First Generation

1. George LEONARD was born about 1748 in Massachusetts. He died on 17 March 1827 at the age of 79 in Fairfield, Franklin Co., VT. He was buried in Georgia Plains Cemetery, Franklin Co., NY. According to Lois Badger, there appeared to be some kinship between this George and Gamaliel Leonard of southern VT, perhaps cousins.

OneWorldTree gives parentage as Elijah Leonard b. 1719 in Raynham. This is perhaps doubtful, given that Elijah and Hannah Leonard didn't marry until 1755, while George was born abt. 1748. Did Elijah have an earlier marriage? Did George head out to Lenox at an early age because he didn't get along with his father and/or step mother?

Alternate source gives birth as Lenox, MA, but this is doubtful, given that the first settlers came to Lenox in 1750, Berkshire County was incorporated in 1757, and real settlement didn't begin until the French and Indian War 1755-63. Lenox was formed in 1767 from Richmond, after the Duke of Richmond's family name, Lennox.

George Leonard enlisted in the Revolutionary Army in April 1775 in Cambridge, MA, and discharged there eight months later, according to George's sworn statement in his 1820 Revolutionary Claim (alternative info says Lenox, Berkshire Co., MA,) Capt. David Noble's Company, Col. John Paterson's Regiment, and served until December. He enlisted again 1 Sep 1776 at Lenox, MA, in Capt. Porter's Company, Col. Samuel Brewer's Regiment, and served until 1 Dec 1776 and was discharged on that date at Ft. Ticonderoga, NY. He enlisted a third time in August or September 1782 in Lenox as a musician and was attached to a regiment commanded by Col. John Brooks in the capacity of fife major and continued in that capacity until June 1783 at the close of the war. He was discharged at West Point, NY.

He served with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain boys in capturing Fort Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775 and Crown Point Fort on Lake Champlain 12 May 1775. The cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga were dragged to Boston when Boston was under siege in the spring of 1776. Because of these cannon mounted on Dorchester Heights, the British decided to evacuate Boston on 17 Mar 1776 (now celebrated as "Evacuation Day" in Boston). In September 1776 he enlisted again in Lenox, MA, in Capt. Porter's Company, Col. Samuel Brewer's Regiment, and was later discharged at Fort Ticonderoga, NY. In August or September 1782, he enlisted yet again, as fife major in Col. John Brooks' Regiment (Brooks was later Governor of MA) and was discharged in June 1783 in West Point, NY.

In his pension application on Fold3.com, he said he had no real estate, listed his few meagre possessions, was residing at Cornwall, Addison Co., VT, also Highgate, Franklin County, VT, had a wife, Rebeccah, who had cancer and was unable to work, and had no children (presumably, no children living nearby). Pension files 17297 (Original declaration 16 Apr 1818) and S. 40930 (9 Jul 1821 - www.footnote.com/image/27164682).

Did he fight at the Battle of Bunker Hill? Was Job Leonard, who also fought with the same units, a relative?

Several people queried the Pension Bureau for his records. E. F. Atwood, the City Justice, in Sisseton, SD, was preparing a family history for the Reynolds Family Association in 1924. He mentions a Pond Genealogy. He queries about two George Leonards, one who was a fife major from Lenox, MA, and one who was a soldier under Gen. Burgoyne and then in our Army who settled at Shoreham, VT, in 1786. According to him, this second George married a wife named Rebecca Pond, and had children: Philip, Thankful, Wm., Didama, and Betsy. Were there two Georges, or only one? The pension record indicates only one. Several of George's children were born in Shoreham, Addison Co., VT. George mentions in his pension suit his wife Rebecca, as well as his service.

Daniel P. Atwood, Daniel P. McCann, and Alice G. Roy also asked for copies summarizing George's military record, apparently for membership in the DAR and/or SAR.

Lois Badger (The Leonard Dictionary) lists him as Major George Leonard of Whiting, Georgia, and Fairfield, VT, b. abt. 1749, d. Fairfield, VT (pension record), m. abt. 1 Jan 1776 Rebecca Pond of Southbridge, MA. They had 10 children. Her source appears to be a Mr. M. F. (E. F.?) Atwood of South Dakota, a descendant. Lois apparently confused fife major with the rank of major. Also, Rebecca Pond was alleged to have been born in Stockbridge, not Southbridge, but her tombstone and other references have her born in Branford, CT.

A search of land records relating to George by Elizabeth Paullin Terrell indicate that George of Stockbridge purchased 6 acres in Lenox 22 Dec 1777, then 11 acres in Berkshire Co. (uncertain as to town there) 12 Aug 1779, then 29 Jan 1788 purchased land in Addison Co., VT which he sold in 1788-89, then sells land in Whiting twp, Addison Co., VT, 10 Jan 1791. In the 1800 Census, the family is listed as living in Shoreham, Addison Co., VT. On 8 Apr 1808, George purchased land in Highgate, Franklin Co., VT. He apparently lived in Cornwall, Addison Co., at the time he filed a pension application in 1818, but was back in Highgate, Franklin Co., in 1820. Elizabeth Paullin Terrell is the source of much of the information on the descendants of George and Rebecca.

Some Leonard ancestries on Ancestry.com have George and Rebecca as parents of Alvah Burbank Leonard, born 1826, a year after Rebecca died.. Rebecca would have been 81 years old then if she had lived, so it is very unlikely that George and Rebecca were the parents of Alvah.

George LEONARD and Rebecca POND were married on 1 January 1775 in Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., MA. Rebecca POND, daughter of Daniel POND and Mehitabel MUNSON, was born in 1755 in Branford, New Haven Co., CT. The Pond family settled in East Poultney, VT. She died in 1825 at the age of 70 at Georgia Plains Cemetery, Franklin Co., VT in Georgia, Franklin Co., VT. In his Revolutionary War pension application in 1820, S. 40930, George mentioned that his wife, Rebeccah, had cancer.

George LEONARD and Rebecca POND had the following children: