REV. WILLIAM LEVERICH

(1603-1677)

PROGENITOR OF THE LEVERICH FAMILY IN

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

AN HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

 

Compiled by Tom Leverich

28 Saratoga Drive

West Windsor, NJ 08550

609-275-1239 (home)  Email: tomaug12@aol.com

609-259-5139 (work)   Email: thomas.leverich@fns.usda.gov

Visit: http://www.leverichgenealogy.org

Updated:  September 12, 2002

 

 

The Rev. William Leverich was born in England about 1603 and died at Newtown (now Elmhurst) Queens County, Long Island, New York in 1677.  He is the original immigrant ancestor in the USA of most (if not all) individuals bearing the surname “Leverich”, as well as some individuals bearing the surname “Leveridge”.  

 

There is also a group of “Leveridge’s”, primarily in the southwestern part of the USA, who may be descendants of a John Leveridge who appears in Isle of Wight County, Virginia about 1644.    More likely, these Leveridges were the descendants of a John Leveridge, born in London England on 18 September 1752, who was ordered transported to America (probably Virginia) by a court order of 15 May 1771 for a period of fourteen years.    Descendants  migrated westward through Kentucky to Oklahoma and Texas.  [1][2]

 

The Rev. William Leverich was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England and was ordained a priest in the Church of England (Anglican).  The 1924 work “Alumni Cantabrigienses” records the following:

 

LEVERITCH, WILLIAM.  Admitted sizar at Emmanuel, March 28, 1622.  Son of Saville of Drawlington, Warwickshire.  Born 1603.  B.A. 1625-1626.  M.A. 1631.  Ordained deacon (Petersborough) December 24, 1626; priest, November 1, 1627.  Rector of Great Livermore, Suffolk, 1631.  Went to New England, with a company of settlers to colonize Piscatqua (Dover, NH), being engaged as minister for the plantation, 1633.  [3]

 

Efforts to independently verify the birthplace of the Rev. William Leverich in England have to date been unsuccessful, but it would appear that the above cited reference to Warwickshire is not correct.  In a letter dated February 27, 1978 the County Archivist for the Warwickshire County Council,  M. W. Farr, wrote:

 

I am sorry to say there there is no place called Drawlington in this county, nor anywhere else for that matter …  Your information seems to be taken from Venn’s Alumni Cantabrigienses, which is not a particularly accurate work.  The mistake may have arisen from a modern misreading of the Emmanuel College register, or it may be a mistake in the register itself, due to the clerk mishearing what William Leverich said …  Personally, I do not think that William Leverich is  a Warwickshire man.  There is no one of that name as a householder in the 1674 hearth tax, which gives a fairly good cross-section of the county.  You would have to suppose that the family died out in the intervening fifty years, or that he took them all to America with him.  [4]

 

A photocopy of the Emmanuel College register records the name of “William Liveridge”. In a letter dated April 4, 1978 the College Archivist for Emmanuel College,  Peter Hunter Blair, wrote:

 

I am glad to give you such help as I can but I fear that it will not tell you what you are most anxious to know.  The only contemporary record that we have of the admission to the College of William Liveridge is contained in the register which records the names of those who have paid their registration fees.  I am enclosing a photocopy of the relevant page of the Register, and in case you should wish to refer to it you could describe it as Emmanuel College Archive, CHA, 1.4 folio 135 verso.  You will see Liveridge’s name entered under March 28, the year being 1621, but care will be needed here because of the different date for the beginning of the new year in current usage.  Our records tell us nothing of William Liveridge’s parentage nor of his birthplace.  [5]

 

In a subsequent letter dated May 10, 1978 Mr. Blair wrote:

 

You ask whether the entry in our Register for William Liveridge is a signature or in the hand of a clerk.  I do not think that a certain answer can be give to this question without having other specimens of his signature for purpose of comparison. 

 

If you will look at the photocopy which I sent you  will see that there are several different hands represented, and I would have thought it unlikely that there would be several different clerks in the College at this date.

 

On the other hand, the entries made for April 27 and April 19 of 1621 cover three distinct names yet all three seem to be in the same handwriting.  Looking at the page as a whole I cannot see any other name apparently written by the same hand as William Liveridge. 

 

Looking at other parts of the Register there are certainly places where as many as ten or a dozen names are written in the same hand, presumably that of a clerk, but in other places there is considerable variety.

 

I fear that I must throw the problem back to you for your guess is likely to be as good as mine, though from the distinctive writing of the name William Liveridge I am a little inclined to think that it might be his signature.  [6]]

 

In a letter dated December 29, 1925 Sylvester Leverich of Marion, Iowa writes to his first cousin Dr. Leslie Leverich of Kansas City, Missouri and cites the birthplace of the Rev. William Leverich as “Arlington Heights, Devonshire”  [7].    On November 7, 1978 Mrs. M. M. Rowe, Head of Records Services for the Devon Record Office wrote to the compiler as follows:

 

The parish register of baptisms for Arlington does not survive from before 1640.  I looked at the Bishops’ Transcripts, which survive for odd years in the period 1597-1620, but found no trace of the name Leverich or variants.   One Devon name which does appear over the county is Loveridge, and Leverich may be a variant of this.  [8]

 

Hence, Devonshire remains a possibility for further research.

 

In 1916, an article concerning the Rev. William Leverich was published in the Encyclopedia of Biography of New York, which included the following information:

 

The crest of the Leverich-Leveridge family is thus described: Argent. A chevron between three matchlocks, sable.  Crst: A leopard’s face, proper.  Motto: Virtute et opera.

 

The Rev. William Leverich was born in England in 1605 and was a son of Sir Sabille Leverich, of Drawlington Hall, Warwickshire.  The name originated with a Baron Liebrich who came with William the Conqueror in 1066 and the family is mentioned on the Doomsday Book.  John Sabille Leverich was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1562.  [9]

 

It is interesting to note that the above citation, published in 1916, predates the publication of Alumni Cantabrigienses by eight years.  No specific sources are cited in this publication, and the above information has been periodically quoted over the years in a variety of works.   Although the bulk of the data contained in this article is independently verifiable and appears to be quite accurate, as of this date, it has not yet been possible to independently verify the information contained in the above citation. 

 

This article was based upon the work of Susan M. Leverich, a 7th generation descendant of the Rev. William Leverich.  Ms. Leverich was the daughter of 6-Deacon Richard Leverich of Newtown, and is said to have been the last resident of the original Leverich homestead.  The article in question traces the lineage of 6-Deacon Richard Leverich from the 1-Rev. William Leverich, and contains details about the colonial history of the original homestead that would clearly appear to have originated from an oral and/or documentary history passed on through the generations.   Ms. Leverich was born in 1836 at Newtown, and was living in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the time of the 1900 census. She died at Bridgeport on 14 January 1920.

 

The compiler of this history has in his possession a photocopy of Ms. Leverich’s handwritten account of the life of the Rev. William Leverich, signed “Susan M. Leverich, Bridgeport, Connecticut”, but not dated.   In a bibliographical note Ms. Leverich states that “Some of the above was through the kindness of Prof Cornelius Leveridge, also from Colonial Records, and from old papers in the possession of the writer”.  [10]

 

The compiler also has a photocopy of a  letter dated November 12, 1902 in which  Susan M. Leverich, then residing at 525 Clinton Avenue Bridgeport Connecticut, wrote to Mr. F.H. Way regarding the Leverich Family, including much of the information mentioned in the article from Encyclopedia of Biography of New York cited above.   Ms. Leverich goes on to indicate that: [11]

 

The above was given to me by the late lawyer John Leveridge, Sen. of New York, who was very enthusiastic about the coat of arms and had it carved on some furniture and inserted in the books of his library.

 

7-John Leveridge (1792-1886)(6-John, 5-Caleb, 4-Benjamin, 3-John, 2-Caleb, 1-Rev. William) was a prominent attorney in New York City (Manhattan) and a founding member of the East River Savings Bank.   His descendants use the “idge” spelling, rather than the “ich” spelling of our surname.

 

In her 1902 correspondence to Mr. Way, Susan Leverich goes on to say:

 

I have a box made from the wood of the tree under which the Rev. William Leverich preached the first sermon ever delivered by an ordained minister in the State of New Hampshire

 

The old stone house where I was born at Newtown, L.I. was built on the ground bought by the Rev. William Leverich for his son Caleb, and bore (before being plastered over by the person who bought it of us) the dates of 1670 and 1732.

 

In a letter dated March 15, 1935 Mary Harrison Snider of Davenport Iowa wrote to Alma Crain of Mounds, Illinois: 

 

The coat of arms was sent to me by a Miss Susan Leverich, daughter of Richard Leverich, a direct descendent in the oldest line from Rev. William Leverich who informed me that it was given her by Prof. Cornelius Leveridge whose father, a lawyer of New York, had it sent to him from England and had it carved on his furniture and inserted in all his books.  It was granted Sir John Sabille Leverich by Queen Elizabeth in 1562.  In 1698, John Theobold Leverich brought suite against the Irish branch of the family for appropriating it.  The suit was decided in favor of John Theobold and the Irish Leveriches had to pay 800 pounds and costs.  The Leverich family of Newtown had it on their livery and I have seen it many times.  I gave my copy to another branch of the family, but I think I can obtain a picture of it.  The arms were obtained directly from England by members of the family and is describe thus: the leopards head denotes courage and strength, the Chevron on the Escutcheon, the roof tree of the family, and the three Crescents, three trips to the Holy Land in Crusading days.  [12]

 

7-Susan M. Leverich (1836-1920) was the daughter of 6-Deacon Richard Leverich and his wife Nancy Lane, 5-John, 4-John, 3-John, 2-Caleb, 1-Rev William.

 

8-Cornelius Alexander Leveridge (1829-    ?, Union County, NJ), was the son of 7-John Leveridge cited above.

 

Much of the same information, as cited above, is replicated in a 1925 work entitled The Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, Counties of Nassau and Suffolk, Long Island, NY, 1609-1924, with the addition of the following citation relative to the Leverich Coat of Arms:

 

In 1698 a suit for appropriating this coat-of-arms was brought against the Irish Leverages by John Theobold Leverich, and the suit was decided in favor of the latter, the Irish Leverages having to pay eight hundred pounds and costs.  [13]

 

Once again, it has not yet been possible to independently verify the information contained in the above citation, but it too is based upon the handwritten account of Susan M. Leverich cited above.   The author of this article is unknown, but the text very closely follows the text of the former article, except that it traces the lineage of 9-Augustus A. Leverich, Jr. from the Rev. William Leverich.

 

A letter dated 6 March 1935 from Phillip W. Kerr, “Rouge Croix”, College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street (London, England?) to Arthur White, Elmhurst, New York (Mr. White was a prominent local historian and professional genealogist in Queens, Long Island, New York in the 1930’s who did some research on the Leverich Family) provides the following information: 

 

I have to acknowledge your letter of the 17th February enclosing … in payment of the search fee for investigating the Arms of LEVERICH and the Ancestry of the Rev. WILLIAM LEVERICH.

 

As a result of my searches, I find that Arms are recorded for the family of LEVERICKE of IREBY in the County of LINCOLN in the year 1592.  As you mention in your letter, the spelling LEVERETT and LEVERIDGE, is also met with.  I also find a branch of the family under the spelling LEVERETT established at GRANTHAM, Co. LINCOLN, in about 1550.

 

Coming now to the Rev. WILLIAM LEVERICH, he was the son of a certain SAVILE LEVERICH of DRAWLINGTON in the County of WARWICK.  Particulars of his career appear to be already known to you.  There is no pedigree of this branch of the family registered here (emphasis added), but from other sources I observe that he was Rector of LIVERMERE in the County of SUFFOLK in 1631.  We might be able to find out whether he was married, or not, at this time, by reference to the LIVERMERE Parish Registers, which would a any rate show whether he had any children baptized during the period at which he lived there.  It is even possible that we might find the name of his wife. 

 

With regard to his ancestors, I have been able to find nothing beyond the fact that his father’s name was SAVILLE.  However, I do know that the family existed in WARICKSHIRE about a hundred years previously, when a certain WILLIAM LEVERICH was living at WALSALL.

 

With regard to the Arms, it is quite possible that the two branches, the WARWICKSHIRE and the LINCOLNSHIRE branch, may have come from a common ancestor bearing the same Arms as used by LEVERICKE of IREBY, but at present no evidence has been produced to support this contention (emphasis added).

 

The Arms of the LEVERICKES of IREBY are:

 

Argent, a chevron between three leverets

Sable

No Crest or Motto are registered for this family

 

If you are anxious to trace the parentage and ancestors of the Rev. WILLIAM LEVERICH, searches could be made in WARWICKSHIRE and any Records besides those in the possession of the College of Arms, which might or might not prove successful in tracing the required information.  [14]

 

A nineteenth century list (Burke) of coats of arms includes eighteen held by individuals with the surname “Leverage” or similar variants.  One of these, attributed to the surname Leverage, matches the descriptions above.  However, there is currently no evidence available establishing a genealogical link between this coat of arms and our William.  [1][15]  The portrayal of the Coat of Arms that appears on the Leverich Family Web Site (http://www.leverichgenealogy.org) was provided by Lyle Taylor Leverich of Saratoga California, a descendent of Augustus A. Leverich mentioned above.  [50]

 

At any rate, it would appear that our ancestor William soon became disenchanted with the Church of England, and became associated with what was known in England as the “non-conformist movement”, in America, the “puritans”.    Michael Leveridge, in his work The English Leveridges,  records the following:

 

William entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1622 and graduated B.A. in 1625/6 and M.A. in 1631.  Emmanuel College was founded in 1584 on the site of a former Dominican priory and was one of only two Cambridge colleges founded during the reign of Elizabeth I.  William was ordained deacon on 24 December 1626 and priest on 1 November 1627 in the Diocese of Petersborough.  John Ward, Rector of Great Livermere from 1591, was buried there on 2 February 1631 and William was appointed to succeed him on 29 July.  The parish’s first baptism, marriage, and burial register is amongst the relatively small number of parish registers which begin in 1538 when they were first ordered to be kept.  The register contains a serious of entries in 1661-32 that were probably written by William himself.  They include the record of the baptism of his and his wife Ellen’s daughter Hannah on 3 June 1632.  William resigned his benefice later in the year and his sucessor, Thomas Howlett, was appointed on 24 April 1633.  William set out for a new life in America in 1633 … Ellen probably went with him and Hannah may also have accompanied them.  The Church of St. Peter, Great Livermere was built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and is unusual in having a thatched roof to the nave …  [1]

 

American records are strangely silent regarding the wife of William, and there is no record of a daughter Hannah.   

 

Michael Leveridge, in April 2001 correspondence with the compiler, reports:

 

It also seems to me that William might have been ordained in the Diocese of Peterborough because he came from Northamptonshire or Rutland.  I refer in my forthcoming booklet to several families of Leverichs who were living in Ecton, a parish close to the town of Northampton, during William’s lifetime.  Indeed, me may be the William Leverich who was baptised there in 1606 (compiler’s note: son of Abraham Leveridge and Eleanor Wickley as per the record provided by Michael).  A Margaret Leverich who was baptised in Ecton in 1576 married a local rector.  He was dispossesed for non-conformity in 1604 but reinstated when he agreed to conform.

 

I think it would be difficult to prove that the Ecton William is your William, but I am sure it would be of great interest to you and your relatives if this could be done.  Benjamin Franklin’s grandfather was born in Ecton in 1598 and Benjamin describes in his autobiography how he visited Ecton in 1758 in order to investigate his own family history.  [16]

 

Clearly, substantial research remains to be performed regarding the English ancestry of the Rev. William Leverich.

 

The Rev. William Leverich embarked on the ship “James” from London, Captain Thomas Wiggin, and after a passage of about eight weeks, arrived at Salem, Massachusetts on October 10, 1633, having been engaged to be the minister at Dover, New Hampshire.  [17]

 

Michael Leveridge records that:

 

The first Leveridge to cross the Atlantic to North America was probably the Reverend William Leverich …  He was one of a group of thirty-seven East Anglian clergymen who emigrated to New England in 1629-40.  Eleven of them, including William, had attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, which was a centre of non-conformity in the early seventeenth century.  William left Gravesend on board the James of London, and his arrival at Pascataquack, Massachusetts on 10 October 1633 was recorded in the journal of John Winthrop, the Governor of Massacusetts. 

 

‘The same day, Mr. Grant [being Master], the ship James, arrived at Salem, having been but eight weeks between Gravesend and Salem.  He brought Capt. Wiggin and about thirty, with one Mr. Leveridge, a godly minister, to Pascataquack, (which the Lord Say and the Lord Brook had purchased of the Bristol men,) and about thirty for Virginia, and about twenty for this place, and some sixty cattle.

 

Winthrop had entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1603 and became a lawyer in London.  He led a fleet of sixteen ships chartered by the Massachusetts Bay Company to America in 1629.  His meeting there with William Blackstone, another Emmuel graduate, is commemorated by the founder’s monument in the centre of Boston.  The town was name after the Lincolnshire home town of a third Emmanuel graduate, Isacc Johnson, who travelled with Winthrop and had helped to finance the voyage.  The company founded a college near Boston at a place that was renamed Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1638.  John Harvard, a fourth Emmanuel graduate, arrived in 1629, but died a year later.  He bequeathed his library and half his estate to the college, which was named in his honour.  It is now Harvard University.  [1]

 

The History of Dover, NH records that:

 

Edward Hilton,  had men of Bristol, Shrewsbury, and other towns in England, as his associates in business in 1630.  This group sold their interests to Lords Say and Brooks, who retained Captian Wiggin seven years in management of the business at Dover Neck, and the Massachusetts authorities recognized him as governor up to 1637, when Burdett was elected governor.   These Dover Neck settlers were, for the most part, Puritans of the same class as those of Governor Winthrop’s colony in Massachusetts Bay, but they came here strictly for business, rather than to have a larger religious liberty.  That they were religious men is shown by the fact that they brought the Rev. William Leverich, a Puritan minister, with them, who commenced to officiate as minister of the First Parish as soon as the log meeting-house was completed in the winter of 1633.  [18]

 

Our ancestor preached at Dover for about two years from 1633 to 1635, where he served as the first pastor of the Congregational Society organized in 1633.  He lived on Low Street at Dover Neck, a peninsula of land between the Fore River (to the east) and the Piscataqua River or Back River (to the west).  There were two parallel streets, High Street and Low Street.  He lived near Captain John Wiggin and Capt. John Underhill and probably close to the first meeting house which was also located on Low Street.   However, where he conducted his first services is unknown; probably in one of the private dwellings on Dover Neck or Hilton Point.   [19][20]

 

His support being apparently insufficient, he came to Boston (Massachusetts) in 1635, and was admitted to the First Church in Boston, August 9, 1635.  He settled in Duxbury (Massachusetts) 1637, where he became an assistant to the Rev. Mr. Ralph Partridge in 1637, a house and lot being assigned to him.  [19][20]   

 

The Plymouth Colony Records [PCR] note the following reference:

 

On 23 June 1637 William Bassett of Duxbury released to Mr. Ralph Partridge so much of the lot of his lands lying in Ducksborrow aforesaid as is now enclosed by the said Mr. Partridge [PCR 12:18-19], and again on 7 November 1637 a similar agreement was reached regarding land released to William Leverich and Ralph Partridge [PCR 12:25].  [21]

 

In 1638 the Rev. William Leverich came to Sandwich on Cape Cod (Massachusetts), apparently coming there with the first group of  ten settlers.   They were joined shortly by fifty more from Duxbury and Plymouth.  A church was formed with William Leverich as the first pastor.  By the theoretic principles of Puritanism, no one was allowed to sell lands without the consent of the minister, so here at Sandwich a church was built by this influence whose power was felt throughout the colony.  The early years of his pastorate at Cape Cod were apparently peaceful enough, but as the colony grew,  his strict adherence to Puritan principals apparently put him in conflict with many of the settlers.    The colonial authorities, in order to prevent the entrance of those whose fitness was questioned,  enacted laws that emphatically enforced that none be admitted to town rights without the consent of Mr. Leverich and the town authorities.  This offended many, and they turned their animosity toward the minister.   [9]  The following passages from The History of Cape Cod  [22] illustrate the circumstances.

