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Note: omas3, Gabriel2, Gabriel1)
born October 18, 1837, 26 Beekman St. New York City
died November 18, 1930
married April 7, 1858 to Jane Mais (Jenny) Whitehead
born August 8, 1839
died July 11, 1874
parents Almeran and Ann Whitehead of Elizabeth Lake, Michigan
Children (Leggett) 3: 1 boy, 2 girls
85-g8Le7 William8
86-g8Le7 Catherine8
87-g8Le7 May8
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was born in New York City, New York County, New York 18 October 1837. He was born at 76 Mercer Street. Mortimer died 18 November 1930 in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan, at age 93.
He married Jane "Jennie" Mais Whitehead 7 April 1858 in Oakland County, Michigan. Jane was born 8 August 1839 in Elizabeth Lake, Oakland County, Michigan. Jane died 11 July 1874 in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan, at age 34. Oakland County Death Records [State of Michigan]: Leger page 11, record no. 91 - she died of dropsy of the lungs at age 35 years. She was the daughter of Almeron & Annie Whitehead. She is buried at Oakhill Cemetery, Pontiac, Michigan. [1839-1874][plot 1-169]
In the 1870 US Federal Census, Mortimer was listed as a head of household in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan. M. A. Leggett [32 New York - farmer - Property value $8,000 & personall $2,000], Jinnie M. [30 Michigan], William H. [Michigan], Catharine M. [4 Michigan], May [2 Michigan],
Mortimer "Mort" Allen Leggett and Jane "Jennie" Mais Whitehead had the following children:
88 i. William Haight20 Leggett was born in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan ---. William died --- in ---, at age unknown. He married Eleanor Knight --- in ---. Eleanor was born --- in ---. William & Eleanor had a daughter, Florence.
89 ii. Catherine Leggett was born in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan 1866. Catherine died --- in ---, at age unknown.
90 iii. May Leggett was born in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan 1868. May died --- in ---, at age unknown. She married Fredric Abel 1895. May was an accomplished violinist; she studied in Paris, France.
91 iv. Percival "Percy" Leggett was born in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan 11 July 1874. Percival died 29 July 1874 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, at age unknown. Death record: male Leggett died age 18 days in Detroit, son of Mortimer A. & Jennie M. Leggett of debility infancy. [Oakland County death records: Volume I, page 97], He is buried in Oakhill Cemetery. [plot 1-169]
92 v. Daughter Leggett was born in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan 11 July 1874. Daughter died 29 July 1874 in Michigan, at age unknown.
Send email to preparer: kalamcc@AOL.com
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See the marriage notes for Mortimer for a tracing of him through the U. S. Census.
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[Mortimer Allen Leggett, (1837-1930), son of Augustus Wright Leggett (1816-1885), grandson of William Haight Leggett (1789-1863), to his Randall grand nephew and nieces, grandchildren of his sister, Anna Seaman (Leggett) Randall, (1848-1934), children of Ferris Seaman Randall, Sr., (1877-?); their names being Ferris Seaman Randall, Jr. (1909-2001), Elrose Randall (1913-2001), and Anita Randall (?-?). Mortimer's wife died in 1874, giving birth to twins who quickly died. Mortimer had three surviving children, but only one grandchild, Florence (b. abt. 1913), but he probably saw little of her after her parents were divorced. Florence was living with her mother in Milwaukee in 1920.]
Uncle Mort
From the
Randalls
Dear Uncle Mort:
The children would like it so much if you would write about yourself in this book and express your ideas so they could read it and derive benefit from these later when they can understand better and appreciate. Much love from us all.
Ferris Sr.
Dear Ferris
I am happy to have done this. And it is written so poorly that I am afraid you cannot read it. I have a lame wrist because of war. [Civil War?]
The Willows, January 2, 1924, to the Randall Children who, at this writing, are in Chicago and have asked me to write my recollection.
