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a.
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Note: as (E-2) and Katherine Piggott, was born in Ely before 1599, so no baptismal record exists. On July 26, 1625 he married Susan Kilbourne who was baptized on December 1, 1599 and who was the daughter of John Kilbourne, owner of a large amount of land. The Kilbournes are listed in the 1580s Feet of Fines as owners of land in Cheveley and Trumpington, Cambridgeshire. (Other local land- owners mentioned are the John Cottons and the Cromwells.) Gabriel (E-3) and Susan had six sons and one daughter, but only three of their sons lived to manhood. The other three sons and the daughter died as children, perhaps during the plague epidemic that struck Ely in 1636. Gabriel (E-3) died in 1657, his wife Susan in 1670.
Gabriel (E-3) was church warden of St. Mary’s, Ely when Oliver Cromwell was the lay rector from 1638 to 1642. (Cromwell’s half-timbered house is still the parish rectory.) Gabriel’s position as warden would have made him a collector of tithes and manager of church property. In 1642 he signed the Petition for Church Reform, a petition which described the Bishop’s neglect of the parish churches and requested that sermons be given regularly in each parish. (Gabriel signed his own name, which means that he was literate.)
Much social history has been written about the Ely area during this era (two books which examine this era are Margaret Spufford’s Contrasting Communities and Christopher Hill’s The World Turned Upside Down). As previously noted, discontent over the draining and enclosure of the fens had reached fever pitch. Many radical sects such as the Ranters, the Levellers, and the early Quakers (before George Fox) drew strong support in Cambridgeshire and nearby areas of East Anglia. These areas also supported the Puritan side in the Civil Wars of 1642-1646 and 1648-1650 in which Oliver Cromwell played so large a part. In 1649 Cromwell appointed Gabriel (E-3) to a thirteen-member commission in charge of the disposal of the Ely Cathedral and Chapter House, a task which the commission fortunately did not undertake.
Cromwell died in 1658 after having served since 1653 as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. The passing of the Commonwealth and Puritan ascendancy undoubtedly affected the fortunes of the Leggetts. After 1660 Charles II reinstated Bishop Wren of Ely, a high Anglican who had spent years as a prisoner in the Tower of London, and the Church began to reclaim its lost property and position of influence. Prior to the time of Cromwell the Bishop of Ely had been the secular lord of the area, appointing the Courts and maintaining his own prison.
In 1563, St. Mary’s congregation numbered only 154 households. In this same parish with the Leggetts was a family of Richardsons, but it is not clear whether this is the same Richardson family so closely tied to West Farms and Gabriel (E-4, A-1) who married an Elizabeth Richardson.
Children (Leggett), 6 sons and 1 daughter all born in Ely.
i. Thomas b. March 28, 1627 d. November 13, 1636
ii. John (E-4) b. May 4. 1628 d.----
iii. Richard b. ---- d. April 30, 1630
iv. William (E-4) b. May 2, 1632 d. June 22, 1665 m. Ann Hasell
v. Edward b. March 2, 1633 d. October 23, 1636
vi. Katherine b. February 28, 1635 d. March 3, 1638
vii. Gabriel (E-4, A-1) b. May 2, 1637 d. June, 1700 m. Elizabeth Richardson
Will of Gabriell Leggate, 1657 (on file: Public Records Office, Chancery Lane, London)
In the name of God, Amen. I Gabriell Leggate of Ely in the Isle of Ely in the County of Cambridge yeoman, calling to mind my own frailty and mortality do for my better preparation for death now whilst I am in health and perfect understanding and memory (blessed be the Lord for the same) institute and make this my last will and testament in manner and form following. First of all I surrender my soul unto the hands of Almighty God my Creator trusting in his free grace and abundant Goodness to receive the free remission of all my sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer, and my body I commit to the earth to be buried in a convenient place and decent manner according to the good pleasure of God at the discretion of my Executor hereafter named, in hope of a joyful Resurrection at the last and great Day. And as touching that temporal estate which the Lord hath lent me to use in this world I thus dispose thereof in manner as followeth. First of all I give and bequeath unto Susan my beloved wife: all this my household stuff or movable goods furniture and implements which are now within my dwelling house (except my wheat). As for my other Corn and Malt and other things whatsoever now in my house I give that same wholly to her my said wife and her heirs and assigns forever. I also give unto my said wife our land of wheat for her bread, corn, all my butter, cheese, bacon and my farming, also my linnen and bedding and whatever else is within my house aforesaid. Also I give and bequeath unto my loving son William Leggate twenty shillings of the lawful money of England to be paid to him by my Executor within one year next after my decease. I give him also the one year old filly which came of the mare which was fair's first. [I give and bequeath unto my loving son Gabriell Leggate twenty pounds of the lawful money of England to be paid to him by my Executor within one year after my decease. (This line is apparently spurious; see below.)] All the residue of my movable goods corn, money, cattle and chattels whatsoever I give the same wholly unto my loving son John Leggat whom I appoint and make the sole executor of this my last will and testament to pay my debts and legacies and to discharge my funeral expenses and to see my body decently interred and buried and to perform and fulfill this my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal unto this writing of my last will and testament in the sixth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and fifty seven. Gabriell Leggate, his mark.