 

In the annals of Sandwich it may be seen that Rev. Mr. Leverich had felt himself insecure of the position due to the dignity of his office - so early and to such extent did religious dissensions begin everywhere to be exhibited.  These persons had all a high respect for divine ordinances, but also for religious freedom and unfettered thought …

 

If the Cape has been from the very start distinguished by its liberal feeling, its sons may, and surely ought, to claim for it the credit.  Peculiar circumstances over which the people at large had no control, had at this time introduced a sad state of things and involved a sad necessity.  The regular ministry at Sandwich had been interrupted – for Mr. Leverich was too conscientiously humane for the times, and had been virtually banished.  Those who had supported him now sought, as best they might, to worship quietly, if not in the former place of public worship, in private houses …

 

The people of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies, it is alleged, began about this time to be indifferent to the ministry, and to exercise their own gifts, doubting the utility of stated preaching.   The support of ministers being cut off, many left the colony …

 

The manuscript collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society contain a transcription of a letter dated 22 December 1645 from the Rev. William Leverich to the future governor Joseph Hinckley.   The transcription was prepared by the grandson of Joseph Hinkley, Thomas Prince.   The letter is difficult to read, due to the script of the time, and appears to be a religious tract of some kind.   The letter appears to contain no personal information.  [23]

 

During his tenure at Sandwich, the Rev. William Leverich had apparently, according to various accounts, ministered also to the Native Americans that were numerous on Cape Cod at the time, learning their languages in the process.  About 1647, we find William Leverich employed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England to preach the gospel to the Native Americans of Cape Cod and Plymouth Colony.   In a letter dated “Sandwich, this 22nd of the 7th, 1651”, and signed “William Leverich”, our ancestor writes to a fellow missionary John Wilson regarding his missionary endeavors.  The following is an excerpt from that letter.  [24]

 

Reverend Sir.  I salute you in the Lord, I shall trouble you only with two things.  First, the moving causes inducing me to set upon this worke; Secondly, with what successe I have hitherto been entertained, by the blessing of God upon my weak endeavors.  For the first of these, I suppose its not unknown to your self, amongst many others, what singular exercise I have had in these parts, and what singular Conflicts I have met withall in my travails amongst our owne Countreymen, divers of them transported with their (though not singular) Fancies, to the rejecting of all Churches and Ordinances, by a new cunning, and I perswade my selfe one of the last but most pernicious plot of the Devill to undermine all Religion, and introduce all Atheisem and profanenesse, if it were possible, together with which, I have observed a spirit of Pharisaisme and formility too, too evediently creeping upon and strongly possessing others generally, besides other discouragements I shall forbear to mention, which considered divers of our brethren together with may selfe, upon consultation, where we might hope for more and better encouragement, as touching our Communion, if God so pleased:  but were disswaded by divers of our honoured Freinds, both by their Letters and more private Councels, unto who we gave way, at least for the present; not long after having an hopeful Indian in my house, he propounds to me a motion of teaching the Indians neer us. 

 

The letter continues with an account of the Rev William Leverich’s recent experiences in bringing the gospel to Native Americans.   He then closes with the following exhortation:

 

… I pray God they perish not in the light, however I am resolved to bable to them as I may, considering that out the mouths of babes God ordaines praise, and found strength to still the Enemy, and the beginings of Gods great works are often in great obscurity, where he appoints the end to be glorious.  Also I remember one sowes and another reaps, which were ever they be, such as are faithful shall rejoyce together.  I doubt not Sir, of your fervent prayers (which I doe further beg of you and others that know how to pity lost ones) for my selfe and poor Indians, that the Lord will prosper our indeavours this way, and water them with his abundant blessing in Jesus Christ, that the day-spring from on high may visit such poor souls as are in darkness, and the shadow of death, and bring them back to life Jesus Christ.

 

In the spring of 1653, the Rev. William Leverich visited Long Island (New York) in company with some of his former parishioners at Sandwich and purchased land with others at Oyster Bay.  The first conveyance of land appears to be a deed from the Matinecok Sachem, as follows: [19][25]

 

Anno Domini, 1653.  This writing witnesseth that I, Assiapum, alias Moheness, have sold unto Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo, and William Leveridge, their heyres, exets, administr and assigns, all the land lying and scituate upon Oyster Bay, and bounded by Oyster Bay River to the east side, and Papequtunck on the west side, with all ye woods, rivers, marshes, uplands, ponds, and all other the appertainances lying between ye bounds afore-named, with all islands to the seaward, excepting one island, commonly called Hogg Island, and bounded southerly by a point of trees call called Cantiaque; in consideration of which bargain and sale he is to receive as full satisfaction, six Indian coats, six kettles xix fathom of wampum, six hoes, six hatchets, three paid stockings, thirty awl-blades, or muxes, twenty knives, three shirts, and as much Peague as will amount to four pounds sterling.  In witness whereof he has set his mark, in the presence of

William Washborne

Anthony Wright

Robert Williams

Assiapum or Moheness his / X / mark

 

Upon the above instrument is an endorsement as follows:

 

The within named Peter Wright and William Leveridge, do accept of, as joint purchasers with ourselves, William Washborne, Thomas Armitage, Daniel Whitehead, Anthony Wright, Robert Williams, John Washborne and Richard Holdbrook, to the like right as we have ourselves in ye land purchased from Assiapum, and particularly mentioned in ye writing made and subscribed by himself, with the consent of other Indians respectively interested, and ye names of such as were absent, acted for him and them.  As witness our hands.

Peter Wright

Samuel Mayo

William Leverich

 

Although apparently disenchanted with Sandwich, at least some of his congregants there were unhappy with his departure.  In 1655 they wrote to “Mr. Leveridge - Loving Brother - It is the ernest desier of our friends with ourselves, all whose names are under wrighten to inucurrage by a cleare call to continue and imploy the spiritual gift and tallant which God of his goodness and mercy hath bestoed uppon you hopping if it please ye Lord to incline your hart to answere as in our desiers wee will not bee - to recompence your labor of love”.   The letter was signed 19 petitioners.  [20]

 

The move to Long Island was not without its misadventures for our ancestor.  At the time, the Dutch and the English were at war, although the conflict ended quickly.  A certain Captain Thomas Baxter, acting on behalf of the English, was engaged  in blockading New Amsterdam.  A 1939 article in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, describes the events.  [26]

 

Captain Thomas Baxter now committed an act of piracy which was his undoing.  In February 1654 he entered Hempstead Bay (Long Island, NY) and by force of arms he took away a vessel loaded with household goods belonging to the Rev. Mr. Leverich, a prominent minister.  Rev Mr. Leverich had preached in Boston and Sandwich since 1633 and now in 1654 he was organizing the settlement of Oyster Bay, Long Island.  He had engaged the sloop Desire owned by Mr. Mayo of Barnstable, Plymouth County, to bring down his household goods under Captain John Dickenson.  Captain Dickenson had been running the blockade past Thomas Baxter above Hell Gate to New Amsterdam.  Trading with the Dutch made the Desire a suitable Prize of War, so when she was sighted that morning in Hempstead Harbor, now Roslyn, Captain Baxter bore down and boarded her.  He named the prize and brought her over to Fairfield (CT) harbor.

 

Mr. Mayo promptly complained to the New Haven (CT) Court and such was the celebrity of Rev. Mr. Leverich, this charge against Baxter awakened intense excitement.  The General Court at New Haven ordered the arrest of Thomas Baxter, who was apprehended on the streets of Fairfield, although not without a fight.  Baxter was tried and convicted at New Haven.  He was ordered to return the Desire to Mr. Mayo.  He was also ordered to pay Rev. Leverich 150 pounds, but if he returned the sails, two guns and the ropes he would be credited with 18 pounds on this fine.  He was further fined seventy pounds for his disturbance of the peace and put under a bond of 200 pounds to keeping the peace in the future.