Well, to begin, I was born in the City of New York at Twenty-Six Beekman Street on the 18th of October 1839 [no, 1837]. My father was Augustus W. Leggett, son of William H. Leggett and Margaret Wright [1794-1878], my mother was the daughter of Doctor Valentine Seaman [1770-1817] and Annie Ferris [1771-1854]. They were all born in Westchester County, New York. The old Leggett farm was settled by Gabriel Leggett in 1661 and remained in the family until about sixty years ago [c. 1863]. Now, the farm is a part of New York City. The Ferris family settled on a farm called Throgs Creek Run in 1660 and the Ferris family held the property and lived there until about twenty-five years ago. It is now a part of New York City. My parents lived in Beekman Street for several years, my brother, Percival being born there [8 January 1839]. My father was in business in New York and his health was failing him. They moved on a farm in Peekskill where my brother William was born [7 November 1840]. I was only three years old at the time yet I remember several things that happened at that time.
Peekskill was at that time a pretty little town on the Hudson River. I remember my mother saying they had an old neighbor that used to beat father out of anything he could and I think his wife did the same with mother. He had an old mare named Jimmy that used to take us across county to grandfather's [William Haight Leggett, 1789-1863] fifty miles away. It would seem funny to take that same trip now for at that time it was an open county, but now it is almost a solid city.
We lived in Peekskill for five years and there father bought a farm in Roslyn, Long Island. Here he improved in health and in a few years started a newspaper called the Plaindealer. I worked for two years as a janitor in this office. I must speak to you of your great [no, 2nd great] grandfather's home (William H. Leggett) [Rose Bank]. It was situated on the East River ten miles
from the City Hall in New York. There were sixty acres in the farm and had a frontage of half a mile on the East River. [No, this was just the lawn; Rose Bank was several thousand acres in all; Mort has misread the 1892 letters of his uncle, Thomas Bogart Leggett, 1823-1895.] The house was a colonial structure having a wide hall running through the center with a large wing on one side. The family was noted for their hospitality and as [my] grandfather had a large family, and having such a large house and as some of his children with their wives, children and nurses lived with him, and all their other children came often why as a consequence the house was always full. Grandmother was a great housekeeper and with servants plenty kept things going in fine shape. The servants consisted of a cook, a helper for the cook, a tailor, a washerwoman and ironer, a chambermaid. Thus grandfather's help was a farmer and a helper to the farmer, a gardener and a helper, a coachman and stable boy. Grandfather always kept a stable full of blooded horses and carriages of all makes and the very best. There were two front doors and his driveway was a road covered with white pebbles about six inches thick on the road so that you could hear a carriage coming as the stones did not pack. Grandmother was so methodical, had an hour set for every kind of work done. At a certain time, the gardener came with a great basket of flowers which grandmother always arranged. And as they had a large greenhouse were never out of flowers. Grandfather was a great lover of music and so after tea we would get in the big parlor and as nearly all the boys played some instrument, he soon had an orchestra although none was professional. I am being able to play the flute and grandfather the big drum and the music we made sounds good to me tonight. Grandfather tried to make good musicians of his children and his grandchildren but never succeeded. He gave all his granddaughters pianos and paid their teachers. The only ones that made professional [violinists] was [Mort's children] William H. Leggett [1859 - 1954] and May Leggett-Abel [1868 - aft. 1949]. They often had large parties at grandfather's and when they did the great wash house was cleaned out and all the servants and coachmen and their friends had just as good time as the upper crust. Music was furnished them for dancing and everything in the eating line. People at that time thought so much of their servants and the servants never took advantage of it. In the river were boats of all kinds, sail boats, river boats and large flat boats that would be safe for the ladies to go fishing. After we came to Michigan [1852], grandfather gave three of his sons [Thomas, Edward and ?] land [on the Rose Bank estate] and they built elegant houses. Grandfather had four sisters that were married and lived near and as and as they all had large families, you can imagine there was something going on most of the time.
My great-grandfather, your great-great- [no, 3d great] grandfather Thomas Leggett [1755-1843] lived near and I remember him well. One night I went with my father to call upon him and his [second] wife [Mary Underhill, 1770-1849]. The old couple were sitting by a huge fire place heaped with wood. The old couple were each smoking long stemmed clay pipes and a little nigger was lying on the floor by each of them. All these little darkies [probably children of servants; the U.S. Census shows the last Leggett slaves were freed by 1800] would have to do was to fill their pipes when empty and they would fall asleep and the old folks would kick them to wake them up.
