The Man His Father Was

Through four generations, the Leonards were often witnesses to – and even minor participants in – many of the formative events in early American history. Skilled yet profane laborers, they sailed over from old England to help build the first ironworks in America, where they withstood not only the life-and-death struggles that faced all settlers, but the enmity of zealous Puritan neighbors whose morals they did not share. Finally driven from Massachusetts by way of the notorious Salem courthouse, and hastened by the bloodiest conflict on American soil, they arrived in what seemed to be a paradise by comparison – only to discover they had traded persecution for political anarchy.


Spanning 139 years – from the original settlements in New England through the crisis of the American Revolution – The Man His Father Was brings to life some of early America’s most memorable events and noteworthy personalities. With documented appearances by both the famous and infamous – including colonial patriarchs, military leaders, Indian sachems, inventors, murderers, itinerant preachers, healers, educators, and a brilliant and beautiful poetess whose sparkling works have only recently been rediscovered – this is a rags-to-riches-to-rags epic that demolishes the notion that our forefathers were uniformly pious and cheerless. 


And most of the story is true.