Thomas Leachman was born, say, in the 1730s, in Virginia.[1] Leachman family researchers, including gedcoms at Ancestry.com and my aunt, Ramona (Armstrong) Duff, identify Thomas as a son of John Leachman,[2] born 1709 in Virginia, and an unknown wife. John was a son of Thomas Jr and Elizabeth (Gralesse) Leachman, and Thomas Jr was a son of Thomas, the immigrant, and his wife, Elizabeth, the widow of Abraham Dellabow.[3]
Thomas Leachman was married to Mary Wyatt, say about 1760. The identification of his wife as a daughter of William and Winifred (–?–) Wyatt, is based on Fauquier County, Virginia records.[4] Evans Wynn gives the will of William Wyatt, whose minor son John chose Thomas Leachman as his guardian. Thomas Leachman’s wife in a lawsuit mentioned was Mary, believed to be Wyatt, and the suit was against her mother Winifred (—) Wyatt, administrator of the estate of William Wyatt (Wiat); William’s widow Winifred married Edward Sparks in 1763. Benjamin Willoughby’s wife was Susannah, op. cit., p. 238. John Willoughby[5] was married to Mary Leachman 10 days after Elijah’s marriage to Susannah Leachman. Ramona mentions Gott, Abstracts, pp. 89-90, who says that Benjamin Willoughby and Thomas Leachman are clearly listed as sons-in-law of William Wyatt, died 1762.
There was another Leachman, Leonard, in Fauquier Co VA at the same time as our Thomas. Leonard was a cousin of Thomas’s, and had a father, a brother and a son named Thomas.[6] This writer would like to see more evidence of the early generations of this family.
Both Leonard and Thomas, assumed to be our Thomas, signed a petition in 1779 in Prince William Co VA.[7]
Thomas Leachman signed the marriage bond for his daughter Susannah in 1787.[8] This writer believes his name as given in the bond, “Thomas Thomas Leachman,” was more likely a scribe’s error than a statement that his name was actually Thomas Thomas.
The children attributed to Thomas and Mary (Wyatt) Leachman are:
1. Susannah LEACHMAN. Born ca 1766 in VA. Susannah died in Vigo Co IN, on 26 Feb 1853; she was not, however, listed in the 1850 census with either of her children in that county. On 19 Oct 1787 Susannah married Elijah WILLOUGHBY, son of Benjamin WILLOUGHBY & Susannah WYATT, and her first cousin, in Fauquier Co VA. Born in 1762 in VA. Elijah died in Monroe Co IN, in 1834. They had the following children[9]:
i. Rhoda (1789-1850)
ii. child (1791-)
iii. Enoch (1794-1827)
iv. Polly (1796-)
v. Susannah (1798-)
vi. Sarah Evalline (1800-<1834)
vii. Elijah Jr (1802-)
viii. George W (1804-1837)
ix. Benjamin Jefferson (1810-1847)
x. Elizabeth (1813-<1900)
xi. Anna (1814-ca1845)
2. Mary LEACHMAN. Born in say 1767. On 29 Oct 1787 Mary married John WILLOUGHBY, son of John WILLOUGHBY, and probably a first cousin of her sister’s Susannah’s new husband, in Fauquier Co VA. Born in say 1765. John died in Green Co TN, in Jul 1814. They had the following children:
i. James
ii. Winney
iii. Thomas
iv. Benjamin
v. Mary (1799-)
vi. Anne (1801-)
vii. John M (1805-1869)
viii. Elizabeth
3. George LEACHMAN. Born ca 1770 in Fauquier Co VA. George died in Putnam Co IN, on 15 Jul 1837. On 30 Jan 1793 George married Mary FLYNN in Fauquier Co VA. Born in 1773 in Fauquier Co VA. Mary died in Putnam Co IN, on 8 Dec 1852. They had the following children:
i. John (1793-<1837)
ii. Wiliam (1795-1858)
iii. Willoughby (1798-1867)
iv. George (~1802-)
v. Mary
vi. Sarah (1803->1860)
vii. Thomas
viii. Nancy (1808-1864)
ix. Benjamin (1809-1852)
x. James
4. James LEACHMAN. Born ca 1773.
5. Thomas LEACHMAN. Born ca 1777.
© 2009, Kathy Alvis Patterson
[1] Based on marriage of children in 1784-1793.
[2] Mildred Leachman Allen, Leachman Family Genealogy, Jan. 1983: “John Leachman, born circa 1708, died unknown date, sold Stafford County land 1739, purchased land in Prince William Co VA which later became Fauquier Co VA. Also, this unclear reference: from Ancestry.com: 1723 Leachman orphans, 316 A. not taxed.
[3] Posted by “anonymous” at Ancestry.com message boards, 21 Oct 1999, http://boards.ancestry.myfamily.com/surnames.leachman/1.2.6.8.9/mb.ashx: “Thomas Leachman I (emigrant to Virginia) No birthdate, VA court records 20 May 1656 state Thomas Leechman, age 40 years or thereabout, testified in court. Other records show this man married a Mrs. Dellabow, relict of Abraham Dellabow. I only find evidence of one child to this Thos. Leachman.
Thomas Leachman 2 (also found in VA Northumberland Co. records); m. Elizabeth Gralesse and was executor of her father’s estate; their children: Thomas b. betw. 1700 and 1709 and John b. 1708/1709 (b.d.’s sketchy on these).”
[4] A[deline] Evans Wynn, Southern Lineages, Records of Thirteen Families, 1940, p. 229. Also, 1759-1763 Minute Book of Fauquier Co VA, pp. 128, 150, 167.
[5] I see no indication of more than one Elijah Willoughby in that county at that time.
[6] William L Litsey, Hampton VA, reconstructed this family based on an 1888 genealogy written in a family Bible, since lost, published in Kentucky Ancestors, Jul 1969.
[7] October 14, 1779. A petition of sundry freeholders and inhabitants of the County of Prince William shows that after the division of Fauquier from Prince William County, Govenor Fauquier fixed the Court of Prince William at the town of Dumfries. They complain that the Court is now inconvenient to at least three fourths of the inhabitants of the county. For twenty years the inhabitants have struggled with the inconvenience and expense of traveling long distance and staying away from home several days in order to seek their own rights, defend their property, serve as witnesses, serve on grand juries, ect. The petitioners ask that the courthouse of their county be removed from the Town of Dumfries and carried to the land of John Randolph or somewhere there abouts near Butler’s Ford on Cedar Run which the conceive is near the center of the county. Signatures are: [including]… Thomas Leachman… Leonard Leachman… John Wiat… Conquest Wiat… [Note: Leonard’s father Thomas died before 1752, and his son Thomas was 11. Leonard did have a brother Thomas, supposedly married to Elizabeth (Foster) Cornwall. KP]
[8] Marriage bond, Fauquier Co VA, Bk 1, p. 213, 19 Oct 1787. Proof of her parentage is implied in her marriage bond where Thomas Thomas Leachman is given as her surety.
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