Harriet E. Leasen and the Leasan/Pierce/Thompson Legend
Harriet E. Leasen/Lesan (Dec. 7 1836 - Feb. 7 1868) was married to A.J. Sturm and is the mother of our ancestor Oscar Sturm. Her photo is a large tintype, eight by five inches (click the small photo to see the larger version, with more information about the photograph. Use your browser's "back" button to return after following a link.)
Not only do we have this wonderful photograph, we have an equally wonderful family legend to go with it.
A treasure waiting to be claimed; a noble lineage, lost. That's the plot of Aunt Ruby's tale, a story that turns out to have very deep roots.
Ruby told of lawyers coming from England looking for a lost heir to a fortune of millions, for a man named Thomas or Thompson. She said that her grandfather had changed his name from Thompson to Leasen, and was the heir of the "Lord Mayor" who had died. But the lawyers had left when the descendents could not prove that their grandfather was the man for whom the lawyers were searching.
Her story was that her grandmother's father had been conscripted or impressed into the British Navy, had jumped ship in the Bahamas, and had then, by working and stowing away, made his way to New York. "James W. Thompson changed his name to James W. Lesan when he came from London, England to America," Ruby's notes say. I heard her also tell a slightly different version, that he came to Illinois in hiding from some crime in England, perhaps a duel. (Steve says that there is a tape recording of her telling the story.)
Aunt Ruby said she had the story from her father, Oscar Sturm. Further, she said, all was documented in "the Lesan Book", which we heard about for decades, but never saw, and didn't quite believe in.
Finally, at the beginning of 2007, mom (Betty Lou) came up with the famous "Lesan Book" that Aunt Ruby talked about. The title is actually "American Pilgrimage for Lesans, Blanchards, Sweringens" by Ruth Blanchard Knudson, based on research she had done on family genealogy in the 1960s. The book is also available in the Iowa Genealogical Society's library. It is a long and detailed list of those families as they moved west, interspersed with stories.
"When you talk to Thompson descendants", Knudson writes, "you always hear of 'Sir William's legacy', but the more you read about it, the more this pot of gold recedes into the rainbow of the distant past."
Ruby's notes are the outline of the story: "Lesan members of The Royal Family in England 16th century heirs to large fortune six million investigated by three English attorneys in yr about 1910 - these attorneys returned to England with the report unable to locate enough heirs - this was false - but the case was not followed up and the heirs lost the fortune."
The Thompson name shows up as the middle name of Aunt Ruby's great-grandfather, William Thompson Lesan, who was born about 1804 in Maine and moved to Stark County, Illinois, in the 1850s. His daughter, Harriet, married AJ Sturm, in Stark County in 1856.
Ruby learned the Thompson story from her father, Charles Oscar Sturm (1868-1957). Oscar was cared for when small by his grandparents, William and Harriet Blood Lesan. Oscar's mother had died when Oscar was only a few months old, and his father had quickly remarried, to a woman who did not want the responsibility of the baby. So William Thompson Lesan would have been the one who related the story of lost Thompson treasure to little rejected Oscar.
Who was "Sir William" and where were the Thompsons of William Lesan's middle name? Was it true that someone changed their name from from "Thompson" to "Lesan?" What I found when I started my research was that there are an enormous number of people named "Thompson", and many different spellings for the Lesan name. (Leasan, Lesan, Lesson, and Leeson, among others.) This isn't very unusual, spelling was fluid for a long time. Children's names would be spelled differently from the parent's name, and different children in the same family might use different spellings.
William Thompson Lesan's mother was Mary Pierce, who married Edmund Leason in 1791 in Maine. That's the end of the trail for Lesans, however spelled. There were a large number of "Scotch-Irish" immigrants in the area, maybe they were one of those; or perhaps they came from Canada.
The Pierce family, however, had been Maine fishermen in the 1700s, and Knudson relates family stories of them moving from island to island off the coast of Maine. Mary Pierce's mother's family name was Thompson, Elizabeth Thompson who married Samuel Pierce in 1767. Elizabeth Thompson was born in Maine, but her parents were from the Ipswich area in Massachusetts. Her father was Joseph Thompson and her grandfather, also from Ipswich, was Samuel Thompson.
