton, WI
  F ~ Clyde Walter Gleason (1899-1995) Milford, WI & Florence Erbes (1903-1997) Poynette, WI
                                                                                     &Emilie Marie Craddock (1903-1958) New Haven, CT
Since it usually requires a man and a woman to produce a child, and certainly to define a generation we can easily compute what a generation means to the Gleason family by simply noting that the time between '10G Thomas' and 'F Clyde' is a span of 352 years over 12 generations.  So a Gleason generation is about 29 years whereas that can vary from family to family with a 'guesstimate' value of 25 years during modern times and about 20 for archaeological digs.

It is also obvious that we always have a mother and a father, two people for each descendant so we have two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents and on, and on by powers of two, or 2^n.  For example, 10G Thomas has 2^12 grandparents in that generation or 4096 very old folks! If you'd like to know how many ancestors you have in total at the 12th generation (10G) you merely double that number 4096 to 8102 and for accuracy, subtract 2 giving you 8100 not counting yourself. Kinda neat, huh?

Now it just happens that we, my dear cousins, sister 'n niece, are related to Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, poet and daughter of Edward and Emily of Amherst, MA, born 10 December 1830 and died 15 May 1886. By attaching her genealogy to our own "Dickinsons", we can show that she is our "6C4R" or sixth cousin four times removed!

Now, of course Deirdre is my sister since we (almost) have the same parents and Jennifer who is her daughter is my niece (and J's brothers are my nephews.... My father, Clyde had a sister named Claire who was therefore my aunt and her children, Mabel and Evelyn were therefore my first cousins (Dierdre's also). That is the easy part! 

Now, consider that the children of my 1st cousins are also my 1st cousins but once removed (1C1R). However, the children of my 1st cousin are 2nd cousins to my children!  ....and on, ....and on. It can be a bit challenging so it helps to have a computer which figures it out for you automatically.