Litchfield enquirer., 1847-09-02
GREAT FAMILY MEETING!
ThA EAlanaS,


that much intrres. is beginning to he fell
in hunting up family pedigrees and his
tories of various kinds. II is becoming
q matter of deep interest TO make up
family parties, or TO collect the emigran,s
from towns or cnuntics, and ,henTecount
the incidents Of history, which appropri-
ately belong to the occasion. The FAM
lilies Of New England are fcnd rs we'll
they may be. of tracing their lineage to
some old puritan, who, strong in the love
Of God and LII ertv, left the old world,
Over>ridden by kings and priests, and
came here TO enjoy both undi sturhed:-
No nobler ancestry ever gave honor to
any succession.
The great Leland family had gathers
ing in Sherhurne, Mass, last week, on
the occasion of erecting monument to
the memory of " Henry Leland the Puri>
TAM" who settled in Shelhurnc in The
year 1866, during ',he days of England's
manhood" ind so commenced the tribe
of the Lelands in this new world. By
report in the Boston Post. it is evident
that it was fine affair. One Of the fam
lily stated that he had traced out 1885 de-
scendants Of Henry Leland, and there
were on the ground more than 900 per-
sons. They were not all Lelands, how
ever, by great deal; for the f.male
branch of the Leland tree have SO inter
sected all the other trees of the forest.
that the assemhlage, though boosting Of
the true old Puritan Leland blood in their
veins, were yet called by all SORTS OF
names, and gathered from all sorts Of
places. There wero Moses, which to
be sure attach themselves to any tree -
Slows, which can fill any nook Fons-
which 60 any where, and even oud great
Western Wing, Milliard Fillmore. with a
sprig of Leland in his hutton hole. The
Hon. P. w. Leland, at the close of a
pleasant historic addvess, described the
intellectual character Of family us foil.
ows:
"The Lelands, should say are rath>
er cool deliberate. thinking than bril>
liant class. They are not reative-for
they imagine less than they reason. II
we have among us few or no poets, we
have good thinkers and clear reasoners
If we lack printers, we have had and
still have, some elegant writer's. mus
sic is one of our deficiencies, ii is compen-
stated for by tie general endowment. of
great endurance and good business tact
In good public SPEAKERS we have not
been deficient. The late Rev. John Le'
land, Of Cheshire, was among the mos
effective public speakers Of his timc-he
was ready, energetic, urd b il'iant. Few
men have accomplished SO much. ant
few men have been so much admired
for hC had power enough to cnp,ivat'
the illus,rious Jefferson, and they lived
died 10 the long long and warm regard
of each other. John Leland was &c
centric, but his eccentricites constituted
no part of his greatness. in his public
Illustrations he caught the ins,ict Of th'
multitude, and made himself the sole
centre by his mastery eloquence.
"There are several living orators O
our family; hut these must speak fo
themselves. They are here, or shoult
be here--let them blow their own trum
pets
{. The mental bias Of our race is of tho
grave cas,-yrave, brt not gloomy; tho,
full, but not morose. Among the nam'
and blood there are a large number o
clcrg, man and perhaps, it would nc
be wide of The mark 20 say that as III
whole, the race is religious, 10 she oil
country, we belonged 70 the dissenters,
fought down King Charles, and tough
up Oliver Cromwell, as he became
sturdy RoundbeaG' in that day. W.
are all prlesiants, and although mem
bers of different denominations. stauncI
advocates OF individual irt e.lom in mat
tiers Of faith. OF our name have neve
known religious fanatic. We are al
lovers Of cur country, and during the re
volution, there was not tory among U.S.
Journal Of Comerce