William H. Leggett had six [no, seven surviving] sons. Augustus (your great grandfather) [1816-1885] Samuel [1820-1883], Edward [1821-1865], John [1826-1887], George [1823-1887] and Frank [(Francis), 1833-1907], [he forgot Thomas, 1823-1895; and the three other sons, William, William, and Edgar, who died in infancy] and one daughter, Katherine Marie [1817-1890; spelled Catherine Maria]. August[us] had three sons. Mortimer [1837-1930], Percival [1839-1863], William [1840-1921] and eight [no, nine] daughters, Margaret [1843-1928] , Emma [1845-1863], Annie [(Anna) 1848-1934], Elizabeth [1849-1912], Augusta [1851-1903], Blanche [1860-1922], Catherine [1854-1855], and Henrietta [1855-1856; he forgot Mary, 1857-1857].
Samuel had four children, Oscar [1844-1916], Julia [1847-1920], Ada [?-?], Alfred [? I show Louisa, ?-?, as the fourth child.]. Edward had [a] large family [ten children] and I have lost all trace of them. John had four [no, five] daughters and I know nothing of them. Thomas had three sons, [Edward] Howard [1845-1927], Charlie [Clinton, 1847-1937] and William [1852-1909] and one daughter, Florence [1863-1934], all living in New York except William who died years ago [9 October 1909] in Pittsburgh. [Thomas's other children, Ellen, Norton and Maud, died in infancy.]
Your great-great-grandfather, William had three brothers, Samuel [1782-1837], Joseph [1785-1852], and Thomas [1793-1865, two other brothers who died in infancy, and five sisters]. The latter almost gave his life to the founding of the free school and finally brought it about and had one started in Flushing, Long Island, and I attended it for two years. Everything was free, books, paper, ink, etc. Samuel Leggett was the one that introduced gas in the city of New York. I remember him well [unlikely] and the queer part is that gas has been in the Leggett family ever since [a joke?]. The first home [No. 7 Cherry Street, in 1822] lighted with gas was his and it frightened people as they thought the place was on fire and the fire engine turned out.
My mother's family, the Seaman's [sic] were four brothers [no, six] and three [no, four] girls. Her father, Doctor Valentine Seaman stood very high as a physician. One thing that immortalized him was going abroad and consulting with Edward Jenner and bringing the vaccine matter and introducing [1808] vaccination into the City of New York. And to show the people that he had faith vaccinated his own son in the public street with an armed force to protect him from the mob. There is a hospital in New York named after him which he founded and he also started the first school for trained nurses. He analyzed the water of Saratoga Springs and brought that before the public and his analysis held good today.
Valentine Seaman [Jr., 1802-1899, all the following sons are obviously of a later generation; first paragraph of the next page clears up the confusion] had three sons who distinguished themselves. Dr. Louis Livingston Seaman [1851-1932] a very noted physician and surgeon was sent by our government to all the foreign bases and to their hospitals to take note of their manner of treatment to the sick and wounded. He made a report that several countries were way ahead of ours and was awfully condemned by our military surgeons, but they could not put him down and he has brought many reforms. He was a surgeon in the late war and in one of the battles that our boys were in he was the only surgeon to take care of them with hardly any medical supplies. He told me that many of the boys in the Cuban War [1898] could have been saved had they had rice.
The next son John [? - before 1924] when a boy went as a stow-away on a ship to China where he became a runner boy for an American tea house and after a few years became a partner and became wealthy. For a great many years, he sent us a box of tea for Christmas and since his death, his wife [the former Anna Yates, ? - after 1924] does the same thing. William, [?-?] another son, worked in a rolling mill in Pittsburgh and discovered a process of running railroad irons straight but he died soon after and received no benefit from it. John Seaman built a beautiful home in Shanghai and employed Americans to do the work. When Kate [Mort's daughter, Catherine, 1866-after 1924] and I were at the Chicago Worlds Fair [1893], we met John Seaman and he invited us to dine with him at the New York building where we would meet his wife and adopted daughter. We arrived ahead of time and expected to meet people all dressed to kill but what was our surprise to find the women with long dusters on and John in his shirt sleeves and each carrying a stool to sit on when they got tired. We were greatly relieved and we found them just every day people just as nice as they could be. It only shows that wealth does not spoil all. He afterwards bought a
farm near Peekskill where he died. His wife still lives there.