 

The Rev. William Leverich ministered to the community at Oyster Bay from about 1653 to 1658, accepting 15 pounds a year for his services.  [25]  Lot number 13 of the original Oyster Bay purchase allocation was laid out to William Leverich.  His homesite lay in the block bounded by West Main Streeet, South Street, Orchard Street, and Spring Street, the rights to which he transferred to his son Eleazer.  Next door to the Leverich house lot was that of Nicholas Wright, whose daughter Rebecca married Eleazer Leverich.  During this same period of time, he also ministered to the local Native Americans, on behalf of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England, accepting from the society small sums from time to time for his efforts.  [19][20]

 

About 1658, accompanied by some of the early settlers of Oyster Bay, the Rev. William Leverich removed to Huntington, Long Island (NY), where he organized the first Church and served as its first minister.  [55][56][57]

 

There were probably several factors that influenced this move.  First, as a result of the Treaty of Hartford in 1650 the boundary line of English-Dutch jurisdiction ran from the southwest corner of the Town of Oyster Bay south to the Atlantic Ocean.  The Dutch were establishing their own ethnic community nearby at Wolaver Hollow and the Oyster Bay inhabitants were subject to jurisdictional pressure from both sides.   As town minister at 15 pounds per year he could expect no Dutch contributions and probably little English enthusiasm.  [20]

 

At Huntington, he also built the first grist mill, and served as the town’s first miller. 

 

The grist mill was built by Henry Whitney.   The Whitney Family of Connecticut  [27] includes the following:

 

While at Huntington, Henry built a grist mill or “corne mill” for Rev. William Leverich of that place, which led to some disagreement Leverich asserting the mill was not finished in season, nor in any way that the contract required, and Whitney that his pay had been unjustly withheld from him.  He seems to have been a leader in the movement which resulted in the dismissal of Mr. Leverich of Huntington: and these causes led to several suits between the parties.  Not much of the testimony is recorded, but before leaving town, Mr. Leverich obtained permission of the Court to put on record three long depositions signed by himself, his wife and his son, giving their version of the causes which led to his dismissal.   Some persons who have read these depositions, have inferred that Henry Whitney had preached for the people of Huntington before Mr. Leverich was employed, and some of the testimony seems to harmonize with this supposition.    The evidence shows that he was a frank outspoken man - once fined for speaking his mind too freely before the Court - but when a charge was true, he would acknowledge it without waiting for proof from his opponent.  His differences with Mr. Leverich were finally settled, as appears by the following receipt, a copy of which of furnished by Mr. James Riker of Waverly, New York from the original yet preserved by one of the descendants of Mr. Leverich:

 

November 1, 1660

 

These presents witnes that I henery whitne of huntinton doe acknowledg that I have receved of mr william leverich forty pounds for the building of his mill and oe by these presents fully acquit and discharge the above named mr leverich his eyers exceketors and assignes from all debts dues and demands that euer haue bin betwixt him and me, from the beginning of the world to this present daye.

 

Witnes my hand Henery Whitney / x / his marke

 

Witnees John Stiklin / x / his marke

 

              Thomas Bennydick

 

The Rev. William Leverich served at Huntington until about 1669.  On the 10th of February 1662 the people, by a vote at town meeting, authorized two persons to purchase a house and land for a parsonage.  By a similar vote the 7th of June following, they granted to Mr. Leveridge the use of all of the meadow about Cow Harbor on both sides of the creek, as long as he should remain their minister.  While there in 1664 and during the sitting of the Connecticut Court in January of that year he, with others, made application and was admitted a freeman of the province of Connecticut.  The first church building was erected in 1665.  It stood in the middle valley, on the north side of Oyster Bay Path and beside the stream which then became known as the Meeting House Brook.  [19][28][55][56][57]

 

The patent granted to the town of Huntington by Governor Richard Nicoll, November 30, 1666 recites:

 

Whereas there is a certain Town within this government called and known by the name of Huntington, now in the tenure and occupation of several Freeholders and Inhabitants, the same is confirmed to Jonas Wood, Wm. Leveridge, Robert Seeley, John Ketcham, Thomas Skidmore, Isaac Platt, Thomas Jones and Thomas Weeks, in behalf of themselves and associates.  [29][55]

 

In the year 1660, the Rev. William Leverich reportedly made a trip to Amsterdam in what is now the European nation of the Netherlands.   According to the Register of New Netherlands 1626-1674: 

 

A supply of drugs was sent from Holland in the spring of this year, for an English Clergyman, versed in the art of Physic, and willing to serve in the capacity of Physician.  The Rev. William Leverich is supposed to be the clergyman alluded to.  He had sailed in October 1660, from New Amsterdam for Holland, in the ship Spotted Cow, and returned the fall or winter of 1662.  [30]

 

Susan Leverich’s biography includes a similar reference:

 

On the records at Albany in 1660 Gov. Stuyvesant writing to the directors of the West India Company at Amsterdam, Holland, says “that the Rev. William Leverich was to sail on the first out-going vessel for the purpose of obtaining medicines for the Colony.  But it was the following year before he sailed, and in 1663 the medicines were sent to the “English Clergyman, versed in the art of physic, and willing to serve in the capacity of physician.”  He was doubtless familiar with the medical teaching of that day for nothing was more common among the University educated Thealogues, than to attend the lectures of the Medical professors, and “walk the hospital” as it was termed, which was connected with nearly all of the Universities.  On Mr. Leveridge’s return from Holland in 1662, the people of Huntington enlarged the quantity of land for his use about Cow Harbor, and also built a parsonage for him.  [10]

 

It is uncertain however if William actually made the voyage, or simply arranged for the drugs to be shipped to him.    It seems unlikely that he would leave his pastorate at Huntington unattended for such an extended period.   This is a curious reference in that there is no other current evidence that William practiced medicine in any form.  Michael Leveridge comments that “it is unlikely that William would have acquired any significant amount of medical knowledge during his time at Cambridge”.  [1]

 

About 1662, the Rev. William Leverich went to Newtown, further west on Long Island, in what is now known as Elmhurst, Queens County - one of the five boroughs that makes up New York City.  The purpose of his visit was to purchase land for his two sons Caleb and Eleazer.   Newtown at that time was without a minister, and for a period of time our ancestor apparently remained and ministered to them, while still keeping oversight of the church at Huntington.  During this period, the residents took measures to raise a salary for his support, and afterwards, for his encouragement among them, the town gave him two parcels of meadow, and as that was thought not to be enough to supply his need, there were added twelve acres more at the east end of “Long Traines Meadow”.   On January 9, 1663 the Town voted to build a “meeting house”, but this design was interrupted by  the extraordinary events which soon after transpired since the country was on the verge of revolution and civil war.  In 1665 the Rev. William Leverich returned to Huntington where a new church building had just been erected, and his name is listed on the Nicoll patent, both at Huntington and at Newtown.  [9][31][55]

On December 2,  1668, Newtown, still without a minister, invited the Rev. William Leverich to become their pastor.  At the desire of the town, several of the leading citizens in conjunction with the constable and overseers drew up and submitted proposals to Mr. Leverich, which he accepted.  Preparatory to his removal to Newtown he purchased the residence of Jonathan Hazard, near the village April 18, 1669.  On April 20, 1669, he sold out his possessions at Huntington and removed to Newtown, where he remained as minister until his death in 1677.  [31][55][56][57]   As to why he would move once again from Huntington where he was reasonably comfortable and respected, it can only be suggested that as he approached the last years of his life,  he desired to be closer to his sons, both of whom were now well established at Newtown.  [9][57]

 

The title page of the 1852 work, The Anals of Newtown [31], includes the following quotation attributed to Rev. William Leverich: “The benefits of God are to be kept in fresh memory and propagated to posterity.”   This work includes several additional references to our ancestor.

