Guide to the Leddel Family (Mendham, NJ) Records 1785-1878 MG 119

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Restrictions

Access Points

Related Material

Administrative Information

Bibliography

Container List

Documents

Guide to the Leddel Family (Mendham, NJ) Records
1785-1878

MG 119

The New Jersey Historical Society
52 Park Place
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Contact: NJHS Library
(973) 596-8500 x249

© 2006 All rights reserved.

The New Jersey Historical Society, Publisher

Inventory prepared by Kim Charlton as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. January 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written
in English.

 


Descriptive Summary

 

Creator: Leddel Family.
Title: Leddel Family (Mendham, NJ)

Records

Dates: 1756-1766
Abstract: Account books and receipts of Dr. William Leddel (1747-1827); daybooks, a memorandum book, and letters of Dr. John W. Leddel (ca. 1784-1865); and account books, daybooks, and a check book of Samuel W. Leddel (1810-1875), who owned a general store and grist mill in Mendham, New Jersey. Also contains a daybook and account book from Samuel W. Leddel’s estate.
Quantity: 3.5 linear feet
Collection Number: MG 119

Biographical Note

William Leddel, Jr., the son of William Leddel, a French naval surgeon who settled in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, was born in 1747. Upon his father’s death in 1766, William Jr. moved to Mendham, New Jersey and apprenticed himself to Dr. Ebenezer Blachy. He established himself as a physician and practiced in Mendham for the remainder of his life.

Leddel was also active in military matters, serving as a lieutenant in the Morris County Troop of Light Horse during the Revolution. He participated in the Battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield and in the retreat of George Washington from New York. He also used his medical skills to tend to Washington’s troops during their stay in Morristown in the winter of 1779-1780. Later, he was a major in the forces that put down the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and served as a captain of Cavalry during the War of 1812. He served two terms as Morris County’s sheriff from 1783-1785 and tried small cases before the Justices of the Peace.

In addition, sometime prior to the American Revolution, William Leddel probably either acquired or built a sawmill in southern Mendham on the upper branch of the Passaic River in Jockey Hollow. This mill was replaced by a larger sawmill, woodturning mill, and gristmill, known as Leddel Mill; and seems to have remained in the family for a number of generations.

William Leddel married Phebe Wick, the daughter of Henry Wick, and they settled at Washington Corner on a part of the Wick tract in Mendham. It was here that they raised their five children: Eliza, Tempe, Henry (d.1799), Mary, and John (ca.1784-1865). Dr. William Leddel died in Mendham on August 9, 1827 at the age of eighty.

John W. Leddel, the son of Phebe and William Leddel, was born in Mendham around 1784. He studied medicine under his father’s guidance and started practicing in his hometown at the age of eighteen. Like his father, he practiced medicine in Mendham throughout his lifetime. In 1805 he married Jemima Wills (d.1865), the daughter of Samuel Wills, and together they had six children. Dr. John W. Leddel died on April 15, 1865 at the age of eighty-one.

Samuel Wills Leddel, the second son of Jemima and John W. Leddel, was born in 1810. He graduated from Union College in 1831 and although he studied medicine, he seems to have run a general store and gristmill in Mendham. On September 3, 1849, he married Emma Louisa Halsey (1817-1891), with whom he had three children: Alexander, Sarah Tempe (b.1855), and Samuel Frederick (1857-1891). He died in 1875.

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Scope and Content Note

The records consist of the account books and daybooks of Dr. William Leddel, Dr. John W. Leddel, and Samuel W. Leddel. The record books date from 1785-1878 and track the practices of both doctors and of Samuel W. Leddel’s general store and gristmill. The volumes have been organized into three series, one for each man, and then arranged by record type and date. The records contain documents with alternate spellings of the name Leddel, including Leddell and Leddle.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff.

Use Restrictions

Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

The New Jersey Historical Society complies with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials.

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Access Points

 

The entries below represent persons, organizations, topics, forms, and occupations documented in this collection.
Subject Names:
Leddel, John W., ca. 1784-1865.
Leddel, Samuel W., 1810-1875.
Leddel, William, 1747-1827.
Subject Topics:
Dry goods–New Jersey–Mendham.
General stores–New Jersey–Mendham.
Gristmills–New Jersey–Mendham.
Merchants–New Jersey–Mendham.
Subject Places:
Mendham (N.J.)
Document Types:
Account books.
Daybooks.
Financial records.
Letters (Correspondence).
Receipts.

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Related Material

Manuscript Group 129, William Leddel (1747-1827) Papers

Manuscript Group 562, M. M. Leddel (fl. 1875-1879) Account book

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 119, Leddel Family (Mendham, NJ)

Records, The New Jersey Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

Donated, in part, by Margaret L. Ramsden, 1981.

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Bibliography

Hopler, Martha G., Edward W. Rossler, Wallace G. West. The Mendhams (Mayor’s Tercentary Committee: Brookside, NJ, 1964), pgs. 25, 107, 111, 138.

McGregor, R.W. David. History of Freemasonry in New Jersey 1787-1937, pgs. 77-78.

Wickes, Stephen. History of Medicine in New Jersey and of its Medical Men (Martin R. Dennis & Co.: Newark, NJ, 1879), pgs. 312-314.

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Container List

 

Documents

 

Box Title Date
1 William Leddel Account book – Ledger E 1785-1819
Box Title Date
2 William Leddel Account book – Ledger F 1788-1826
Box Folder Title Date
3 1 John W. Leddel Daybook 1800
3 2 John W. Leddel Daybook 1806-1808
3 3 John W. Leddel
Memorandum book
1816-1817
3 4 John W. Leddel
Letters from Elias Van Arsdale (9 letters)
1817-1821
3 5 William Leddel Bills and Receipts 1791-1827, n.d.
3 6 Samuel W. Leddel Check book with the First National Bank of Morristown 1870-1878
3 7 Samuel W. Leddel Estate

Daybook and Account book (1 volume)

1875-1876
Box Title Date
4 John W. LeddelDaybook 1823-1831
Box Title Date
5 John W. LeddelDaybook; Samuel Liddel Account Book 1830-1833; 1867-1873
Box Title Date
6 Samuel W. LeddelAccount book (store); Daybook (store, in the back of the volume) 1835-1840; 1839-1845
Box Title Date
7 Samuel W. Leddel

Account book (store)

1838-1845
Box Title Date
8 Samuel W. LeddelAccount book (store) 1845-1855
Box Title Date
9 Samuel W. Leddel

Account book (mill)

1852-1866
Box Title Date
10 Samuel W. Leddel

Account book Ledger C (store)

1859-1873
Box Title Date
11 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (store)

1835-1838
Box Title Date
12 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (store)

1841-1844
Box Title Date
13 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (store)

1844-1846
Box Title Date
14 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (store)

1846-1848
Box Title Date
15 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (store)

1848-1852
Box Title Date
16 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (mill)

1848-1863
Box Title Date
17 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (mill)

1852-1861
Box Title Date
18 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (mill)

1861-1863
Box Title Date
19 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (mill and store)

1862-1867
Box Title Date
20 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (mill)

1862-1867
Box Title Date
21 Samuel W. Leddel

Daybook (mill)

1863-1865

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