Person:Samuel Leonard (15)

FROM "LEONARD GENEALOGY"

Has been called carpenter, husbandsman and planter.He lived in Bridgewater at the time of his marriage, having built a house on his fathers land--a common thing in those days--having assurance that a title would be given at a future date. He became an early proprietor in Worcester, where his brother Jacob had been living several years and removed to that place before 1690 and was living there when his only son Samuel was taken captive by Indians in 1695. About this time he seems to have removed to Norwich ,Conn.and bought land in Preston, Conn.on the opposite side of the Shetucket River. He was probably led to this place by the fact that some of Major Bradfords family had located here and several old friends and neighbors from Duxbury and Bridgewater. Among them Josiah and Miles Standish( son ans grandson of renowned Capt. Miles Standish of the Mayflower) and Deacon Caleb Fobes. He was a consistent member of the First Church of Preston, formed 16 Nov.1698 when Rev. Salmon Treat was ordained pastor. Mr. Treat resigned14March1744, and died 6Jan1762 aged90.

Second wife Deborah is thought to be the daughter of John Leonard of Springfield who were relatives.

SAMUEL LEONARD

About 1696 there came to the Pachaug country Samuel Leonard, who with his family settled on the banks of the Pachaug river, east of Appaquashosk hill. They had experienced to the full the savagery of the Indians, for their only son, a lad of 12 years, also named Samuel, had just before been kidnapped and carried into captivity by the redskins, with whom he remained for nearly 2 years. It chanced that during this time he was brought into the company of Hannah Dustin and Mary Neff, the details of whose capture by the Indians at Haverhill, Mass., in 1697, had horrified all New England. The three,while in a wigwam occupied by 2 Indian families on an island in the Merrimac river, near Concord, planned their escape. The boy Samuel had been so long with the savages that, when he asked his master how to strike to kill instantly, and how to take a scalp, it was taken as a sign that he had become one of them, and he was freely told. When the captives had perfected their plans, silently and with speed, while their captors slept, the attack was made. Ten Indians were killed instantly; the two remaining, a squaw who was wounded, and a child who was spared purposely, escaped to the woods. With the scalps of the slain and their weapons, the three, captives no longer, embarked in a canoe, and having scuttled the boats that remained, descended the river until the came in safety to their friends. The news of their escape spread from settlement to settlement, and all who heard were filled with astonishment and admiration because of their heroic deed. Soon after theboy Samuel returned, doubtless fearing then and always the vengeance of his implacable foes, the family fled in secrecy to Pachaug,and became permanent settlers there. Family tradition alone tells us that at one time in the early days the Leonards became aware of an Indian lurking about their home. At last, after days of watching, a member of the family shoot the Indian dead, seemingly with no more compunction than he would have shown toward a dangerous beast. But such incidents were exceptional.

1. ↑ Ruth Wilder Sherman, "The Mary Atwood Sampler: More about Mary (Wood) (Holmes Bradford of Duxbury and Plymouth, Massachusetts", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   144 [1990] : 26.
2. ↑ Leonard, Manning. Memorial, Genealogical, Historical and Biographical, of Solomon Leonard, 1637 : of Duxbury and Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and some of his descendants. (1896)
   33.