Parents of John Leavitt Per Emily Noyes

Source:Noyes, Emily Leavitt. Leavitt, presents her research into the English ancestry of John Leavitt, the immigrant, in volume 1.

It has been difficult to verify some of the data Ms. Noyes has presented. The purpose of this article is to provide some analysis. The basic conclusion of this analysis of what Ms. Noyes says, is that it is doubtful that John's father was Percival, and it it was Percival, it was almost certainly not the Percival presented by Ms. Noyes, but a different one.

Ms. Noyes is halfway between older genealogy where sources were rare, giving some sources, but not quite up to modern standards requiring copius footnotes. As the lack of verifiability is the main issue here, a few general comments about her supposed sources will be noted. In Vol. 5 (and some of the earlier ones), a comment in the preface refers readers to English data in Vol. 1 that she secured on John Leavitt the immigrant, "now quite valuable since the bombing of London". She also thanks a collaborator named Leon Leavitt "for his England material".

First a review of various sources, followed by analysis and conclusion at the end.

Secondary Sources

Origins per Noyes

[Taken from Volume 1. The same information appears to be in volume 5.]

Percival Levett, s/o William b. 1552, d. 1625, m. Elizabeth Rotherforth. Innkeeper at York, 1581, and a freeman same year.

Children of Percival and Elizabeth (Rotherforth) Levett

• Mary b. 1575 m. John Smith of Cottingham, Co. York
• Grace b. 1577 m. Will Todd of York
• Ann b. 1578 m. (1) 1623 Christopher Topin, Alderman of York, m. (2) 1627 Joseph Micklethwaite
• Mercy b. 1579 m. Robert Moore, famous rector of Guisley, York
• Percival b. 1580 m. (unknown). of Beverly, merchant of York, freeman in 1611.
• Rutherforth b. 1582 d. 1584
• Christopher b. 1583 (bpt. 5 Apr 1586) d. 1630-1 m. Frances Lottesham.

"The registers of England were thoroughly combed for John's ancestors and the following is the only family which seems probable."

Children of Percival and [blank] Levett

• John b. 1608 [purported to be immigrant]
• Joseph b. 1609
• Sarah b. 1611
• Elizabeth b. 1612
• Benjamin b. 1614
• Samuel b. 1615
• Abigail b. 1616
• Mary b. 1617
• Martha b. 1620

"While there is no positive proof John is of this family, many facts appear to make a doubt seem more unreasonable than fair."

NEHGR

An article in Vol. 67 entitled "Thomas Levet of Exeter and Hampton", by Victor Channing Sanborn, p. 76, gives the following presentation of the English families.

Percival Levett, s/o William Levett and second wife Joan Ynglande, b. 1560, buried 13 Feb 1625, m. Elizabeth Rotherforth. Freeman of York 1581, innkeeper.

Children of Percival Levet and Elizabeth Rotherforth

• Mary, bp. 1581, m. John Smith of Cottingham
• Rudderforth, bp. 1582, d. 1584.
• Grace, bp. 1584, m. Wiliam Todd
• Christopher, b. 5 Apr 1586, d. at sea 1621, m. (1) Mercy More, m. (2) Frances Lottisham.
• Percival, merchant of York, 9 children [not specified].
• Anne, m. (1) 1623 Christopher Topham, m. (2) 1627 Joseph Micklethwaite.

James Phinney Baxter

James Phinney Baxter wrote a pamphlet entitled "Christopher Levett, of York". According to the two previous presentations, Christopher would be brother of the Percival who is purported to be the father of John, which, if right, would make him John's uncle. This pamplet includes a family tree for the Levetts (here), the pertinent parts of which are abstracted here:

Percival Levett, buried 13 Feb 1625, m. Elizabeth Rudderforth or Rotherforth. Freeman of York 1651, sheriff, chamberlain

Children of Percival Levett and Elizabeth Rutherforthe

• Mary, bp. St. Michael Belfry 6 Jul 1581 m. John Smith of Cottingham
• Rudderforth, bp St. Michael le Belfry 29 Dec 1582, wife unknown [he d. young per other sources and church records]
• Grace, bp. St. Michael le Belfry 24 Nov 1584, m. William Todd
• Christopher, bp. All Saint's Pave't 5 Apr 1586, buried at sea 1631, m. (1) Mercy More, m. (2) Frances Lottisham
• Percival, wife unknown. Merchant.
• Anne, m. (1) Mar 1623 Chris. Topham, m. (2) 27 Mar 1627 Joseph Micklethwaite.

