Finding the Roots of the Leatherwood Tree

Within a century of John Leatherwood's death, his uncommon surname spread across America. One branch of the family settled in northern Virginia in the mid-1700s, before moving on to the Spartanburg area of South Carolina by 1800. Another line set down roots in western North Carolina by the 1770s. A group of Leatherwoods tarried around the same time in neighboring eastern Tennessee for a generation, before seeking a new frontier in Texas. Other branches of Leatherwoods later moved...
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Within a century of John Leatherwood's death, his uncommon surname spread across America. One branch of the family settled in northern Virginia in the mid-1700s, before moving on to the Spartanburg area of South Carolina by 1800. Another line set down roots in western North Carolina by the 1770s. A group of Leatherwoods tarried around the same time in neighboring eastern Tennessee for a generation, before seeking a new frontier in Texas. Other branches of Leatherwoods later moved from Maryland northeast to New Jersey, and west to Ohio and beyond.Family historians have long debated how branches of the Leatherwood family across America relate to one another. This book draws on recent genealogical discoveries to reconsider the questions that have bedeviled researchers for generations. The Leatherwood family tree of the 17th and 18th centuries is littered with people who cannot be definitively tied to a parent. One of these genealogical loose ends is Edward, the founder of the family in North Carolina. In exploring how he relates to his Maryland antecedents. This study of missing links consolidates, updates, and expands the author's previous papers on the topic (John and Martha; The First American Leatherwoods, and Mysterious Edward and the Southside Virginians), and draws on the work of others released since those earlier writings. New to this work is an analysis of early Maryland court records that resolve uncertainty regarding John Leatherwood's year of birth and the timing of his arrival in Maryland. Also included are examinations of strong connections between the Leatherwoods and former Puritans in the late 1600s, an analysis of the Leatherwoods living along Virginia's Occoquan River in the mid-1700s, and a detailed look at purported Leatherwood family ties to the Cherokee in the latter half of the 18th century.