Descent from Colonial Gov. William Leete
Only Man to Lead Both the New Haven & Connecticut Colonies
Jul 14, 2009
Born ca. 1613 to John and Anna (Shute) Leete of Dodington in Huntingdonshire, young William was well-connected. John Shute, the maternal grandfather, was a justice of the King’s Court. Young William became disillusioned while serving as a law clerk at Bishop’s Court in Cambridge and witnessing oppression of the Puritans. In 1636, Leete had wed Anna Payne, daughter of the Rev. John Payne. Anna accompanied William to America and was the mother of the 10 known Leete children.
William Leete Becomes a Connecticut Official
Leete’s education and abilities soon made William a leader at Guilford, CT. Leete was town clerk from 1639 to 1662, also serving as Justice of the Peace, town magistrate and Guilford’s deputy to the New Haven Colony General Court before becoming a colony commissioner, then deputy governor. William Leete distinguished himself as Governor of the New Haven Colony from 1661 to 1664.
After the merging of the New Haven Colony with the Connecticut Colony, which was governed from Hartford, William Leete was named Connecticut Colonial Governor, serving from 1676 to 1683.
William Leete’s Family
Following Anna’s 1668 death, William married Sarah, widow of Henry Rutherford, in 1670. After Sarah's death less than four years later, he wed his third wife, Mary, the widow of both Francis Newman and Rev. Nicholas Street.
William's children were: John (1639-1692), married Mary Chittenden; Mary, born in England and died in infancy; Andrew (1643-1702), married Elizabeth Jordan; William Leete (1645-1687), married Mary Fenn; Abigail (1647-1711), married Rev. John Woodbridge in 1671; Caleb (1651-1673), died unmarried; Gratiana, born in 1653 and died unmarried after 1683; Peregrine, born in 1658 and died young; Joshua (1659-1660) and Anna (b. 1661), who married John Trowbridge. According to Frederick C. Norton’s 1905 book, The Governors of Connecticut, they were descendants 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 and Henry Leete were all Englishmen of prominence and their names appear in the public records previous to the year 1550.
Line of Descent
The following lineage was submitted to this writer in 1980 by Thelma M. (Sykes) Owens of Lanesboro, MA, a family history researcher.
- Gov. William Leete (ca. 1613-1683) and Anna Payne, married in 1636; lived at Guilford and Hartford, CT
- Andrew Leete (1643-1702) and Elizabeth Jordon, married in 1669; lived at Guilford
- William Leete (1671-1736) and Hannah Stone (b. 1678); married at Guilford in 1699
- Roland Leete (1708-1767) and Mercy Dudley (1719-1801); married in 1738 at Guilford
- Rachel Leete (1754-1843) of Guilford married there, in 1777, Jonathan Hoadley Jr. (1755-1822); both died at Branford, CT
- Sophia Hoadley (1797-1890) of Branford and John Woods (1776-1854) of Rhode Island; probably married ca. 1817 at Tinmouth, VT
- James Edwin Woods (1833-1907) of Tinmouth and Shrewsbury, VT; married Louisa A. Landfear (1838-1933) in 1862
- Clara E. Woods (1872-1944) and Albert S. Colvin (1862-1894), who were wed in 1889 at Danby, VT
- Alberta Bessie Colvin (1890-1923) of Danby, VT, in 1911 married Harold M. Sykes (1889-1970); they are the parents of Thelma M. Sykes, who was born in 1912 at Pittsfield, MA, and in 1933 married Arthur L. Owens at Castleton, NY.
(Learn about the Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors.)
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