Valentine Seaman, Jr. (son of Valentine Sr. above), John's father, lived to be nearly one hundred years old and was said to be the oldest voter in New York.
I think that I was about six years old when we moved to Roslyn, Long Island. The house an old colonial mansion with a great hall running through it. The house stood on a high hill on a terrace that had been dug out of the hill and away up this same hill stood the barn. Also on a terrace still farther up the hill was the farm which was level.
Oh! what a sightly place it was. Below it lay the village a quaint little hamlet surrounded on three sides by hills and on the north by Hempstead Harbor a bay that put in from Long Island Sound. The little village was old and most of the people seemed as old as the place. The paper mill that made paper for Washington during his campaign on Long Island did business until a few years ago but the house that Washington made his headquarters is still standing and occupied by a school mate of mine, Doctor Joseph Bogart [?-?, probably a cousin to the Leggett family]. Most of the shops are still standing. The blacksmith shop where I watched the old smith make tools for the 49ers when the craze was on for California [the California Gold Rush of 1849]. Well that old shop is still doing business and even the old bakery is still carried on by the son and the cakes and pies are just the same and taste the same. We used to hunt duck eggs in the marsh and trade for cakes and pies. But when I was there a few years ago and the son treated me to the sweeties, I couldn't go them, had lost my boy taste. The old grist mill with its own shop which still stands and this mill made flour for Washington's army. In the center of this place was a chain of small lakes and the village was built around them. This place is a paradise for boys. Swimming in the creek behind the grist mill a never ending joy for boys. Then skating on the pond. I must tell of a funny thing that happened one day on the lake. A couple of colored boys came on the pond and wanted to learn how to skate. We told them we would show them. They had skates small enough for Elrose and they wore a number 10 boot. We toggled the skates on them with strings and cord wood (sticks) and got them on their feet. They were so clumsy that they pulled us down several times. At last they said they thought they could stand alone and to our surprise started off at great speed and told us to catch them. And although there were a lot of us, we couldn't. I never saw such skaters in my life. They would dodge and almost lay [sic] flat on the ice, and finally go between our legs. Well we were sold nicely. It is a queer thing about the darkies. They might come on the hill with an old slab sled they had made and beat any of the high priced sleds on the hill. And when it came to dancing the juba why a white boy was not in it.
The Juba dance, also known as "Pattin' the Juba" was created by slaves, featuring hand clapping and foot stomping; a mix of European Jig, Reel Steps, Clog and African rhythms, it became popular around 1845.
http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3juba.htm]
Talking of fun, riding downhill was the greatest. We had a hill on our place about half a mile long and we would race down it like race horses. Sometimes there would be fifty sleds and all trying to beat. The fastest sleigh on the hill was the cheapest looking thing and although there were sleighs that cost fifty dollars and made for speed, yet this old craft could skin em blind and got the name of "Bully of the Hill" and was never beaten. Men, women, and children would turn out and have a jolly time. I can feel it now. Another great fun was gathering chestnuts after a frost. The pods opened and the ground would be covered with nuts there, hickory, black walnuts and butter nuts. Our farm was covered with
these trees and we made quite a lot of money.
I made a mistake when I said the darkies beat all the sleighs on the hill, all but the old "Bully".
I must tell of a funny thing that happened one day on the little lakes. In those days boys were bound and to give their salaries to their families until they were twenty-one years old and often had cruel masters. On this day that I am going to speak of a poor little boy looked so pitifully at us as we were going skating, and as his horse had gone away, he went with us. The lake at the lower end was full of air holes so we took pains to show the boy all the bad ones and told him if his boss came on the lake after him to make for the air holes. Sure enough as we had expected, the old man had on skates and with a whip in his hand started for poor little Johnny. Of course, Johnny started for the poor ice and knew his road. The old man gaining on him, Johnny made a right angle turn and the old man making a turn to head him [off] went kersplash in one of the holes and could not get out. We made him promise that he would not be cross to Johnny on that day or any other, and if he would, we would help him out. If not we would leave him there. He was only too glad to promise so we got him out and he was always good to Johnny forever after.