Mary Pierce would have learned the story from her mother or her grandfather Joseph Thompson.
Ruth Blanchard Knudson's version of our Thompson story is similar to Aunt Ruby's, but considerably older. Knudson's tale turns on two pieces of evidence: a letter from Samuel Thompson to his son Joseph (Elizabeth Thompson's father), and a cup made of silver and engraved with a coat of arms and crest, which Samuel said had been sent from London to him by his Aunt Sarah. (She does not say where she saw the letter, and the photograph in the book of the cup renders the crest illegible.)
The letter was received by Joseph after his father died, "about 1750." In it his father Samuel writes,
"..A nobleman in London in 1743 wrote... that at his decease the income of the Thompson estate would revert to the government if not called for by the American heirs, and that the estate may lay four or five millions... I hope the time will come when you will go to London to claim the inheritance left to my father by my Grandfather Sir William Thompson." (By the time it got to Aunt Ruby, it was up to six million.)
The quoted letter continues on the topic of the silver cup,
"The silver cups were sent by Aunt Sarah with (a) letter. This was six years ago. You know that my health was such that it was imprudent to leave home."
Then there is a photo of the cup, which in 1961 was owed by "two descendants, James Blenn Perkins and Dr. Fred Baxter." She says "It carries the authentic family crest." She says that siblings William, Hannah and Mary were also given silver cups.
In addition, in the letter Samuel relates the story of his life.
"My grandfather, Sir William Thomson, Knight and Baron of the Exchequer, died at his residence in London in 1696, leaving his sons Steven and William and four daughters, Mary, Ann, Sara, and Dorothy. Steven was my father and sent me to be educated at Cambridge College with a good supply of money and in the care of Aunt.
"But her husband kept the money, came to Ipswich, and went to farming. I was 14 years old.
"They told me it was better for me to have a farm than to go to college. This suited me better than study.
"In my 24th year, I went to London to see my father. I gave him a number of letters.
"He said, "Have you no letter from Samuel Thompson?"
"I said, "No Sir, he is here himself."
"And what have you?"
"I answered, "The plough and hoe."
"My father shed tears and wanted me to stay with him but I could not, as I had promised to marry your mother. On our voyage home we suffered extremely.
"When my father died I was not informed."
Assuming that the letter is real, I went searching through genealogical records. I could easily trace our family back to Samuel Thompson. Born around 1702, he was apparently a farmer in the Ipswich area of Massachusetts. There does not seem to be any record of his parentage, except for what the letter claims. So I went looking for a historical Sir William Thompson to see if I could trace him to Samuel.
I find numerous Thompsons and several Thompson families involved in the British colonies and in government in the 1600s and 1700s. Samuel's letter seems to mix two Sir William Thompsons, one that died in 1696 or thereabouts, and one that was Baron of the Exchequer (not Lord Mayor.)
The first Sir William (b. 1658) was the son of Henry or Henri Thompson of Lenham. Sir William was knighted in 1689 and was "one of the King's Serjeants-at-Law". Other offices listed for him are: Alderman of London, 1661; Cdr of His Majesty's Costumes, 1673; and MP, 1671. This would have been during the Restoration (Charles II)1. He was never Baron of the Exchequer.
In 1696 "Speedy payment of the late Sir William Thompson's debts" is listed as an Act of Parliament. Samuel's letter said his grandfather died in 1696.
The second Sir William Thompson was indeed Baron of the Exchequer, as well as Recorder of London and Recorder of Ipswich (in England.) He died in 1739 and was the son of the "Majesty's Costumes" Sir William. He died without children, and left his estate2, including 'the great diamond shaped like a heart', to his step-children and sisters. He did indeed have a sister named Sarah; in the story, an 'Aunt Sarah' sent the silver cups from London.
Sir William had a brother, Stevens Thompson, who was Attorney-General for the Colony of Virginia, from 1702 until his death in about 1714. (Stevens is notable also for being the grandfather of Revolutionary War figure George Mason.) Stevens, having been dead for 25 years before William died, was not mentioned in the will. And that's where the lawyers got involved.
