Person:John Leeds (5)

... She [Ruth Ball] married (1) Edward Leeds, son of Captain William and grandson of Timothy Leeds, a gentleman of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1697. ... By her first husband she had one child, John Leeds, born in 1705, a celebrated mathematician, surveyor-general of the Eastern Shore and Judge of the Provincial Court, who married Rachel Harrison, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Dickinson) Harrison, and was the grandfather of Hon. John Leeds Bozman (1757-1823), the first historian of Maryland. ...
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... Mr. John Leeds, now almost forgotten, was held in much esteem by his contemporaries for the purity of his character and his very respectable attainments. He was the son of Edward Leeds, of Wade's Point, in Talbot County - a property which he inherited from his father, Captain William Leeds - a Puritan ... John Leeds was born, according to the Quaker notation, on the 18th of the fifth month (July), 1705, and, his father dying soon after, was left to the care of his mother - a woman of strong sense as well as purity of character - who, having embraced the doctrines of the Friends, gave to the mind of her son a religious impress that was never lost, though he soon ceased all communion with these people. Of his education nothing whatever is known except that it was obtained wholly in Maryland - he never having been sent abroad, as the sons of wealthy planters and merchants often were. It may have been received under the tuition of one of those teachers who were purchased from the ships as indentured servants, for some of these were men not so ignorant and depraved as their forlorn condition might indicate; but in view of the extremely defective instruction that was imparted at that early time in the province - in view, too, of the small encouragement that was given to the prosecution of liberal studies in such a primitive society as then existed in Maryland, and, finally, in view of the really respectable attainments of Mr. Leeds - we are justified in believing that he possessed a natural aptitude for learning which overcame educational deficiencies and a tast for letters that could not be extinguished by the rudeness of his environments. A kinsman, writing of him, said: "Though educated solely in Maryland, few among his cotemporaries [sic] had higher claims, by common consent, to rigid scholarship and more skill in the mathematics." It was on account of his proficiency in astronomy and geodesy that he was appointed by Governor Sharpe one of the Commission to supervise the work of the surveyors, Mason and Dixon, in laying down the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which in subsequent years acquired such historic celebrity and momentous political importance. Of him Governor Sharpe said in a letter: "I appointed Mr. Leeds to be a Commissioner, and it was at my desire and request that he traveled and attended the other Commissioners. I did not think it safe with regard to Lord Baltimore's interest to be without him, there being no other person I could procure to assist whose knowledge of such matters I could rely on."^14-1 It is hardly doubtful that the detection of some errors in the original survey was owing to his knowledge and accuracy. Mr. Leeds gave much attention to astronomy, ^14-2 but more particularly to optics, in which science his descendants claim that he made unrevealed discoveries which anticipated many of a later day. The truth of this there are, of course, no means of determining. He possessed a valuable collection of philosophical instruments, some of which, after his death, came into the possession of St. John's College and others remained in that of his grandson, Mr. John Leeds Bozman.^14-3
In the year 1735 Mr. Leeds was appointed one of the Commissioners of Justices of the Peace for Talbot County, which position he held until the year 1738, when he was appointed Clerk of the County.^15-1 In this place he remained for a great number of years, and while holding it he was, in 1766, appointed Naval Officer for Oxford, and at a later date, say 1773, a Judge of the Provincial Court. No office of the Provincial Government was of greater importance and dignity than this, except that of the chief executive, and his appointment to it must be regarded not only as a testimonial to his high character, but as evidence of his possessing, in addition to his other acquirements, a good knowledge of law. He was also at one time Treasurer of the Eastern Shore. During the long controversy that was waged with the Royal Government by the American Colonies prior to the actual outbreak of the hostilities of the Revolution, Mr. Leeds counselled patience and peace, and he opposed all measures that seemed to tend to the rupture of the ties which bound Maryland to the mother country, and when finally these ties were declared to be sundered, he pronounced the act precipitate, ill-advised, morally and politically culpable. He refused to renounce his allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and to recognize as legitimate that government or those governments which had been set up upon the ruins of the proprietary and kingly rule. In other words, he became a Tory - a decided but inactive Tory. He refused to take the oath that was required of him, resigned all his official positions, even that of the Clerk of the Court, and retreated to the seclusion of his farm on Bay-Side. ^16-1 As the contest grew warmer and more embittered in the colony and his county, he apprehended that proscriptive measures would be adopted in Maryland against all those who opposed the current of popular sentiment. So he settled his private affairs preparatory to leaving the country, expecting to embark with Governor Eden on the ship Fowey ; but as the final step towards colonial independence was delayed, he was persuaded by kinsmen and friends of the Whig or patriot party, among whom was a very near neighbor - the Hon. Matthew Tighman (clarum et venerabile nomen) - to continue at his home, and , he consenting, here remained in unmolested retirement during the whole contest, giving offence to none by the obtrusion of his sentiments upon public or private notice, and enjoying, amidst the suspicion and acrimony that was engendered by the war, the confidence and consideration of his fellow-citizens of whatsoever political belief.^17-1 Mr. Leeds maintained his opinions to the end of his life, and witnessing, not without self-approval, the failure of government under the Articles of Confederation, he was confirmed in his belief that a lasting league of independent States was an illusion of political optimism, and that the only sure ground for stability was a constitutional monarchy. He did not live long enough to witness the happy working of our "more perfect Union" under our new form of government, for he died soon after the adoption of our Constitution, in March, 1790, "fully impressed with the idea that expenditure of lives and the waste of treasure might have been obviated by the recognition of a Colonial General Home Government under the mere prestige of British power and British laws."^18-1 ... [more]
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LEEDS, JOHN, a public-spirited and useful citizen of Maryland, remarkable among his contemporaries for scientific attainments, was born at his family homestead in the Bay Hundred of Talbot County, Maryland, May 18, 1705. Few persons enjoyed in a higher degree the confidence of the Colonial Government. For forty years he was Clerk of the County Court, Treasurer of the Eastern Shore, and a Judge of the Provincial Court. From 1700-1764 he was specially commissioned to supervise the returns of Messrs. Mason and Dixon ; and Governor Sharpe took occasion to certify, that scientific knowledge on his part was essential to the interests of Lord Baltimore in this controversy with Pennsylvania. Mr. Leed's death occurred in March, 1790, at an advanced age, at Wade's Point plantation, patented to Zachary Wade, one of Captain Clayborne's men, and upon his outlawry assigned to his grandfather, William Leeds, and devised by him to Edward Leeds, his father. In the beginning of the last century, good schools were rare, and yet every effort had been made to secure the advantages of them by acts of Assembly, so early as 1796, followed up by like enactments in 1704, 1717, and 1723. It is much to the credit of Mr. Leeds, that he should have stood, by common consent, taller by head and shoulders than any of his contemporaries, without being compelled to resort to the usual mode of seeking an education abroad in English Colleges. At the commencement of the Revolution there was much asperity of feeling against him upon his known opposition to the movement. He died universally respected, and in after years the author of the Reply to the Manifesto of the Messrs. Howes, and of the Address to the Inhabitants between the Chesapeake and Delaware, the distinguished Luther Martin, took occasion to pay a tribute to Mr. Leeds, as "a gentleman of great knowledge and information." He left daughters, but no sons ; and this family name no longer exists as distinctive of early Maryland.