I have been all my life a great lover of horses and I must tell you some of my experiences. In the first place I want to ride down to grandfather[']s and it was some undertaking for it was twenty-two miles and I had to cross the East River at Hell Gate and then go up Third Avenue. I rode a little Indian pony, the handsomest horse I ever saw and the fastest-he was a racer. In coming home the next day I had great fun racing and had beaten every horse I met. But in going up Peekskill hill I saw a white horse coming down very fast. Here was my chance, I turned my pony around and we were going for all we were worth. I could almost keep up but could not get ahead. I found that I was racing with Lady Suffolk, the fastest trotting horse in the world. [P. T.] Barnum gave one thousand dollars for her when she died and had her stuffed and set up in his museum.
Great-granddaughter of the "Father of Racehorses," the legendary Messenger (1780-1808) , Lady Suffolk, known as "the old gray mare of Long Island," was the first trotting superstar when harness racing was the most popular spectator sport in America. Foaled in 1833 in Smithtown -- she took her name from her native county -- Lady Suffolk at first was a working horse, pulling a butcher and oyster cart, when Irish immigrant David Bryan bought her in 1838 for his livery stable. A customer suggested she be tried at harness racing. Most histories say she first raced in Babylon, and from 1838 to her death in 1853, she entered 162 recorded races and probably at least double that number in impromptu exhibitions. http://www.lihistory.com/5/hs506a.htm
There was a great training stables on the Long Island race tracks not far from our home, and the trainer had a son my age and we were very chummy. I would often go over there and his father would let me exercise some of the horses on the track. Now on this day that I am speaking of the boy's father, helped me on the handsomest horse I ever saw. He was a coal black stallion, after he got me on his back, he said Sonny, you are on the fastest three year old in the world, and when you get him warmed up you may speed him a little. Well it was some ride and this he fairly flew. This horse shortly after broke his leg, had become the sire of many of the great trotting horses of the day. Another ride I once had my uncles Ed and Sam each had trotting horses. So one Sunday their darkey grooms were going out in the country to give their horses a spin. The boys Perce [Percival Seaman Leggett, 1839-1863, Mort's brother, who was later killed in the Civil War], Edgar Leggett [?; Mort's brother Edgar lived only 1835-1836; could be Mort's uncle Edward's firstborn son, Edward, 1842-?] and myself were to follow on horse back. Now my brother Perce took my favorite and little Ed had a good horse while I was left with an old "Crow Bait." We started out behind the trotters. When we came to a paved piece of road the darkies started their horses. Perce and Ed had to run their horses to keep up but to my surprise my old horse kept up on a trot. I didn't say a word but when we got back to the village where the folks had gathered to see the fast horses come through
what was their surprise to see me coming in ahead. We found out that my horse was a run down trotting horse. Now I am through with my horses talk, only it made me feel proud to have ridden the fastest colt in the world and to have had a race with the great Lady Suffolk. My father was no hand for fast horses but my uncles were.
We had a lovely neighbor, a Mrs. Cairns [?-?]. She was the wife of a millionaire and she was good to everybody. My mother's income was shut off at one time and we were having a pretty tough time. One day Mrs. Cairns came over and said to mother, "Eliza it must be hard for you to keep all your children in clothes and shoes," and while she was talking, she took mother's hand and dropped one hundred dollars in it. At another time we boys had been disappointed in going to the fair. She sent her coachman who took us and was given money to buy us anything we wanted. Blessed old lady.
We always had great fun going to the darkies['] camp meetings which was held each year in a grove. They had no set songs but would improvise. The leader would start and they would all fall in and really made good music but the fun came when they would get the "forces." Then pandemonium broke loose. Such shouting and remarks that were made. The ones that had it would be crazy, would run and shout and sometimes go head first into a tree shouting glory hallelujah. After the excitement was over all would quiet down and all go home and most of them would be backsliders the next day.
