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Note: omas3, Gabriel2, Gabriel1)
born December 2, 1845 in Rose Bank, Westchester (now Bronx) NY
died July 8, 1927 in Elizabeth, NJ, buried in Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
married November 16, 1875 to Georgianna Clapp
born November 29, 1850
died September 11, 1938, buried in Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
Children (Leggett) 2: 1 boy, 1 girl
88-g8Le7 Howard8 Clapp
88a-g8Le7 Mary8 Hills
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Edward Howard Leggett was born 2 December 1845. He married Georgianna Clapp (one of the twin daughters of Mary B. and Benjamin Winthrop Clapp). They made their home for many years at 450 North Broad Street in Elizabeth, NJ. With his brother Clinton, E. Howard carried on the work of Leggett Brothers Co. (paint, insecticide, equipment, chemical supplies) for more than 50 years. This business, founded by his grandfather, William H. Leggett, in 1854/34? was located at 301 Pearl Street, lower Manhattan, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. E. Howard and his wife were married 52 years. For more than 20 years he served as deacon and elder at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, NJ.
[Third - Westminster Presbyterian Church?
Address: 780 Salem Ave
Elizabeth, NJ 07208
Telephone: 908-352-5827
http://apps.pcusa.org/churches]
He also volunteered his time as a Sunday school teacher at Hope Memorial Presbyterian Church.
[Siloam - Hope Presbyterian Church?
Address: 496 Spring St
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
Telephone: 908-354-0016
http://apps.pcusa.org/churches]
He wrote many religious tracts. He is interred in the B.W. Clapp plot in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Family records of the Rev. John M. Leggett
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ELIZABETH TIMES
ELIZABETH, N. J., SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1926
Page 1, col. 2.
[In col. 1 is an article on opening of the new Newark Bay Bridge, where 25 "Gold Button" commuters were present (those riding for over 50 years). In a list of 18 of these, E. Howard is mentioned with the correct initial, but another error is made in crediting him with only riding since 1866.]
Second Oldest C.R.R. Commuter
[Photo]
A. [no, E.] HOWARD LEGGETT
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COMMUTING SINCE 1859
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A. [no, E.] Howard Leggett, Elizabeth, 2nd Oldest on Line
Second oldest commuter on the Central Railroad of New Jersey is A. [no, E.] Howard Leggett, 450 North Broad street, Elizabeth, who has been commuting since 1859, a period of time just a few months shorter than that of Charles S. Kiggins, 96 West Grand street, Elizabeth, the interview with whom recently was published.
Mr. Leggett, who is the senior member of Leggett & Son, New York City, manufacturers of insecticides, has used the Central Railroad since he first began commuting, after removing from New York where he lived for a time. He is 81 years old but still active in his work. And though he made little comment about his 66 years of commuting what he said was all in praise for the "road" and especially for the big improvement embodied in the new bridge over Newark Bay.
Like Mr. Kiggins, in an interview in the Times last week, Mr. Leggett recounted the many changes he has remarked in Elizabeth since taking up residence here. He has seen the business of the city creeping steadily up North Broad street until now it is nearly at the doors of his spacious, comfortable home, one of the finer residences of the city.
"Business is all right," he said, "I'm glad to see the city grow in this respect but it's not the Elizabeth I used to know, my Elizabeth, to which I came to make my home."
[Invitation]
The Officers and Directors of
The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey
request the honor of your presence
at the formal opening of its new four track
Newark Bay Bridge
Saturday, November twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred twenty-six.
The party will assemble at the Jersey City Terminal Station, from
which point the official train will depart at twelve thirty P.M.
The trip will be followed by luncheon at Hotel Robert Treat,
Newark, New Jersey.
The favor of a response
on enclosed card, is requested.
[Business card glued to back of invitation]
R. B. WHITE
PRESIDENT
THE CENTRAL RAILROAD CO. OF NEW JERSEY NEW YORK
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New York Times, July 9 and 10, 1927
LEGGETT - At Elizabeth, N.J., on Friday, July 8, 1927, E. Howard7 Leggett, husband of Georgianna Clapp Leggett and father of Howard88-g8Le7 Clapp Leggett.
Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend the funeral services at his late residence, 450 North Broad St., Elizabeth, N.J., on Sunday afternoon, July 10, at 5 o'clock. Interment Monday at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
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The New York Times, 9 July 1927
EDWARD H. LEGGETT DEAD.