An article dated 1895 in a William and Mary College historical journal says, "In 1743 there was a suit in chancery for the sale of Sir William Thompson's estate, and search was made for his Virginia heirs; but one of his brother's children was then living, this was Ann, widow of Colonel George Mason of Stafford County." Only one "Virginia heir" was turned up, a married and widowed niece.
Well, it's the same date, 1743, as is mentioned in the Samuel Thompson letter.
And there's the search, the men from England trying to find the lost heir, that shows up in all the versions of the story. How did they accomplish the search? Did they send out a mass mailing to every Thompson in the Colonies? The first spam!
Another group of Thompsons in Connecticut also claim connection to the first Sir William ("of Lenham".) The names are the same, but, as Gary Boyd Roberts pointed out in what he refers to as "the Lenham myth," the dates just don't line up. Maybe they got a letter too.
There is yet another Sir William Thompson in the same time period, unrelated to the first two3; his dates don't line up with our story at all, but, unlike the other Sir Williams, he is associated with Ipswitch, in Massachusetts, where Samuel Thompson lived and farmed. Is that Sir William part of the story, or did knowledge of his existence just add to the story?
In addition to all of these knights, there also were many, many other immigrants to the colonies named Thompson and William Thompson. I would think it was more likely that one of these would be our ancestor - except for that cup.
So who is the ancestor Samuel wrote about? Ipswich Sir William, or the Sir William son of Heny of Lenham, or someone else? The cup with the "authentic family crest" on it should be a clue, but the photo isn't legible, and there are supposedly thirty crests associated with the Thompson name4.
Did all the Thompsons get letters from "a nobleman in London" in 1743? I would love to hear from anyone else who has this story in their family. Joseph Thompson had thirteen children, they must all have heard the story, and their descendents too. Joseph's siblings were also supposedly given cups by "Aunt Sarah", but there seems to be no record of those cups. Perhaps they were put into the pot to be melted for the silver Chebacco church bell in the late 1700s. "Our" cup has its own colorful history, including being "thrown down a well" at the time of the Civil War to hide it during a family dispute.
Whatever truth or history is in the story, it has persisted. Knudson tells of Joseph's granddaughter Mary Pierce getting her family through hard times and war years by telling her grandchildren of the treasure that was waiting.
"Perhaps it helped when they were hungry," she writes.
According to Knudson, Joseph, the son of Samuel, went missing for a while after his father died; Knudson believes that he went to England, but there is no proof or story of his trip. But descendants did reportedly send an emissary to London to check on the inheritance just after the war of 1812 was over; nothing came of it. Knudson also says that she has a newspaper article telling of another agent being sent by a family group in 1915 - Ruby had heard of this too - with no better results than the one a hundred years previously.
Aunt Ruby was still telling -and believing- the story in the 1970s.
Mary Pierce's son was given his grandmother's maiden name as a middle name5, and he passed the family story of nobles and treasure and the mysterious cup on to his grandchildren. His grandson Oscar passed the story on to his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. And they all kept believing in the story enough to keep telling it. The story -- and the mystery -- is our inheritance.
Click here to go to the Leasen genealogy page.
Notes and additional information:
1Some English history: The English Civil War was 1642-1651; Charles I was executed in 1649 and Cromwell ruled 1653-1659; Charles II's Restoration was in 1660, lasting until his death in 1685, when he was succeeded by his son James II. The "Glorious Revolution" was in 1688, removing the Catholic King James II and installing his daughter, Mary II, and her Dutch Protestant husband William as rulers, passing over James II's son, also James, since he was Catholic. Followers of the passed-over James, who felt that he was the rightful king, were called the "Jacobites" (Jacobus is Latin for James.) They were defeated in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and James fled to France, but the fight was kept up for generations, especially among the Scottish Highland clans. Passed-over James' grandson Charles Stewart (1720-1788) was the famous "Bonnie Prince Charlie" of the Jacobite rebels, who invaded England from Scotland and was defeated at the ghastly Battle of Culloden in 1746 (King George II.)
Rebellions and regime change created great social churn, and many new titles were granted. This may be why we find so many 'Sir Williams'.