Sealed subscribed, published to be the last will and testament of the above named Gabriell Leggate in the presence of Thomas Tye, his mark William Waddysone, his marke Robert Browne
This will was proved at London before the judges for probate of wills and granting administrations lawfully authorized the 18th day of December in the year of our Lord God according to the computation of the Church of England one thousand six hundred and fifty seven by the oath of John Leggat the son and sole executor of the deceased to whom administration of all the goods and chattels of the said deceased was committed he being first sworn by commission to administer the same.
Source:
THE ENGLISH ORIGINS OF THE GABRIEL LEGGETT FAMILY
Early Settlers of West Farms, Westchester County, New York
Researched by Dorothy Corbett Wertz, Ph.D. Boston University,
School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, 1985
Compiled by the Rev. John Milton Leggett, Trinity Episcopal Church, Washington, Pennsylvania, 1986
Electronically scanned, formatted and annotated thus [ ] by his son, David John Leggett, 13 February 2000
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Note on the will of Gabriel Leggett, 1657.
In the spring of 2002, Margaret Bolton sent me a photocopy of the clerk's copy of this will, (PROB 11 in the parlance below, ref: PROB 11/271 f133LH to 133 RH) from the Public Records Office. This copy reads substantially the same as the text rendered above, with the exception of the bequest to son Gabriel Leggett:
"I give and bequeath unto my loving son Gabriell Leggate twenty pounds of the lawful money of England to be paid to him by my Executor within one year after my decease."
Obviously it is important that the immigrant Gabriel Leggett be mentioned in a will in England, as a reference tending to prove the specific connection across the Atlantic. It would appear that Dorothy Wertz saw the original will with this bequest. The difference in the copy Margaret Bolton procured resulted from a clerk's error dropping of this bequest, which is understandable, as it is separated by but one short sentence from, and is very similar to, the bequest to son William, which probably appeared in the line immediately above, leading the clerk to believe he had already transcribed that line. Following is some of my email correspondence with the Public Records Office, trying to sort all this out:
-----Original Message-----
From: RISD E-mail Enquiry Service [mailto:enquiry@pro.gov.uk]
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 1:18 PM
To: 'Leggett, David'
Subject: RE: Enquiry from Web Site, Wills
Dear Mr Leggett
Thank you for contacting the Public Record Office.
PROB 11 are the Will Registers which contain copies of Wills that were
proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC).
PROB 10 are the original wills, which were submitted to the PCC to be
proved.
It is probable that a clerical error accounts for the missing information,
but the only way to check this out is to look in the following document:
PROB 10/867 (December 1857, Surnames E-O)
Please note that:
1) PROB 10 is held at our repository at Hayes and therefore takes 3 working
days to be produced at the Public Record Office at Kew
2) There is no guarantee that the original will has survived - you will only
find this out when you inspect the bundles of wills which will be contained
in the box labelled PROB 10/867.
We are unable to carry out this search on your behalf. There are two options
open to you:
* You are very welcome to visit us. Our staff are happy to offer
advice on how to proceed with your research. You should make arrangements to
order the PROB 10 document in advance (I suggest that you telephone the
Contact Centre on 020 8392 5200 in order to do this, or send an e-mail)
* You may wish to hire an Independent Researcher to do the work for
you. Please follow the link to
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/irlist/default.htm
If you intend to send us further e-mails, to avoid receiving our initial
auto-response again, please make sure you include the letters SART ,with a
space on either side, in your subject line.