Wholesale Chemical and Paint Dealer Dies at 81 Years.
ELIZABETH, N. J., July 8 (AP).-Edward Howard Leggett, 81, of 450 North Broad Street, member of the firm of Leggett Brothers Company, wholesale paint and chemical dealers of New York, died at his home here today after a long illness. He is survived by his widow and one son, Howard C. Leggett, residing here; a brother, Clinton H. Leggett or New York, and a sister, Miss Florence Leggett of New York. The firm of which he was a member was founded by his grandfather more than a century ago.
Services will be held at the residence at 5 o`clock tomorrow afternoon. Burial will take place Monday in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
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Letters Nos. 14 and 15 (first part) of Edward's father, Thomas B. Leggett, to his grandson, Edward's son. All such surviving letters may be found by consulting the chart under the Notes for Thomas:
293 Lenox Ave.
New York
May 28, 1892
My dear Grandson,
Howard C. Leggett,
During the early years of the seven years` War of the Revolution with Great Britain, which you remember, continued from 1776 to 1783, the American people had been putting forth all their power and strength to free themselves from the hardships and persecutions which the English government had inflicted on them. They were, however, rapidly becoming discouraged and exhausted with their many defeats, great suffering, constant exposure, want of proper food and warm clothing. The troops were poorly clad and inadequately armed, for you must remember the country was young and dependent on England for nearly everything they had. Cannons, muskets, pistols, swords and shot all came from England. The only war material then made in the country was powder. Their muskets as well as their pistols were old and inferior flint locks, and their swords none of the best, but their hearts were brave and their cause a just one.
At this critical moment there came to this country in the year 1777, General Lafayette, a young French nobleman just twenty years of age. He came in a ship purchased at his own expense and stored with all kinds of munitions of war which he thought might be needed by the American army. When he reached this country, he immediately offered his services to General Washington, requesting to be allowed to take part with the Colonies in the war of independence. His acquaintance with Washington soon resulted in a warm and enduring friendship, and he was at once invited to become a member of Washington's military family.
In 1759 Lafayette returned to France to urge upon the King of France the wisdom of granting immediate relief and assistance to the American cause. Benjamin Franklin was at the time in Paris. He had been sent by the Continental Congress to intercede and urge upon Louis XVI the granting of immediate assistance for the American people, and was so indefatigable and untiring in his perseverance in urging upon the King and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, that they granted the assistance so sorely needed, and generously came forward with practical assistance; battle ships, land forces and all kinds of warlike equipment. This put renewed life in American hopes and brought ultimate success to their efforts. General Lafayette immediately returned to America the same year he left, bringing the news that ships, soldiers and a plentiful supply of stores was on the way. In the year 1781, General Lafayette found the army in such great distress for want of proper clothing that he advanced $10,000 of his own money to properly clothe the troops under his command. Our government was, at the time, exhausted in funds and utterly powerless to borrow money or grant help. After the siege and storming of Yorktown in 1781 and the resulting surrender of Lord Cornwallis, in which General Lafayette took a leading part, he left America and returned to his home in France. In 1824, on the invitation of the American Congress, to revisit this country, he being then 67 years old, he again came over in a ship sent out to France for that purpose, and was sought after as an honored guest by the people in all parts of the country. You must read the life of General Lafayette; it is a most interesting story.
You must also read the history of Louis XVI, King of France, and his queen, Marie Antoinette. You will find it intensely interesting and fearfully sad, for both were guillotined in 1793. Louis was a well-meaning, weak king, and Marie Antoinette a foolish woman, but the manner of their deaths was horrible, and the treatment they received was disgraceful to the French nation.
You must also read about Benjamin Franklin, for he was a wonderful man. He came to America from England when he was just a small boy and without a cent in his pocket, a poor boy indeed, and worked himself up to be one of the greatest in the land. About the year 1750 he invented the open stove for burning wood, known as the Franklin Stove. I remember seeing this kind of open stove in my grandfather`s [Thomas Leggett, (1755-1843)] home when I was a small boy. This stove invented by Benjamin Franklin, and the air tight stove, invented by Dr. Nott, were the first stoves ever seen in this country. Benjamin Franklin also discovered electricity in lightning, and invented the pointed conductors, or lightning rods to defend houses from lightning. He lived to see his efforts in behalf of his country rewarded by signing the preliminary articles of peace at Paris, November 30, 1782, and the definite treaty on September 3, 1783. Franklin also showed the world how to build a chimney so that it would not smoke. There is much to the life of Franklin, for he was not only a great statesman, but a man of great learning, wonderfully skilled in science and invention. A better acquaintance with his life will repay you.
