The Leffingwell Record OF LIEUT. THOMAS LEFFINGWELL ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF NORWICH, CONN. BY ALBERT LEFFINGWELL, M.D. LIFE MEMBER OF THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF "RAMBLES IN JAPAN," "THE INFLUENCE OF SEASONS UPON CONDUCT," "VIVISECTION IN AMERICA," ETC, AND CHARLES WESLEY LEFFINGWELL, D.D. RECTOR OF ST, MARY'S SCHOOL, KNOXVILLE, ILL,, AND EDITOR OF "THE LIVING CHURCH," CHICAGO, ILL, AURORA, NEW YORK : LEFFINGWELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 1897 This edition of THE LEFFINGWELL RECORD having been largely subscribed for in advance, only a limited number of copies will remain for sale after January, z898. The price of the work, for a short period, will be ten dollars. Application may be made to either of the Editors.,· to .Dr. Albert Leffingwell, Aurora, Cayuga Co., New York.,· to Charles W. Leffingwell, D.D., St. Mary's School, Knoxville, Ill., or to the publt'shers: THE LEFFINGWELL PUBLISHING CO., AURORA, NEW YORK. COPYRIGRT, 1897 BY ALBERT LEFFINGWELL THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE a: TAYLOR PRESS, NEW HAVEN, CONN, 1 ST, MARY'S SCHOOL, KNOXVILLE, ILL. A School for Girls; A College for Young Women. ,·nuodod in '"" by Ro,. Cba,Jos Wesley /~filngw,n, D.D., <he P'<~nt Recto, ,oa """gee, ,,.,,. PREFACE. THE LEFFINGWELL RECORD has a somewhat eventful history. Nearly thirty years since, the late Rev. E. B. Huntington began the collection of memoranda regarding the posterity of our common ancestor, Thomas Leffingwell. The work seems to have made but slow progress, yet it would un­ doubtedly have been published many years since, had not the author been struck down by apoplexy in 1877. For many years, his manuscript was apparently. lost. Its existence in the hands of strangers became known not long since to the present compilers, and after some negotiation, it came into their possession. It was immediately seen that while these notes of Mr. Huntington embodied a considerable amount of important information, particularly regarding the earlier ancestors, yet their publication in the form in which the writer had left them would be far from satisfactory. Certain branches of our family, Mr. Huntington had been wholly unable to trace; his record, of course, ended nearly a quarter of a century ago ; and his method of arrangement was by no means the best. It was necessary not merely to complete the record, but to re-write the entire work in order to bring it into the form under which works of this character are presented to-day. During the long period that has elapsed since the earlier memoranda were written, numerous change~ have occurred ; each family has had to complete its record of births, marriages and deaths. The work now presented is, therefore, new from the foundations. It has involved a vast amount of labor, and a considerable expenditure of money, for which there can be no return. But it has been a work inspired by reverence for the honored names of the past, and of hope for the future. It is probably useless to expect absolute accuracy in a work of this kind. The most careful of family historians have made mistakes,-as the present writer has good reason to know ; for in that monument of painstaking research, the IV Preface. HYDE GENEALOGY of the late Chancellor Walworth, he is himself recorded (p. 467) as born ten years before he saw the light, and as the son of one who died many years before his birth. How such mistakes occur, no one can tell. As a rule, the compilers of this record do not believe that im­ portant errors exist in any case where the facts have been furnished by the persons concerned. Every known member of our LEFFINGWELL FAMILY now living and of age, has been invited to furnish his or her record of dates and facts ; when that duty has been left to others, perhaps not well-informed as to dates of marriages and births, it is possible that some errors have crept in. Doubtless, such instances, if they exist at all, are very rare. In any event, the compilers feel a greater obligation to those who have helped them, even if some defects have mingled with their help, than toward those who left the work for others of their kindred to perform for them. In reading a genealogical record such as this, one notes also, a difference in the fulness of biographical details, con­ cerning different men. Thirty or forty years hence, some member of the family, reading this volume, may be indignant that in regard to his own ancestor, only a few lines tell the story of his life; that no clue is given regarding his avoca­ tion ; that date of marriage or death is not recorded, and even birthdays of children omitted. So far as such omis­ sions relate