 

While attention was thus directed to the temporal comfort and prosperity of the people, their moral and religious improvement was hindered, the town being destitute of a suitable house for public worship.  The Rev. Mr. Leverich was straitened in his labors, and seems to have meditated a removal, for the people having met on Dec 13th, to consider the state of their religious affairs, voted that Mr. William Leverich shall continue at this town to preach the word and be our minister, and also appointed persons, with the constable and overseers, to agree with Mr. Leverich for his maintenance.  They further resolved that a rate of forty pounds shall be made for the building of a meeting-house, the one-half to be paid in corn, the other half in cattle.    Arrangements were forthwith entered into for the erection of the first church edifice that graced the village of Newtown, which enterprize was among the chief concerns of 1671.  It was built upon a small gore of land appropriated for the purpose by Ralph Hunt, a respectable resident of the town; and  this church remained for about forty years, the site being now occupied by the large house at the south corner of the main street and the Jamaica road, formerly known as the “Corner House”, and recently owned by Peter Duryea.  [31]

 

Our ancestor did not escape the religious tensions of the time, as the following passage from the Anals of Newtown illustrates.

 

The conduct of the Quakers was at length declared to be a disturbance of the peace, a public scandal …  The excitement already produced was now heightened by the improper conduct of Mary, the wife of Thomas Case.  Entering the Church at Newtown on Sunday afternoon, Sept 5 (1675), she thus addressed Mr. Leverich, who was in the pulpit:  “Come down thou whited wall, thou art one that feedest thyself and starvest the flock.”  She was led out of the meeting by Samuel Moore, the constable, and persuaded to be quiet, but this interruption of public worship was deemed too serious an offense to be passed by, and Mr. Moore preferred a complaint against her …  To the charges brought against her Mrs. Case could only reply that she “went in obedience to the Lord, to declare against Mr. Leverich’s doctrine.”  But the divine agency in this affair being not so apparent to the court, she was fined five pounds. [31]

 

The Rev. William Leverich died at Newtown in the early part of the year 1677, his son Caleb having taken out letters of administration on his father’s estate in June 1677, signed by Governor Andros.  [9]

 

James Riker, Jr, in the Anals of Newtown, commented as follows.

 

The year upon which we have entered spread a mantle of gloom over the township.  Their pastor, the Rev. William Leverich, died in the early part of 1677.  Mr. Leverich ranked high among the divines of his day, as an indefatigable laborer in the cause of religious truth, to which he brought the highly important qualifications of ardent piety and extensive learning. [31]

 

Riker goes on to add that:

 

An interesting relic of Mr. Leverich exists in the town clerk’s office.  It is a volume of between six and seven hundred pages, about one hundred of which are occupied by a running commentary on the first fourteen books of the Old Testament, written by his hand, but in part copied from the commentary of the learned Piscator.  The book seems to have been originally intended by Mr. Leverich as an index to subjects he should meet within the course of his study, the pages being numbered and headed with a great variety of subjects, written in Latin, and arranged alphabetically.  But the design was not carried out, and after the decease of Mr. Leverich, the book was given to the town for public records. [31]

 

In the late 1970’s, at least a portion of the above referenced work was located in the Historical Documents Section of  Queens College, City University of New York, and was examined by this writer.  The library catalog describes the work as follows:

 

86 parchment pages, 34 cm x 20 cm, longhand, ink.  Commentary on scriptural passages, organized by chapter and verse, in English, with Greek and Hebrew references, tentative dating from the 1640’s.

 

The work had apparently been bound by the Newtown Town Clerk in 1881.  The binding contains the following reference.

 

“Remains of Ancient Newtown”.  Part of the Record Book presented by the Leverich Family, containing the scriptural notes and reading of the Rev. William Leverich.

 

As these leaves had come apart from the old book, I thought it better to bind together under cover by themselves. 

 

[signed] William O’Gorman, Town Clerk, Newtown, November 5, 1881 [32]

 

About 1865 this document was examined by Dr. John P. Knox, then pastor of the Newtown Presbyterian Church, at the request of Rev. Robert Davidson, then pastor of the First Presberterian Church at Huntington.   In a letter to Rev. Davidson, Dr. Knox makes the following observations:

 

It is an old folio volume.  The covers are off, and a number of leaves both at the beginning and end are gone.  The commentary as far as the record remains, begins with Deuteronomy and closes with 2 Chronicles.  There is no name attached.  We must take Mr. Riker’s authority that it was written by Mr. Leverich.  The writing is cramped, small, and much abbreviated;  signs also are used for small familiar words; so much so that I could not define entirely a single line.  The whole consists of one or two remarks or observations upon each verse, chapter by chapter; each remark comprehended in four or five words.  For instance:  “God’s hatred of Idolatry.”  “Example of veracity in Eli admitting defense of Hannah.”   “Example of Humility”.  Occasionally I see a reference to the New Testament, and also to other parts of the Old.  With some study, the whole could easily be made out, after the signs and abbreviations were mastered.  I suppose the author was simply jotting down his thoughts on each verse as he read, for matter and illustration in sermonizing.  After his death the book was used as a volume of town records, with which its remaining pages, several hundred in all, are filled.  [57]  

 

In an October 2001 telephone conversation with Dr. Leo Hershkowitz of Queens College, the compiler learned that the college’s historical documents collection was closed down in the mid 1980’s, and the collection dispersed to various other archival repositories.   In a subsequent telephone conversation with William Asadorian of the Queens Borough Public Library, it was learned that the above document had been transferred to the New York City Municipal Archives in Manhattan, since the document had been included as part of the Newtown Town Records.    The compiler examined and photographed the document at the Municipal Archives on January 11, 2002.  The document remains to reasonably good condition, considering its age of over 325 years.

 

The location of the Rev. William Leverich’s final resting place is uncertain.  On January 27, 1936 Mr. Arthur White, a local historian, wrote:

 

I am enclosing a list of the stones standing in the Leverich Cemetery in 1880.  It is now a vacant lot, between 71st and 72nd Streets, shut in by garages and dwelling houses with no outlet to the street, as another vacant lot cuts it off from the above streets on one side and the buildings cover all the other sides.  The Leverich Homestead was located directly opposite the cemetery.