To go back to our talk about the Revolutionary War, the French war frigate Hussar, early in 1779 reached our shores, freighted with a full cargo of cannon, muskets, swords, pistols, clothing, great quantities of shot and shell, and all types of war equipment intended to supply the French troops then serving in this country, as well as a large amount of gold and silver money for the payment of these troops. After this noble frigate had safely crossed the stormy ocean and fought her way past the English cruisers which were constantly hovering about, and was gallantly passing through dangerous Hell Gate on her way to Long Island Sound and her destination, she suddenly struck a hidden rock with such great force as to immediately sink to the bottom of the deep river, taking all hands and her cargo to the bottom. Sixty years and more had passed since this sad loss, and the war had been over for many years. People had generally forgotten about the sad occurrence and many younger ones had never heard of it. True, search had been made from time to time by certain adventurous spirits during these years of peace, seeking the whereabouts of this wreck with an eye to the recovery of the treasure on board. Since the water was so deep and the current strong and shifting, all efforts to locate the wreck proved futile.
One day a fisherman in hauling up his anchor rope, brought up a sheet of old copper. This attracted the attention of a man who was passing on a small row boat. He immediately stopped, commenced sounding with lead and line and also took his bearings. Then he left and nothing more was thought of it. A few weeks later when we boys were all down on the shore at Rose Bank, our attention was attracted to a large schooner which came up the river and dropped anchor some half mile below the spot on the shore where we were standing. We saw the crew take two anchors in a small boat and drop them in the water some little way off from her bow; then they dropped another two anchors similarly off the stern, securely fastening the schooner to these four anchors so that she could not move from her position. Then all her sails and spars were taken down and stored below. By this time our curiosity was at fever heat, we could stand it no longer, so started off for the house where we asked our father [William Haight Leggett, (1789-1863)] to put the large spy glass on the vessel to see what it was all about. Our father was as much puzzled as we were, so decided to get ready the large row-boat when he would take us all out to the schooner and learn, if he could, what the ship was doing there. We were not long in getting off and were soon along side the schooner. The captain invited us to come aboard where he told my father these facts, telling him of the sinking of the Hussar which I mentioned above happened in the year 1779. After having drifted nearly a mile from the place where it had originally sunk, the wreck had just been located a few weeks previous and was imbedded in the mud directly below where the schooner was now anchored. It was then the year 1835, and the wreck had moved from the opposite shore of the river since 1779, now lying in water a hundred feet deep, with a very strong tide always running. The captain said his submarine company had obtained the consent of the government to dive in the waters round about for the treasure. They had therefore come to remain during the summer month with all the apparatus and appliances required for the purpose, and we boys were welcome to come aboard as often as we wished. He also told us that a diver was then preparing to go down in the water almost immediately, and if we waited a short time, we could see how it was done, and also hear what the diver had to say when he came up from below. I was intensely interested in all the captain said, and particularly in looking at the diving bell and submarine armour which was lying about the deck, ready for immediate use. I had never seen anything of the kind before, and had no idea of how such things were used. Soon I had occasion to see it all. A tall, strongly built man came out from the cabin, dressed in heavy, tight-fitting woolen garments, with a thick woolen cap covering his head, neck and shoulders, leaving only space to see, hear and breathe. He stood up under a rope which hung down from the yard above. The crew immediately commenced to put him into his submarine armour. I assure you I was dreadfully frightened and horrified when I saw them slowly lower down by the rope above and place over his head a heavy iron helmet having two large glass eyes, and screw the whole thing tight down over his shoulders. Then they fastened heavy weights to his body and ankles and lifted him by block and tackle attached to the yard above and to the ring on the top of his helmet, swung him over side and then slowly down into the hundred feet of water to the bottom of the river. It certainly was a distressing sight to see, as we certainly thought they intended to drown the poor man and leave him on the bottom of the river. After being down in the water some little time, he pulled the signal rope, whereupon he was slowly raised up out of the river and brought on deck again. His heavy helmet was lifted off in the same manner in which it had been put on, the heavy weights taken off and his suit of armor removed. A chair was brought for him to sit in and a glass of brandy administered, and after resting a short time, he began to talk. He said that the frigate was settled well in the mud, resting nicely on her keel in clear water all of a hundred feet deep and with a strong tide running. He stated that he had walked on her upper deck and could distinctly see and feel with his hands her big guns, great anchors and heavy chain cables. This schooner remained over the wreck of the Hussar during all the summer months, and during that time we boys often rowed out to her, went on deck and watched the crew pull up muddy and rusty articles from below.
