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Gov. William Leete[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]

Male 1613 - 1683  (70 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name William Leete 
    Prefix Gov. 
    Birth 1612/3  Dodington, Cambridgeshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16] 
    • Find-a-grave has 1611.
    Gender Male 
    Occupation From May 1661 to May 1665  New Haven, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 11] 
    governor
    Occupation From May 1676 to Apr 1683  Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 9, 11, 13, 16] 
    governor
    Death 16 Apr 1683  Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 19] 
    Burial Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [16] 
    Cemetery:
    Ancient Burying Ground
    Person ID I20352  Duane's Ancestors
    Last Modified 11 Jan 2019 

    Father John Leete   d. Abt Dec 1648 
    Mother Ann Shute   d. Aft 1650 
    Marriage Y  [3, 8, 10, 11, 15, 20, 21] 
    Family ID F7123  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Anne Paine   d. 1 Sep 1668, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [18, 22, 23] 
    Marriage 1 Aug 1636  Hail Weston, Huntingdonshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24] 
    Children 
     1. Mary Leete   d. Jan 1638/9, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. John Leete,   b. 1639   d. 25 Nov 1692 (Age 53 years)
     3. Andrew Leete,   b. 1643, Guilford, New Haven, British America Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 31 Oct 1702 (Age 59 years)
     4. William Leete   d. 1 Jun 1687, Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location
    +5. Abigail Leete,   b. 1648, Wethersfield Village, River, British America Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Feb 1710/1, Simsbury Village, Hartford, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 63 years)
     6. Caleb Leete,   b. 24 Aug 1651   d. 13 Jan 1673 (Age 21 years)
     7. Gratiana Leete,   b. 22 Dec 1653   d. Aft 1683 (Age > 31 years)
     8. Peregrine Leete,   b. 12 Jan 1658, Guilford, New Haven, British America Find all individuals with events at this locationd. young
     9. Joshua Leete,   b. 1659   d. 20 Feb 1659/60 (Age 1 year)
     10. Anna Leete,   b. 10 Mar 1661, Guilford, New Haven, British America Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Aug 1747, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 86 years)
    Family ID F7022  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2020 

    Family 2 Sarah ________   d. 3 Feb 1672/3, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [23] 
    Marriage 7 Apr 1670  New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [4, 9, 13] 
    Family ID F7120  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2020 

    Family 3 Mary ________   d. 13 Dec 1683, Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [23, 25, 26] 
    Marriage Aft 3 Feb 1673  [4, 9, 13] 
    Family ID F7121  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2020 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 1612/3 - Dodington, Cambridgeshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 1 Aug 1636 - Hail Weston, Huntingdonshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOccupation - governor - From May 1661 to May 1665 - New Haven, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 7 Apr 1670 - New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOccupation - governor - From May 1676 to Apr 1683 - Connecticut, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 16 Apr 1683 - Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - Cemetery:
    Ancient Burying Ground - - Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, United States    		 Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 

    • 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.

  • Sources 
    1.  1.  [S544] First Settlers of New England, Vol. 4., 633, 00193.

    2.  2.  [S259] NEHGS Register, 32:293, 00390.

    3.  3.  [S661] New England Families Genealogical and Memorial, 1769, 00661.

    4.  4.  [S331] Families of Ancient New Haven, Vols. 1-8, 1085, 00183.

    5.  5.  [S259] NEHGS Register, 41:364, 00390.

    6.  6.  [S739] Woodbridge Record, 12, 00741.

    7.  7.  [S740] Ruggles, 142, 00739.

    8.  8.  [S744] Leete, vii, 00744.

    9.  9.  [S744] Leete, 1, 00744.

    10.  10.  [S851] Pedigrees of Some Charlemagne Descendants, II:146, 00847.

    11.  11.  [S880] TAG 30-32, 31:117, 00876.

    12.  12.  [S881] TAG 33-35, 35:26, 00877.

    13.  13.  [S923] Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants, 539, 00919.

    14.  14.  [S928] Royal Families, Vol. 1 - Thomas Dudley, 21, 00924.

    15.  15.  [S1140] Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut, 769, 00990.

    16.  16.  [S1122] Find A Grave, Memorial# 6878881, 00974.

    17.  17.  [S867] TAG, 56:167, 00863.

    18.  18.  [S576] TGMSP, John Woodbridge, 00516.

    19.  19.  [S259] NEHGS Register, 8:332, 00390.

    20.  20.  [S881] TAG 33-35, 35:27, 00877.

    21.  21.  [S923] Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants, 538, 00919.

    22.  22.  [S867] TAG, 13:89, 00863.

    23.  23.  [S1140] Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut, 770, 00990.

    24.  24.  [S661] New England Families Genealogical and Memorial, 1770, 00661.

    25.  25.  [S867] TAG, 13:95, 00863.

    26.  26.  [S331] Families of Ancient New Haven, Vols. 1-8, 1709, 00183.