 

It is supposed that Caleb Leverich, who died in 1717, is buried there, and from his time down to about 1830, it was the family burial place, since then most of the family are interred in the Presbyterian Churchyard in Elmhurst.  It is not known where the Rev. William Leverich, the first of the name in this country, and father of Caleb, is buried, but probably it was in the old town cemetery, now a playground on Justice and Toledo Streets, as that was the only burial place in the town at the time of his death in 1677.  [33]

 

Another undated note by Mr. White (but perhaps written about 1927), included in the Work Progress Administration collection of the Queensboro Public Library, states:

 

The Leverich Family Cemetery was situated on Trains Meadow Road a little east of the Woodside Railroad Station.  The Road and cemetery are now entirely obliterated.  The former has been done away with, other streets laid out and houses built on it.  The cemetery has also gone out of sight and it is impossible to find its exact location.  No signs of it can now be found although no bodies have ever been removed.  In all probability it is covered by new streets and blocks of houses.  Directly opposite the cemetery stood the Leverich homestead, torn down some time ago.  About twenty years ago, about a dozen stones were standing in memory of the following persons.  [33]

 

However, in June 2001, the compiler received an email from Stanley Cogan, president of the Queens Historical Society, reporting that the Leverich Family Burial Ground indeed still existed and that its location had been rediscovered.   In July 2001 the compiler visited the site, accompanied by several members of the Historical Society.  

 

The contemporary location of the burial ground is a rectangular plot located immediately behind the rear yards of several private residences that face on Leverich Street, and on the other side immediately behind a parking lot behind several apartment buildings that face on 35th Avenue at the intersection of 71st Street.  There is no public access.  This location is on the western edge of what is now known as the community of Jackson Heights, and just east of the community now known as Woodside.   It lies within the western boundary of the Jackson Heights Garden City Historic Register District which is listed on both the Federal and New York State Registers of Historic Places.  Earlier in history it was known as the Trains Meadow section of Newtown, and was located north of the Trains Meadow Road,  just south of the family homestead which was located south of the Trains Meadow Road.  [54]

 

Unfortunately, the site is in very poor condition.  The area is completely overgrown with vegetation, and strewn with discarded debris.  There are no signs of any grave markers, and one would never know from its appearance that it was an old cemetery.   The Queens Historical Society and two Jackson Heights community groups are interested in beginning the process of restoring and preserving the site.  The property is currently described as block 1271, Lot 67 and has the following dimensions: 59.29’ on the north, 132.32’ on the east , 55.37’ on the south, and 138.53’ on the west.  The lot abuts Lots Numbers 61-66 on its west side,  the backyards of private homes fronting on Leverich Street.  [54]

 

 

 

Research regarding the ownership of the plot discloses that the owner, according to New York City property records, is “Leverich Burial Ground”.  No individual is identified.    On June 14, 2001 the City of New York sold a tax lien on hundreds of properties, including the burial ground, to Capitol Assets and J.E. Roberts.  The computer file records the assessed value of the lot as $41,052 and the property taxes due as $2,074.00.   This of course is an error, since the burial ground by its nature, regardless of ownership, is a nonprofit entity and not subject to property taxes.    The Queens Historical Society has successfully contacted the City Government to get this error corrected.   A letter dated November 28, 2001 to the Historical Society from the City of New York Department of Finance states:

 

This parcel has been removed from the Tax Lien Sale for the following year(s): June 1, 2001.   The exemption for this property was removed erroneously.  We have taken the necessary steps to restore the exemption on this property.  At this time we have also removed the tax lien from this property due to the restoration of the exemption.

 

The next step will be to determine how to vest property title for the burial ground in the historical society and/or other nonprofit community groups interested in restoring and preserving the property, which includes several groups in Jackson Heights.  Thereafter, arrangements would need to be made for public access, since the property is “land locked” by other private properties.   It would also appear that some neighboring properties may have inadvertently encroached on the burial ground property, and addressing those matters will be a sensitive undertaking.    The compiler met with representatives of the Historical Society and Jackson Heights Community groups on January 11, 2002.   A preliminary plan of action was agreed upon, and the Jackson Heights groups will take the lead.  [54]

 

Jackson Heights - Its History and Growth notes that the land now covered by Jackson Heights was known as the Trains Meadow section of Newtown in Colonial and Revolutionary times.   In 1898, at the time of the consolidation of the outlying communities into Greater New York, the area where Jackson Heights now stands was farmland and swampland, with only six or seven houses in the whole section.   There were two large farms, the Barclay farm and the Leverich farm in the area, and four or five small truck farmes, on which farmers, German and English, grew vegetables for the New York market.     The Leverich family had lived there since 1662, when Rev William Leverich became pastor of the Presbyterian Church.  The homestead was at the westerly end of what is now known as Jackson Heights.   In 1898, there was a narrow winding road leading from Elmhurst to Jackson Avenue and beyond.  It started at about the present (1950) 83rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue and led past what is now (1950) the Club House at 79th Street.  This was called the Trains Meadow Road.   The road has since been completely obliterated by new development.  [35]

 

A comparison of an 1852 map of Newtown [34] with contemporary maps shows the residence of a “N. Leverich” at the approximate location of contemporary Leverich Street and consistent with the location described by Mr. White.  “N. Leverich” was Nancy Leverich, the widow of 6-Richard Leverich, and the mother of Susan Leverich of Bridgeport, Connecticut,  mentioned earlier in this account.    An 1873 map of Newtown [30] indicates a “cemetery” (unnamed) at the same approximate location on “Trains Meadow Road”.   Both the 1852 and 1873 maps place this location within the area known as “Trains Meadow”.   The location is also slightly east of the contemporary Woodside Train Station, as described by Mr. White.   A New York City Department of City Planning Map, dated 1987, clearly marks the Leverich Family Burial Ground in the same location.  [51]

 

Catherine Gregory’s book Woodside, Queens County, New York includes a picture of the Leverich Family Homestead on Trains Meadow Road, dated sometime prior to 1909.

 

The homestead was built by 2-Caleb Leverich, the son of the Rev. William Leverich about 1670.   4-John Leverich, Caleb’s grandson, built an addition on the home in 1732, the date marked on the stone wall above the front door.   The home had a great hall through the center, rooms with high ceilings, a kitchen with a huge fireplace occupying nearly on whole side, and an attic.  The farm which reached southward to Woodside Avenue in the 19th century, was noted for its marvelous apple crop, the Newtown Pippin.   Fire seriously damaged the two-story colonial house on April 1, 1909, when Terminal Heights Realty Company owned the unoccupied building. [51][52]  The contemporary location of the homestead is 35th Road between Leverich Street and 69th Street.

