The Burrs, the Pecks, the Leets and the Grosvenors traced Back Centuries.

Horace Leets Ancestors Kept the Regicide Judges from the Wrath of Charles II — The Late Erastus Burr's Ancestors — The Pecks Back to 1600 — The Grosvenors — Related to the Duke of Westminster.

Recently there has revived a great interest throughout the country in the study of genealogy. This reminds us that many of our own citizens can trace their family record back to 1600 and farther.

The late Dr. Burr, of this city, was not a proud man, but was modest and humble all his life. Yet he could trace his family history back to 1600 — 295 years. Here it is, son to father.

(1) Erastus Burr, of Portsmouth, Ohio, born November 15, 1810, died December 15, 1891.

(2) Ozias Burr, of Washington, Ohio, born January 13, 1773, at Bridgeport, Connecticut, died August 15, 1845, at Washington, Ohio. He was the father of ten children.

(3) Ozias Burr, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, born May 1, 1739, died September 7, 1836. He was the father of ten children.

(4) John Burr, of Fairfield, Connecticut, born in 1700, died is 1753, was the father of twelve children.

(5) John Burr, of Fairfield, Connecticut, born in May, 1673, died in 1727; he was the father of five children.

(6) Nathaniel Burr, of Fairfield, Connecticut, born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1640, made a freeman in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1664, died March 1, 1712. He was constable in his town, then a high office; was a representative to the General Court in 1692 and 1695. He was the father of eight children.

(7) Jehu Burr, born in England in 1600, died in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1670. He had four sons, and perhaps daughters, but a record was not kept of daughters in those days.

It will be observed that, in this case, it takes seven generation to take us back to 1600. These Burrs were distinguished by long lives and large families. They were all honorable and useful citizens.

Most of our people remember the late Judge William V. Peck of our city. While he happened to be born in New York, he really ought to be accounted a native of Connecticut as his parents were from there and he went back there to be reared and educated. The line of genealogy from son to father is:

(1) William Virgil Peck, born April 16, 1804, died December 30, 1877.

(2) Virgil Peck, born September 4, 1769, died October 15, 1804. He was the father of four children. His widow, Mary Wallace, married Dr. Abel Catlin March 20, 1808 and died December 21, 1860.

(3) Timothy Peck, born March 6, 1730, died November 20, 1772; was the father of seven children.

(4) William Peck born about 1700. His wife was Lois Webster. The date of his death is not given but it was some time after 1740.

(5) Paul Peck, born in 1639 resided in West Hartford, Connecticut and died there in 1725.

(6) Deacon Paul Peck, born in Essex county, England, in 1608 came to America in 1635 and landed at Boston. He located in Hartford, Connecticut in 1636. His place of residence in Hartford is still known as the Peck lot. He was a deacon in the Congregational church in Hartford from 1631 until his death on December 23, 1695.

The Leete family is an old Connecticut family from the town of Guilford. The genealogy of Mr. Horace Leet of our city is as follows, from son to father:

(1) Horace Leet, born May 25, 1818.

(2) Uriah Leete, born about 1794, was the father of six children. The date of his death is not given.

(3) Solomon Leete was born in 1746, was the father of ten children; he died in 1822.

(4) Solomon Leete, born April 28, 1770, was the father of seven children. He died September 6, 1803.

(5) William Leete, born 1651, was the father of seven children; he died January 20, 1730.

(6) Andrew Leete, born in 1643, was the father of six children. He died October 31, 1702. In 1677 he was elected assistant in the Connecticut colony, and annually re-elected until his death. It was he who was principally concerned in hiding the Connecticut charter from Governor Andros; he kept the charter in his house in Guilford.

(7) William Leete was born in England about 1607. He was a prominent man in the New Haven colony and the records of that colony teem with reference to him. He was admitted a freeman of the New Haven colony July 6, 1643. He was educated in England for a lawyer and came to America in 1637. He was a puritan of the puritans. He was married three times and was the father of ten children, all by his first wife. His second and third wives were both widows; the third wife was the widow of Francis Newman, who was for a long time secretary of the colony.

The Leete family can be traced in England to 1209. Governor William Leete's father, John Leete, was one of the justices of the King's Bench in England. Mr. Wm. Leete, in England, was a clerk in the Bishop's court at Cambridge. He became a puritan and gave up his office. He came to America, located in Guilford, and helped buy the land of the Indians. For himself he took up 280 acres of land, known to this day as "Leete's Island," and the land is owned by Leetes at the present time. He was Clerk of Guilford from 1639 to 1662. He Was selected as one of the seven pillars of the church, when it was first organized at Guilford.

Mr. Leute was a deputy from Guilford to the General court till 1650. He was magistrate for his town from 1651 to 1653, He was deputy-governor from 1658 to 1661, and governor of the New Haven colony from 1661 to 1664. From 1664 until 1669, he was an assistant in Connecticut, deputy-governor there from 1669 to 1676, and governor from the latter date until his death in 1688. Forty years he held office, in the colonies. The regicide judges, Edward Whalley, William Goffe and John Dixwell, were concealed by him in the cellar of his store. So that our Mr. Horace Leet's four times great-grandfather kept the regicide judges from the wrath of King Charles II. The Leete family seem attached to the town of Guilford, as eighty of that name are residents there at this time; notwithstanding the hundreds of them scattered over the country.

As our Mr. Phelps Leet married a daughter of General Charles Grosvenor, of Athens, it might be well to note the genealogy of the Grosvenor family, beginning with General Charles H., from son to father:

(1) General Charles H. Grosvenor, born September 20, 1838, in Pomfret, Conn., has a war record in the late civil war, of which anyone might be proud.

(2) Peter Grosvenor was born in Pomfret in 1794, and emigrated to Ohio. He had four sons; all distinguished in the civil war of 1861, and one of them died in the war.

(3) Colonel Thomas Grosvenor, born September 20, 1744, was graduated at Yale in 1795, and was a lawyer at Pomfret. He was a second lieutenant in Putnam's regiment at Bunker Hill. He was at the rail fence from the redoubt to the Mystic river, and was shot through the right hand; but not until he had dropped nine British soldiers with his rifle. He remained in the war until its close, and was promoted until he reached a colonelcy.

(4) John Grosvenor, born May 22, 1711, died in 1808.

(5) Ebenezer Grosvenor, born in 1679, died about 1726.

(6) John Grosvenor, born in England in 1642, died in 1691.

The Duke of West Minster, the richest peer in England, has the family name of Grosvenor, and the Grosvenors of this country ave descended from the same stock.

The Grosvenor family in England seem to be at the zenith of wealth, power and glory. On December 12, 1894, Prince Adolphus of Teck, married Lady Margaret Evelyn Grosvenor, third daughter of the Duke of Westminster. Queen Victoria presented the bride with a diamond brooch, and a solid silver salver, and sent these gifts by a special messenger.

All the families here mentioned have coats of arms from England, and the facts here given, are reproduced from books in the possession of the writer, without the knowledge or consent of the families described, and they will know nothing of this article, until they set it in print.

The Burrs were from Bridgeport, the Pecks from Litchfield, the Leetes from Guilford and the Grosvenors from Pomfret, and all from the little state of Connecticut."