Leete Family Crest

Richard Leete was the son of Thomas and Mary (Slade) Leete born in Cambridge, England in 1575. Thomas and Mary had six children; John (1575), Thomas (1575), Richard (1576), Jane (1577), Ruth (1578), Rebecca (1579).

Most of the information has been obtained from the Parish Records for the Oakington Parish.  Many of the Leete family men were Churchwardens at sometime during their lives including Thomas Leete in 1598 and Richard from 1612 through 1615. Churchwardens were responsible for maintaining accurate church records

Richard is known to have married first to Isabella. She died and is buried in the Oakington church yard on September 3, 1616. On January 17, 1617, Richard married Elizabeth Rogers which is listed in the church Marriage records. In the Parish there are fourteen Leete children born but none are for children of Isabella and Richard or Richard and Elizabeth.

Listed in the official probate records indicate that Master William Gager granted administration right for the estate of Thomas Leete who died on November 12, 1616 to his natural born son, Richard Leete on December 7,1616.

Three hundred and ninety one years ago today Richard Leete died in Oakington, Cambridgeshire, England. He is buried in the cemetery next to the Oakington Parish Church. There are of course not stones or monument to prove it but the Parish records do a good job of that.

Oakington Parish Church and Cemetery

Rest in peace, Richard!

Love Jan

Richard is my eleventh Great Uncle.

This is one of those weeks where there just isn’t much data to find. Many trees show Richard and many do not show that he is married much less twice but that is what the parish records indicate. None of them show children. There is evidence of Leete Family members who date back to the Crusades around 1000 AD in England. I did learn a lot today about early record keeping in England which I will write up in a future blog.