I must tell of a sail down to Grandfather[']s [to Rose Bank, Hunt's Point, Bronx] . A sloop was hired with its sailors and a party of young and old boarded her when the sails were hoisted and away we started with a joyous party and fresh because we went out of the [Roslyn, Long Island, (Hempstead)] harbor in fine style and were soon on the Sound. Here the water was quite rough and some of the party had no appetite for lunch. The sail down was delightful and we were soon at Grandfathers. After [our] having sailed about thirty miles, Grandfather met us and escorted us to the house where Grandmother received us in regal style. Soon we were invited to the dining room where a grand dinner awaited us. After dinner a walk over the beautiful grounds and after expressing our joy of the day, time said when to start back. Soon all were on the boat, sails hoisted and we are off with Grandfather at the helm. Everything went lovely with a grand breeze until sundown when the wind went down and we found that the boat was drifting backward. So the only thing to do was to heave the anchor and we had to stay all night well out into Long Island Sound.
At sunrise there was a little wind, enough to get into Glen Cove, six miles from home. The men went ashore and hired carriages to take party to Roslyn. I being a boy stayed with the sailors. The party had hardly started in their carriages when a nice wind came up and the old boat beat the party home. This was a good one on them.
I must tell you a little about the way that we could go to New York. A four horse stage would take you to Flushing where you would take a steam boat to the city. Another was to take a three horse stage for Mineola where you would strike the Long Island railroad that would land you in Brooklyn. Then take the Fulton Ferry from the city. The other two ways would be with horse or go afoot as the island is covered with railroads and trolley cars.
One of the great amusements among the darkies was dancing for eats. A judge was
chosen and two danced at a time. The music was beating the juba on their knees. It was great sport and they would dance as long as the eats lasted. It surprised me when we came to Michigan to find such a feeling against the colored people. Why we never had that feeling in Roslyn. As boys we played with them just the same as with white boys. And we loved our old cook Aunt Dorcas almost the same as if she had been our mother. We would throw our arms around her neck and kiss her fat lips and never think of her color. And she would say "Da Lord bless them children." Going to Quaker meeting was a joy and we boys would often walk the three miles to get there. The Quakers were so good to us as if we were men. Sometimes, they would sit out a whole meeting in silence. If any one felt like talking they could. The best sermon I ever heard was when an old Friend got up and said, "I have been thinking that the very best thing that one can do is to mind his own particular business."
One of the disappointments in my life was not to have heard Jennie Lind sing.
[Jenny Lind (1820-1887), dubbed "The Swedish Nightingale" by P. T. Barnum, born in Stockholm, was enticed by Barnum to perform in the United States on a nationwide tour in 1850. When she arrived in New York Sept. 1, 1850, aboard the steamship Atlantic, she was greeted by nearly 40,000 people who had been lured to the docks by Barnum's renowned skills of press manipulation. Audiences in her year-long concert tour included the rich and famous. After considerable differences over tour management and arrangements, Barnum and Jenny Lind parted company following a concert May 24, 1852. He had grossed $712,000 and she had received more than $175,000 in less than a year. In 1852, Jenny Lind married Otto Goldschmidt, her German accompanist and they settled in England. http://www.barnum-museum.org/html/lind.htm]
The family that I boarded with in Flushing when I attended school there all went to hear her in New York. They said I was too young. I have never gotten over it. Another was not hearing Oley Bull [Ole Bornemann Bull, 1810-1880, Norwegian violin virtuoso, toured America in the 1850s] fiddle when I was in Detroit. Isn't it funny how a disappointment will stick to you.
One of the things that I took great interest in was watching the building of sloops. Now a sloop is a small one-masted boat about thirty feet long and are made to carry freight to the small towns from the big city. As there were two boat builders in the place, it gave us a fine opportunity to watch and when it came to the launching, the excitement ran high. A company was invited to be on her when she ran off the ways. The way consisted of long greased timbers well greased and the boat was held upon them by props and when all was ready the props were knocked out and the boat began to move and increased her speed and when she struck the water she would almost bury herself. At this time a flag was hoisted, a bottle of wine broken over her bowsprit and the crowd and the party on board. After this the sails were hoisted and a grand sail taken.
...
Continued under the notes for Jane Whitehead, Mort's wife.
Note: * 126-g7Le7 Mortimer7 Allen Leggett, (Augustus6, William5, Thomas4, Th
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