In 1702, after the deaths of William and Mary, James II's other daughter Queen Anne ruled until 1714. When her son died at age 11, Parliament selected Electress Sophia of Hanover, her cousin, to be the next Queen (this all to shut out Catholic claimants to the throne.) Sophia's son became George I of England after Queen Anne died (and Sophia in the same year.) George I : 1714 - 1727; George II, 1727-1760; George III ("Mad King George"), 1760-1801; then George IV 1820-1830 then William IV to 1837 then Queen Victoria, 1837-1901.
The famous scientist, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), was also named Sir William Thompson, which complicates any internet research, since there are thousands of references to him! He was from Scotland, and I have no idea of how he is related to other Thompsons.
2 Besides stepchildren, Sir William Thompson's will also mentions sisters Sarah Thompson, Mary Thompson, and "his only married sister, Dorothy." In the William and Mary article the author mentions that Sir William left to his stepdaughter Anne Blackette Trenchard (then Gordon, she died in 1783) "'the great diamond shaped like a heart' that was left to Sir William by his mother, as mentioned in her will." Finding that will could clear things up. What was her name?
3 About "the other" Sir William Thompson: A group of Thompson brothers went to Virginia in the 1600s and became wealthy. First Maurice Thompson in 1620, followed by his brothers, George, Paul, and William in 1624. They were all apparently Puritans and George later lost a leg fighting for Cromwell; he "lost a leg but gained a large estate."
Brother William married the daughter of another wealthy merchant in Virginia, Elizabeth Warner. He returned to England, was knighted, and became a governor in the East India Company during the reign of King Charles II. Sir William signed the "Propagation of the Gospel in New England" in 1661 as a "new member" of the Corporation of New England, and the "Patent of the incorporation of the Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America" in 1662. Once source says Sir William settled in 1664 in Ipswitch, MA. He may or may not have returned to England, as did his other brothers.
Another brother, Robert, also had ties to Massachusetts. He was given 500 acres in Nipmuck country, "a territory as yet unoccupied", by the General Court of Massachusetts, and his company given eight square miles to develop a settlement; thereby setting the tone for the combining of politics with real estate speculation that persists in the US today. Robert was also involved with the training of ministers at Harvard College, it's original purpose.
Maurice's brother Sir William had a son, also a knight, named Sir Samuel. Sir Samuel also had a son named Samuel. These are from references to these people, I don't have dates. There are so many Thompson descendants that there is now genetic research being done to try to separate one strand from another!
Part of the reason for so many "sirs" was that this whole era was a time of great social churn and many new titles. One of the "new" titles (Baron Haversham) was given to Maurice's son, and inherited by his grandson, who died without sons and his title became "extinct" in the 1745. Did that news item figure into the legend?
The English Bill of Rights was an an Act of the Parliament on December 16, 1689. Stevens Thompson's grandson, American Revolutionary War figure George Mason, is known as "the father of the (US) Bill of Rights." Many descendants of that line have kept the name "Thompson" as a middle name, and one named his Virginia plantation "Hollin Hall" after the place owned by Henry Thompson, father of William and Stevens.
4 There are supposedly thirty crests associated with the Thompson name. I haven't found any crest for Sir William the Recorder of London. The (Maurice) Thompson family, and its descendants, have a distinctive crest with a hand holding a bunch of wheat, and the motto "In lumine Lucem."
Benjamin Thompson (1753 -1814, Count Rumford) of Massachusetts supposedly had this crest, but looking it up, it is different: "Per fess Argent and Sable, a fess embattled counter-embattled counterchanged between two falcons in chief of the second beaked membered and belled Or and a horse passant in base of the first. Crest :On a wreath of the colors, a mural crown Or, thereon a mullet of six points Azure and between the battlements four pine-buds Vert. Motto: Fidelis."
On the tomb of the daughter of Sir William brother of Maurice there is this: "Hooke quartered with Guiles a bend indented ermine, for Hele, and impaling Or a fesse dancetty azure with the sun or therein , which are the arms of (Sir Thomas Hooke's) wife Elizabeth daughter of Sir William Thompson." (In the church of St. Lawrence Wootton.)
And that's just three...
5 I'm fascinated by Mary Pierce giving her son William Lesan his grandmother's family name as a middle name. Was that to mark him as an heir to the fortune, or as the designated carrier of the legend?