I wish you well with your research.
Yours sincerely
Mark Dunton
E-mail Duty Officer
Reader Information Services Department
enquiry@pro.gov.uk
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: Leggett, David [mailto:David.Leggett@fns.usda.gov]
Sent: 19 June 2002 21:42
To: 'RISD E-mail Enquiry Service'
Subject: RE: Enquiry from Web Site, Wills
Dear Mr. Dunton:
Thank you for your reply.
I don't know why I didn't see it right off, but another pointed out to me
that below you mention "PROB 10/867 (December 1857, Surnames E-O)" I don't
know your system, but is this not an error, in that the will in question was
made 6 May 1657, prob 18 Nov 1657?
Is there any way for you to tell me if my cousin would have seen original
wills or filmed (or even unfilmed) clerk's copies at Chancery Lane in about
1985?
Regards,
David Leggett
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: RISD E-mail Enquiry Service [mailto:enquiry@pro.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 6:40 AM
To: 'Leggett, David'
Subject: RE: Enquiry from Web Site, Wills
Dear Mr Leggett,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I am afraid Mark Dunton is on leave today, and I am replying on his behalf.
I am sorry that my colleague does seem to have mistakenly sent you the wrong
reference.
The correct reference for the original wills proven in November 1657 (for
surnames beginning with letters G-M) is:
Prob 10/864 1657 Nov G-M
It is perfectly possible that your cousin could have seen either the filmed
clerks copies of wills (Prob 11), and the original wills (Prob 10), at the
Chancery Lane Office in 1985. Then, as now, both were available for public
inspection, although three days notice is required when ordering Prob 10's
now because they are held off-site.
I hope this is helpful.
Chris Heather (Mr)
Duty E-mail Officer
Research and Editorial Department
Public Record Office
Ruskin Ave
Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 4DU
UK
Tel:020 8392 5200
Fax:020 8392 5286
E-mail: enquiry@pro.gov.uk
Website:www.pro.gov.uk
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
During our visit with Dorothy in August 2002, she said that she had worked with the original documents back in 1985, not microfilms.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Now, a note on the baptism of Gabriel Leggett's son, Gabriel, who emigrated to America in 1661:
-----Original Message----- From: Leggett, David
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 9:59 AM
To: 'pmm1000@cam.ac.uk'
Subject: RE: St. Mary the Virgin, Ely; baptism of Gabriel Leggett there on 2 May 1637
Dear Mr. Meadows:
I emailed you regarding the subject baptism on 11 June and have had no acknowledgement, so I do not know if my original message reached you. I am paring this message down from the previous ones I sent on the 11th so as to deal only with the baptism, as my questions on the will have been resolved, at least as much as they can be, by the Public Records Office.
In about 1985, my cousin, Dorothy Corbett Wertz, was in the UK and performed research on the Leggett family, apparently finally establishing our family's connection in Ely, Cambs.
I say apparently, because, due to the miracle of email and the internet, I recently made acquaintance with one Margaret Bolton of High Wycombe, Bucks, who is likely a distant cousin. According to Margaret's reading of the baptismal record of St. Mary the Virgin in Ely as rendered on the Family History Society's microfiche, this Gabriel does not appear there. My cousin found him, baptised on or about 2 May 1637.
Can you explain, or help me to resolve this discrepancy? The discrepancy of the will can be explained by the existence of an original and a clerk's copy, the latter of which could have, through a clerk's error, dropped a bequest contained in the former. Might a similar situation exist here, with the baptismal record? How many copies of this record exist, and which copy might my cousin have seen in her research in 1985?
Thank you for your trouble.
Best regards,
David Leggett
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[Apparently, Mr. Meadows reply on 5 July 2002 was lost; I never received it, so I resent it in September.]
