This history narrative will describe the Leet(e) family's spiritual heritage from the 1400s to the 21st century. Contributions are welcome... Use the comments below. This is a great story. If the Leetes weren't lawyers, then they were farmers or landowners. And even when they were farmers, landowners, or lawyers, many of them were ministers or "pillars" of their local church. I have to just get it out of my head and onto this page.
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John Rogers and Mary Leete
The Leetes and the Whitfields
Rev. Whitfield was born 1597, the son of Thomas Whitfield, Esq. and Mildred (Manning). He attended Oxford University and the Inns of Court in London. According to Foster’s Alumni Qxonienses he entered the ministry in 1616 in the Church of England, Ockley, Surrey. Whitfield remained a conformist up until the 1630s when religious upheaval swept across England. His home became a haven for such nonconformists as Rev. Thomas Hooker, John Cotton and John Davenport.
As tensions increased and Archbishop Laud threats of persecution and execution mounted, many nonconformists began their flights to safer lands. Thomas Stone of Lancashire was a merchant mariner involved in a large network of merchant adventurers. One of the above Puritan Clergy familiar to Thomas Stone was Rev. John Davenport. Before becoming Vicar of St Stephens Coleman Street, Rev. John Davenport was a curate at St. Lawrence Jewry during the time Thomas Stone belonged to that parish. We find Thomas involved in sympathy with the Puritans and actually transporting Rev. Davenport to Amsterdam, before his fleeing to New Haven, CT.
Excerpts from "The New Haven Colony" by Isabell MacBeath Calder,published by Yale Univ. Press in 1934 In the seventeenth century Coleman Street was "a faire and large street, on both sides builded with diuerse faire houses." John Davenport was the son of Henry and Winifred (Barneby) Davenport. He had been baptized by Richard Eaton, vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Coventry on Apr 9 1597. In 1622 he became a member of the Virginia Co. of London. In 1624 he was elected as Vicar of St. Stephens on Coleman St. in London, but before he could begin his duties, he was charged with Puritanism by King James I, which he denied.
Thomas Stone, sympathetic towards the Puritan cause aided Davenport in his flight to Amsterdam in 1633 to escape the persecution of Archbishop Laud.”
Shortly following this assistance, the Rev. Whitfield sent a letter to Dr. Stoughton, dated March 2, 1634 requesting help in finding a curate who could help in his church in Ockley, Surrey. He asks, “If you can helpe mee you may send to Mr. Stone in Cateaton street not far from you wher this bearer lives who will give directions of his cuming unto mee”. It is Thomas Stone of Lancashire that Rev. Whitfield is referring to.
Evidence towards identification:
From Inhabitants of London in 1638:(rents due the vicar)
Saint Lawrence, Old Jewry Cateaton St. and Milk Stprecinct Thomas Stonns (ms, p 162)
Thomas Stone worshipped and was a warden at St. Lawrence Jewry.
By 1638 Rev. Davenport had fled England and begun the New Haven Colony in Connecticut. A year later the Rev. Whitfield, his wife and other families from the surrounding Ockley, Surrey and Kent areas sailed for Davenport’ s new colony. It has been reported that they sailed on the ship “St.John” captained by Robert Thomson. Comments by Michael McBride, Curator of the Rev. Whitfield House Museum:
There is no evidence or accurate information on the ships that brought the Whitfield group to Quinnipiac (New Haven) and then on to Mennuncatuck (Guilford) plantations. There may have been as many as three ships and that is the current theory based on the number of people who were in Guilford four years after their arrival (there are no records for the first four years). Ships of that period would have fit approximately 100-125 people plus supplies and the settlement seems to have 300-350 people. Unfortunately, info on women, children, indentured servants and males who are disinfranchised is limited. One Victorian era legend is that the ship (they only thought there was one) was named the St. John. There is no source or proof of this and indeed there were a number of ships by that name at the time so someone might have associated the name with London and the group's departure time and made an assumption.
So the answer is, we don't know the names of any of the several ships that brought the group to Guilford
Of further interest is the mention of Robert Thomson. Robert was brother to Thomas Stone’s chief merchant/mariner partner, Maurice Thomson. In 1650, Rev. Henry Whitfield left the colony to return home to England. Robert Thomson took possession of Whitfield’s upon upon his departure.
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