At one time I remember seeing the deck of the schooner covered with old sheet copper which had fallen from the sides of the wreck and which had been sent up by the diver. At another time the deck was loaded with rusty cannon balls. There were tons of iron balls brought up and great quantity of lead balls for muskets. It was generally understood that they recovered all the gold and silver money, but what amount there was of it, was never known. Undoubtedly it was a large amount, because of the large number of men that they had working there all summer, people were lead to believe that they were all well rewarded for their time and labor. One of the divers on the schooner told me that frequently he saw ugly looking fish swim about him in deep water. Sometimes these large fish would brush him off his feet and make him feel very uncomfortable. From what little I heard of the divers' experiences, I made up my mind that I would never care to be a deep water diver.
Perhaps your father [Edward Howard Leggett, (1845-1927)] can explain to you the principle of the diving bell and the submarine armor, for it would take too much space in this letter to write it out for you. However, I will say, the diving bell is built on the principle of the inverted tumbler. To better illustrate my meaning, take a wax taper, fasten it to a piece of flat cork, and put it in a basin of water. Light the taper, then take a tumbler and put it over the lighted taper. The water will rise part way on the inside of the tumbler. The wax taper will float on the water inside, and as it burns the oxygen in the air, the water inside will continue to rise until the oxygen is exhausted and the taper is extinguished. Now with a diving bell, air is constantly being pumped into it from above, which keeps the water from rising beyond a certain point depending on the depth to which the bell is lowered and the pressure of the air in the bell. As the bell is made out of cast iron, it readily sinks of its own weight. It is lighted from the top with a bulls-eye of glass firmly cemented in the iron. Since the water can only rise to a certain height, the workmen sit on a platform inside the diving bell above the water line well supplied with fresh air pumped in from above. By means of the crane on the vessel above, the diving bell can be moved about, so that the workmen can observe the wreck or recover small articles. But I must now stop, for my letter is far longer than I had intended to make it. I hope you will be able to gather something from it.
Your Grandfather,
Thomas B. Leggett
293 Lenox Ave.
New York, N.Y.
June 4, 1892.
My Dear Grandson,
Howard C. Leggett,
On your great-great-grandfather`s place (Thomas Leggett) [(1755-1843)] in West Farms, Westchester County, N.Y., there stood in the middle of an extensive apple orchard, a large two story, weather beaten old building, which, when I was a young boy, the lower part was used as a cider mill. It was an odd looking, square built old structure of stone and wood, very formidable as well as primitive in its appearance, being covered with green moss from its extreme old age and the abode of hundreds of bats and swallows, who built their nests among the rafters and reared their young in great numbers.
I have heard my grandfather [Thomas Leggett, above] say this was considered an old building when he was a boy and he would often relate little incidents of the Indians in connection with it. When I and my brothers were boys the whole structure was fast going to ruin from extreme old age, in fact it was about the last of the old colonial buildings in that section of the country which could show any evidence from its construction that it was built as a protection from the Indians, and if I had not disclosed it to you, as I shall in this letter, perhaps you might never have known how much the early settlers had to endure and suffer. I have often thought if that old building could only speak, what a history of exciting and thrilling events it could tell and what horrible scenes it could unfold of the dreadful doings of the days when the Indians were all about the country by day and prowling in the woods by night, watching their opportunity to take a scalp from man, woman or child, or the life of either of them. This old building was made of strong and solid materials, being built of large and rough boulder stones from some seven feet up from the ground, one heavy stone piled up upon the other, making a rough but strong built square wall of solid stone and mortar work seven feet high and three feet thick, with only one open space for a door. This door was made of double thickness of heavy oak plank, nailed and clinched with extra large headed wrought nails made by hand. It was hung with heavy and strong strap hinges, also hand made, with a great lock and enormous key, heavy iron chain across the door, with two strong oaken bars.
On all sides of the building were narrow windows or loop holes, arranged in regular order and at a height from the ground as those inside could place a musket and fire at those on the outside. These narrow slot windows also gave light and air to those on the inside. To each one of these port holes there was a heavy shutter made of double oak timber, which was pushed into them when the Indians were attacking the building and only taken out for the purpose of firing through, and immediately put back.
