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NEW ENGLAND FAMILIES
GENEALOGICAL AND MEMORIAL A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of
Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation COMPILED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF
WILLIAM RICHARD CUTTER, A.M.
COKKESPONDING SECRETARY AND HISTORIAN OF THE NEW ENGLAND
HISTORIC-GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY;
LIBRARIAN EMERITUS OF WOBURN PUBLIC LIBRARY; AUTHOR OF "THE
CUTTER FAMILY," "HISTORY OF ARLINGTON," ETC. VOLUME IV
ILLUSTRATED CLEARFIELD COMPANY
Originally published
New York, 1913 William Leete came to New England with Rev. Mr. Whitfield's company and he was one of the signers of the Plantation Covenant on shipboard, June 1, 1639, arriving in New Haven about July 10, following. When they had agreed upon Guilford as a place to settle he was one of six chosen to buy the lands of of the Indians, in trust, for the plantation, until their organization was effected. When the lands were laid out, Leete received a lot opposite William Chittenden on the corner of what is now Broad street and River. His outlying land, some two hundred and fifty acres, was located about three miles away and the locality was named for him Leete's Island. His seal bearing the coat-of-arms described above has been preserved by his descendants. He figured prominently in public life. He was clerk of the plantation from 1639 to 1662. He was one of four to whom was intrusted the whole civil power of the plantation without limitation until a church was formed, June 19, 1643, and he was one of the seven pillars. He and Samuel Disborough were chosen to meet the court at New Haven in 1643 when the combination of the plantations was made and a general court established for the entire New Haven colony. Leete was a deputy from Guilford to this court until 1650, and from 1651 to 1658 magistrate of the town. In 1658 he was chosen deputy governor of the colony and continued in that office until the union with Connecticut in 1664. Afterward he was assistant until 1669 when he was elected deputy governor of the Connecticut colony, holding the office until 1676 when he was chosen governor, which he held by re‰lection until his death in 1683. Upon his election as governor he removed to Hartford. His tombstone is in the rear of the First Church of Hartford. "During the term of forty years" says Dr. Trumbull, the historian, "he was magistrate, deputy governor or governor of one or other of the colonies. In both colonies he presided in times of greatest difficulty, yet always conducted himself with such integrity and wisdom as to meet the public approbation." When two of the judges of Charles I., Goffe and Whalley, fled to New England for safety after the Restoration, Governor Leete secreted them in the cellar of his store and cared for them several days. |
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