Children of Percival Levett and unknown wife

• Abigail, bp. 27 Sep 1614
• Mary, bp. 26 Sep 1615
• Sarah, bp. 29 Nov 1616
• Martha, bur. 2 Nov 1611
• Samuel, freeman as a Merchant by inheritance, 1636
• Joseph, freeman as a Merchant by inheritance, 1651
• Benjamin
• John
• Elizabeth

Church Records

A blog post by Jeanie Roberts started this investigation. The information presented in the blog article was a comparison of baptisms available online and baptisms given by Emily Noyes. Further investigation seemed warranted because:

1. baptisms occurred at 3 different churches
2. baptisms spanned 36 years
3. baptisms only name the father
4. other church records (marriages, burials, etc.) were not presented
5. every effort to assess the reasonableness of the various answers bumped into unknown facts with discrepant estimates to be found on the Internet. Depending on which estimate one chose to use, data could seem reasonable or unlikely.

This presentation made it seem likely this set of baptisms involved more than one family.

All Saint's Pavement Parish Registers

This source is found in the familysearch.org catalog, and may be accessed at a Family History Center. It has no index, but the following are believed to be all the Leavitt records. No marriages or burials were noticed.

St. Helen's Stonegate Church

Neal Gardner has posted three baptisms from this church, with images.

St. Michael le Belfry Church

The baptisms of this church have been published in printed form, It is available online at Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. All records pertaining to Leavitt are listed here, hoping some of the peripheral records might give some information about family relationships.

Probate Records

"Calender of Yorkshire probate records taken from the deanery act books of the Exchequer Court of York 1688-1731" pa/image 244 [1]

Name/Place/Deanery/Date/Doc Type
Levett, Andrew/South Dalton/Harthill/29 Jul 1698/A=Letters of Adm.
Levett, Anne/York/York/11 Apr 1700/W= Wills & Testaments
Levett, Elizabeth/York/York/25 Jan 1699/A=Letters of Adm.
Levett, Jacob/Appleton Roebuck/Ainsty of York/19 Jul 1690/A=Letters of Adm.
Levett, Mark/York/York/23 Jan 1699/W=Wills & Testaments
Levett, Thomas/Normanton/Pontafract/19 Aug 1690/W=Wills & Testaments

Analysis

No black and white answers are possible.

Clearly the John born 1625 is not the immigrant. But the question remains, is the Percival who was his father the Percival referred to by Noyes.

Adding the additional church records to the baptisms does seem to suggest they are a single family. At least it appears possible to connect them circumstantially.

The baptism of "Rudderfourth" in St. Michael le Belfry suggests the family mentioned in the 1500s in this church's records is Percival Sr. and Elizabeth Rotherforth.

In All Saints Pavement, the baptisms of children of Christopher and Percival at about the same time, in the same church where Christopher was baptized, suggest they are likely from the same family. Then the marriage of sister Ann, and death of Christopher's daughter Mary (baptized at this church, but buried at St. Michael le Belfry), tie the records of those two churches together.

The baptism of Joseph at Stonegate, and then the marriage of Joseph to Anna Robinson at St. Michael le Belfry, suggests the records of these two churches also apply to the same family. But this is circumstantial, and lots of gaps which could mean missing records. Without a will, or marriage records, it is very hard to have confidence.

Since Percival Sr. was born in 1552, or 1560, and his burial is found in 1625 (here), the Percival who died in 1654 would undoubtedly be Percival Jr., there being no record of a son Percival 3d. Using records from all three churches gives the following children Abigail 1614, Mary 1615, Sarah 1616, Anna 1624, John 1625, Joseph 1628, Martha 1630, Benjamin 1632, William 1634-1634/5, Grace 1640-1640, Samuel 1649/50-1651.

This is not the nine children mentioned in the secondary sources, no daughter named Elizabeth, so still some doubts remain. (Note that if one assumes Elizabeth existed, and just hasn't been found or wasn't recorded, and removing the three children who died young, you end up with nine. This type of approach would suggest the statement about nine children is based on a probate document. But it doesn't seem to be anywhere online?)

Such a wide span of years would strongly suggest multiple wives:

• In 1617, it appears Percival's wife's name was Mary (see here, or for full-view, p. 78 and p. 90 of this book).
• In 1648 (as pointed out on Jeanie Robert's blog), his wife appears to be Jane (---) Wade (see here).

But most likely, it appears that the John bp. 1625 belongs to Percival jr. who was brother to Christopher. So it appears Noyes is wrong in identifying the immigrant John Leavitt's father. We cannot say for sure if there is another family having a different Percival Leavitt as father, which might match the dates given by Noyes. Certainly, just finding a John Leavitt born near 1608 is not sufficient to proclaim him as John Leavitt of Hingham.

The inability to find the dates mentioned by Emily Noyes is troubling. Of course, it could be that the records just haven't been found. It is odd that after saying parish registers throughout England have been combed, that Noyes wouldn't have specified where they came from. However, it could be that this data came from a correspondent and was merely reported on the assumption it was correct.

The WeRelate page gives Percival Jr.'s wife's name as Margaret Linkley. This name does not come from any of the sources mentioned here, nor is its basis known.