2462. Gov.
William Leete1496,1497,2224,2227,2228,2697,2698,2699,2700
was born in 1612/13.2227,2697,2699,2700 He was a governor in New
Haven Colony from 1661 to 1663.2699
He was a governor in Connecticut from 1676 to 1683.2227,2699
He died on 16 Apr 1683 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut.2227,2699,2701 From: The Governers of Connecticut
By: Frederick Calvin Norton
Published: 1905
WILLIAM Leete is generally known in history as the sturdy governor who sheltered
and defended the regicides when they were in Guilford. This was one of the unimportant
incidents of a particularly busy life, yet it has found a place in various local
histories and in more pretentious biographical works. His ancestors were members
of an ancient family. Gerard Letie, or Leete, owned lands in 1209, during the
reign of King John, in Morden, Cambridgeshire. Matthew Lety, John Leet, Henry
Leete, were all Englishmen of prominence and their names appear in the public
rçcords previous to the year 1550.
William Leete was the son of John Leete, of Dodington, and Anna Shute, daughter
of one of the justices of the King’s Court. He was born in Dodington, Huntingdonshire,
England, in 1612 or 1613. Educated as a lawyer, Leete was for a time clerk of
a Bishop’s Court at Cambridge, where he witnessed the oppression and cruelties
imposed on the unoffènding Puritans.
In 1643 Leete and Samuel Desborough met the Court at New Haven, when New Haven
colony was planned and organized. He was one of the deputies from Guilford to
the General Court of New Haven colony until 1650; and from 1651 to 1658 was magistrate
of the town. During the latter year he was elected deputy governor of the colony,
and continued in the office until he was chosen governor in 1661. He held this
position until the union of the colony with Connecticut in 1664. After the consolidation
of the colonies Leete was an assistant until 1669 when he was chosen deputy governor
of Connecticut colony. He was reelected to this office annually until 1676, when
he became governor of the colony.
Shortly after his election as governor, Leete moved to Hartford from Guilford,
and he resided in that town until his death in 1683. His remains were buried
in the old cemetery at Hartford; and Treasurer John Talcott made an entry in
his account book that it cost the colony eleven pounds of powder for firing the
“Great Gun at Gov’r leetes funerall.”
Governor Leete was a popular official; his administration abounded with good
results through a particularly difficult period, and his great integrity won
the approbation of friends and enemies. Dr. Trumbull wrote of him: “He died
full of years and good works.” Paifrey summed up his public life in these
words: “Leete was an intelligent and virtuous ruler and Connecticut prospered
under his care.”
The story of Governor Leete’s experience with the regicidesGoffe and Whalley
- when they fled to New England, upon the restoration of Charles I., is as follows:
Ezra Stiles in that curious little volume, “The Judges,” states that
Goffe and Whalley were in Guilford twice. The first time was when they were flying
from Boston to New Haven. The second visit has been the foundation of a story,
which, according to Dr. Bernard C. Steiner, the brilliant historian of Guilford,
is much disputed as some of the details are clearly wrong. Goffe and Whalley
probably went to Governor Leete’s home and were secreted there several days
and nights. Finally the judges returned to their
place of concealment in New Haven. There is a tradition given credence in several
histories that the governor’s daughter, Anna, who afterward became the wife
of John Trowbridge of New Haven, fed the regicides from the governor’s table.
Dr. Steiner, an eminent authority, says these men were hidden in Guilford, if
at all, in June, i66i. President Stiles relates the story thus:
“It is an anecdote still preserved in that family that she (the governor’s
daughter Anna) used often to say that when she was a little girl these good men
lay concealed some time in the cellar of her father’s store, but she did
not know it until afterward; that she well remembered that at the time of it
she and the rest of the children were strictly prohibited from going near that
store for some days, and that she and the children wondered at it and could not
perceive the reason of it at that time, though they knew afterward.”
“Tradition says that they were, however, constantly supplied with victuals
from the governor’s table, sent to them by the maid who long atter was wont
to glory in it - that she had fed those heavenly men.” As the governor’s
daughter, Anna, referred to in this anecdote, was born on March 10, 1661, and
the regicides were there in June of the same year, the error is obvious. Gov.
William Leete and Anne Paine were married on 1 Aug 1636 in Hail Weston, Huntingdon,
England.2226,2227,2699
2463. Anne Paine2226,2227,2699 died on 1 Sep 1668 in Connecticut.2226,2227
Children were:
i. | Mary Leete2227 died in Jan 1638/39 in England.2227 She was baptized on 18 Nov 1638 in England.2227 | |
ii. | John Leete2226,2227 was born in 1639.2226,2227 He died on 25 Nov 1692.2226,2227 | |
iii. | Andrew Leete2226,2227 was born in 1643.2226,2227 He died on 31 Oct 1702.1498 | |
iv. | William Leete2226,2227 died on 1 Jun 1687.1498 | |
1231 | v. | Abigail Leete. |
vi. | Caleb Leete2226,2227 was born on 24 Aug 1651.2226,2227 He died on 13 Jan 1673.2227 | |
vii. | Gratiana Leete2226,2227 was born on 22 Dec 1653.2226,2227 She died after 1683.2227 | |
viii. | Peregrine Leete2226,2227 was born on 12 Jan 1658.2226,2227 He died young.2227 | |
ix. | Joshua Leete2226,2227 was born in 1659.2226,2227 He died on 20 Feb 1660.2227 | |
x. | Anna Leete2226,2227,2698 was born on 10 Mar 1661 in Guilford, New Haven County, Connecticut.2226,2227,2698 She died on 2 Aug 1747 in New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut.2698 |