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!