Monday Is for Mothers: Mehitable Leonard (1747 - 1808)

Mehitable was born on September 28, 1747, in Preston in New London County in southeastern Connecticut and was baptized 14 months later in nearby Griswold. She was the daughter of Captain Samuel Leonard and his wife Lydia Stanton, both of whom came from families who had lived in Connecticut for generations.

[Connecticut. (to accompany) Harriet E. Baker's Book of Penmanship & Map. At Mr. Dunham's School Windsor Vermont March 31, 1819. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

Mehitable was only 12 when her parents died within a few days of each other in the spring of 1760. Since Captain Leonard left no will, her two oldest surviving brothers Samuel and Ebenezer were named administrators of their father's estate on June 9th. In the division of the estate filed with the Court in April of 1761, Mehitable share was the 7th item listed.

[Probate Files Collection, Early to 1880; Author: Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut); Probate Place: Hartford, Connecticut. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts.]

7th Wee Set out to mehitable Lenard the Daughter of the
Said Dec'st a Lot of Said Land Containing about fourteen
acres and is Buted and Bounded as followeth 
(the text here is a long and complicated description of
the boundaries to the property allotted to Mehitable
which I'm not going to attempt to transcribe here)
Wee also Set out to the Said mehitable of the Personal
Estate of the Said Dec'st Sundrey goods to the value of
L49 = 13 S = 0 d at Inventory Price

Existing online records are silent about Mehitable until her marriage to Aaron Baldwin in 1771 but she almost certainly lived with some of her relatives in Preston. After the wedding she moved to Aaron's home in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. One of their seven children was one of my maternal fourth great grandmothers Olive Baldwin.

[Ancestry.com. Early Connecticut Marriages [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Bailey, Frederic W. Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800.

Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.]

Mehitable Leonard Baldwin died on April 6, 1808, and is buried in Joseph Roode Farm Cemetery in Windham County, Connecticut.

[Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: The Charles R. Hale Collection. Hale Collection of Connecticut Cemetery Inscriptions. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library.]

[Find A Grave Memorial# 84270575. Photo by Nate Bramlett (#46874243)]

The last record we have for Aaron is the 1810 U.S. Census but we don't have a death date or place of burial for him.

It turns out that I wrote an earlier post about Mehitable Leonard. (And I forgot to add the link to Christine's Ancestors' Page--lesson learned.)


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