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Phebe Leete was the youngest of the seven children of Robert Leete of Eversden (1525-1597) and his wife Alice Grundy. (Alice's mother was Ellen Helen Burgoyne. I"ve found several references indicating that Ellen's husband was Joseph Leete, but that doesn't fit any primary information.) Robert was a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Phoebe married George Parkhurst in 1610. They had nine children, by most accounts, though many web trees show 11 children. All their children were born and christened around Ipswich, Suffolk, England See the map. Note the towns of Huntington, on the map's left edge, Oakington, just northwest of Cambridge, and Doddington, at about 12 O'clock from Cambridge near the top. These are all important Leete homesteads.) George arrived in New England sometime before 1640. The most likely arrival was 20 June 1637, since other of his family, including his brother-in-law Timothy Dalton and sister-in-law Ruth Leete, Phebe's sister, arrived at that time.
The available records show that Phebe died 1643/1644 at Watertown, Massachusetts.
George remarried in 1644, to Susanna Simson (or Stimson), who was the widow of John. She had two sons and three daughters by that marriage; thus a possible reason other children were listed as the children of Phebe and George.
Ruth Leete married Timothy Dalton at Gislingham, Suffolk. Timothy was born in 1577. He graduated from St. John's College Cambridge in1615 and later became Vicar of Wolverston, near Ipswich. He was or became a Puritan and that got him in trouble with his superior, Bishop Laud. He "slipped away" and immigrated to America without his wife. Ruth joined him at Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1637 or 1638. It is interesting to note that Ruth would have been about 58 and Timothy about 60.
Note that there are no immigration records for either Timothy or Ruth, but that was common at that time because they were essentially fugitives. Timothy and Steven Bachelor (sp?) founded a Puritan Chuch in Hampton, know as the Church of Jesus Christ. (Today it is called the First Congregational Church, UCC; however, the current building is not the original. As of this writing, I have not found a drawing of the original structure.) Timothy was the congregation's teacher from 1639 until his death in 1661.
Ruth and Timothy had no children that survived them. However, they apparently had at least one child, born in Wolverton, named Debrorah Dalton, who died in 1624. It is not clear what Ruth's relationship was to here sister's children after her sister died in 1644. (To be continued.)
Ruth died on 12 May 1666 in Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
A primary source for this information is The Leetes of Eversden.
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