LANDON·GENEALOGY LANDON GENEALOGY THE FRENCH: AND ENGLISH HOME AND ANCESTRY WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DESCENDANTS OF JAMES AND MARY VAILL. LANDON IN AMERICA PART II BOARDMAN GENEALOGY THE ENGLISH HOME AND ANCESTRY OF SAMUEL BOREMAN AND THOMAS BOREMAN, NOW CALLED BOARDMAN' WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR DESCENDANTS IN AMERICA Bv JAMES ORVILLE LANDON NEW YORK, N. Y. SOUTH HERO, VT. CLARK BOARDMAN CO., LTD. 1928 FOREWORD Our father, the author and compiler of this work, died suddenly July 7, 1927, in his 87th year. He had, however, completed his task the March previous, and the manuscript was ready for the printer. _ Since his retirement over twenty years ago he had devoted most of his time to the collecting and compilation of these records, which was to him of such great interest and most decidedly a labor of love. This research work kept his mind most active, and up to the day of his death he was as keen and bright and as interested in all things as the man of fifty. We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable assistance given him in transcribing the manuscript by Emma Jeffrey Tucker of Everett, Massachusetts. We also express our great appreciation to Colonel Thomas Durland Landon and to Mr. Clark Boardman, and to the others who assisted in the underwriting of the expense of this publica­ tion, without whose help these records might not have been pub­ lished and preserved in permanent form for future generations. KATE HUNTINGTON LANDON LUCY HIN-CKLEY LANDON WOOD July 15, 1928 iii IMITATE OUR FATHERS "Honor to ~e memory of our fathers: May the turf lie gently on their sacred graves: but let us not in word only, but in deeds also, testify our reverence for their names. Let us imitate what in them was lofty, pure, and good. Let us from them learn to bear hardship and privation. Let us who now reap in strength what they sowed in weakness, study to enhance the inheritance we have received. To do this we must not fold our hands in slumber, nor abide content with the past. To each generation is committed its peculiar task, nor does the heart which responds to the call of duty find rest except in the world to come." CHARLES SUMNER. July 4, i845. "A good heredity from upright ancestry is more to be desired than all the titles, honors, and wealth that the world can bestow upon you." LUTHER BURBANK. PREFACE GENTLE READER : It was with no idea that I would publish a book when I began collecting Landon genealogical data, but rather that I was cooperating with others who had such an object in view. I was then getting data more particularly along my own family line, that of David. Mr. C. G. Landon (David line), of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was compiling a Landon Genealogy for publication, and such data as I could gather was forwarded to him ; but he never realized his ambition, as he passed away just when his compilation was about ready for the printer. I had also been corresponding with Mr. Charles Landon Jones, a lawyer in New York City, also a descendant from David, who had given con­ siderable time to this work. He had obtained many wills, also corresponded with a French historian in Paris. Mr. Jones died in 1916, and his material was loaned to me. · In 1852, Rev. Heman Landon Vaill, of Litchfield, Connecti­ cut, a descendant from Daniel, began a compilation. I have one of his letters written at that time. This work was not finished up to the time of his death in 1870. Some of his material has been given me by a grandson. I had arranged some of my data in book form in a manuscript for preservation and to pass along to others. Several wished it might be published. To this m:treply was that I would do noth­ ing of the kind but would freely give the use of my collection to anyone who would attend to the publishing. On mailing out a circular letter to anyone bearing the Landon name, where they could be found, replies and inquiries began to pour in, with approval of the publishing of a Landon Genealogy. The response has been very gratifying and I wish to return hearty thanks to one and all who have helped so willingly in gathering this mate­ rial, as without such help the effort would have been in vain. V Vl Landon Genealogy This is not offered a~ a complete Genealogy of the Landon Family. While the family has been traced, through immigrants, to England and France, this Genealogy is largely confined tc;> the descendants of James and Mary (Vaill) Landon, of Southold, Long Island. There were five S':'-;l& :inc! th-ree d::-ushte1:.. Ci.1•: :·"11 oldest, Mar) ....1 Toseph, settled in Southold. Very little i11formali0n can be found regarding these two. The other six children in the order oi birth--James, Daniel, Rachel, David, John, and Lydia-all moved before 1740 i.v L~tchfield, Litchfield County, Connecticut. James and John later removed to Sa:~ ... h,iry, Con­ necticut. Descendants from these are· pretty well scatter.:..:! through the United States, and it is for the purpose of preserving the family records and to bring them into closer relation that this book is published. There are some differences in dates of records received. \Vhen there is any m~terial difference, both records are printed, or by some explanatory note attention is called to the difference. Records from old Bibles are considered the most reliable. Gra:vestones often, from deterioration or error in the cutting of inscriptions, are incorrect or nearly illegible, and sometimes per­ sons appear under different names. All the records received call the name of the wife of James, Mary VailJ, except one where she is called Nancy Vaill. The children are the same in both instances and in the same order. I have arranged this compilation according to families, while the usual form is by generations. Instead of a bare record of births, marriages, and deaths, I have endeavored to include narratives of military service, pioneer life, offices held, and the like. I have now reached the age where much more effort along this line is out of the question. Failing eyesight and present day congestion are the drawbacks. My grandfather, Thaddeus Landon (No. 909), was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, December 1, 1766, and died in South Hero, Grand Isle County, Vermont, June 17, 1846. I was born Landon Genealogy Vll March 9, 1841, and have just celebrated my 86th birthday anni­ versary, March 9, 1927. These two lives cover the period between ten years before the signing of the Declaration of Inde­ pendence and the present time, with an overlap of five years between 1841 and 1846. It has been my privilege to cast a presidential vote--! may say, a duty-beginning with the second election of President Lincoln in 1864, with one exception, down to the election of President Coolidge in 1924, the exception being caused by removal from Vermont to Connecticut in 1872, not having Jived in Connecticut long enough to become a voter in that state. This work has been a very interesting one, though· baffling at times. Such as it is, I off er it for your consideration. Says Mrs. O'Rion: "An' who· bees yure Ancisters, Mrs. O'Brien?" "Faith, an' fwhat does ye main by 'Who bees your Ancisters? ', Mrs. O'Rion?" " Sure, an' I main who bees the people fwhat yees sphrings from, Mrs. O'Brien~ " "Ha! ha! indade, Mrs. O'Rion-the people fwhat ye sphrings from! Don't ye know, Mrs. O'Rion, the O'Briens niver sphrings from nobody-they just sphrings at 'em." JAMES, Q. LANDON. May 15, 1927 THE FREEMAN'S OATH By Whiting. More inspiring than this manifestation of the cold process of cruelty under the law is the oath of a freeman required to be taken by. any who sought to share in the political and other privileges of the early town. This is the oath, and we recommend it to voters of our own day: " Moreover I do solemnly bind myself e in the sight of God. that when I shall be called to give my voyce touching any such matter of this state in which freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shalt judge in my own conscience may best conduce and tend to the publique weale of ye body without respect of person or favor of any man." iic COAT OF ARMS-LANDON The family was of nobility in Normandy in the period 1200 to 1500. They were Protestants ( other records say the family was divided, part being Catholic and part Protestant), and were mixed up in all the religious wars-one battle in particular when William Landon in the battle of La Cocheral, May 24, 1364, was knighted by the Crown and given the family Coat-of-Arms. X LANDON SEIGNEURS DE LANDON, DE BEAUMOND, DE TouEsSE, DE CHAMPS MARIN, DE LA CousTURE DU TRONCHET, ETC. D'azur a 3 copa d'or poses 2 et 1, becques, cretes et barbes de gueules, la patte droit levee. Supports: Deux sauvages de Carnation, ceints ct couronnes de lierres et appuyes sur une massue au nature!. Casque: de Chevalier. Devise : Nous combattons vaillamment. Translation LANDON-LORDSHJPs OF LANDON, OF BEUMONT,.OF YouERSE, OF CHAMPS MARIA, OF LA CAR'STON, OF TRON­ CHET, ETC. Of blue, with 3 cocks of gold posed 2 above and 1 below, the beaks, crests and claws of red, right foot drawn up.