 

Nancy Leverich, mother of Susan referenced above, was the last Leverich  family member to occupy the family homestead.   Nancy, the widow of 6-Deacon Richard Leverich who died in 1836, is listed in Queens in the 1850 census with her daughters Amy and Susan.  However, by the 1860 census she is living in Manhattan in the household of her son-in-law Charles Cannon, Amy’s husband.  Susan Leverich was also living in the household at that time.  [53]  It is not yet known exactly when the farm and homestead were sold out of the family, and further research is ongoing.   Nancy Leverich and her daughters were involved in at least two land sales in the 1850’s, but neither appears to pertain to the family farm.    It is possible that the farm was rented out, and not sold until after Nancy’s death in 1884.  [54]

 

It is known that the family burial ground was segregated from the homestead and farm at an early date, when the farm passed from the heirs of 4-John Leverich to 6-Sackett Leverich, the brother of Richard mentioned above, in a deed dated 1 March 1781. 

 

And is bounded as follows (viz) first the homestead above the road that leads around Trains Meadow  northerly by the said road & the land of John Moore Senr Eastwardly by  the land of John Alburtiss late dec southerly ???  ???  by the road from said to Halletts Cove Westerly and Southerly again by the land of Jacob Palmer & westerly again by the aforementioned road around Trains Meadow  secondly a piece or parcel of meadow below the aforementioned road southerly by the said road southwesterly by the swamp and meadow of Richard Moore Northwesterly by the ???   ??? or meadow of Nathaniel Moore Sr & northeasterly by the meadow of John Moore & thirdly a piece of salt meadow northerly by the meadow of Charles Booram & William Betts late dec easterly by the meadow of John Moore Sr   ???  southerly by the meadow of Nicholas Wickoff & Johannes Debevoise and westerly by the meadow of Abraham Brinkerhoff late dec one quarter of an acrer within the said bounderies excepted for a family burial place forever bounded southeasterly by the s Read round.  [54]

 

Catherine Gregory’s book indicates the following regarding the fate of the family farm in the early 1900’s:

 

A part of the Leverich farm, on which the colonial Leverich home still stood, was also in the Terminal Heights development plans.  Justice P. Henry Dugro, his wife, Sophia, and John F. Ries, residents of Manhattan, transferred that 11.2 acre tract to Terminal Heights Development Company on February 6, 1909.  The abandoned railroad at 37th Road was at the southern end of the tract, and approximately the line of 71st Street was on the east.  Trains Meadow Road was on the west and North, now 65th Street and 35th Road respectively.  A New York City park, Brig. Gen. Joseph T. Hart Park, and private frame houses cover much of that former farmland … the former Leverich tract became part of the Queensboro Corporation Map of Barclay-Dugro Tract, dated January 19, 1911.  Queensboro Corporation laid out its plan on that map for development of an enormous tract, most of it became Jackson Heights, but some of it was marked Winfield, Woodside, and Elmhurst. [51]

 

The Encylcopedia of Biography of New York [9][51] includes an interesting account of the homestead during the Revolutionary War:

 

The old farm, bought by Caleb Leverich for his sons, was during the bitter strife for independence, truly the  scene of great activity.  For some part of the time there was stationed on it 1168 men, viz “The Royal Highland Forty-second Regiment”, the celebrated Black Watch, Thomas Sterling, Commandant.  Many were the stories told about his honorable treatment of all, forbidding his solders to commit any depredation, and several times when they transgressed his rules, they receive no sympathy if met with disaster.  Cholera carried away quite a number, they were buried in a corner of the farm, and the burial place was marked by a pile of stones called a cairn, every soldier passing was required to throw a stone upon it.  Some years ago the spot was excavated for a railway, and human remains were found, great wonder was caused as to whom they belonged to, until the family was consulted and the secret explained … Colonel Sterling, Lady Sterling, and two of the officers of the Royal Highland Forty-second occupied a portion of the house.  On the occasion of his leaving, the inhabitants of Newtown drew up an address to Colonel Sterling, and his officers, thanking them “for their very equitable polite, and friendly conduct during their winter’s stay at the Leverich home”.

 

In the August 1980 issue of the Long Island Forum, in an article about 7-Charles Palmer Leverich, son of  6-Col. Edward Leverich, John B Shiel wrote: 

 

It was, I recall, in 1920 when we heard that the Elliot Manor was burning.  This mansion was on about a city block square, all that remained of a large farm.  It was between Shell Road (37th Avenue) and Roosevelt Avenue and faced Summit Street (114th Street) in Corona.  The mansion was at the present 111th Street subway station, and if existing, would have faced Shea Stadium …

 

My family and everyone else called this mansion the Elliot Manor, even though it was not a manor, and most people knew that some of the Leverich Family had been born there …

 

It was in July 1666 that the Indians signed a deed that extinguished all their claims to land in the Newtown area previously reserved to them …  The Leverich’s acquired much property in this area.  About the time of the treaty, or a few years before, Caleb Leverich (the son of Rev. William Leverich) started to build the first portion of the house I knew as Elliot Manor.  [36]

 

This article includes a picture of the Elliot Manor with the caption: “The Elliot Manor, the Leverich family home, begun c1666”.    However, the contemporary Corona (Queens County) location of the Elliot Manor, as described by Mr. Shiel, is further east (about 40 city blocks east) of the 71st-72nd street location discussed above.  The 1852 and 1873 maps of  Newtown [30] indicate several Leverich residences in this Corona area including that of 7-Charles Palmer Leverich, the subject of the article, and his brother 7-Henry Stanton Leverich.   Therefore, it is more likely that the Elliot Manor was  originally the farm of another early Newtown Leverich, possibly 6-Col. Edward Leverich, father of Charles P. Leverich and Henry S. Leverich,  than that it was the original homestead started in 1670 by 2-Caleb Leverich, particularly since this location is considerably east of the Trains Meadow area indicated in the 1852 and 1873 maps.  

 

The Newtown Presbyterian Church is today located at 54th Avenue and Queens Boulevard in the Elmhurst section of the Borough of Queens, New York City.  When the old church cemetery property was sold, the remains were buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn where a memorial stone was erected to honor those previously buried in the old churchyard.  A service of dedication was held at Evergreen on June 17, 1962.  [37]

 

 

The name of the spouse of the Rev. William Leverich remains a mystery.  At the time of this writing, no reference to the name of our ancestor’s wife has been located in American records.

 

However, he was the rector at Great Livermore parish in Suffolk, England from 1631 until his departure for America in 1633.  The Great Livermore parish registers [38] record the following baptism:

 

Baptism 1632: Hannah Leverich, daughter of William and Ellen, April the 3rd 

 

Although it would appear that this would be our William, due to the date and location, further research is needed.   If the Rev. William Leverich came to America with a wife and child(ren), there is little or no documentary evidence.   He is apparently listed alone on the passenger list for the Ship James, although his wife could have joined him in America at a later date.  [39][40][41]

 

This results in three possible scenarios:

 

1.     Ellen Leverich, wife of William, came to America with William in 1633, or came later;  the daughter Hannah may have died prior to 1633, or came with them, and died in America – there is no documented reference so far to a daughter Hannah in American records.

 

2.     Ellen Leverich and daughter Hannah died in England prior to 1633, when William came to America.  If so, perhaps it was this loss that among other factors, caused him to emigrate.

 

3.     Ellen Leverich remained in England and did