Resting on this solid wall of stone and mortar was an upper story six feet high, built of heavy oak timbers cut from the woods, and squared by the axe, each beam as strong and hard like iron. This whole upper part was built on the same principle of a log house, that is, each oak beam rested flat on the top of the one below, but in this case one piece of timber was fastened to the other by long wooden pins, making it close and solid as the stone wall on which it rested. Over this solid wall of oak timber was a sheathing of rough, hand split oak from the trees and firmly nailed on perpendicularly with heavy wrought nails or spikes, made in England, each rough board fitting closely to the
other, all made tight and strong, so no Indian arrow or musket ball could penetrate any part of it. I will here remark that an oak board well fastened with wrought nails can never be pulled out or pulled apart, so tight do the nails hold to the wood. When this building was erected nails of no kind were made in this country.
This upper story, like the one below, had narrow windows for light and air, but they were so constructed you could look out but one way. If one window looked to the right, the next one looked toward the left so could an arrow or a musket ball find its way in only from one direction. These narrow windows like those of all the houses of those days, had no glass as we have now. They had no glass so used sheets of mica about 3 x 4 inches. We boys called it isinglass. Oil paper, made in England, was also used. After a time glass began to be used. A sash was made to hold six panes of 4 x 6 glass. As they had no putty in those days, they were fastened in by bits of lead. It was not until the year 1661, the principal room of the king's palace of England had glass. The first attempt to make it in this country was in 1746, and as for plate glass, it was not made until 1853. I remember perfectly well when the first plate glass was in a store window in New York. A.T. Stewart, the retail dry goods king of his day, was building a store on Broadway, corner of Chamber St. In each one of the front windows he placed a single pane of plate glass and many old people thought it such a foolish waste of money. Of course you will understand, all the windows of this old building I am writing about, had very heavy double shutters strong and thick enough to resist a musket ball. They were always kept firmly closed when any danger was about.
The roof had rafters of the same heavy trucks of trees as the sides and ends of the building, which were covered with rough and thick slabs of red cedar wood like shingles, also split out by the axe. They were lapped one over the other, and so firmly secured with large headed wrought nails to the heavy rafters, that the combined efforts of the Indians could not pry them off nor could the great bears with all their strength disturb a single slab. I will say that bears will, at times, do as much damage to a log house roof as a wild Indian. I have often thought what a formidable building it must have been in its day, and how well calculated to safely shelter and protect the immediate neighbors form an attack by the Indians when they were on the warpath, for you must remember when my grandfather [Thomas Leggett, (1755-1843)] was a boy 130 years ago, [1760s] there were plenty of Indians, bears and wolves about his father's [Thomas Leggett, (1721-after 1781)] woods and fields.
The lower part of this old building had been turned into a cider mill and a primitive one it was when I was a boy, being constructed of heavy timbers cut from the woods and squared by the axe, giving one a very good idea our great-grandfather had to do with. The country was then a colony of England and dependent upon the mother country for everything they required, for England discouraged the manufacturing of anything in this country and compelled the colonies to buy everything of her, which at last brought on the year 1776 and our independence of England for ever. The most simple article of those days were not only scarce but of high cost and difficult to procure. All the writing paper, ink, pins, needles, thread, tools of all kinds, nails, tacks, screws, as well as clothing, boots, hats, and in fact everything our ancestors used and possessed was made in England. In addition to all this, the English people in the year 1680 [actually, in 1619, to Jamestown] imported from Africa to her colonies in America a large number of slaves, which she continued doing up to the year 1776, when she had imported into the country as many as 300,000 Africans; so you see the English people brought the slave to our country and fastened that curse upon us. So rapidly did this disgraceful business increase and so much cruelty and suffering was practiced, the English government in the year 1811 was compelled to abolish the importation of slaves from Africa to any of her colonies. The United States followed immediately
afterwards and also stopped any further importations. [Actually, by the 1787 Constitution, banned after 1808.] In the year 1830, slavery ceased to be in all British colonies and also ceased to be in this country for ever in the year 1863 by President Lincoln`s Emancipation Proclamation. [Actually abolished in 1865, by the XXIIIth Amendment.]
...Continued in the notes for Georgianna Clapp...
Note: * 148-g7Le7 Edward Howard7 Leggett, (Thomas6 B., William5, Thomas4, Th
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