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Meadows [mailto:pmm1000@cam.ac.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 7:35 AM
To: Leggett, David
Subject: Re: St. Mary the Virgin, Ely; baptism of Gabriel Leggett there
on2 May 1637
Dear Mr. Leggett,
I replied to your e-mail on 5th July, to say that there is no trace of Gabriel
Legget's baptism at Ely in 1637. I cheked the bishop's transcripts for both Ely
parishes (St. Mary's and Holy Trinity) for 1636-8 inclusive, and he is not
there.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Meadows
Department of Manuscripts
(Keeper of Ely Diocesan Records)
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: Leggett, David
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 2:59 PM
To: 'Peter Meadows'
Subject: RE: St. Mary the Virgin, Ely; baptism of Gabriel Leggett there
on2 May 1637
Dear Mr. Meadows,
For some reason, your message of 5th July must have disappeared into cyberspace; it surely never reached me. I am glad to find that you are indeed the correct source for this information.
Thank you for your trouble, even though it causes me trouble. Not being able to confirm my cousin's research establishing the origin of the family is disheartening.
Believing that my cousin really did see what she saw, I am still trying to resolve the discrepancy. I understand the original registers from these parishes for this time periond have been long lost. Would my cousin have been looking at the bishop's transcripts in 1985, or is there any other record she could have seen?
David Leggett
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: Leggett, David
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 10:31 AM
To: 'Peter Meadows'
Subject: RE: St. Mary the Virgin, Ely; baptism of Gabriel Leggett there
on2 May 1637
Mr. Meadows:
I emailed you on 2 October. As we have found our email connection to be somewhat quirky, I am resending this message. I understand that you have checked the bishop's transcripts for both Ely parishes for several years around the pertinent date and have not found Gabriel Leggett. Thanks again. But here is my question of 2 Oct again:
Believing that my cousin really did see what she saw, I am still trying to resolve the discrepancy. I understand the original registers from these parishes for this time periond have been long lost. Would my cousin have been looking at the bishop's transcripts in 1985, or is there any other record she could have seen?
David Leggett
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Meadows [mailto:pmm1000@cam.ac.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 7:05 AM
To: David.Leggett@fns.usda.gov
Subject: Re: St. Mary the Virgin, Ely; baptism of Gabriel Leggett there
on2 May 1637
Dear Mr. Leggatt,
Thank you for your e-mail of 18th November. It would seem that Margaret Bolton
and I have consulted the available records, viz. the parish records and the
bishop's transcripts, for Ely in the 1630s, and not found the baptism in
question. I do not know where your cousin could have got her information. She
should have kept a record of her source.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Meadows
Department of Manuscripts
(Keeper of Ely Diocesan Records)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----Original Message-----
From: Wertz, Dorothy [mailto:Dorothy.Wertz@umassmed.edu]
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 11:33 AM
To: David.Leggett@fns.usda.gov
Subject: RE: St. Mary the Virgin, Ely; baptism of Gabriel Leggett there
on2 May 1637
...
As for the records in Ely, I don't know what to say. I saw this baptism in 1985, but couldn't make photocopies, because some people had already helped themselves to pages from the book. Obviously there's no record there now. What I might suggest is that you modify your website to say "reputed to be from Ely". Gabriel Leggett would be in good company with some famous other "reputed to be's." The poet John Milton is reputed to have had two of his children baptized at St. Mary's, but the pages were stolen. And for heaven's sake, leave the stones as they are.
...
Best, Dorothy
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In early 2003, my father was preparing family records for transfer to my possession, when he came across notes, correspondence, and photocopies of the original wills associated with Dorothy's 1985 research in England. On 25 April 2003, my parents arrived for a weekend visit, and brought a box containing these things and many others.
I have examined all the will photocopies and can confirm that there is no mention of a grandson Gabriel Leggett in the 1657 will of Gabriel Leggett. He mentions his grandsons William and John, but no Gabriel. I cannot explain why a sentence purporting to reference a grandson Gabriel was inserted into the text. Dorothy certainly would not have done it and at the same time retained a copy of the will showing this not to be the case. However, in some of her correspondence, she mentions that a transcript or translation of some of the wills was provided by the person in England, who sent her the will copies after her return home. Perhaps this is how the spurious sentence arose. Even though it would have taken extra time, these transcriptions certainly should have been checked for accuracy. DJL
Note: 5. Gabriel (E-3) Leggett (Thomas E-2, Gabriel E-1), fifth child of Thom
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