Martha Leatherland

Bef 1673 - Aft 1709  (> 37 years)

• Name	Martha Leatherland  [1]
  Birth	Bef 4 May 1673  [2]
  Baptism	4 May 1673	Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts   [2]
  Gender	Female
  Death	Aft 1709  [2]
  Person ID	I43858	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	29 Sep 2025

  
  

  Father	Zebulon Leatherland,   b. Bef 1650, of Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts d. Aft 1692 (Age > 44 years)
  Mother	Rachel   d. 1 Sep 1692, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts
  Marriage	Bef 4 Jul 1670  [3, 4]
  Family ID	F25622	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	John Thwing,   b. 16 Oct 1670, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts d. Bef 1709 (Age < 38 years)
  Children	+ 1. Nathaniel Thwing,   b. 17 Aug 1703, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts d. 18 Apr 1768, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts (Age 64 years)
  Family ID	F25619	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Sep 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Walter Eliot Thwing said that the wife of the younger John Thwing was "Martha Drew." No primary source exists for this. She could have been the "Mary Druce" born in Newton on 7 Jun 1672 to the younger Vincent Druce, himself a founder of Newton. This Mary Druce appears to be conflated on familysearch.org with the "Mary Druse of Groton" who married Thomas Blodgett at Chelmsford on 14 Jun 1696. If John Thwing's wife was a Mary/Marha Druce/Druse, it must obviously have been someone else. In 1948, Winifred Lovering Holman argued that John Thwing's wife was somebody else altogether: THWING. The Thwing Genealogy (1883) states that John Thwing married at Boston, 14 Aug. 1692, Martha Drew. This has not been confirmed from original sources and is doubted. I am of the opinion that Martha was a daughter of Zebeon and Rachel Leatherland of Boston. Apparently Zebeon was related to William Lytherland of Newport, R. I., and Boston (see Suffolk Deeds, 7:261). Zebeon, born about 1650, alive 1692, married about 1670 Rachel -----, who died 1 Sept. 1692, at Boston. By her he had: Margaret, 1670; William, 1672; Martha, bapt. 4 May 1673; Deborah, 1676, d. young; Deborah, 1678; Zibeon and Rachel, 1688 (twins, Rachel d. young); and Rachel, 1692. Further data on this family are available. John2 Thwing, Mariner, died 1690 and left a greatly involved estate which was actually settled with that of his son, John3, Shipwright, some years later. in 1709, Martha, widow of the son John, had on her bond William Lytherland, cordwainer, and Joseph Soaper, blacksmith, etc. (See Suffolk Probate, 1759; Mass. Acts and Resolves, 9:131; Mass. Archives, 17:245-254; Suffolk Deeds, 24:210.) John and Martha Thwing named their children: John, Mary, Martha, James, Nathaniel, Rachel, and Sarah. Moreover, Boston Births [Ninth Report, Record Commissioners, p. 205] contains the cryptic entry from the church records: "John Tu. son. she was daughter Leatherlands wife," baptized 7 Aug. 1692, which I interpret to mean, John Thwing's son, the wife being a daughter of Rachel Leatherland. Martha Leatherland, baptized 4 May 1673, is therefore probably the wife of John3 Thwing. --Winifred Lovering Holman, Belmont, Mass.

  
  

• Sources

  [S8693] Thwing: A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Account of the Family by Walter Eliot Thwing. Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1883. [S8694] Winifred Lovering Holman, "Thwing." The American Genealogist 24:259, 1948. [S8694] Winifred Lovering Holman, "Thwing." The American Genealogist 24:259, 1948., year only. [S101] The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3 and The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-7, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-2011.