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!