Seventh Generation

2325. John LEONARD was born on 21 March 1823 in Newark, Essex Co., NJ. He died on 6 October 1906 at the age of 83 in Oneida Community, Lenox, NY. John is mentioned as being at the Oneida Community in the 1850 and 1880 Censuses.

"John Leonard was born in Newark, NJ, on March 21, 1823, one of seven children of Ephraim Leonard and Nancy Martin. The LLeonards trace their American ancestry back to the 1600's and originally came from Pontypool, Wales. John received the doctrine of holiness while a member of the Free Church under Charles Fitch (probably at Newark) and became identified with the Newark Perfectionists. At about the age of 19 he joined the Putney Association with his brother, Stepehn R. Leonard, and he joined the Oneida Community on May 13, 1848. John Leonard had no children and remained in the Community for 32 years as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. He had no Community children nor a marriage prior to the breakup when he married Frances Hillerman who had joined the Community in the late 1860's. He was a secretary to the Business Board and died on October 6, 1906, at the age of 83. He is buried in the Community Cemetery." From "The Oneida Family: Genealogy of a 19th Century Perfectionist Commune," published by the Oneida Community Historical Committee in 1985.

"John, by the way, married Frances Hillerman after the breakup of the Oneida Community. Frances was also a member of the OC. She was a very odd duck, apparently was quite skittish about anyone getting close to her, so she slept in a narrow bed in the attic above the Mansion House's Big Hall. As a kid, my friends and I had a tour of the attic, and that's when we learned that "Aunt Frank" had slept up there. I am not entirely sure why she married John, maybe for the social and financial security after the community breakup. Needless to say, they never had any children. Aunt Frank lived out in the Ozarks for awhile, but she and John lived on an apple farm in upstate NY towards the end of their lives. One of the prize family "heirlooms" my sisters and I inherited is Aunt Frank's horn, made out of a large conch shell that had the end filed off it so you could blow through it and make a big noise. We were the only family in Kenwood (the OC part of Oneida) with such a magnificent horn. Aunt Frank had used it to call the farmhands to dinner. We used it occasionally just for fun." Nora Leonard, e-mail, 1 July 2009.

Frances HILLERMAN was born on 1 October 1843 in Bath, Steuben Co., NY. She died on 9 May 1936 at the age of 92 in Kenwood, Oneida Co., NY.