to those living to-day, the explanation is simple enough; the information sought was not given. Every liv­ ing representative of each branch of our kindred has been invited,-as before stated,-to send us the facts, and as a rule, the request has been accompanied by an addressed and stamped envelope for reply. Responses have been indeed numerous ; but there are branches of our family reported in this volume with great brevity, and possible inaccuracy, whose members will regret their silence when publication makes completeness impossible. Their annoyance has been shared by us. On the other hand, we do not believe that any subscriber to this work who has personally responded to every request for information, will have any cause for criticism in this regard. And to very many of our kin we are greatly indebted for the help they have given us. We should like to think it probable that a century, or even half a century hence, this record of the descendants of Lt. Preface. V Thomas Leffingwell would be continued to his own time by some member of the family of that distant day. Perhaps he will then be able to complete what we have left unfinished, and to trace lines of descent which have evaded our investi­ gations. But such information will be at all times acceptable. For correction of any inaccuracies in the present work, for the enlargement of biographical details and personal memo­ randa, for notices of changes in residence, or of births, mar­ riages and deaths,-and particularly for the addresses of any LEFFINGWELLS whose names are not included in our family history,-the writer will be exceedingly obliged. AURORA-ON-CAYUGA LAKE, NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 1897. POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE. I esteem it a great honor to have my name on the title-page of this book,-indeed, a greater honor than I deserve. But my good kinsman, Dr. Albert Leffingwell, has decided that I must share with him in this, and go down to posterity as co­ editor. I cannot, however, refrain from saying that I have done very little in the production of this record of the LEF­ FINGWELL FAMILY. I rescued the incomplete manuscript of our honored kinsman Huntington from oblivion,-or what would have been worse than oblivion,-its publication as he left it; and had it arranged and typewritten. These small services, with some correspondence and the sharing of the financial risk of the enterprise, are about all that I should have credit for. It is fortunate for the Family that its gen­ ealogy has been under the supervision of one so competent as my associate, Dr. Albert Leffingwell. ST. MARY'S SCHOOL, KNOXVILLE, ILL. HE ONLY DESERVES TO BE REMEMBERED BY POSTERITY, WHO TREASURES UP AND PRESERVES THE HISTORY OF HIS ANCESTRY. -Edmund Burke. I. OUR ENGLISH ANCESTRY. Regarding the surname of LEFFINGWELL, there is one sin­ gular fact. For two and a half centuries it has thriven on American soil, yet in the land of its origin it does not exist at the present time. In the office of the Registrar-General in London are recorded the names of every family in which a birth, marriage or death has occurred during the past sixty years, in England and "\Vales ; but among them all, there is not a single LEFFINGWELL name. Writing in 1872, the Rev. E. B. Huntington, whose researches laid the foundations of the present work, confessed that after all his labor, he had been wholly unable to find any clue to the original signifi­ cance of th.e name, or to the existence of any English branch of the family to which we belong. Yet we know that ours was an English name at one time. How came it in the land of our forefathers so completely to disappear? The answer to this question probably affords an interest­ ing illustration of what is known in philology as "Grimm's Law,"-the tendency of certain consonants to become inter­ changed in popular speech.* Four centuries ago, when Columbus set sail for the discovery of a New World, we shall see that there was living in England one LAWRENCE LEFFING­ WELL, who wrote his family name precisely as we in America write it to-day. During succeeding years, the old name passes through many orthographic changes ; in 1508, it is Leving­ well ; in 1552, it is Leffyngwell or Leppingwell ; in 1579 it becomes Leapphingwell, and in 1588 Lephingwell; but there is no long period in that century or the one following wherein the name we hold to-day may not also be found. But about the commencement of the last century, it begins to be written, in England, either Lepping-well or Leapingwell. Gradually, in the old country, this becomes the accepted orthography, suggesting, perhaps, a new pronunciation. It would almost * See Chambers' Encyc.