Welcome to the "LEATHERDALE GROUP" formed in the spring of 1997 (more or less out of necessity). Over the last few years the Group has steadily been expanding, thereby adding more limbs to our Family Tree. We have a "Leatherdale Group" researching family lines. The group includes Leatherdale descendants from: AUSTRALIA, CANADA, UK, USA. We have a number of unconnected families! I would like to thank all the Leatherdale descendants that have help to make our tree grow by dedicated research and submissions!

SOME HISTORY OF THE LEATHERDALE FAMILY

The Leatherdales, or as the name has variously been spelt in the past; Ledale, Litherdale, Letherdown, Letherdon, Letherdle, Letherdell, Letherdale, Lytherdale etc., some being Scottish border raiders (Reivers) during the l5th and l6th centuries. The name is probably derived from Lidderdale in Northumberland or maybe just because they lived in the Lea o' the Dale. It has nothing to do with leather.

In the "Muster Role" of 1538 under the heading "North Tyndale Theiffs" there are eight, namely Gybby, John, Rolland, Edmunde, Sandy, Thomas, Mathew and Davy. Only men with a horse and sword were included in this muster.

One of the clans came South about 1580 and settled in Kings Lynn. It is apparent that they maintained their contacts up North and carried on a thriving business as drovers. The wills of James, l589, and his son John, l602, are very interesting. All descent, however, are from Robert Lytherdale of Hasilwood (Haselwood), Suffolk, a yeoman (farmer). He farmed and fished around Aldeburgh (Aldborough) and died in 1615. His three-page will is at the Ipswich Consistory Court. The wills of his son Francis 1656 and his wife Margaret 1658 are at Somerset House. Francis was settled at Kelsale, Suffolk, and this village continued to be the main centre for the Leatherdales until the Napoleonic Wars. There are more than one hundred entries in the Kelsale Parish Register.

During the Victorian age they flourished and multiplied and remained predominately as agriculturists and in kindred trades, i.e., wheelwrights, carpenters etc. In 1750 Thomas the founder of the Essex branch married Elizabeth Hacon and there have been at least 200 descendants. There are many references in the Wakes Colne, Essex, parish records, and for 99 years the family farmed at one place (Bretts Farm). On occasion they served as overseers of the poor rate. At the adjoining village of Chappel there are more than 100 references in the registers.

The Hacons produced a number of l7th century parsons and they descend from Hacon, son of Swane the eldest son of Earl Godwin and therefore a nephew of King Harold. This line has been traced back to 1202 and it includes several medieval barons. Their arms were; Sable two bars vaire argent and vert and they added in chief a falcon between two bezants.

The clerical strain is also shown in many of the Christian names, especially during the l9th century. Some of the most interesting ones are; Abraham, Isaac, Obadiah, Jeptha, Zaccheus, Jubal, Ruth, Luke Elias, Eli, Adah, and Jonathan (an early maker of wooden farm machinery). There has also been Selina, Jabez, Gregory, Jemima, Amos, Zillah, Crispus a (baker), Hephizibah, Maony, Eulalie, Cornelius, Octavia, Oliver and Alma (named after the battle).

The main family names are however Thomas. Francis, John, Robert and Elizabeth all of which are unbroken since 1600.

The sources of the above information are too many to enumerate in full but include 37 Suffolk parish registers, 7 Essex, 6 Norfolk and several Northumbrian. The Consistory Courts of Norwich, Ipswich and Canterbury. Somerset House and the British Records Office. Poor Law Accounts. Tithe Commutations l840. Census Papers of 1841 and 1851. Society of Genealogists. Unpublished manuscripts and old newspapers at Bury St. Edmunds, Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Colchester, Norwich and London.

Source: Len Matthews

Leatherdale Time Line

Leatherdale
Eleven Generations
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More Information Available.

Research Sources

Wakes Colne & Mount Bures
UK B/M/D database.

UK County Surnames Index

Loree's Genealogy

Researched by: B. Taylor, T. Silcock, R. Neil, M. Reed, Bob Leatherdale, John Leatherdale, P. Leatherdale, M. Leathendale, C. Rymer, Len Matthews, his daughter Jennifer Matthews - Lightstone, Olive Matthews - Redfarn, , C & L Whybrew, L. Leatherdale - Wilson, June Hughes and many more!