6^th Great Grandfather - FFMMMFFF¹

Samuel Leonard the Elder’s father was also Samuel. I have not been able to find out much about this Samuel, other than the baptisms of some of his children.

The first time Samuel appears in the records of Hanham is for the baptism of his son Samuel on 3^rd March 1699/1700. Although not all the baptisms are recorded in Hanham, I have been able to prove that Samuel had 7 sons, of which 4 survived to adulthood, 3 of whom owned enough property to write a will.

I have already described the life of Samuel’s son Samuel (the Elder), and I will now give a brief biography of the three brothers that survived childhood and became men of property in Hanham and Oldland.

I will start with Francis. I have not found a baptism entry for Francis, but he was married in Bitton to Mary Stone on 26^th Mar 1722², so he was probably born just before or just after Samuel. Francis and Mary had seven children who were all baptised, most of them at St George, Hanham or St Mary, Bitton.

While Francis died before there are any Land Tax records, he must have owned property in Hanham, as he was nominated to serve as Chapelwarden in 1756³, and in the 18^th century only property owners within the parish could serve. However, I have been unable to find any other references to Francis in the Churchwarden’s Accounts.

Francis died and was buried at Bitton on 22^nd May 1777⁴.

I believe that Robert was the eldest brother, although I have no proof. This is purely based on the fact that he was the first to marry, on 24^th November 1719⁵ to Sarah Cool. Sarah was the daughter of Robert Cool and her sister Dinah married my 5^th great grandfather Samuel, Robert’s brother. While Samuel and Dinah were married in Bitton, Robert and Sarah were married in Yate, the Cool family ancestral home.

Robert and Sarah settled in Oldland and had 7 children. As with Samuel and Dinah, I have not been able to find baptism records for the children, and I think Robert and Sarah were non-conformists.

Robert was probably the wealthiest of the 4 brothers. In his will he states that he is of “Barrs Court” in Oldland⁶. He was not the owner of this property, but probably held a long term lease. Barrs Court was the biggest property in Oldland as can be seen from the 1781 Land Tax Assessment⁷, where Michael Newton Esquire is registered as the owner and Isaac Leonard, Robert’s son was the occupier⁸. In this assessment, the Land Tax was £17 19s for Barrs Court alone. In that assessment, Robert’s children were listed as either the Owner or Occupier of 16 pieces of property in Oldland alone.

Robert died in 1772 and his will was proved 20^th Feb 1772. As mentioned above he gave several legacies to his children. His wife Sarah died in 1791 and was buried at St Mary, Bitton on 10^th November 1791⁹.

The last brother, who was probably the youngest based on his baptism, was baptised at Hanham on 14^th Jul 1706¹⁰. He married Joan Fox at Bitton on 4^th December 1735¹¹.

Solomon and Joan were childless, at least no references to children can be found in the registers and Solomon left all of his estate to nephews and nieces, primarily children of his 3 brothers, Samuel, Robert and Francis¹². He owned some property in Oldland - Thirlbeys for which he was assessed 1 13s 9d in the 1775 Land Tax Assessments¹³ as well as some property in Bitton - “Late Poynts Foxes”, for which he was assessed 4s 9d¹⁴.

Solomon died 1^st October 1779 and was buried at Hanham Baptist Church Cemetery¹⁵. His wife Joan died 5^th April 1797 and was also buried at Hanham Baptist Church Cemetery¹⁶.

Given the relative wealth of the 4 brothers, it is probable that Samuel (the father), was quite well off, although other than the baptism of some the children there is no record of him.

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